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Contact North | Contact Nord is Ontario's distance education and training network.

Over 4 million Ontarians in 600 small, remote, rural, Aboriginal and Francophone communities across the province can access education and training opportunities from Ontario’s 24 public colleges, 22 public universities, 76 district school boards and 250 literacy and basic skills and training providers without having to leave their community by accessing the services available from Contact North | Contact Nord.

Contact North | Contact Nord's studyonline.ca portal [www.studyonline.ca][1] and Student Information Hotline [1-877-999-9149] provide students across the province with access to information on 1,000 online programs and 18,000 online courses offered by Ontario’s public colleges and universities.

Contact North | Contact Nord also acts as an advocate, catalyst and facilitator of innovation in online and distance learning.

History

In 1986, Contact North | Contact Nord was established by the Ontario government to provide fully bilingual access to programs and courses offered by colleges, universities and high schools to residents of Ontario's northern communities. Contact North | Contact Nord remains primarily funded by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development.[2]

In 1992, through funding from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, almost every secondary school in Northern Ontario was equipped with Contact North | Contact Nord audiographic teleconferencing equipment. This equipment gave all schools electronic access to more than 100 other schools in communities across Northern Ontario and beyond. It also allowed high school students a chance to tour museums, galleries, and other organizations electronically, which students would not otherwise get a chance to visit. Some of these places include Art Gallery of Ontario, located in Toronto, and the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa.

In 2007, the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development announced the launch of a distance education network to provide access to post-secondary education opportunities for residents of small and rural communities across Southern Ontario. The new network was developed to operate under a model similar to Contact North | Contact Nord , and Contact North | Contact Nord was asked to help in facilitating the start-up of the project. Originally called the Eastern and Southern Ontario Distance and Education Network, the new network became elearnnetwork.

In the fall of 2009 Contact North | Contact Nord unveiled elearntube.ca[3] as a video-sharing website for partnered colleges and universities to post media. The site featured hundreds of videos for teaching, learning and professional development, especially in the use of online learning technologies.

In the 2012-2013 academic year, Contact North | Contact Nord recorded an 11.2% increase (as compared to 2011-2012) in the number of registrations generated and/or supported to a total of 39,115 registrations in courses from Ontario’s 24 public colleges, 22 public universities, 76 district school boards, 250 literacy and basic skills organizations and training providers.

National and International Awards

  • Award of Excellence for Institutional Achievement in Distance Education from the Commonwealth of Learning
  • Award of Excellence in Partnership and Collaboration from the former Canadian Association for Distance Education

Education and Training Partners

Through a combination of audio conferencing, videoconferencing, web conferencing and e-learning technologies, students access programs and courses offered by these partner institutions at its 112 online learning centres. Contact North | Contact Nord also supports the delivery of fully online courses by these institutions through a variety of support services.Contact North works with 24 public colleges and 22 public universities across Ontario.

e-Channel Partners

  • ACE Distance[4]
  • Deaf Learn Now[5]
  • F@D: La service de formation à distance pour adults de l'Ontario[6]
  • Good Learning Anywhere[7]
  • The LearningHUB[8]

Online Learning Centres

Staff at 112 local online learning centres across the province provides students and prospective students with information on online and distance programs and courses from Ontario’s public colleges, universities, district school boards, and literacy and basic skills and training providers and assistance with registering in the program or course. Students can also participate in their classes by using the web conferencing, videoconferencing and audioconferencing platforms available at each centre. Full technical support and assistance are available from the local staff in each centre.

Students have free use of computers with high-speed Internet at local centres to connect to their online courses and complete their course work. Students have a quiet place to complete their course work, link with other students in informal support groups and write supervised exams. There is no cost for students to use the local online learning centres. Information on available online and distance programs and courses and student support services from Ontario’s public colleges, universities, district school boards, and literacy and basic skills and training providers is available 24/7 from the studyonline.ca portal. This portal has an average of 26,000 unique visits per month.

Students and prospective students can connect live via phone (1-877-999- 9149) or via e-mail and live chat with staff (studyonline.ca/contact) who provide information on online and distance programs and courses, assistance with the registration process and other student services.

Online learning centres are located in the following communities:

Web Portals

Contact North | Contact Nord offers three web portals to support students and prospective students, and faculty and instructors at Ontario’s public education and training providers.

The studyonline.ca portal [9] (established in 2007) provides 24/7 direct access to information for students and prospective students on more than 1,000 online programs and 18,000 online courses from Ontario’s public colleges, universities, district school boards, literacy and training providers, as well as student support services including, academic counselling, financial aid and library services. There are also 50 student profiles that share the challenges and success of studying at a distance. studyonline.ca receives an average of 25,000 unique visits per month.

The e-Channel portal[10] (established in 2007) provides 24/7 direct access to information and resources on literacy and basic skills training available for all Ontarians. The e-Channel portal receives an average of 1,800 unique visits per month.

The teachonline.ca portal[11] (established in 2011) provides faculty and instructors up-to-date information on the trends, developments, and emerging technologies, as well as examples of best practices and tools for teaching at a distance and online. teachonline.ca receives an average of 14,000 unique visits per month.

Contact North | Contact Nord also distributes a weekly e-newsletter, Online Learning News,[12] focusing on emerging trends and directions in online learning. Online Learning News is distributed to 19,000 individuals worldwide, including faculty and instructors, technology experts, instructional designers, administrators and policy-makers in the education and training sector.

In addition to the web portals, the elearntube[13] is a video-sharing website for partnered colleges and universities to post media.

International Partnerships

Contact North | Contact Nord has developed working partnerships with:

Governance

Contact North | Contact Nord is governed by a volunteer board of directors whose members

  • have senior-level experience with the needs, interests and concerns of Ontario's colleges and universities;
  • are members of the First Nation and Francophone communities;
  • have direct familiarity with and are knowledgeable about English and French disctrict school boards;
  • are comfortable working and partnering with the private sector.

Board of Directors

President and Chief Executive Officer:

  • Maxim Jean-Louis serves as President and Chief Executive Officer

References

  1. ^ http://studyonline.ca
  2. ^ http://www.ontario.ca/education-and-training/go-college-or-university-ontario
  3. ^ http://www.elearntube.ca
  4. ^ http://www.acedistancedelivery.ca/
  5. ^ http://deafeducationonline.ca/DLNFlash.php
  6. ^ http://www.sefad.ca/
  7. ^ http://goodlearninganywhere.com
  8. ^ https://www.learninghub.ca
  9. ^ http://studyonline.ca
  10. ^ http://www.e-channel.ca
  11. ^ http://teachonline.ca
  12. ^ http://contactnorth.ca/about-us/newsroom/past-newsletters
  13. ^ http://www.elearntube.ca
  14. ^ http://www.contactnorth.ca/sites/default/files/contactNorth/files/pdf/publications/2013-11-18%20Contact%20North%20Joins%20OERu%20International%20Network.pdf
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