Contact North - History

History

In 1986, Contact North was established by the Ontario government to provide fully bilingual access to courses and programs offered by colleges, universities and high schools to residents of Ontario's northern communities. Contact North remains primarily funded by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

In 1992, through funding from the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, almost every secondary school in Northern Ontario was equipped with Contact North audiographic teleconferencing equipment. This equipment gave all schools electronic access to more than 100 other schools in communities across Northern Ontario and beyond. It also allowed high school students a chance to tour museums, galleries, and other organizations electronically, which the student would not otherwise get a chance to visit. Some of these places include Art Gallery of Ontario, located in Toronto, and the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa.

In 2007, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities announced the launch of a distance education network to provide access to post-secondary education opportunities for residents of small and rural communities across Southern Ontario. The new network was developed to operate under a model similar to Contact North, and Contact North was asked to help in facilitating the startup of the project. Originally called the Eastern and Southern Ontario Distance and Education Network, the new network became elearnnetwork.ca.

In the fall of 2009 Contact North unveiled elearntube.ca as a video-sharing website for partnered colleges and universities to post media.

In the 2010-2011 academic year, Contact North recorded a 16.8% increase in registrations and supported a total of 33,803 registrations in college, university, secondary school, literacy courses and training sessions.

In 2011, Contact North launched two new Ontario wide internet portals – one for educators and trainers and another specifically designed for students.