A private historical past: 26. The right way to be an unbiased guide in on-line and digital studying

I’m writing an autobiography, primarily for my household, however it does cowl some key moments within the growth of open and on-line studying. I believed I’d share these as there appears to be a rising curiosity within the historical past of academic expertise.

Notice that these posts are NOT meant to be deeply researched historic accounts, however how I noticed and encountered developments in my private life. In the event you have been round on the time of those developments and wish to provide feedback or a special view, please use the remark field on the finish of every put up. (There’s already a dialog monitor on my LinkedIn website and on X). A full checklist of the posts thus far shall be discovered towards the top of this put up.

Turning into an unbiased guide

As a result of the Canadian tax system is a lot extra advanced and completely different from that of the UK, I had at all times paid an accountant to assist with my private tax returns. By 2001, I had beginning doing a lot consultancy work, primarily on behalf of UBC, however sometimes independently, that my accountant steered that I ought to arrange a separate enterprise account for unbiased extra-curricular consultancy work, in order that there was a transparent separation from UBC and personal work, and no battle of curiosity.

I mentioned this with the senior administration at UBC and so they directed me to one of many college’s legal professionals, who helped me craft two ‘template’ contracts for exterior shoppers, one for a contract to be achieved by means of UBC, and one for me as a non-public contractor. The lawyer additionally gave me clear tips on avoiding conflicts of curiosity with the college.

The college was fairly beneficiant. So long as the shopper instantly requested me (and never the college) to do the work, and so long as the work wouldn’t contain anybody else on the college, and would value the college nothing, I used to be free to take the contract. Generally, due to my work load, I used to be typically more than pleased for UBC to be the guide, with the cash besides bills going instantly into the Distance Schooling and Know-how unit. This meant I might get assist from my administrator with journey preparations, invoicing and accounting of the tasks, and typically get others within the unit to do the precise work.

Often, although, a shopper would ask particularly for me to do the work. In that case it must be both taken as trip or from my sabbatical allowance, and I must get permission from the AVP Persevering with Research to do it as a non-public contract. Additionally, I used to be allowed to simply accept cost of a charge and bills for talking at tutorial conferences or operating brief workshops, and from 2001 onward I paid these by means of Tony Bates Associates, so far as doable.

Situations for achievement

No battle of curiosity

As much as 2003, this separation between myself and the college labored nicely. Aside from convention keynotes and workshops, a lot of the contracts have been with the college, however another extra-curricular work was managed by means of my enterprise account. Nevertheless, at first of 2003, I used to be requested to retire from UBC on the finish of the yr. I had no intention to cease work although so I began letting my many contacts all through Canada and worldwide know that I used to be open to personal consulting.The provides poured in, for a lot of causes.

Demand (proper place, proper time, proper subject)

On-line studying was a ‘scorching’ subject in 2003. There had been a dot-com growth and bust in 2001. Many universities had jumped into on-line studying and had been badly burned, however nonetheless, on-line studying was catching on, particularly in campus-based universities and schools, and establishments who had achieved little distance schooling wanted assist in planning and managing on-line studying or e-learning, because it was then referred to as. At the moment, there have been nearly no business on-line program administration firms (OPMs), who didn’t emerge till round 2010.

Expertise and identify recognition

I had printed 5 books within the earlier eight years:

1995: Know-how, Open Studying and Distance Schooling London/New York: Routledge (winner of the UCEA Charles A. Wedemeyer award for the very best e book on distance schooling in 1995; additionally printed in Korean (1997), by the Korean Nationwide Open College Press; and printed in Spanish (1999) by Trillas, Mexico

2000: Managing Technological Change: Methods for School and College Leaders San Francisco: Jossey Bass; printed in Spanish (2001) by Gedisa, Spain

2001: (ed.) (with Epper, R.) Instructing School The right way to Use Know-how: Finest Practices from Main Establishments Westport, CT: American Council on Schooling: Oryx

2002: Nationwide Methods for E-Studying Paris: Worldwide Institute for Academic Planning

2003: (with Poole, G.) Efficient Instructing with Know-how in Greater Schooling: Foundations for Success San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Additionally, within the two years 2022 and 2023, I gave a complete of 27 keynotes in 13 completely different nations, so I used to be fairly well-known inside the on-line and distance schooling communities.

Private networks

In 2002, I used to be invited to take part in a workshop on the Universidad de Guadalajara, the second largest state college in Mexico. They’d additionally employed two different consultants, Paco Rubio, a Vice-Rector on the Open College of Catalonia in Spain, and Atsusi Hirumi, a professor of educational design and expertise on the College of Central Florida. At this workshop I additionally met for the primary time Patricia Rosas and Bibiana Urrea, who have been specialists in on-line studying on the Universidad de Guadalajara. These 4 turned through the years nice pals and colleagues, and directed a variety of consultancy work in my route.

The notification in January 2003 that UBC would not be needing my providers opened up a variety of alternatives. Specifically, on the Guadalajara workshop, Pacio Rubio had already invited me to turn out to be a part-time visiting professor and advisor on on-line studying on the Open College of Catalonia.

From 2003, I used to be in a position to spend roughly three months a yr in residence in Barcelona. Additionally, I used to be approached in 2003 by the Croatian Tutorial and Analysis Community (CARNET) to help within the institution of a college coaching program in e-learning for Croatian universities, which resulted in a number of visits to Croatia, typically with Jeff Miller and different colleagues from UBC.

I additionally received brief contracts in 2003 from UNESCO, the World Financial institution, OECD and the Commonwealth of Studying for workshops of their headquarters in Paris, Washington D.C. and Vancouver.

In 2004, because of a advice from my UBC colleague, Mark Bullen, I obtained a significant contract from the Southern Alberta Institute of Know-how in Calgary to develop a strategic plan for e-learning.

In 2004 I used to be additionally invited by Volkswagen in Germany to be a member of their Scientific Board for its AutoUni, an in-house coaching system for his or her employees.

I used to be additionally employed by ETH, a significant technological college in Switzerland, to be on their crew evaluating their World Program.

And at last, by means of and with my good pal Jean Watters, I spent a while between 2004 up till 2010 advising Faculté St-Jean, the College of Alberta’s francophone program, on its on-line and distance schooling actions.

So there was no scarcity of labor for me after I left UBC and this continued for one more 20 years till 2023, after I determined to cease all consultancy work.

Recommendation on being an unbiased guide

(Notice: this is applicable solely to Canada. Different jurisdictions may have completely different necessities).

Rent a superb accountant and monitor very rigorously your revenues and bills. In the event you earn greater than $10,000 a yr from the enterprise, it is smart to register as a company. Your accountant will advise you on whether or not to include or not. (Incorporation is straightforward – you register with the province. Your accountant will let you know how). The Canada Income Company although doesn’t make it straightforward to run a small personal enterprise. I’ve no objection to paying taxes on my consultancy earnings, however the company tax system will not be easy or easy, notably when it comes to what you may cost as bills. When you have a shopper in Canada, you have to to cost HST/GST, and this can range, relying on which province your shopper is situated. You might be accountable for accumulating HST/GST then sending it to the CRA. In the event you pay your self (as a person) dividends/revenue from the company account you’ll be required to pay private earnings tax on a portion of this, though some dividends are tax free as a result of company tax paid. (After 20 years, I nonetheless don’t totally perceive this side of company tax regulation.)
Watch out for battle of curiosity. That is an ever-present problem to a non-public guide. First, the CRA may be very suspicious of full-time lecturers establishing a non-public enterprise, particularly for lecture charges (they see it as a part of your private earnings). It’s best to attend till you could have left your employer earlier than incorporating a consultancy enterprise. The CRA will tax you as a person in the event that they imagine you’re working for just one shopper, even in case you have left your college or school, so watch out. Once more, that is why you want a superb accountant. Aside from avoiding working as a guide when nonetheless employed by a college or school, it is advisable to deal with what you be taught out of your shopper as strictly confidential. You shouldn’t as an illustration, inform one shopper what are the methods or actions of one other shopper, at the very least with out written permission. This may trigger issues when you want to publish the outcomes, in, as an illustration, a tutorial article.
Generally aside from lectures or workshops, get a contract signed by the shopper. (If you wish to publish ultimately the outcomes of your work, put this within the contract). Get a superb company lawyer to draft a boilerplate contract, so you aren’t responsible for damages, as an illustration. Some shoppers will need you to have insurance coverage towards accidents to you or others on their work websites. This may be costly and pointless, particularly if you’re working off website more often than not. Typically the shopper would require you to signal their contract template. Learn it rigorously and if in any doubt, seek the advice of your lawyer first. Be sure that not solely the quantity however the methodology of cost is evident, separating charge from bills (except you’re glad to be paid money in native currencies – not advisable, been there achieved that).
Don’t scrimp on the prices of accountancy or authorized recommendation, so be certain you may earn sufficient as a guide to hold these and different overheads.
In the event you settle for a contract, see it by means of, however don’t be afraid to say no within the first place. This may very well be for a lot of causes (every of those has utilized to me at a while):

it will be too harmful due to lawlessness or political uncertainty (I’ve labored in China, Iran and Afghanistan prior to now, however I’d hesitate now); if you’re going someplace that isn’t protected, be certain your hosts can take care of you and hold you protected;
you’re already over-committed; don’t tackle an excessive amount of
you aren’t certified or within the particular job you’re being requested to do,
you can not presumably work with or belief the person who needs to rent you or you’re sad concerning the ethics/fame of the shopper organisation;
your accomplice is fed up along with your being away on a regular basis (if that’s the case, attempt to take them with you, in any other case don’t argue, it’s not price it)

I’m positive there are different pitfalls -I’d like to listen to from different consultants on this. (Please use the remark field on the VERY BOTTOM of this net web page)

In conclusion

Nevertheless, total, I totally loved being a non-public guide. Initially, I favored the liberty to select and select what work I did. I met numerous nice individuals and visited fascinating locations. I discovered greater than my shoppers from the method, and in almost all circumstances, my shoppers have been nice to work with. Usually, the experience I used to be bringing was already accessible in-house (as an illustration, within the Centre for Instructing and Studying), however no-one was listening. As a guide, your voice will be the power for change for the higher.

I’m now winding down my firm however that’s one other story.

Up subsequent

I’m going to cowl my time in Guadalajara educating their Masters in e-Studying, after which my time as a visiting professor on the Open College of Catalonia, specializing in the dynamics of open and on-line studying in numerous nations