Knowledge House failure leads Nova Scotia government on partner hunt

Nova Scotia’s Department of Education is looking for partners to help continue an online learning program that was unexpectedly shut down a week and a half after it began. The 83-student pilot program, which was to have run two years, had barely got off the ground when its operator, Knowledge House Inc, shut its doors due to a lack of financing (CNM, Sept. 20/01). A department spokesperson told Canadian NEW MEDIA the government doesn’t have the in-house IT financial or technical resources to continue the project, and it is now talking to both public and private sources to try to revive the initiative. At stake is a project first announced last May by the province and Knowledge House officials (CNM, May 17/01). The company was engaged to provide an online learning program for students in grades 11 and 12, with a pilot project this year and final rollout by 2005. Exact terms weren’t disclosed, but revenue for Knowledge House was expected to exceed $9 million over the life of the initiative supplying software to 183 of the province’s schools, with further top-line growth possible by exporting the final product to other educational bodies. The software was intended to teach students in biology, chemistry, math, English and geography, as well as computer studies through a hybrid online/classroom approach that had, at its basis, a collaborative problem-solving focus. Students in the pilot were to work in teams, linked together through voice and text chat, web cameras and file-sharing software. In Nova Scotia, five schools were chosen along with six teachers and 83 students to take part. To date, only the first module of eight has been completed by Knowledge House, with the second about 90 per cent complete. The company was paid $1.2 million for what it had delivered. Robin MacIsaac, director of communications for the province’s department of education, says the remaining components were designed to be completed in "just-in-time" fashion. If the project is to continue at an unspecified date, MacIsaac says at least some of the required expertise exists within the public sector. "The design of the software is done. We certainly would still have to draw on a certain amount of expertise both within the department and within the school system – for example, the teachers that were involved in developing the curriculum for the advanced studies program." Financing the project, however, will be more difficult. "Part of the contract required Knowledge House to secure an additional $6 million in funding from either federal or private sources. Because that $6 million is outstanding – it never was raised – we’re looking now at how we might be able to continue development of the program. Right now, $6 million is a little beyond our reach as a department on our own." MacIsaac says that, despite its experience with recent Internet market turbulence, the government has "absolutely not" soured on online program delivery. "We’re talking with other potential partners like some universities, some non-private sector partners to come up with some funding. Whether or not we’re able to find the expertise and bring it into the department or into one of the other partner organizations to continue the design of the modules? That’s another question. It was an unfortunate situation. We’ve had a couple of IT businesses (in Nova Scotia) get caught in that downturn." For the moment, however, the project is on hold and the students will not be able to continue in the initiative. Most students will be re-integrated into regular classes, though one of the largest groups – 23 kids – at one school have convinced their parents and school authorities to allow them to finish the school year as a group. "They’re extremely disappointed. They were really enjoying the pilot. … (Some of them) have actually decided with their parents, with their teachers and with their principle, that they would stay together as a group and continue on some sort of advanced program themselves."

Knowledge House failure leads Nova Scotia government on partner hunt

Broadcast | October 3, 2001

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