Dr. Tony Bates is a private consultant specializing in e-learning in higher education. His blog (http://tonybates.ca) on resources for e-learning receives over 10,000 hits a month. Between 1995 and 2003, he was Director of Distance Education and Technology at the University of British Columbia, and Executive Director, Strategic Planning, at the Open Learning Agency, Vancouver from 2000-2005. Before that he was Professor of Educational Media Research at the British Open University. He is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Advisory Council on Technology and Education. He has written nine books on distance education and learning technologies, and consulted in over 35 countries. Clients include the World Bank, OECD, UNESCO, Ministries of Education in several countries, state higher education commissions in the USA, Volkswagen AutoUni, the Open Universities of Catalonia and Portugal, the government of Alberta, and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.