An Optimistic Response to the Conservative Government Online Education Announcement

Recently the Conservative government made a number of announcements about education in Ontario. Here at Nimbus Christian Education one in particular caught our eye:

"Secondary students will take a minimum of four e-learning credits out of the 30 credits needed to fulfill the requirements for achieving an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. That is equivalent to one credit per year, with exemptions for some students on an individualized basis. These changes will be phased in, starting in 2020-21."

(Taken from this website: https://news.ontario.ca/edu/en/2019/03/education-that-works-for-you-2.html )

We don’t know all the details of how this will be implemented yet, but we are cautiously optimistic about this announcement. You might be wondering why we are hesitant. Shouldn’t we, as an online school in Ontario, be gleefully excited by this? We do have some concerns about the implementation of this concept.

But let’s begin with why we think that this is a move in the right direction.

Online education has become part of the landscape. Here’s just a sampling of how this is true:

1. According to the Ontario College of Teachers, 66% of teachers prefer to take their Additional Qualification courses online. (Source: Professionally Speaking March 2017 p. 13)
2. If you want to volunteer at your church, you may need to take your volunteer training online from a service like this. 
3. Would you like to earn your Project Management Certificate? Then take a program like this one.
4. Pastors are creating online courses of their own like this one.
5. Do you need WHMIS training at your place of work? It’s online.
6. Eight percent of all course registrations in post-secondary education in Canada are fully online, and 1 in 5 students in Canada will take at least one online course. (For this and other data like it go here.)

Having our students complete elements of their education online will allow students to gain experience with this form of learning prior to entering post-secondary education and the working world where the implementation of online learning continues to rise. Giving all our students exposure will mean they will be better prepared for what comes in the future.

So, we believe that this announcement by the Conservative government is potentially a positive move. But we do have concerns:

• Four courses seems like a very aggressive number. It may be wise to follow the lead of states like Michigan, Florida, Virginia, Arkansas, or Alabama who have all done this before us and began with only 1 or 2 required courses.
• A gradual implementation would be wise. 
• There may be difficulty with implementing this with the grade 12 class in their final year.  Universities will be looking at grades from courses where the students have to learn a whole new learning style on top of the content. This may prevent some of the graduates from being accepted into universities and colleges. 
• Instead, begin with grade 9 and expand with the newest class of students as they move through the system. This will allow students who may struggle with learning online to make mistakes early when poor marks won’t have the same impact they would in later grades.
• Do we have the infrastructure to support such an expansion?
• Are there enough online classes and teachers to meet this need?
• Do the schools have enough devices and internet bandwidth?
• We sincerely hope that this is not being implemented as a cost saving measure. Good quality online education requires adequate funding.
• Currently, completion rates of many online courses are low.  What kind of changes are needed to make online courses more engaging? What kind of training and skills do our students need to succeed in this new learning environment?

In summary, we believe that movement in this direction is healthy and even necessary. But we would encourage caution and careful thought as we try to find the most effective way to implement these changes.