Alberta – State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada

Population: 4,436,258
Number of K-12 Schools: 2,518
Number of K-12 Students: 733,599
.
Number of K-12 E-Learning Programs: 36
Number of K-12 E-Learning Students: 97,527

Note that these profiles are taken from the most recent edition of the report, please review additional annual profiles below.

Governance and Regulation

While the Minister does have the authority to make regulations, there are none pertaining to distance education programs at this time. The Ministry defines online learning as:

a structured learning environment in which students engage with their teachers in one or more online courses. Alberta certificated teachers employed by a school authority are responsible for instruction. (Government of Alberta, 2018, p. 85)

Further, the Guide to Education: ECS to Grade 12 defines an online course as:

one in which the majority of instruction and assessment takes place over the Internet, using a learning management system (LMS). The LMS provides students with access to course content, teachers and other students. Students may access the LMS from multiple settings (in school and/or out of school buildings) and engage in both synchronous and asynchronous instruction. (p. 85)

The Ministry also identifies specific distance and online learning programs/schools through the Ministry’s online learning directory (see https://www.alberta.ca/online-learning.aspx ).

Enrolment in these programs is tracked through the use of specific codes in the Provincial Approach to Student Information systems. At present, there are currently three specific coding mechanisms for tracking online enrolments.

Schools may indicate that they offer an online learning program by entering this information in the Provincial Education Directory.
Course and course enrolments may be identified as virtual (online learning) and print based distance education in provincial student information systems.
Students who are completing the majority of their courses online can be identified as such using the online learning student enrolment code.

Alberta Education is aware that some schools and school authorities may not use the appropriate coding for distance and online courses and is working with school authorities to increase awareness and improve accuracy in the assignment of student and program codes for online and distance learning programs.

Distance and online learning are also funded differently than brick-and-mortar education. The Funding Manual for School Authorities prescribes funding mechanisms that are that are not available when a student is enrolled as an online learning student (e.g., Plant, Operations and Maintenance; Infrastructure Maintenance and Renewal; etc.). Further, a school authority must be able to demonstrate how 950 hours of distance/online ‘access’ for elementary and junior high students and 1000 hours of distance/online ‘access’ for senior high students is being met in order to ensure requirements are met to be eligible for funding.

Finally, during the 2017-18 school year Alberta Education changed the terminology for a program that consists of two parts (i.e., where the school-authority is responsible for the student’s education program, and where the parent is responsible for their child’s education program) from blended program to “shared responsibility” program. This change allowed the province to become more aligned with the current e-learning nomenclature. At present, Alberta Education does not have an official definition for blended learning.

K-12 Distance and Online Learning Activity

At present, Alberta Education lists 36 different distance and/or online learning programs as a part of their website directory. While most of these are focused at the school division level, there are two programs that are provincial in scope: the Alberta Distance Learning Centre (ADLC) and the Centre francophone d’éducation à distance (CFED). The larger ADLC program closed at the end of the 2020-21 school year (officially September 1, 2021). Only the francophone program CFED continued to operate at a provincial level for the four francophone school authorities in the province. Based on the information in the provincial student information system, during the 2020-21 school year there were a total of 97,527 students coded as being enrolled in online learning/distance education programs. Alberta Education did not provide a breakdown on the number of students coded as fully online students, full print-based distance education, supplemental print-based distance education students, or supplemental virtual students during this data collection cycle.

K-12 Blended Learning Activity

Blended learning occurs in various forms across the province, but Alberta Education currently does not track this activity. School authorities are flexible in their support of blended teaching and learning to better meet the learning needs of students. There is an Alberta blendED Symposium, which is a conference focused on fostering the growth of quality blended and online learning opportunities for students in Alberta that had been organized annually since 2015, but it was not offered during the 2019-20 school year. It did return in the spring of 2021 with virtual workshop sessions.

Remote Learning

Spring 2020 Closure

Schools in Alberta closed on March 16, 2020. The province launched its LearnAlberta website to support remote teaching for students and parents with a curricular focus on literacy and numeracy. Teachers were mandated to continue evaluating student learning while focusing on learning standards that were not yet covered and those that could be covered in a manageable way. While there were no specifications for particular digital tools used by teachers or details regarding the deployment of technology for students to access remote teaching online, accommodations included the delivery of learning packets and telephone check-ins by teachers. Attendance expectations for students outlined by the Ministry included grades K-6 to engage in five hours of remote teaching per week, grades 7-9 with 10 hours per week, and grades 10-12 with three hours per course per week. The expectation was that students would work with their parents to complete assigned work. Report cards were distributed and all provincial standardized tests were cancelled (Nagle et al., 2020a).

Fall 2020 Reopening

There were no delays to the start of the Fall 2020-21 school year. Alberta returned to school under scenario one, which included full in-class learning with near-normal operations within the school for grades K-12. The inclusion of added health measures, cohorts, and physical distancing (i.e., two meters where possible) were added. Staggered lunch and breaks were also included to assist with physical distancing. Masks were mandatory for grades 4-12 where physical distancing was not possible, but masks were not mandatory while children were sitting at their desks or where physical distancing was possible. Class sizes were not limited with the exception of a 20-student cap in Kindergarten. Distance learning was an option for students (Nagle et al., 2020b).

2020-21 School Year

The 2020-21 school year proceeded with in-person learning, however, parents had the option to keep their students in remote learning for the 2020-21 school year while some district schools used a blended model of learning with cohorts for in-school students. In a remote learning model, a minimum number of hours per day online was required: kindergarten five hours per week, grades 1-3 ten hours, grades 4-6 12.5 hours, grades 7-9 fifteenhours, and grades 10-12 three hours per course per week. Students were expected to attend most of these hours synchronously. On November 30, 2020, junior and high schools (grades 7-12) moved to remote learning with elementary schools closing shortly after as well. All schools returned to in-school learning on January 11, 2021, only to shift back to remote learning sometime between April 21 and May 3, 2021. In-school learning resumed in late May but schools and/or specific classes required to quarantine for two weeks continued learning remotely. Platforms used for remote learning included Google Meet and Zoom. Assessment, evaluation, and reporting continued as usual, but the provincial achievement tests were optional for school authorities (Nagle et al., 2021).

References

Alberta Education. (2018). Guide to education: ECS to grade 12, 2018-2019. Government of Alberta.

Nagle, J., Barbour, M. K., & LaBonte, R. (2020a). Documenting triage: Detailing the response of provinces and territories to emergency remote teaching. Canadian eLearning Network. https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.227/sgf.292.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Documenting-Triage-canelearn-emergency-remote-teaching-report1.pdf

Nagle, J., Barbour, M. K., & LaBonte, R. (2021). Toggling between lockdowns: Canadian responses for continuity of learning in the 2020-21 school year. Canadian eLearning Network. https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.153/sgf.292.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/canelearn-2020-21-school-year.pdf

Nagle, J., LaBonte, R., & Barbour, M. K. (2020b). A fall like no other: Between basics and preparing for an extended transition during turmoil. Canadian eLearning Network. https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.227/sgf.292.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/A-Fall-Like-No-Other-canelearn-remote-teaching-report2.pdf

Previous Provincial Profiles

History of K-12 E-Learning

In 1923, the Deputy Minister of Education insisted that the Supervisor of Schools in Alberta, try an“education by mail” pilot project. The pilot was designed to serve 10 students who did not have a school to attend, but within the first year it was serving the needs of 100 students (Smith & Crichton, 2003). By 1926 there were over 900 students enrolled with the majority being Grade 1 students. By 1927 an additional 255 students joined, and for the first time the annual report made mention of a Correspondence Branch within the department of education. From 1923 – 1932 the Alberta Correspondence Branch was administered by a single staff member, while by 1932 there were two full-time administrators and four full-time teachers responsible for 2500 students from grades 1-8. When the Public School Act changed in 1939 to include grades 1 -12, the Alberta Correspondence Branch increased its scope . By 1940, the branch added radio content to its print materials. The move from radio supplemented lessons to second generation technology options continued with advancements in communication tools such as reliable and less expensive telephone coverage and audio and video cassettes (i.e., multimedia courses in a box) delivered by the mail (see Distance Education in Alberta Has Come A Long Way for a different telling of this story).

Innovations in third and fourth generation distance education were evidenced in the use of video conferencing for professional development and the sharing of teacher specialization expertise among schools (Andrews, 2005). By the 1990s, there were also several school district consortia that offered K-12 online learning programs in the province (Haughey & Fenwich, 1996), and from 1995 to 1999 there were 23 district-based online learning programs in operation (Muirhead, 1999). In fact, the first references to K-12 online learning in the academic literature were based on these district initiatives in Alberta. Over the next decade Alberta would continue to develop public and private district and multi-district programs, and by 2002-03 it was reported that Alberta continued to have the most students engaged in online learning (O’Haire, Froese-Germain, & Lane- De Baie, 2003). Throughout 2004-05, the Federation of Francophone School Boards of Alberta (FCSFA) negotiated with the Alberta Distance Learning Centre and the Ministry of Education to create a Virtual School in early 2005 (Center francophone d’éducation à distance, 2022). In the Fall of 2006, the FCSFA Virtual School had expanded to the point that it rebranded as the Center francophone d’éducation à distance (CFÉD).

In more recent years, there have been several consultation initiatives with respect to distance learning in the province. The first consultative process began in 2007 when the Ministry of Education reviewed K–12 distance education with the goal of developing a Distributed Learning Strategy. While there was a broad consultation process (including 1774 responses to an online survey, 60 interviews, 28 focus groups, and 21 site visits), that initiative appeared to be subsumed into a subsequent larger initiative. The Inspiring Action on Education initiative began in June 2010, with the release outlining the policy directions within the broader context of provincial government strategies and initiatives aimed at building a stronger future for Alberta. Public feedback occurred from June to October, followed by a series of Ministry-generated reports in December summarizing the responses. However, when the Government introduced a new Education Act in 2012, there was no reference to distributed, online or blended learning from these earlier consultations. The most recent consultations was an external initiative. In April 2012, Alberta Education contracted Schmidt and Carbol Consulting Group to conduct a province-wide review of distance education programs and services. The review, which concluded in early 2014, was not released to the public.

References

Andrews, K. (2005) Videoconferencing in Alberta: What are the benefits of videoconferencing in education? Alberta Education. https://education.alberta.ca/media/1224697/vcinabbrochure.pdf

Center francophone d’éducation à distance. (2022). Que sommes nous? https://cfed.ca/qui-sommes-nous

Haughey, M., & Fenwick, T. (1996). Issues in forming school district consortia to provide distance education: Lessons from Alberta. Journal of Distance Education, 11(1). http://www.ijede.ca/index.php/jde/article/view/242

Muirhead, B. (1999). The benefits of an online education consortium for Alberta. International Electronic Journal For Leadership in Learning, 3(4). http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~iejll/volume3/muirhead.html

O’Haire, N., Froese-Germain, B., & Lane-De Baie, S. (2003). Virtual education, real educators: Issues in online learning. The Canadian Teachers’ Federation.

Smith, R. D., & Crichton, S. (2003). Online learning in Alberta: Sustainability factors. Alberta Online Consortium.

Vignettes

Francophone Collaboration North of 60 (2019)
Alberta Moodle HUB Group (2018)
Dual Credit in Francophone Distance Learning (2017)
Alberta Education Comes To The Table (2016)
Coming to Alberta (2013)
SCcyber E-learning Community (2013)
Students in a Southern Distance Education Program (2013)
Sunchild E-learning Community (2012)
Argyll Centre (2009)

Brief Issue Papers

Individual Program Survey Responses

*Program*	*Most recent response*	*Medium*	*# of Students*	*# of Teachers*	*# of Courses*
Alberta Distance Learning Centre www.adlc.ca	2018-19	Online Correspondence	~22, 000	82 full time 1 part time	250
Argyll Centre argyll.epsb.ca/	2017-18	Online Blended	950 online 200 blended	17 full time 4 part time 9 blended	232 online 129 blended
Black Gold Distance Learning Program Black Gold Virtual School BGSD Blended Learning moodle.blackgold.ca/	2020-21	Online Blended	1,626 online 1,272 blended	57 full time 26 part time 1 blended (part time)	~250 online 207 blended
Black Gold Home-Based School	2021-22	Online Correspondence	35	1 full time 4 part time	72
CBe-learn www.cbelearn.ca	2017-18	Online	5,599 (senior program) 177 (junior program)	25 full time (senior program) 6 part time (senior program) 6 full time (junior program)	52 (senior program) 18 (junior program)
Centre for Alternative and Virtual Education virtual.aspenview.org/	2015-16	Online Correspondence	160	5 full time 4 part time	80
Centre for Learning@Home albertahomeeducation.ca/	2019-20	Online Correspondence	2,250	52 full time 20 part time	80
Centre francophone d’éducation à distance www.cfed.ca	2018-19	Online Blended	595 contractual program 2162 team teaching program	5 full time	72 online 68 blended
Hope Christian School Online hopechristianschool.ca/	2020-21	Online	720	10 full time 4 part time	125
Holy Family Cyberhigh www.hfcrd.ab.ca/cyb/	2010-11	Online	85	5	25
Learn Together Anywhere www.nlpsab.ca/programs/learning-together-anywhere	2020-21	Online	300	13 full time 4 part time	275
NorthStar Academy Canada www.northstaracademycanada.org	2021-22	Online Correspondence	786 headcount (583 FTE)	22 full time 3 part time	112
Palliser Beyond Borders www.palliserbeyondborders.com/	2018-19	Online Blended	1000 online 100 blended	7 full time 4 part time 5 blended
Prairie Adventist Christian eSchool pacescanada.org	2021-22	Online	230	12 full time 2 part time	All programs grade K-12
Peace Academy of Virtual Education www.pwsd76.ab.ca/schools/Pave/Pages/default.aspx	2016-17	Online Correspondence	80	2 full time 4 part time
Rocky View Schools Community Learning Centre rvsclc.rockyview.ab.ca	2021-22	Online Blended	200 online 2000 blended	8 full time 7 blended	20
SSCcyber E-learning Community www.sccyber.net	2019-20	Online	300	4 full time	100
School of Hope schoolofhope.org	2019-20	Online	492	16 full time 2 part time	120
St. Anne Online High School stanne.cssd.ab.ca/st-anne-online	2020-21	Online Correspondence	1,500	47 full time	~60
St. Isidore Learning Centre silc.eics.ab.ca/	2020-21	Online Correspondence	~1,500	15 full time 1 part time	All programs grade 1-12
St. Paul Alternate Education Centre www.spaec.ca	2018-19	Online Correspondence Blended	83 distance 10 blended	6 full time 1 part time 10 blended	95-100 distance 10 blended
Vista Virtual School vvschool.ca	2020-21	Online	10,000	42 full time 1 part time	~350

To update this information, visit http://tinyurl.com/sotn-program-survey

Inter-provincial and International

If a student takes a course from another province, territory, or country the student will receive a report card from the school authority providing the course. If the student wishes to receive credit for the course the process for applying to receive transfer credit is described in the “Awarding Course Credits” section of the Guide to Education: ECS to Grade 12 and an equivalency to an Alberta course is provided.

It is the expectation of the Ministry of Education that school authorities will focus on providing programming to Alberta students and out-of-province students who physically come to Alberta to learn. Alberta Education does not provide funding for out-of-province students unless they are residents of Alberta and maintain a home in Alberta with the intention of returning to the province. It is the practice of the Ministry to not provide services to students in other countries without a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two governing authorities. Alberta has established a number of MOUs, enabling the establishment of accredited out-of-province schools that use Alberta’s programs of study and employ Alberta certificated teachers. In examining the list of international schools currently approved none appear to provide distance education service.