Ontario government expands access to LinkedIn’s online learning content to entire province

Through this joint effort, postsecondary students will be more prepared for the jobs of the future

TORONTO – May 3, 2018 – For the first time, students at all 44 universities and colleges in Ontario can benefit from online learning courses available on Lynda.com, a LinkedIn company. Through a collaboration between LinkedIn, eCampusOntario and Ontario’s Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development (MAESD) more than one million postsecondary students, faculty and staff in Ontario can now access world-class learning content by Lynda.com.

Lynda.com, a company acquired by LinkedIn, is now part of LinkedIn Learning, and helps anyone learn business, technology and creative skills to achieve personal and professional goals. By combining Lynda.com’s best-in-class content with LinkedIn’s data and insights into how jobs, industries, organizations and skills evolve over time, institutions and individuals in Ontario can better identify the skills they need to create new pathways to opportunity.

This collaboration will:

  • Support faculty development: Provide engaging career development and keep faculty up-to-date with training on the latest IT topics including networking and software development.
  • Enable a more engaging flipped classroom: Modernizing the classroom with Lynda.com will enable faculty to supplement their curriculum with a mapped set of courses and videos that align with learning objectives. By assigning video tutorials and tools training as a prerequisite to classwork or as homework they can reserve class time for concept mastery. This gives students more flexibility to learn on their own time and on any device, which improves learning outcomes.
  • Support teaching and learning: LinkedIn is mapping Lynda.com content to the skills and competencies that are the foundation of course curriculum and supporting faculty in assigning effective content to students. For example, faculty can assign a playlist of Microsoft excel functions to students and apply these skills during in class interactive case studies.
  • Prepare students for the jobs of the future: By constantly updating learning content based on most in demand skills data from LinkedIn’s Economic Graph, which includes more than 560M+ professionals, 14M+ jobs, and 50k+ skills, students can be prepared for the future.

Supporting quotes:

  • “Learning takes all kinds of forms and can happen at any point in someone’s life or career,” said Mitzie Hunter, Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development. “By working in partnership with both eCampusOntario and Lynda.com, we are excited to offer flexible online learning that will build Ontario’s talent advantage and help postsecondary students prepare for successful careers in this changing economy.”
  • “The Ontario government’s mission to provide equal access and training required to build a rewarding career is aligned with our vision of creating economic opportunity for every person in the global workforce”, said Jonathan Lister, Vice President Sales Solutions and Country Manager, LinkedIn. “The government’s commitment to innovating in education and offering students the best of traditional teaching with the flexibility of online learning, will benefit the entire community at large, and help in our efforts to close the skills gap.”
  • “Today’s announcement is very good news for our students and faculty members,” said, Patrick Deane, President and Vice-Chancellor McMaster University. “The expanded access to online learning content is a valuable complement to the high-quality teaching and learning that happens every day in our classrooms, labs and communities.”
  • "We are delighted to see LinkedIn joining together with eCampusOntario to deliver online content that can enhance and expand learning and skills development for more than one million Ontario college and university students," says Dr. Marilyn Herie, Vice President Academic and Chief Learning Officer at Toronto's Centennial College. "LinkedIn's access to a global community of subject experts and working professionals allows students to tap into a world of knowledge to support their individual career goals."

For more information, visit LinkedIn Learning with Lynda.com.

For more on the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development, visit their website.