Abstract
Digital education refers to in-person, blended, and fully online learning efforts, as well as attempts to capture a wide range of teaching and learning contexts which make use of digital technology. While digital education is pervasive in Canada, pan-Canadian data on digital education are relatively scarce. The Canadian Digital Learning Research Association/Association Canadienne de Recherche sur la Formation en Ligne conducted pan-Canadian surveys of higher education institutions (2017-2019), collecting data on the digital education landscape and publishing annual reports of its results. Previous analyses of the data have used quantitative approaches. However, the surveys also collected responses to open-ended questions. In this study, we report a systematic analysis of qualitative data exploring the digital education landscape in Canada and its changes over time. Findings shed light on the growth of digital education, the situated and multidimensional nature of digital education, the adoption of openness, quality, and rigour, and the development of alternative credentials.
Highlights
The demand for digital learning in Canada has expanded substantially over the last decade (e.g., Bates et al, 2017; Donovan et al, 2018; Johnson, 2019), with online and blended courses currently being offered by the majority of Canadian institutions of higher education (Agbra, 2018; Bates, 2018)
Challenges in tracking online enrolment data that arise from the different provincial/territorial reporting standards were highlighted, noting that internal tracking processes used by higher education institutions (HEIs) to monitor progress are generally at the program or department level, making provincial/territorial and pan-Canadian comparisons difficult
Most HEIs reported using a learning management system (LMS) and using it as the primary tool to deliver digital education, with video-based systems coming in second
Summary
The demand for digital learning in Canada has expanded substantially over the last decade (e.g., Bates et al, 2017; Donovan et al, 2018; Johnson, 2019), with online and blended courses currently being offered by the majority of Canadian institutions of higher education (Agbra, 2018; Bates, 2018). The annual surveys conducted by the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association/Association Canadienne de Recherche sur la Formation en Ligne (hereafter CDLRA) provide much-needed information and analysis. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic analysis of the qualitative data that were gathered in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 CDLRA pan-Canadian surveys in order to explore patterns in these data that may inform digital education practice in Canada
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