Province Improving Online Learning Giving Postsecondary Students More Flexibility

Ontario is creating a Centre of Excellence for Online Learning to give students across the province one window of access to high-quality, transferable online courses, while reducing course duplication.

To launch in time for the 2015-16 school year, Ontario Online will improve collaboration between colleges and universities by minimizing duplication -- allowing students to take the same, centralized online course. The online platform will also give students the flexibility to receive world-class instruction wherever and whenever works best for them. It will operate through three inter-related hubs:

• The course hub will offer state-of-the-art online courses that are fully transferable between participating colleges and universities, giving students more options to earn credits and complete their education.
• The instruction hub will allow institutions to develop and share best practices, research, and data on how best to teach online courses.
• The support hub will provide academic and technical assistance to students, instructors, and institutions.

Supporting a world-class postsecondary education system that is a leader in innovation and online learning is part of the Ontario government's economic plan to invest in people, build modern infrastructure, and support a dynamic and innovative business climate.

Quick Facts

• Ontario is investing $42 million over three years to support the creation of the Centre of Excellence for Online Learning
• In 2010, Ontario colleges and universities offered 18,000 online courses and had a half million online course registrations.
• More than 555,000 full-time students were enrolled at Ontario colleges and universities last year — an increase of nearly 30 per cent compared to 2002-03.

Quotes

Ontario Online will help make our province a leader in e-learning and will expand access to a world-class education for our students. By improving collaboration between our colleges and universities and giving students more choice in courses, we are continuing to transform our postsecondary education system into a worldwide leader in innovation.”

Brad Duguid

Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities