About the Ontario eLearning Consortium | Ontario eLearning Consortium

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About Us

The Ontario eLearning Consortium (OeLC)

The OeLC (Ontario eLearning Consortium) is a grassroots partnership of Ontario School Boards that began 2005.

The OeLC is comprised of a collective of Ontario School Boards, each of which has entered into mutual agreement to open their eLearning courses to all students throughout member boards without a course fee. Currently, the Consortium supports 55 member boards (28 Public and 27 Catholic) representing students who reside in both metropolitan and rural areas throughout Ontario.

With the support of an Executive Director, Technical Director, Program Coordinator, Technical Support & Program Facilitator, and the Executive Committee (selected from amongst its member Boards), the OeLC works together to:

  • increase eLearning opportunities for students;
  • share and co-develop best practices, procedures, workflows, resources, and tools;
  • support eLearning staff and administration through professional development and consultation;
  • enhance the quality and efficiency of eLearning programs; and,
  • support quality assurance.

The OeLC shares a registration / communication / tracking / reporting system, known as PRISM, to which all member boards and their respective staff involved in eLearning programming (e.g., administrators, managers, coordinators, and teachers) and student registration (e.g., registrars and guidance counsellors) have access.

The Team

Jon Procter

Executive Director

execdir@oelc.ca
Office hours 8-6

Responsibilities: Day to day management, Vision and target setting, reporting to Exec and Directors, Partners and Ministry

  • Graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University B.Ed (Hons’), and completed his M.Sc in Information Systems (specialising in Educational implementations of IT).
  • Involved in eLearning since 1996 and (2005-2008) led Cheshire LEA in their roll out of the Uniservity VLE and implementation within the classroom. Presented at Northwest Grid for Learning and BETT.
  • An immigrant. He and his family came to Canada in 2007. Jon worked with the GECDSB as a teacher, VP and Principal. Maintained heavy involvement in eLearning and became Vice Chair of the OeLC in 2016 and then Chair in 2020.
  • Jon recognizes the benefits of our consortium and how it positively impacts our students and benefits eLearning within our Province.
  • Jon and his Wife, Amanda, are proud parents to Amie and Jay along with their Great Dane Alfie.

Todd Pottle

Technical Director

tech@oelc.ca
Office hours 8-5

Responsibilities: Technical, software and developer liaison, professional learning, Privacy Officer and CIO, Exec Director coverage

  • Todd has been in education as a teacher, consultant, and administrator for over 30 years..
  • He was seconded to the OeLC in 2015, serving as the Executive Director and now as Technical Director. During this time, Todd oversaw the growth of the OeLC from 17 to 50 Ontario School Boards, the advent of the bi-annual BOLTT Conferences and VOLTT Webinar Series, the development and deployment of the Consortium’s new registration and reporting system (Prism), technical and procedural changes necessitated by the pandemic, and, most recently, preparations for supporting Boards in the implementation of PPM167. Todd also serves as the Team Lead for the Ontario Principals’ Council (OPC) Teaching and Learning Through eLearning (TLTE) program, an AQ Instructor for Queen’s University’s TLTE program, and a member of CANeLearn’s Board of Directors.
  • Previously, Todd was a High School Administrator and the Administrator Responsible for eLearning and, prior to that, a District eLearning Coordinator (DELC) and Instructional Technologies Consultant.
  • On a personal note, Todd and his wife, Kim, have four children, ages 16 to 23… As a family, they enjoy numerous outdoor activities and sports together as well as travelling back to their home province of Newfoundland each summer to visit family.

Lisa Bruce

Program Coordinator

program@oelc.ca
Office hours 8-5

Responsibilities: Field ops and meetings; Pedagogy, Professional Development and Learning, Research

  • Lisa has worked in education for almost 25 years, 17 of which have been immersed in and leading eLearning and tech-enabled learning with the Avon Maitland DSB. She has worked as an Administrator for eLearning and Remote Learning as well as Guidance Counselor and Program Coordinator for AMDEC (Avon Maitland District eLearning Centre).  During this time, she also held positions as the eLC/TELT and DeLC. In addition, Lisa has recently become a member of CANeLearn’s Board of Directors.
  • Lisa is extremely passionate about and a strong advocate for technology enabled learning and teaching. In particular, she is keenly interested in effective online assessment practices, incorporating UDL and DI in eLearning courses, equity, inclusion, and culturally responsive pedagogy, and precision and personalization in eLearning.
  • Outside of work, Lisa enjoys travelling, gardening, sports and fitness, and long walks in the woods and/or on the beach near her house. Lisa and her husband have two wonderful children – a son who lives in BC and a daughter who lives in Toronto.

Brian Chen

Tech Support and Program Facilitator

support@oelc.ca
Office hours 9:30-6:30

Responsibilities: Help desk, professional learning, software support, Privacy coordinator, Faith based education advisor, Tech director coverage

  • Brian is an educator seconded from the Durham Catholic District School Board. He taught high school business for ten years before joining the private eLearning sector as a Business Curriculum Manager. From there, he returned to his school board in the capacity as a Technology Enabled Learning and Teaching Consultant in the Academic Services department. Brian has also worked as a Web Developer/Architect and programmer.
  • Brian enjoys gaming with his two sons, Jake and Max; coding; learning; playing all kinds of sports; and balloon twisting. His current pedagogical interests include gradeless classrooms, culturally responsive and relevant pedagogy, co-creation of success criteria in online courses, and moving students from engagement to empowerment.

Upper Canada DSB Vignette Appears in State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada

http://k12sotn.ca/on/elearning-at-the-upper-canada-district-school-board-supported-by-the-ontario-elearning-consortium/

The vignette provides a testimony to the effectiveness of the consortium as the UCDSB has tripled their e-learning offerings and expanded to offer a Continuing Education program as well. They did this while addressing geographical and technological challenges. By joining the consortium, the UCDSB not only expanded its course offerings, but improved networking, collaboration, and professional learning opportunities for teachers.