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Virtual Ed. in Canada Favors Centralized Programs

Fourth grader Rachel Quansah works on a reader-response assignment at Discovery Public School in Vaughan, Ontario, just outside Toronto.

—Nicole Frugé/Education Week

By Michelle R. Davis

Canada's approach to online learning comes rooted in a history of distance education for students living in remote areas and is often unique to the province where the brick-and-mortar schools are located.

But unlike the way online learning has evolved in some parts of the United States, there's very little private company involvement in creating or providing virtual courses in Canada. Few schools buy online courses from private vendors, and organizations that provide those courses within the country are either mostly nonprofits or operated directly by school districts.

In the past few years, the paths of the two countries have diverged when it comes to online learning, said Michael K. Barbour, an assistant professor of instructional technology at Detroit-based Wayne State University. He has written several reports about the status of online learning in Canada for the International Association for K-12 Online Learning ...