By bringing equal access to information technology to Canadian students, SchoolNet plays a key role in preparing students for today’s innovative economy.

Young Canadians have to be ready to boldly seize the opportunities presented by new technology and international trade. Educators, in turn, must work together to provide these learners with every chance to use the new electronic tools and to take advantage of the learning possibilities information technology creates.

Canada’s SchoolNet, launched in October 1993, offers a common focus for Canadian educators – innovators who were quick to see the value of electronic networks. Shortly after computers first entered schools in the 1980s, some education pioneers set up local area networks and electronic bulletin boards. Many looked even further; they saw the potential for a larger network that would make Canadian-produced multimedia resources available to all Canadian learners.
 

April 1997: Grade 6 students from St. Elizabeth Elementary School in Ottawa participated in an interactive on-line demonstration of SchoolNet via Telesat Canada’s DirectPC™ with their virtual classmates at Burrville Elementary School in Washington. [Photo, courtesy Industry Canada]

Right from the very beginning, SchoolNet was a collaborative effort; organizers saw the network as a way to empower others. Individual schools and provincial departments of education had already done much pioneering work. Similarly, colleges and universities were at the forefront of the Internet’s development in Canada. SchoolNet provided these trailblazers with the means to do even more.

The venture was an immediate success. By March 1994, approximately 3000 Canadian schools were online and SchoolNet recorded more than 350,000 electronic visits, or “hits,” every month. By 1997, more than 9500 schools had hooked up and SchoolNet was receiving more than 2.5 million hits per month.

To keep visitors coming back, Canadian educators work with the SchoolNet team to create unique services: SchoolNet Digital Connections makes a wealth of previously undiscovered Canadian material available on the Internet. Students who helped create this resource have acquired technical skills for the modern workplace. The National Graduate Register matches the skills of young jobseekers to the needs of Canadian employers. The Special Needs Education Network provides Internet services for parents, teachers, and other professionals, individuals, groups, and organizations involved in educating students with special needs.

As SchoolNet evolved, many individual schools were taking their first tentative steps into computer- and Internet-based learning. The teachers at these schools used SchoolNet’s resources and explored the network to establish contacts with other teachers who had already been down the same road. Today, some schools that began just a few years ago with a single computer and a modem are now major contributors to SchoolNet’s cutting-edge programs. These pioneers are ultimately what makes SchoolNet work.

For example, students at Leo Ussak Elementary School in Rankin Inlet are helping shape the future government of the new territory of Nunavut through an interactive Web site. Students at École secondaire de Casselman in Ontario, Cégep de l’érablière and Parc de la Montagne Elementary School in west Québec are working with counterparts in France to create on-line resources to promote their communities. Similar projects have sprung up from coast to coast.
 

Student from Lisgar Collegiate in Ottawa participating in a national video conference at the SchoolNet/Stentor partnership announcement event in March 1996. [Photo, courtesy Industry Canada]

While teachers and students were eagerly grasping the opportunities created by SchoolNet, a revolution was happening down the street at the local library. Librarians saw the Internet as a natural place for information handling. At the same time, libraries have been providing new services that help communities and local economies to grow. The Internet provided libraries with the opportunity to increase the scope of these activities. In April 1996, LibraryNet was set up after extensive consultation with selected members of Canada’s library community. To date, more than 1200 libraries have been connected.

Schools and libraries got considerable outside help from community-minded organizations in their efforts to get connected. Colleges and universities reached out to provide assistance through programs such as Notemakers, a SchoolNet initiative to develop and distribute online versions of courses from postsecondary institutions. The telecommunications industry helped with pilot projects for SchoolNet and donated equipment and services. Stentor provided free use of the satellite channels needed to make high-speed links to First Nations schools.

There are four main thrusts to SchoolNet and LibraryNet. Connectivity: SchoolNet has set a goal to connect all of Canada’s 16,500 schools and 3400 public libraries to the Internet by the end of 1998. Content: SchoolNet has helped create Canadian educational materials for the Internet by empowering teachers and students to put their ideas for Internet-based education into practice. For example, GrassRoots, a compilation of Internet-based educational projects created by Canadian educators, is available on SchoolNet. Competencies: Information technology not only is a valuable tool for teachers and students but also is becoming as important to Canadians as the telephone and automobile. SchoolNet provides a facility for young learners to acquire skills and confidence with the electronic information-handling tools that will be a part of their working lives. Research: With the advent of new technology, learning is now learner- and community-centred rather than teacher-centred. SchoolNet is playing an important role in bringing these changes to education by supporting and promoting research into new ways of learning and teaching.

Many other countries have embraced this approach and are modelling their efforts on Canada’s example. SchoolNet’s Office of International Partnerships has responded by providing foreign countries with access to Canadian expertise in developing and applying information technology for learning. More than 20 countries have expressed keen interest in collaborating with SchoolNet.

The vision behind SchoolNet is a sweeping one. Starting small, with users from schools, towns, cities, and regions across the country, it is the collaboration of these users, along with provincial, territorial, and federal governments, that has made SchoolNet an exciting and powerful educational resource.

Staff