During the two years, 1995 and 1996, I served as a member of two federal task forces examining the future of the new digital technologies. Their focus at the time was on e-commerce and community development.
I was told continuously of the nature of what they called the real Canada as you get away from the huge cities and into the under-populated small communities of the north where there were shortages of medical specialists and specialists of all kinds.
And where everything was so costly because of distances and the costs of distribution.
Even at a time when the technology was new, we were trying to envisage what it would be like to buy goods and services using your computer rather than shopping at your local shopping mall.
My head ran into another direction. Could the web be used to deliver instructional material like training courses? And if so, what would that mean for local colleges that deliver content designed to upgrade professionals like accountants, insurance agents, and other trade groups.
I started practicing on the concept of online learning with my nephew Michael and when we thought we have a viable Idea, I brought Jim Rapino of Confederation College and my brother Peter and his wife Polly into a new venture we called the Learning Institute for Small and Medium Enterprises. That was in 1998.
Well talk about learning-by-doing. It was only two years later that we realized we would never be able to meet the diverse needs of the business community unless we controlled our own platform or Learning Management System and our own content. 
We saw the need to raise $2 million to fund our platform and content and so we converted our not-for-profit Learning Institute into a for-profit venture which we called Vubiz Ltd. And Vubiz stands for Virtual University for Business.
Our first clients were the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Certified Management Accountants association.
What I had found interesting and different about small business development in Asia and Europe over the years was the close collaboration between business and government, something you never really saw anywhere in North America. It was government-sponsored this and government-sponsored that.
If MITI, the powerful development ministry of the government of Japan, organized courses, contests, conferences or exhibits of any kind everyone participated. It was just part of their culture.
Yes, Japan has a very productive small business community and it has all to do with their system of learning and training.
My thinking was that the introduction of online learning in North America would be sponsored by trade and business associations and participation would be voluntary and at very low cost. And that is what is happening today.
And gradually this technology is making small firms more productive, with most of the focus on the training of employees.
And as the online technology evolves, the quality gets better and better.
During my teaching years at Ryerson in the 1960s, I taught a business management course to professional engineers. It was an efficient use of resources using university facilities during the evening hours.
But now that kind of course can be picked up on-line at a very low cost. And the quality is better than ever.
My daughter is taking a degree in fine arts and works collaboratively online with her professors and fellow students. It is a new world.
It is not only economical but can be taken at the student’s time and not the teacher’s time. And it is not unusual to be working with a student located on the other side of the world.
Now if you study the web-site of Vubiz Ltd., you can see the wide nature of its business clients and the equally wide nature of its content.
Apparently about 75% of the training business receives today is through on-line learning and not bricks and mortar.
Yes, I believe in “edumacation”.