Telelearning Research and the TeleLearning-Network of Centres of Excellence

This article provides a personal perspective on funding and organizational issues related to e-learning, distance education, and other distributed forms of educational technology research. It examines the largest single investment made in this area by the Canadian federal funding councils: the TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence (TL•NCE). The article presents an overview of the rationale and need for expanded TeleLearning research at both basic and applied levels. It discusses (and critiques) other funding sources and ends with a call for a renewed and expanded commitment to the multidisciplinary research area that encompasses e-learning and online teaching

Interactions Affording Distance Science Education

Book chapter from 2010 D. Kennepohl & L. Shaw (Eds.), Accessible Elements: Teaching Science Online and at a Distance (pp. 1-18). Edmonton: Athabasca University Pres

Digital resilience in higher education

Higher education institutions face a number of opportunities and challenges as the result of the digital revolution. The institutions perform a number of scholarship functions which can be affected by new technologies, and the desire is to retain these functions where appropriate, whilst the form they take may change. Much of the reaction to technological change comes from those with a vested interest in either wholesale change or maintaining the status quo. Taking the resilience metaphor from ecology, the authors propose a framework for analysing an institution’s ability to adapt to digital challenges. This framework is examined at two institutions (the UK Open University and Canada’s Athabasca University) using two current digital challenges, namely Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Open Access publishing

Contact North: linking community learners and educational institutions

Terry Anderson is Director of the North West Region of Contact North/Contact Nord, a delivery network for distance education for northern and often remote communities in Ontario, Canada. In this article he argues that Student Support Services dispersed in the community are better able to meet student needs than those which remain based in the institution. He also seeks to demonstrate that a network with only delivery functions can effectively help students meet their needs from a range of course providers