Some Questions about Costs
It is a good idea to begin with basic questions such as, "what does this cost and "who is paying for it?" Further questions can explore costs in terms of values:

• What is the purpose of this investment? To provide better access, more successful learning outcomes (and how do we define success), or to achieve some other goal?
  
  
• What is the value returned for the expenditure?
  
  
• How can it be demonstrated that educational technologies are achieving the intended goals; for example that they provide better access than the alternatives?
  
  
• How can we be assured that the costs of the new learning technologies are "worth it," and can there be an agreed set of values to measure this worth?
  
  
• Are the costs of new technologies justified in terms of specific segments of the population who have previously been underserved?
  
  
• Is the investment in new technologies the best use of funds? For example, in comparison to subsidizing child care so that women can more readily participate in education and training?

Endnotes to Section Three

1. H. Menzies, Whose Brave New World: The Information Highway and the New Economy, Between the Lines, 1996, p.8.
   
   
2. R. Bernier, "Distance Education: Beyond Correspondence Courses," Canadian Social Trends, Spring 1996, p.22.
   
   
3. This issue was debated at the 1992 conference of the Canadian Association of University Continuing Education and prompted intense responses on both sides. A summary of this debate is carried in a theme issue of the Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education, Vol. XVIII, No.2, Fall, 1992.
   
   
4. For example, Eric Newell (President of Syncrude), "Business and Education working together to create the system we need," presentation to the Conference Board of Canada's 5th National Conference on Business and Educational Collaboration, 1994.
   
   
5. British Columbia's Electronic Highway, Ministry of Government Services, 1995, p.1 ; and (for information on New Brunswick) Distance Education and Open Learning: A Report, Council of Ministers of Education Occasional Paper #1, 1995, p.8.
   
   
6. Distance Education and Open Learning: A Report, p.2, quoted from a Stentor press release, April 5,1994.
   
   
7. CANARIE information kit, Jan. 1994.
   
   
8. CMEC, cites Maritime Tel and Tel's estimates, p.38.
   
   
9. Those interested in more details about the cost of various technologies for learning should refer to A.W. Bates, Technology, Open Learning and Distance Education, Routledge, 1995.
   
   
10. The Information Highway and Canadian Education: Discussion of Issues and Policy Recommendations, prepared on behalf of the Canadian Educational Network Coalition, the SchoolNet Advisory Board, and the Stentor Alliance, March, 1995; and CRTC Decision 96-9, Sept. 27,1996.
    
    
11. A.W. Bates, p.39.
    
    
12. "Responding to the Information Highway," presented to the Working Group on Learning and Training, Information Highway Advisory Council, by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges, Jan. 1995, p.6.
    
    
13. A.W. Bates, p.179.
    
    
14. William F. Birdsall, "The Internet and the Ideology of Information Technology," paper presented at INET, 1996.