A Dissemination Strategy for the Management of Knowledge in Rural Communities

Abstract

Schools in rural communities of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador have been reorganized in the last decade. Because of rural to urban migration and the consequent challenge to the continued existence of many small schools, new academically and administratively open structures have been established within an Internet-based environment. Accordingly, traditional closed, autonomous schools in this province have increasingly become open sites within Internet-linked teaching and learning environments. What began as a research project linking eight schools in a single Digital Intranet has been extended to include schools across the province managed by a recently established branch of the Department of Education of Newfoundland and Labrador—the Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation. This chapter provides an outline of how information and communication technologies have been used to reshape education in a predominantly rural Canadian province, thereby preparing people for participation in the emerging knowledge-based economy.