History of TRU-OL

In April 2005, the British Columbia Open University (BCOU) transformed into the Open Learning Division of the newly created TRU, formerly the University College of the Cariboo, but Open Learning’s legacy actually began in 1978. It was in this year, that the provincial government founded the Open Learning Institute (OLI), a non-profit, fully accredited institution. About 10 years later the OLI combined with BC’s educational television broadcaster, the Knowledge Network, to form the Open Learning Agency (OLA) of which the BCOU was a Division. It was under the OLA, when Open Learning was known as the BCOU, that televised lectures served as the continuing education type of academic offering for the Agency. The lectures were intended to spark conversation and encourage audiences to read a related book. Unfortunately, the medium’s inherent lack of interaction made the lectures increasingly obsolete, particularly with the onset of Internet, and eventually they were abandoned. In 2005, the distance education aspect of the OLA was transferred to Thompson Rivers University. At this point, all programs and courses of the former BCOU became part of TRU under the Open Learning Division.