The WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) has long been interested in multi-institutional consortia and systems that help their member institutions share resources with the goal of increasing the institutional capacity for technology-enhanced courses, programs, and student support services. WCET's Consortia Group has focused on the…

This research reports findings from a study which explored the process and criteria of partner selection--how and why partners are chosen--for two distance education consortia. The researchers reviewed recent literature on partnerships and partner selection. Two Canada-wide distance education consortia were identified as large-scale case studies…

Reports on ongoing development of the University of the Arctic--a network of institutions of higher education in eight polar countries--in the context of the changing nature of distance education in Canada. Discusses Canadian access to telelearning, institutions of virtual education, related research and supportive organizations, and course…

Presents a history of the development of CANAL, a consortium of colleges, universities, and public corporations in Quebec that was formed to distribute televised courses for distance education of adult learners. The marketing of distance education courses is discussed, and audiences, consisting of students and the general public, are examined.…

An informal consortium was formed in 1983 by five postsecondary educational institutions and the educational television authority in British Columbia to cooperate in using audio teleconferencing for course delivery, and to conduct a pilot project between September 1983 and May 1984. The consortium members (Simon Fraser University, British Columbia…

A consortium is the most advanced form of collaboration, in which two or more institutions create a new mechanism to undertake "programs and projects of mutual interest" (Konrad and Small 1989, p. 200). This paper describes three distance-education consortia that were developed among Alberta, Canada, school districts. It describes the…

Discusses issues and trends affecting Canadian academic libraries that were major themes at the 1996 Canadian Library Association annual conference in Halifax (Nova Scotia). Topics include government funding decreases; restructuring in education and library services; consortia; library cooperation and collaboration; computer networks; interlibrary…

Describes the current status of postsecondary distance education (DE) in the United States and Canada, focusing on ways in which DE can be used to further local or national policy goals. Presents four examples of DE policies and programs, each representing a different focus (laissez-faire, consortium, coordinating board, and comprehensive). (MDM)

This book contains nine case studies of collaboration in distance education. The case studies focus on such aspects of collaboration in distance education as the following: roles of individual institutional partners; importance of personal relationships; benefits of collaboration to individual partners; conflicts between collaboration and…

This paper addresses the role of distance education as a means for increasing curricular offerings of small and rural secondary schools. Treating distance education as a "technology" risks repeating the same cycle of false hopes and expectations that has historically accompanied the introduction of technology into education. Instead,…