eLearning and Distance Education in Canada - A Call to Arms! | |
eLearning and Distance Education in Canada ... A Call to Arms!
It was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Drive thy business or it will drive thee!"
This sentiment has never resonated more for Canadians than it does today, and eLearning may be the just driver that Canadian's need to take control of their business.
The news is that the rules governing our emerging information age economy appear to be dramatically different from those we've been previously used to. Consider how every new encounter with Google provides your customers with an opportunity to find an even lower cost supplier. Skilled Canadians from software developers, to accountants and call centre professionals, will all soon become intensely aware that India and China are coming on line with educated work forces capable of delivering many of the same services and filling the same jobs, which we had previously believed could never leave our country. As you read this article, service jobs, like the manufacturing jobs before them, will be leaving Canada in search of lower wage economies.
However there is hope for us in this new, "fight your way to the bottom world". The one thing that can sustain our competitive advantage is the value of our brand name. Whether you are a hockey player, or an on line book seller, people will pay more for your products or services if they know who you are, and if they have confidence in your established reputation for performance and quality.
As countries go, there is no country in the world that has a more respected and trusted brand name than "Canada". Emblazoned across the CanadaArm and patched to luggage being carried by Canadian and U.S. citizens alike, the Canadian flag is a symbol of fairness, peace, open mindedness and competence.
If Canada is to survive and prosper as a free and independent country in the coming century, we will need to actively embrace our ready-made information age advantage. As the giant Indian and Chinese economies begin to come on line, along with power houses like Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea, they too will be in need of services, but not from the low cost commodity type service jobs that we will be losing. Rather they will need the types of sophisticated high-end services that Canadians are famous for providing. Health care, education, engineering design, scientific research, economic consulting are some of the high end services that these economies will need from us as they become stronger. But will Canada have the capacity to deliver these services as the demand grows? Will we have the connectivity? Will we have the educated citizenry? Will we have the leadership needed to guide us through the complexities of this changing world order?
The answers can be yes, but only if Canadians come to understand that our most valuable resources are our people. In order to thrive in this new age we will need to invest very soon by connecting Canadians everywhere to each other and to the world. We must also provide them with the tools, information and infrastructure that they will need to begin to educate each other and eventually the world, over the Internet.
Despite the revolutionary adoption of computer automation by industry and by business administrators, the delivery of education in Canadian universities, high schools and primary schools has remained fundamentally unchanged since the end of the Second World War. Examples of interactive learning are all around us, however; on line systems have for the most part been relegated for use as out of classroom research tools, rather than being used as the platform over which an entirely new educational experience could be delivered.
If we choose to act now, Canada is very well positioned to forge a unique and powerful niche for itself within the emerging 21st century global economy. Maximizing this opportunity will require a national initiative designed to strategically apply our expertise in communication technologies for the purpose of profitably delivering high end Canadian services to a rapidly growing international on line market.
In this issue of Canada Connects we are delighted to share with you stories of Canadian's who have already seen the light, and who are investing in finding the strategies that we will need in order to "Connect, Engage and Empower", Canadian's through technology and through knowledge.
Phil Carr
Managing Editor, Canada Connects
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