The Pan-Canadian Digital Learning Survey Project consists of two annual surveys, the Digital Learning Trends Survey (conducted each spring) and the Emerging Technologies Survey (conducted each fall). Prior to 2025, these surveys were simply referred to as the “Spring Survey” and “Fall Survey.”
The universe of interest for the surveys consists of all publicly-funded post-secondary institutions in Canada (73 universities, 85 colleges and polytechnics, 43 CEGEPS). Additionally, the perspectives of individuals from Indigenous Institutes are welcomed and greatly appreciated. Participants can choose to complete the survey in English or in French.
Each year, the CDLRA research team designs the survey instruments in consultation with our members, sponsors, partners, and key experts and leaders in the Canadian post-secondary sector. The CDLRA research team retains full editorial control over the survey instrument. Copies of the survey instruments for each year are available upon request.
The CDLRA has an email list, which serves as the primary means for inviting individuals who work at Canadian post-secondary institutions to participate in a survey. Potential respondents who have opted in to receiving survey invitations, receive an email plus several follow-up reminder emails during the collection phase for each survey. Each email included a link to the online survey form. The emails and the first page of the survey include a link to a Letter of Information with details about the survey and the ethics approval. The outreach emails and survey instruments are identical in both English and French. The survey link is also shared on the CDLRA’s social media channels. The CDLRA’s sponsors and partners often share the survey link with their networks through their email lists and social media channels as well.
Each survey targets multiple individuals at each institution, representing a variety of roles. The findings typically include the perspectives of administrators (e.g., presidents, vice presidents, provosts, deans, and directors), faculty, teaching and learning leaders, instructional designers and educational developers, institutional researchers, library services staff, student support staff, and educational technology specialists.
Past Methods
As the Canadian post-secondary landscape has evolved, so has the survey methodology.
Prior to 2023, the Pan-Canadian Digital Learning Survey Project was called the Canadian National Survey of Online and Digital Learning.
In 2017, Dr. Tony Bates and a team of researchers partnered with Bay View Analytics (formerly Babson Survey Research Group) and the Western Co-operative for Educational Technology (WCET). Together, they launched the first survey, which then became an annual endeavour. Initially, the survey was conducted once per year and tracked changes in online course enrolments, online offerings, learning technologies, and digital strategies. From 2017 to 2019, the research team reached directly out to an identified key contact at each of the 234 publicly funded post-secondary institutions in Canada and asked for only one survey to be completed per institution (often a group of individuals at an institution would work collaboratively to provide the survey responses).
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, online learning became a hot topic in higher education. In response, the CDLRA research team, now being led by Dr. Nicole Johnson, expanded the scope of the research beyond a single, annual National Survey. Throughout 2020, the CDLRA conducted short pulse surveys that were designed to be completed individually by multiple individuals representing different roles within an institution. These surveys, while intended to be a short-term strategy for gaining just-in-time insights about the impact of the pandemic, illustrated the value in providing multiple individuals at institutions the opportunity to anonymously share their personal thoughts and observations. The CDLRA returned to a one-response-per-institution model for one final year in 2021, before deciding to discontinue this strategy and permanently shift to a methodology that captured a wider array of perspectives that represented different roles and departments within institutions. The survey questions asked from 2020 to 2022 focused primarily on the changes taking place with regard to digital learning in response to the pandemic and questions designed to gather longitudinal data were mostly paused during these years.
In 2023, the CDLRA resumed the Pan-Canadian Digital Learning Survey Project with a renewed focus on gathering longitudinal data. From 2024 onward, the CDLRA was able once again to compare year-to-year findings to identify changes over time.