With technology improving and growing at a fast rate around the world, Distance Learning is a major hit when it comes to education.

Online school courses were first introduced and offered in Alberta in 1995 and since that time, most provinces now offer online courses to school-aged students. The overall number of students is still very small compared to enrollments in the 119 United States school programs. “The Canadian Virtual University (CVU) is a partnership of Universities across Canada, committed to delivering university-level programs that can be completed from anywhere in the country.” (Broadcast Live, 2011)

Compared to the speciaized development in the U.S., the Canadian online school programs are usually part of the local school jurisdiction. In many provinces, the focus is one secondary provision; however elementary students can take online courses as well. The two major providers of online education are school jurisdications and provincial governments. School jurisdictions began by offering online courses, and they gradually formed virtual schools ,which then offered complete programs. In some cases, jurisdictions have collaborated to offer course work, so there are a variety of virtual schooling across Canada. Since there is no federal department of education, instead each province and territory is responsible for and funds its own educational system.

Athabasca University is Canada’s Leader in distance education. It is also “nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in open and distance education.” (Broadcast, 2011) Because of this, “it offers a high quality university education to more than 16,000 students each year.” (Broadcast, 2011) Also it offers 1,500 accredited distance-education courses. Distance education is different from the traditional classroom-based setting. It allows you as a student to complete courses and programs without attending scheduled group classes in a central location such as a university campus. Pros to distance eduation is; you can work from anywhere, such as the home or workplace. You can work at your own pace, on a schedule that suits the individuals needs, and it incorporates computer conferencing, communication with other classmates and e-mail.

Students can have flexibility to allow them to compete in elite sports or fine art programs, to travel with families, or sustain schooling despite any type of sickness. It also gives them the opportunity to get a part-time job if need be, to gain experience both in workforce and education. Some cons with distance learning in Canada would be that the student may become to comfortable not being in an actual learning environment, which would then result in laziness, imcomplete assignments and failing grades or scores in school. Also teachers may not transition well from distance learning to a classroom setting or environment.

As technology continues to grow, Canada’s distance learning will become more and more utilized throughout the country.

Broadcast Live, (2011). Universities Offering Distance Education. http://broadcast-live.com/education/