Canada's SchoolNet was a federal educational technology project in partnership with provinces, school boards, non-profit organizations, and the private sector, funded primarily by
Industry Canada
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED; french: Innovation, Sciences et Développement économique Canada; french: ISDE, label=none)''Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal I ...
and developed by Ingenia Communications Corporation to promote the effective use of
information and communications technologies
Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, ...
(ICT) in libraries and schools across the country. Many important early Canadian ICT programs fell under the SchoolNet umbrella, including Computers for Schools, LibraryNet, First Nations SchoolNet, and Canada's Digital Collections. By 1997, SchoolNet brought internet access to all 433 First Nations schools under federal jurisdiction.
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
founder
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
praised the program in the
Edmonton Journal
The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network.
History
The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...
on November 26. 1995, stating that "SchoolNet is the leading program in the world in terms of letting kids get out and use computers."
Notable early projects included the SchoolNet
MOO
A MOO ("MUD, object-oriented") is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users (players) are connected at the same time.
The term MOO is used in two distinct, but related, senses. One is to refer to those programs descend ...
and the Special Needs Education (SNE) network. The MOO was abandoned by Industry Canada in 1998, but a non-profit corporation was set up to continue the site as MOO Canada Eh! From 1999-2001, SchoolNet funded Project Achieve MOO developed at the
Knowledge Media Design Institute at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
. Although acknowledged by executives at Industry Canada as "one of the most successful websites in terms of the level of interest" funding for the SNE was discontinued, and the project moved with its developer Keenan Wellar from Ingenia Communications Corporation to charitable organization LiveWorkPlay in 1997, before the site was discontinued when corporate sponsorship failed to materialize.
The SchoolNet project was active from 1995 to the early 2000s, and the site was taken offline in 2008.
["Digital Literacy in Canada: From Inclusion to Transformation" Media Awareness Network https://mediasmarts.ca/sites/default/files/pdfs/publication-report/full/digitalliteracypaper.pdf]
References
Education in Canada
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