Judy Dallas - Open Learning Agency

Introduction

While the information in this document is not limited to the Canadian context, it will, for the most part, use a Canadian backdrop for the discussions. It is necessary, therefore, to examine briefly the Canadian education system.

In Canada, responsibility for public school education (early childhood through secondary school graduation) falls completely to the provincial governments. The federal government provides some direct funding to the provinces to support bilingualism in the school systems, but little else. The federal government does provide funding, through transfer payments, to the provincial governments to support post-secondary education, adult education, and training initiatives. Through a number of federal government programmes, jurisdictions may also apply for targeted grant funding to support specific federal government initiatives. Currently projects to support adults in developing technology-based skills is one such area.

Having ten provinces and three territories plan and deliver education independently means that there are some significant differences in education across the country. However, there is also a trend for provinces to cooperate and jointly plan key initiatives in order to aggregate economic and human resources. The provinces have created a consortium, ‘The Council of Ministers of Education’ (CMEC), where each province’s government officials, Ministers, and Deputies, meet to discuss educational issues, plan joint initiatives, and discuss the articulation of education for all citizens of the country. An example of the work done by this group would be the development of a pan-Canadian science curriculum. Provinces will choose to implement this initiative at their own pace, but have all supported the development of the curriculum. This enables common resources to be developed to support all teachers and learners.

Currently there is an important issue of digital copyright legislation being examined. CMEC is working with the federal government on behalf of all provinces in order to ensure that the needs of teachers and students are reflected in any federally created legislation.

All legislation and policy decisions directly related to education are made at the provincial level. Within each province, there are school districts responsible for the implementation of the provincial programmes at the community/school level and for operational decisions. The school board is the employer of teachers, administrators and support staff who operate the school system.

It is within the context of British Columbia, the most westerly province of Canada, that I have worked and will base most of my commentary.

Background

	In 1987, British Columbia (BC) underwent a process of educational reform. A Royal Commission into Education was conducted, and a report was presented to government. This process is also referred to as the Sullivan Commission (after the man who led the process), and the report that was produced was entitled Enabling Learners. The theme of Enabling Learners was meant to take the education system from being teacher/institution centred to being learner-centred. This called for a major restructuring of education in BC. A new School Act was created with the accompanying Regulations and Ministers’ Orders. New policy was developed as the changes began to be operationalized. Huge initiatives in the area of assessment and evaluation, curriculum, and teacher training and support were undertaken. Now, more than a dozen years later, there have been some significant changes in education in British Columbia for children. The following list highlights some of the most significant areas of change, especially related to ‘opening’ education for learners:
	A curriculum that is more oriented to processes than content.
	Assessment and evaluation practices that focus on formative rather than summative information.
	Teaching practices that focus on meeting the needs of the individual learners rather than delivering a standard programme.
	Decentralization of services.
	A provincial examination programme that better serves all students. In order to graduate, students must only pass the Grade 12 English examination. All other examinations are provided for students going on to university or college. Instead of one examination sitting each year, there are now four sittings, enabling students to graduate at several times during the year. Students may also rewrite the examination once within a year if they failed the first attempt.
	Guidelines for awarding credit for knowledge and skills that students have acquired elsewhere.
	Policies that enable schools and school districts to meet the needs of the community. Only 75% of the curriculum is provincially mandated.
	L Legislation which enables students and parents to choose educational opportunities (home schooling, distance education, independent schooling or public schooling).
	In general, making the education system serve the needs of the learners.

With these educational reforms, there has also been a greater move toward accountability for the education system as a whole. The following strategies have been implemented:

	Accreditation (a process of external review by peers appointed by government) is required for all public schools. Formerly it was only required of schools offering graduation programmes (final two years of schooling, grades 11 and 12).
	Financial audits of all special programmes on a regular basis.
	A change to funding for distance education and adult education related more closely to achievement than registration.
	Province-wide student assessment in the areas of literacy and numeracy at grades 4, 7, and 10.

Within the framework of ‘enabling learners’, issues of equity and access have become paramount. The provincial government continues to play a coordinating role where there is potential for some learners to be disenfranchised. Two example of this are the Provincial Learning Network and the Resource Licensing Focus Group. The activities of both of these groups is coordinated and negotiated centrally, in order that all schools and school districts in the province benefit from one pricing structure. Otherwise small school districts or small schools would not be able to afford to provide their students with opportunities that more urban students would have.

Another critical aspect of a learner-centred approach is the recognition that there are some basic principles of learning:

      Learning is both an individual and a group process;

      People learn at different rates and in a variety of ways;

      Learning requires the active participation of the student.

These principles are enshrined in the legislation, and it is incumbent on every teacher to ensure that all students have opportunities to learn in meaningful ways. In support of these principles, the letter grade ‘F’ for ‘fail’ has been replaced with ‘I’ for ‘in progress’, in recognition that some students require more time to complete. Formerly, students would fail a course and begin the same series of learning activities again. The intention of the ‘I’ is to formally recognize that students should be able to compensate for their learning deficiencies and then proceed. Students now only fail once they have been given an opportunity to complete a course and they have refused or chosen not to complete it.

Another government initiative that has affected education through a key piece of legislation established in the intervening years is ‘Freedom of Information/Protection of Privacy’. This is really about a more ‘open’ society. It recognizes the tension between citizens’ rights to have access to public information and a person’s right to have their own information held private. Under this legislation, all government information is considered public. Schools, as government institutions, must make the information they hold available upon request. However, out of assurance of privacy, no information will be given about an individual student.

Under this legislation, distance education course materials, previously distributed only to students enrolled in distance education courses, must be made available to any resident. In order to recoup publishing and distribution costs and yet comply with the legislation, the Open School has created an e-commerce site where all materials may be purchased by anyone.

Open schooling and distance education

Governance

The maturing of open schooling and distance education in British Columbia has been as a result of educational reform and the more ‘open’/learner centred approaches taken in the legislation and policies of the government. During the period of 1986-1990, the government established nine regional distance education schools in the province and ensured that, through the legislation, they were bona fide schools – fully accredited. The philosophy was that not only could students be better served if the programme was delivered closer to their homes, but that government should not be in the ‘business’ of delivering education directly to students. Responsibility for the development of distance education course materials remained with government and, as of 1998, was moved to the Open Learning Agency through the creation of the Open School division.

In order to serve all learners in the province, government established regions comprised of groups of school districts. All school districts within the region were given the opportunity to submit proposals to host the regional distance education school. Through the selection process, schools were located in the following communities: Terrace, Fort St. John, Merritt, Prince George, Nelson, Chilliwack, Vancouver, Saanich, and Comox. It is interesting to note that the thinking of the time was very much a correspondence model, using mainly the postal system for delivering education. School staff members were to visit school aged children at least once each year in order to ‘personalize’ the education.

As the schools have matured, technology has also developed dramatically and this model may not have been implemented if distance education governance were being decided today.

Technology

Let us explore how the technology has affected delivery of distance education. During the more than ten years the distance education schools have been in existence, telephony has made great advances. For many years, there was a provincial government telephone network for government and business, making calls within British Columbia very inexpensive for these sectors. However, now the public telephone provider also has a very inexpensive plan for individuals, where a person can make unlimited calls within the province for a maximum of $20 per month (there are some restrictions on times of day of calls). All staff of the distance education schools, both office- and home-based, have voice mail boxes on a central system so that students can leave messages for their teachers without knowing a person’s home telephone number. Further, between the government service and the home service, calls can be returned to students and telephone tutoring can be accomplished very inexpensively.

Computer technology has also made great strides since the distance education school concept was implemented. The administrative computer system was a large, closed system. The new administrative computer system allows for remote access and data entry from any point. This facilitates home-based work and ‘telecommuting’ for staff.

The computer technology is also now available for students. The price of a personal computer has been reduced dramatically over the past ten years. As well, the province of British Columbia has installed the ‘Provincial Learning Network’ linking all schools in the province to the Internet. In addition, an investment of $20 million per year for five years into school districts for the purchase of computer hardware and software and teacher in-service training has made schools ready to use distance education strategies within the traditional system. This Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure has enabled distance education schools to bring students, teachers, and parents together in meaningful ways which overcome many of the weaknesses of traditional correspondence education.

Great strides have also been made in the technology associated with production of distance education materials. The ability to store courses electronically and to print materials on demand (‘Just In Time’) has changed the nature of courses and the supposed need to warehouse materials. However, the cost of JIT printers means that distance education schools are still having to warehouse their materials although the Open School does not.

What could a governance structure look like in today’s world? First, there would be no need to duplicate the administrative structure of distance education schools nine times. The infrastructure of buildings, administration, staff, technology, and warehouses of materials is very costly to support. There could be one central provincial distance education school, which would develop and deliver programmes with regional learning centres around the province in every school district to support learners. I believe that the expertise needed to develop and deliver distance education requires a separate institution, but not nine of them. It is the support for learner that needs to be located in the community – not the administration. Of course, once structures are in place, it is very difficult to change them. There is currently no plan to change the governance structure of distance education in BC.

The role of the distance education school

Prior to the School Act of 1986, a student needed the approval of the superintendent of schools to access a distance education course. New legislation removed that approval process. Currently, the student or parent may choose to complete all or part of their educational programme through distance education. If the student is registered with a public or independent school, the principal must approve the distance education course, not so much for programming reasons as for financial ones. (A further discussion of distance education funding follows.) This change in legislation and regionalization of delivery has allowed the role of the distance education schools to evolve over time.

Historically the distance education programme was meant for rural or remote students. It was then used, usually one course at a time, to complete a programme for students in smaller secondary schools. Now that students have much freer access to the programme and that the schools are located within educational communities that have identified needs, the programme has been able to grow and to diversify. Some initiatives are a response to student needs, some to school system needs. The following are types of programmes that have evolved over the past ten years:

      Summer Study: the distance education schools took the standard course materials developed by the Open School and repackaged them, with some modification, as a remedial programme of core learning. This programme enables learners to repeat a failed course and return to the new school year with that course having been completed. Many school districts offer a formal, classroom-based, remedial summer school but the distance education programme creates flexibility for students with summer jobs, who are travelling, or who live in small towns where there is no summer school. As this is over and above the regular programme, students or their parents would pay fees for such a remedial course. Tuition for classroom-based and distance education courses are approximately the same.

      Advanced Placement and Preview: growing out of the summer study experience, the advanced placement or preview programmes were developed. These programmes are for students who will be returning to school in September, but who want to have completed one of their next level courses ahead of time (perhaps to make room to take an additional course at school) or to review a course that will be taken during the next year. Similarly, students pay fees to the distance education school directly.

      Flex-Ed: by breaking courses down into ‘papers’ or ‘units’, schools are able to request specific combinations of learning for specific students, and distance education schools can package the materials. This allows a student to complete very specific units of learning in order to meet general requirements.

      Partnerships with Schools: the distance education schools are able to partner with schools to meet the needs of individual learners. Perhaps the student can only attend school on one or two days per week, must be away for weeks or months at a time, or can only attend during mornings. Schools can approach the distance education school in their region and plan an educational programme to suit that student. Part of the programme will be taken through traditional means, part will be taken via distance education. The two institutions will share funding, and the credits received are identical.

      Partnerships with Industry: certain sectors of industry have developed partnerships with the distance education schools in order to support their workforce in the areas of upgrading or retraining. Three such partnerships have been developed with Forest Renewal BC, BC Hyrdo and with the IWA (a union mainly of forest-based workers). In each case, the group has identified ways in which their workers can be supported in furthering their education without having to leave their jobs or their communities.

Many other innovative uses of distance education materials and services are being developed to continue to ‘open’ educational opportunities for students.

The funding model for distance education

Both organizations responsible for distance education in BC, the distance education schools and the Open School, receive grant funding from the provincial government. The Open School receives an operating grant to meet the goals set out annually by government. Not only are the materials developed by the Open School required to meet the needs of independent, distance learners, but they must meet the needs of all learners in BC. The Open School is also to develop partnerships with private industry and to develop external clients in order to accelerate the pace of development. The Open School also has a mandate to support teachers in using multimedia and guided independent learning materials.

The distance education schools are funded quite differently. Monies flow from government into the school district responsible for a distance education school, but are to be held in trust for the support of that programme only. The formula to fund the distance education schools is in three parts. There is a base grant for the operation of the school, recognizing that, regardless of size, a basic infrastructure is required. A second level within the grant that is based on enrolments and is, again, formula-driven. The third level within the funding structure is tied to student completions at the secondary school level (grades 8-12).

Students generate only 40% of the funding upon enrolment. As a student successfully completes a third of the course, 20% of the funding is triggered. Similarly, as the student completes the second and final thirds of the course, the final two 20% funding levels are triggered. A student is therefore, only fully funded if they complete the entire course. This funding formula is only pertinent to those students that the government is fully funding, namely full-time or part-time students who have not previously met the graduation requirements and who are not attending any other educational institution.

The Government, in the past, funded students attending school to access a distance education course. Under new policy, schools are fully funded for a student’s programme. If the school is unable to deliver the programme, the school must transfer the money to the distance education school in order to have the student access the programme. This has caused a great deal of inequity within the education system.

Formerly, any student could access a distance education course (always with the permission of the principal). Now, many school districts have had a legal interpretation of the School Act which states that a school must provide a student with a programme leading to graduation. The definition of ‘graduation’ is a programme of 52 units of study. Most school timetables allow for students to take 64 or more units within the normal school day and year. Therefore, students wanting to access a distance education course are often told that this would be ‘over and above the basic graduation programme’ and the student or parent must pay. The fee, as stated in the Minister’s Order, is $250. For many students and parents this is a sum that they could not possibly pay.

Another situation is also possible. Some traditional school principals are not supportive of students accessing other educational opportunities, and feel that many students will never be successful independent learners. In this case, policies have been developed where students may have to pay the $250 fee up front and will be reimbursed upon successful completion of the course. Again, this is a barrier to student participation.

Also tied to the funding model is the staffing model that the distance education schools inherited from the Ministry of Education when they were created. The expectation is that the elementary programme is led by fully qualified elementary teachers, but the secondary programme is supported by administrators and counsellors and student work is marked by subject experts working from their homes on a piece rate. The funding formula, therefore, generates teacher salary dollars for elementary student enrolments, but generates much less funding for secondary student enrolments. This factor, added to the student completion hurdles in the formula, results in very tight budgets for the distance education schools and very little opportunity to be innovative.

The secondary funding formula has both positive and negative effects. On the positive side, off-site markers being paid for only the work done is a very cost-effective and flexible way of staffing a programme. There is never a shortage of people wanting to perform this work – often these markers are teachers who want to work from home. As enrolments surge or dwindle, the cost of offering the programme responds directly. Moreover, retaining a committed marker group has not been a problem; these people like the work and feel that they are well compensated. Also, a school district has not had to take on the liability of a large complement of permanent staff.

On the negative side, the teachers of BC belong to a strong union. This union is watching these home-based markers carefully and is trying to determine whether or not these people are performing the work of union members. This means that lines have to be very carefully drawn between what a marker can and cannot do when supporting a student’s learning. In addition, the flexibility being built in to the course design as well as the interaction between marker and student that is required in some instructional designs requires the marker to take on new roles – roles traditionally thought of as a teacher’s role. It is, therefore, very important that the distance education school staff work closely with the course developers to ensure that the needs of the student are being met within the confines of the distance education context in BC.

If the government were to increase the funding for secondary distance education programmes, I believe that all the distance education school administrators would move to hiring only qualified teachers so that the relationship between student and instructor could be fully developed. However, I also believe, that most administrators would continue to support a flexible contractual arrangement rather than the traditional contract of ‘contact hours’ and ‘class size’. The distance education environment is significantly different enough to require new models of employee/employer relationships. The work day and work year, as well as the role, are very different from that found in traditional schools.

Materials development

In British Columbia, as in the neighbouring province of Alberta, the government chose to separate responsibility for the development of distance education course materials from the responsibility for delivery of the educational programme. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this system. Many other jurisdictions have teachers delivering the programme intimately involved in the creation of course materials (if not solely responsible).

In British Columbia, originally the Ministry of Education was responsible for distance education course materials. This made sense when the Ministry was also responsible for delivery of the programme and materials were used exclusively by distance education students. However, when the Open School was created in 1996, it became the institution responsible for creation of course materials.

While the pedagogical framework continues to be one of ‘guided independent study’, the Open School’s mandate has also expanded from one of developing materials for use by the distance education schools to one of producing materials that would also suit traditional schools’ and teachers’ needs. This expanded mandate, when seen against the general educational reform agenda and ‘opening’ of education opportunity, has created some confusion in the educational community. People do not know who is doing what for whom. Clarity is being attained as people live with the new structures.

For many years, distance education materials were created by teachers, (usually) under contract to the Ministry of Education. There was usually one author working with a contract manager and the instructional design was very uniform. All courses were developed in three modules of six sections each. There was a test at the end of each section. The eighteen assignments comprised 40% of the mark and the three tests comprised 60%. A student would have to pass each assignment in order to write the test. Each test also had to be passed (50%) in order to get a final grade. Students were given one opportunity to redo a failed paper or to rewrite a failed test.

Three factors significantly influenced changes to instructional design. The first was general educational reform. More flexibility was needed to meet the needs of a wider range of learners. Courses began to be designed with core and optional modules, so that students would have some choice in their pathway to complete a course. Some units were more simplistic, some more challenging. Also, the move to more authentic assessment strategies meant a move away from testing as the only medium of summative evaluation.

The second factor was the great leap forward in the use of ICT and ‘wiring’ of the school system. New instructional design requirements were being created by the technologies themselves. Research and development was being done using the latest in technologies such as audio graphics, and scanners. This meant that course materials needed to look and work differently.

Computer technology not only impacted on the instructional design but on how the courses were created and stored. Digital storage of course materials, including instructors’ guides and tests, also required new skills to be learned. No longer was a teacher able to create a course independently. A team of people was needed to take a course from inception to publication.

Finally, the technology also affected the ability to manage and store student-level course information. Originally, the mainframe VAX computer system could only handle one course design. The new Oracle data base management system could allow a completely flexible course structuring system, so that any instructional design could be accommodated.

The third factor influencing materials was the need to update and customize materials quickly and efficiently. The government is only able to fund a limited amount of new course development each year. With constant updating of the provincial curriculum, distance education materials were not going to be able to keep pace. As it is, some courses have been sorely neglected. By storing the courses digitally and creating courses in a more modular fashion, courses can be updated and information can be re-purposed without having to begin again at square one.

Courses now, at the secondary level, are created in four or more sections. Assessment strategies are varied and relate directly to the learning outcomes and expectations of the curriculum. Many courses no longer use testing as the summative strategy.

Students in distance education courses must write provincial examinations at the end of grade twelve, as do students in traditional schools. In provincially examinable courses, the school mark comprises 60% of a student’s final grade, with the provincial examination score comprising the other 40%. This remains consistent for distance education students. Their mark on their distance education course (including all assignments and tests) comprises the 60% school-based mark toward their final grade.

A well-developed distance education course can be a model for all teachers in the province. By strictly adhering to the provincial curriculum, by stating for the students the learning objectives, by carefully using appropriate assessment strategies, and by selecting the best resources to support student learning, teachers can be provided with an example of an exemplary course. Especially for teachers new to teaching or asked to teach outside their area of expertise, good distance education materials can be a tremendous resource.

Because materials use the pedagogical framework of guided independent study, a teacher can also act as a facilitator for students – not a content expert. This can allow different models of staffing in some strategic situations. Learning centres in British Columbia are particularly interested in using distance education materials, since they are working with many students across many grade levels, all at very different places in their learning. It would not be possible to hold traditional classes for these students. Good materials can support independent learning and free the teacher to work with students individually as they require.

Student support services

The Students Themselves

Legislation in British Columbia allows for all residents of the province to access free public education until they achieve graduation (defined as a cluster of courses at the Grade 11 and 12 level meeting certain requirements and totalling 54 credits). Others may also register and pay fees. This means that the students able to register with a distance education school are varied. The schools use the following designations to group students:

•     Elementary (E): a school-aged student (usually between the ages of 5 and 13) registered in a programme of study from Kindergarten to Grade 7.

•     Full Grade (F): a school aged student (school age is defined as 5 through 15 years old – the compulsory years for schooling) enrolled in a full programme of studies at the secondary (8-12) level.

•     Out of School (O): a non-adult (under 19 years of age) student enrolled in a partial programme of studies (8-12) for a variety of reasons – work, other academic, artistic, or athletic pursuits, or a former drop out who is re-entering the system.

•     Adult (A): a student 19 years or older wishing to complete their graduation requirements.

•     Jail/Containment (J): either youth or adult students working toward graduation who are in custody in either jails/prisons or in other types of containment centres.

•     Home School (H): school-aged students being educated by their parent(s) on a programme designed by the parent(s). Parents may register their child for one or more distance education courses (K-12) and create the balance of the programme themselves. These students usually register on a full programme with the distance education or traditional school for grades 10, 11, and 12 in order to get the provincial credential recognized by post-secondary institutions.

•     In School (I): students registered with an independent or public school using one or more courses to complement their school-based programme. These students may be in traditional or alternative environments. The school will be billed for the part of the programme being delivered by the distance education school (see section on funding for further details).

•     Graduated Adult (GA): an adult student wishing to take additional school-level courses or upgrade their previous courses. Because they have already met graduation requirements, these students are paying fees.

•    Out of Province: students who are not residents of BC, but are resident in other provinces of Canada. These students are fee paying. (The province of Saskatchewan and the Yukon Territory do not have independent distance education programmes but use the BC programme for any of their students.)

•     International Students: students who are not residents of BC nor residents/citizens of Canada, who are either located in BC or elsewhere in the world. These students are fee paying.

The distance education schools are open twelve months a year and operate on a continuous entry/exit system. This means that students register daily and can complete at any time. This flexibility influences a student’s decision to come to the distance education school. Many students choose the distance education school as their preferred way to learn. Others come to the distance education school because other educational opportunities have not been successful for them. Still others are excluded from traditional schools for non-attendance, violence, or other reasons and yet, legally, must be enrolled in a programme until they reach the age of 16. In this case, the distance education school becomes the school of ‘last resort’. All of these factors impact a student’s success as a distance or independent learner.

Indicators of Success

Statistics are kept on normal indicators of success, such as course completions, graduation certificates issued, and performance on provincial examinations. However, other indicators become important in the service that the distance education school provides the educational community as a whole. Such indicators include: number of students returning to a traditional or alternate school programme; number of students being retained in the system; number of students assisted in being successful through flex-ed, summer study and preview programmes; and number of students attracted to the BC education system from outside provincial boundaries.

Student success is as varied as the population itself. Most elementary students successfully complete one year of schooling within a year. Most secondary full-time students who have chosen the distance education route complete their education within an extended period (six to eight years for a five-year programme). Students who are out of school can take much longer to complete their programme, since they are often involved in full-time career opportunities.

Where the distance education school has little success is with students who drop out of school or are forced out of school mid-year, and yet are compelled to register in an educational programme. These students are unable to perform in a structured environment, so have little success in an independent environment.

Distance education students perform at least as well on provincial examinations as do their traditional school counterparts, if not better. It is difficult to quantify these results, however, since the population of distance education school students writing provincial examinations is very small compared to the provincial population. However, we do look at the correlation between school and examination mark, which is highly consistent in most cases.

Support Services

All distance education schools will provide tutorial support for students enrolled in courses. Elementary students have ongoing contact with their teacher, as well as support from a ‘home instructor’, usually a parent but sometimes another adult. The secondary students can contact their marker, usually by telephone, for tutorial support.

In addition to support for the course content, distance education schools have teacher/counsellors on staff to assist secondary students with programme planning, post secondary articulation, registration for provincial examinations, and some personal counselling. Distance education students, like all others in the province, are able to apply for government scholarship money, as well as other scholarship programmes. Counsellors would assist students in accessing financial assistance to further their studies.

CoNNect

In order to provide a more complete educational experience for distance learners, the distance education schools, with additional grant money from government, have designed the CoNNect programme. CoNNect is an electronic, virtual school environment for students.

The primary features of CoNNect are:

	Students receive a computer to use in their homes and to access the Internet.
	Students and parents receive access to the educational environment through dial-up Internet access provided by or paid for by the distance education school.
	Students and parents receive training in the use of the media.
	The print-based programme forms the basis of the programme, but replacement units, or adjusted assignments have been created to use the power of the technology.
	On-line teachers/markers provide e-mail and telephone support to learners.
	On-line teachers/markers provide on-line discussion groups where students can engage in conversation with their peers about the course.
	On-line teachers/markers provide supplementary materials to assist students in being better prepared to handle the course content.
	All secondary assignments have been made available to students in electronic format so that they can be completed on the computer and e-mailed to the instructor as an attachment.
	At this time, only the core courses and some elective courses are available in electronic format; others would have to be completed in the traditional paper-and-post methods. Students do not seem to mind this mixed modality.

The CoNNect programme has been available for three years. The 1999/2000 school years was the first year in which all nine distance education schools offered both elementary and secondary programmes. The government has capped the enrolments at 1074 full-time equivalent students annually.

Both a survey conducted by the distance education schools and an external review contracted by the government showed CoNNect to be a bona fide and extremely well received programme. Students and parents are very happy with the programme and not only student success but student engagement in their education has greatly improved.

While this programme is definitely the way of the future, there will also always be a need for a paper-based programme. For the distance education schools to remain viable, they must continue to respond to the individual needs of each student.

Credentialling and Accreditation

In the BC context, we distinguish between credentialling and accreditation in the following ways:

A ‘credential’ is the credit granted for a course of study that meets the provincial learning outcomes. It may be achieved through a formal educational programme, or may be achieved through private study with credit then awarded by the school through a process of ‘equivalency’. The Ministry of Education has published a list of equivalencies for common external studies students pursue such as music programmes, Boy Scouts/Girl Guides, and so on. Students may also apply to challenge a course for credit. The school will decide how the student will demonstrate that the learning outcomes have been met, and then award the student the credit for the course as if s/he had completed the course of study. Again, the Open School has sponsored the Cambridge Examinations in languages so that students may obtain credit for language learning. Schools will recognize and give credit based on Cambridge Examination results.

An important component of credentialling learning is that the credits must appear alike on a transcript. In the past, different ways of earning credits were labelled differently. For example, courses completed through distance education were prefixed by a ‘Z’ code. English 11 completed at a traditional school would be labeled EN11 on a transcript; the same course completed at a distance education school would be labeled ZEN11. This meant that some methods of learning were perceived to be ‘better’ than others. In order to completely open and respect all avenues of learning, the removal of discriminatory labels was necessary.

‘Accreditation’ is the process of ensuring that schools in the province are operating within legislation and that students are receiving an educational programme based on the provincial curriculum. The accreditation process in traditional public schools is one of self-evaluation and then a review by peers appointed by the government and the school district jointly. This process must include parents, students, teachers, and the broader community in the gathering of data. Most schools will receive full accreditation, and a growth plan will be established for the school for the next five years. The process of accreditation has evolved over a great many years. Originally, it was associated with schools offering the graduation programme. It then moved to involve all secondary schools. Recently, it has moved to involve all public schools in BC.

The distance education schools have never been required to participate in the accreditation process. Originally, the government created the nine distance education schools in the image of the government programme. Because the programme was limited to the delivery of the materials that the government created, the programme was ‘accredited’ by the very fact that the courses were government courses.

In the intervening fifteen years, the distance education schools have added many programmes and services, but government has not moved to establish an accreditation process. They have chosen to use financial and programme audit systems to ensure that the distance education schools are meeting their mandate and ensuring that quality programmes are offered. The reason for this difference is mainly financial. In the whole scheme of the education system, the distance education schools are small programmes. The formal accreditation process is lengthy, costly, and is very facility-oriented. The process is also always under public scrutiny. The government has contracted the distance education schools to school districts and expects that the school districts will also ensure the quality of the programme.

Summary

Distance education in British Columbia is constantly evolving – as usual. Distance educators have always tried to apply new technologies to enhance the quality of the learning experience for students removed from direct contact with a teacher.

However, when distance education was confined to paper-and-post models, it did not get the attention of the general population of educators. The move into use of ICT has caused the most stir. Educators in general are fearful of the implications of the new online learning era. The fact that they have centres within the education community successfully offering quality programmes using ICT is very worrying indeed. The distance education schools are being seen as a threat by some of their colleagues.

The union is very anxious about contracts when students are not contained in classrooms. Principals and superintendents are worried about their students being ‘raided’ by the distance education schools or other on-line providers. Educators are actually realizing that education can now happen ‘any time/any where’ and they are not ready for it. The BC Teachers’ Federation has just circulated recommendations to be taken to its annual general meeting in March, 2000, calling for the government to not allow programmes like CoNNect to continue and that the Open School should be controlled by the union. On the other hand, a report has just been tabled from the ‘Teacher Supply and Demand Consortium’, comprised of all the education partners in the province. This report recognizes that the impending crisis in education brought about by a shortage of teachers and administrators which has begun, will become more obvious in 2003 and will reach an acute stage between 2005 and 2010. These are exciting times for education in British Columbia!