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Exploring the Future of Education
Students, faculty, colleges, universities, technologies, employer expectations, job market developments, social needs, funding sources – who knows what the future holds for any of these aspects of post-secondary education. The resources below explore the potential and suggest some positive – and some not-so-positive – possibilities.
June 13, 2025Although many pundits continue to say it can’t be done, AI tutors are being launched in Canada and around the world.
Beyond Books / Disposable Learning Resources
May 14, 2025It’s a fact that AI is capable of producing convincing and often useful text and other content. Yes, there are concerns about the quality, accuracy and even the environmental impact of that content, but there’s no doubt AI can produce it and that it is al
The Misinformation Dilemma and the Role AI Can Play
March 19, 2025Although AI models like ChatGPT have improved in performing basic mathematics, they can still make errors, especially with more complex calculations.
November 18, 2024This article focuses on what will be developed when AI works, and how these developments will influence learning and development.
The Future is Voice: The Days of Websites Are Numbered
June 14, 2024Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the digital landscape, heralding a future in which traditional websites may become obsolete.
Five Ways AI is Challenging the Model of Higher Education
May 21, 2024AI and quantum computing — still several years away in terms of large-scale impact — provide a starting point for transforming how colleges and universities support learning.
The Future of Higher Education in Canada: Framing the Future
May 07, 2024When we look at the future of higher education, key framing questions arise that help shape strategy and the work of our colleges, universities and Indigenous institutes
The Future of Higher Education in Canada: 15 Challenging Issues
March 08, 2024In this post we examine the key issues that must be addressed, focusing attention on the need for a comprehensive rethink of the eco-system.
February 14, 2024One key development in higher education in 2023 was the realization that technologies such as AI and XR immersive experiences can have a major impact on teaching and learning.
10 Reasons to be Optimistic About Higher Education in Canada in 2024
January 08, 2024Higher education in Canada has both strengths and weaknesses. It has developments that bode well for its future. It also has trends that pose risks and uncertainty. Here are 10 reasons to be optimistic this year!
Artificial Intelligence: Nine Major Possibilities for Teaching and Learning
December 11, 2023There are many claims being made that AI will “transform” education, both at the level of compulsory schooling and in higher education.
AI Tutor Pro - The Learn Anything Anywhere Tool
November 22, 2023The idea behind this free-to-use tool is that students can both grow and test their knowledge and understanding of any subject at any time and get instant feedback.
October 30, 2023Whether you’re engaged in an applied or pure research project at an undergraduate or graduate level, some substantial tasks demand a great deal of time and attention.
Navigating a World of Generative AI: Suggestions for Educators
August 15, 2023Understanding the nature of generative AI is crucial for educators to navigate the evolving landscape of teaching and learning.
10 Practical Ways Faculty and Instructors Can Use AI
July 24, 2023Around the world, university and college instructors are concerned about the potential misuse of AI tools by students.
10 Practical Ways Students Can Leverage AI in Their College and University Studies
July 24, 2023Artificial intelligence (AI) is not new. Various forms of AI have been used for more than 20 years. The first version of ChatGPT appeared in 2018.
A Framework for the Deployment of AI in Canada’s Post-Secondary Education System
July 24, 2023AI is not new and will continue to shift and change the landscape of how teaching, learning, assessment, student support services and financial and operational systems work.
Contact North | Contact Nord to Launch Two Unique AI-Powered Tools at OEB 2023
July 24, 2023Contact North I Contact Nord will launch two unique AI tools at this November’s Online Educa Berlin (OEB) 2023 in Berlin, the world’s largest cross-sector conference and exhibition on technology-supported learning.
June 22, 2023Apple Inc.’s new augmented reality device Apple Vision Pro — a powerful spatial computer driven by advanced technologies and Apple’s operating system.
A Snapshot of AI Tools to Create and Curate Content in Higher Education
March 07, 2023We developed a summary of the major tools that colleagues use in course creation, to create social media or blog posts or to curate content. This is not a complete list — there are more than 100 such tools and services.
AI In Higher Education Reminds Us of the Borg Catchphrase from Star Trek: “Resistance Is Futile”
March 07, 2023For those who aren’t familiar with the popular sci-fi series Star Trek, the Borg are a group of cyborgs who aim to achieve perfection through the assimilation of the technologies and knowledge of the other alien species they encounter.
How ChatGPT Can Help Foster Purposeful Learning
March 07, 2023As educators, we seek to engage students in ways that help them find purpose and meaning in their work. ChatGPT can help us support their learning if we use it creatively.
How to Guide Faculty: Navigating the AI Avalanche in Higher Education as an Academic Administrator
March 07, 2023As educators, it’s our job to be curious and to systematically research and test innovation to sort out valid from inept tools. The same applies to the (not so) new AI technology that is taking the world by storm due its easy user interface.
Is ChatGPT Triggering a New or Transformed Pedagogy?
March 07, 2023ChatGPT3 was launched in November 2022 and has sparked a huge amount of investigation and conversation about its potential role in education. From our vantage point of March 2023, what might the impacts on pedagogy be?
Five Steps to Leverage ChatGPT in Your Teaching
March 06, 2023To help you better understand this new tool and how it can be used, here are five steps you can take to become more familiar with ChatGPT.
Seven Major Developments in AI and the Assessment of Learning
March 06, 2023Significant investments have been made in AI assessment tools and development, with US$166 million invested in 2022 alone. More than 15% of EdTech companies are focused on assessment.
February 23, 2023To support program planning and delivery of future services within the post-secondary system, Contact North | Contact Nord surveyed students using its services to imagine how they will learn in 2030.
Looking into the Future of AI in Higher Education
January 18, 2023Let’s explore what’s next for AI in higher education and the issues these developments give rise to.
AI and the future of Teaching and learning
January 18, 2023ChatGPT found images and relevant video materials and developed a quiz to assess learning.
My Five Wishes for Online Learning in 2023
January 03, 2023It’s that time of year to look forward to what a new year might bring, especially in the world of online learning.
A Growing Complex Ecosystem of Learning Choices
December 20, 2022In a city of over a million people in Canada (e.g., Toronto, Montreal Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa-Gatineau), there can be over 3,000 providers of adult learning offering over 30,000 learning experiences each year.
Five Bold Actions for Canada to Strengthen Its Position as an Education Superpower
January 06, 2022Canada leads the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in educational attainment.
Rethinking Learning: The New Learning Hagen Manifesto
December 13, 2021The COVID-19 pandemic revealed a lot about how higher education systems favour some and not others. It also revealed many differences between effective and ineffective online learning, and what it takes to make online learning more engaging.
Imagining Canada as a Learning Superpower in 2022
December 01, 2021As we look toward a new year and the beginning of the end of the pandemic, it is vital to imagine a bold new 2022.
In Pursuit of Equity: Is Online Learning Really the Great Equalizer?
November 09, 2021Post-secondary institutions and policy-makers at all levels tend to see online learning as a response to inequality in education, with the potential to improve access to learning for those who cannot attend campus.
It’s Time We All Use Common Definitions for Key Concepts in Online Learning
September 09, 2021As preparations begin in earnest for a return to campus this fall, more colleges, polytechnics and universities are developing online and blended courses as a way to grow enrolment and meet the need for skills and capability development in a fast-changing
10 Key Actions to Ensure Micro-Credentials Meet the Needs of Learners and Employers
May 20, 2021As colleges and universities start rolling out micro-credentials, 10 key actions must be taken to ensure these credentials meet the needs of both learners and employers.
Micro-Credentials and the Skills Agenda
November 30, 2020Micro-credentials represent a real opportunity to make lifelong learning accessible to all. In this overview, we address 12 fundamental questions about micro-credentials.
Online Learning as a Solution to Ontario’s Literacy Problem
November 13, 2020With the support of Contact North | Contact Nord, five organizations have delivered Ontario’s online Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) “e-Channel” program across the province since 2007.
Greater Flexibility as the New Mantra for Higher Education
September 01, 2020In reviewing the developments of flexible approaches to development, delivery, assessment and accreditation, five forms of flexibility are explored.
Imagine Online Learning in Ontario as an Industry and a Job Creator
June 09, 2020What will it take to accelerate the growth of the EdTech sector in Ontario and see it as a major opportunity for reskilling?
Contact North | Contact Nord’s 10 Predictions for Online Learning in 2020
December 13, 2019Here we boldly explore ten patterns and trends likely to dominate online learning around the world in 2020, and capture them as predictions about the future.
Preparing for a Different Future - Learning in an Age of Disruption
November 07, 2019A number of change forces are reshaping communities, organizations, work and identity.
Tackling Five Major Social and Pedagogical Challenges in Online Learning in Ontario
August 26, 2019As the new academic year starts, let’s continue as a sector to boldly tackle five major social and pedagogical challenges in online learning in Ontario.
Get Ready for 5G - Reshaping Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age
April 24, 2019When fully deployed across Canada, 5G enables us to do all we can do now faster and more reliably, and also support breakthrough technologies in a variety of fields, including health and education.
Contact North | Contact Nord's Top Ten Wish List for Online Learning in 2019
December 07, 2018Offering this list is intended to encourage, challenge, inspire and enable. Let us collectively make 2019 the year of breakthroughs in authentic, engaging and effective online learning and teaching.
Five Key Questions About the State of Online Learning
March 15, 2017Because of new modes of teaching and designs for learning, colleges and universities are also rethinking assessment and developing new delivery tools and resources for learning.
Making Sense of Flexibility as A Defining Element of Online Learning
September 08, 2016Today online technologies have brought further flexibility to post-secondary education on various dimensions.
May 06, 2016Smart colleges and universities (as well as high schools and private colleges) are moving in this direction, seeing it as building in new capacities for access and completion at a lower cost.
How Ten Key Developments Are Shaping the Future of Technology-Enabled Learning
May 04, 2016These are developments which we see as having the potential to impact, in different ways, the strategic plans and actions of colleges and universities around the world.
April 22, 2016What are the plans and strategic intentions of these companies? How disruptive might they be? Will their growth and development change the post-secondary landscape?
A 2016 Look at the Future of Online Learning - Part 2
February 11, 2016What we have outlined here are the inter-related changes most likely to occur within the key components of the system – students, programs, teaching and learning, and policy and government.
A 2016 Look at the Future of Online Learning - Part 1
February 01, 2016It is not technology that drives adoption; it is the institutional strategy, the changing nature of the student population and the decisions of individual instructors and faculty members.
Contact North I Contact Nord’s Top 10 Wish List for Online Learning in 2016
January 04, 2016Rather than resolutions or predictions, we list ten developments we wish for online learning in 2016.
What are the transformative developments in online learning to watch for in 2015?
February 24, 2015The surprising predictions of a select group of world experts and thought leaders in online learning.
Four Big Changes in Online Learning to Watch In 2015
January 28, 2015The four big changes to online learning to watch in 2015.
February 11, 2014Think we have seen a lot of change since 1990? Imagine it’s 2034 – post-secondary education hasn’t seen anything yet.
Online Learning: Three Big Opportunities for Ontario
March 26, 2013What are the major opportunities that online learning offers for Ontario's colleges and universities, the Ontario post-secondary system as whole, and the student population?
Five Fundamental Challenges for Online Learning in Ontario
March 18, 2013There are five major challenges that colleges and universities will need to overcome to position online learning as a core activity of the institution.
