Member Spotlight: Dr. Tony Bates

February 2020

Tony Bates is currently a Senior Advisor at the Chang School of Continuing Education, Ryerson University. He is also a Research Associate at Contact North|Contact Nord, and a Board member of the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association (CDLRA). He has almost 50 years experience in using technology for teaching, starting in 1969, at the British Open University, where he became a full professor in educational media research.

In 1989, he emigrated to Canada, to take the position of Executive Director, Strategic Planning and Information Technology at the Open Learning Agency, Vancouver. In 1995 he moved to the University of British Columbia, to become Director of Distance Education and Technology.

On retirement from UBC in 2003, he started his own consulting company, specializing in the planning and management of learning technologies in post-secondary education. He has worked as a consultant in over 40 countries.  He has received honorary degrees from six universities for his research in distance education.

He is the author of twelve books on learning technology, online learning and distance education, including his latest online, open textbook for faculty and instructors, ‘Teaching in a Digital Age’. The book, first published in April 2015, has been downloaded over 500,000 times and is translated into ten languages.

Web site: Online Learning and Distance Education Resources
e-mail: tony.bates@ubc.ca; tonybates@ryerson.ca