Ontario Exchange FAQ

Who is eligible to participate in Ontario Exchange?

Ontario Exchange (OEX) is open to universities, publicly-assisted colleges, Indigenous Institutes, businesses, not-for-profit organizations, private career colleges and more. If you have a project that needs virtual learning services, Ontario Exchange is the right place for you to find an expert to help you complete it. OEX functions as a ‘marketplace matchmaker’ by connecting service providers with project leads that require supporting resources identified through a project application.

How much does it cost?

Please view the Ontario Exchange pricing page for a breakdown of costs.

What is a Project Lead?

A project lead is the assigned project manager for the approved Ontario Exchange project. The project lead seeks out support from Ontario Exchange service providers on behalf of their organization.

Project leads are responsible for:

Determining the scope and timeline of the project and managing deliverables
Sending ‘Connections’ and communicating with potential service providers
Selecting final service provider(s)
Managing the relationship with the service provider, including:

Negotiating contracts and/or agreements
Obtaining approvals and informing appropriate signing authorities about contracts obligations and payments to service providers
Communication with the service provider

Submitting progress reports and exit surveys
Submitting open educational resources (OER) to the Open Library at the end of the project
Ensuring subscription fees and project administration fees are paid to eCampusOntario

What is a service provider?

A service provider is the virtual learning expert who provides support to the project lead and their organization.

Service providers on Ontario Exchange have a valid Ontario business number and have successfully gone through the eCampusOntario RFSQ process. They have been evaluated on their professional portfolios and service offering.

It is incumbent upon project leads to determine the suitability of their selected service provider for their project.

What is a member institution?

eCampusOntario is a provincially-funded non-profit organization that leads a consortium of the province’s publicly-funded colleges, universities and Indigenous Institutes to develop and test online learning tools to advance the use of education technology and digital learning environments. These publicly-funded academic institutions are often referred to as ‘member institutions’. For more information, please visit the eCampusOntario ‘About’ page.

How do I sign up to Ontario Exchange?

Go to exchange.ecampusontario.ca and click ‘Sign up’.

If you are initiating a project on behalf of your organization, complete the fields with your contact information, and then select at least one role: service provider or project lead. Once you sign up and pay any subscription fees associated with your account you can start creating or accepting projects.

If you are a service provider, you must become a qualified service provider, you may do this by going through the Request for Supplier Qualification (RFSQ) process. eCampusOntario will periodically post an OEX RFSQ. This is to invite potential service providers, including companies, experienced freelancers and academic service providers to apply for an Ontario Exchange services contract with eCampusOntario. Sign up for our mailing list to be notified when RFSQ are posted. RFSQ will be announced by Ontario Exchange on our website.

What is an educator?

At eCampusOntario, we refer to educators as persons who provide education or instruction, particularly those within post-secondary institutions. On Ontario Exchange, we also use the word educator to refer to anyone who leads a virtual learning project. This word may be used interchangeably with project lead.

What should I do if I need to terminate or cancel my project before completion?

Please inform Ontario Exchange by contacting exchange@ecampusontario.ca with your project ID and details about the cancellation. We will then communicate with you next steps based on the information provided.

What is Progress Reporting?

Progress reporting is a way for Ontario Exchange to get an update on your project and ensure that there are no issues. We will ask for status updates on the deliverables that were included in your project application. Please use one of the following categories when providing updates:

On Track – This category describes key deliverables in which most elements are on-time, with no major risks on the horizon.
Delayed – This category describes key deliverables that are currently experiencing timeline/deliverable delays or are expecting at-risk elements to create delays. Please elaborate in the Comments section.
Complete – This category describes key deliverables that have been completed during this reporting period.
Not started – This category describes key deliverables that have not been started yet.

What is the evaluation process for project applications?

After your project application is submitted, the OEX team will take the time to review your submission. We will ensure that all the mandatory questions are answered in full, and that the application has a well defined scope with potential to find a match on the OEX platform.

How can I get more engagement as a service provider?

If you are having trouble getting engagement as a service provider, we recommend that you first update your profile. Ensure you have as many examples of your work as possible and keep all your skills up to date, as this will help users to see the full breadth of your work.

What is your refund policy?

Subscription Fees: Our subscription fees are non-refundable. If you wish to cancel your subscription after the subscription period ends, you must reach out to exchange@ecampusontario.ca before the end of your subscription period (6 months for monthly subscription plans or 1 year for annual subscription plans).

Administration Fees: Like the subscription fee, the administration fee is non-refundable. However, if you are unable to find a match for your project after 6 months of submitting it through OEX (i.e. sending connection requests and communicating with service providers), we can refund your administration fee upon request.

To request a refund: To initiate the refund process, please send an email to exchange@ecampusontario.ca. Ensure that your email includes your full name, your project ID, the reason for the refund, and the original invoice number. Subsequently, we will respond to you via email with further details.

What type of payment do you accept?

Our preferred payment for all fees is Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT). If you need accommodation for an alternative form of payment, please contact exchange@ecampusontario.ca for more information.

What happens if I cannot find a match on Ontario Exchange?

If you are having trouble finding a match on Ontario Exchange please reach out to exchange@ecampusontario.ca and we will do our best to try to find a service provider that matches your project.

What happens if I want to cancel my subscription to Ontario Exchange?

If you want to cancel your subscription to Ontario Exchange, you must inform us you wish to do so via email at exchange@ecampusontario.ca before your subscription expires.

What is the difference between the Service Provider Support (SPS) and Project Management and Service Provider Support (PMSPS) project types?

The Service Provider Support (SPS) project type is for applicants who will act as the project lead on the project, have their own funding and would like to be matched with a virtual learning service provider.

The Project Management and Service Provider Support (PMSPS) project type is for organizations that have their own funding and would like to collaborate with eCampusOntario to produce a virtual learning project. eCampusOntario will help you define your project scope and recruit a member institution to facilitate the creation of your virtual learning resource by acting as project lead for the project.

Example for SPS: You’re creating an online course from a textbook and need multimedia development and content editing skills to help you complete your final modules. This stream will connect you with a service provider who can give you the support you need.

Example for PMSPS: You’re a non-academic organization and you would like to create a virtual learning resource. This stream will provide you with the project management support to find the service provider to help you create your resource and the eCampusOntario member institution to lead the project.

What should I do if I need to make any changes to my original project scope/budget/timeline?

For Service Provider Support projects: Your next steps will be to complete a CSA Amendment form (which can be submitted with your progress report on the OEX portal). If it is outside of the progress reporting window, please contact exchange@ecampusontario.ca with your project ID and details about your project. The CSA Amendment form can be found on the OEX Documents page.

For Project Management and Service Provider Support projects: Your next steps will be to complete a CSA Amendment form (which can be submitted with your progress report on the OEX portal or via email to exchange@ecampusontario.ca).

Glossary of Terms

Term	Description
CSA	Client-Supplier Agreement. A CSA is signed between the project lead and the selected service provider for the project. The CSA outlines the project scope, timelines and budget which both parties agree to.
Connections	Connections are like tokens that enable project leads to connect with a service provider. Connections are present in all project types and are used when a project lead would like to express interest in a service provider, usually leading to discussing the details of a project. When a connection is sent, the information in the project application will be sent to the service provider.
eCO	eCampusOntario – is a provincially-funded non-profit organization that leads a consortium of the province’s publicly-funded colleges, universities and Indigenous Institutes to develop and test online learning tools to advance the use of education technology and digital learning environments.
Educator	An educator can come from a university, a publicly assisted college, an Indigenous Institute, an organization or business, a not-for-profit organization, etc. Anyone that wants to create a virtual learning project can be considered an educator, on our portal they are also referred to as the project lead.
HEI	Higher Education Institution – see PSI description
Member Institution	The Ontario Colleges, Indigenous Institutes, and Universities that are members of eCampusOntario. To view a list of eCampusOntario members, please visit the ‘Members’ section of the eCampusOntario ‘About’ page.
OER	Open Educational Resource – these are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license. To learn more, you can visit https://www.ecampusontario.ca/open-education-resources/
OEX	Ontario Exchange – is a matchmaking platform connecting Ontario postsecondary institutions and organizations with professionals in the virtual learning industry. May also be referred to as the ‘platform’ or ‘portal’.
Project Lead	The project lead is the individual who is leading the project within Ontario Exchange. They will be the main point of contact with the service provider chosen for their project.
PSI	Post-Secondary Institution, this includes Ontario Colleges, Indigenous Institutes, and Universities that are members of eCampusOntario.
PSE	Post-Secondary Education (i.e., sector)
RFSQ	Request for Supplier Qualification. Process in which service providers apply to become qualified as Vendors of Record with eCampusOntario.
Service Provider	Freelancers, companies, and academic institutions that create profiles on Ontario Exchange, offering their services to create digital-by-design educational resources. Service providers must be approved by eCampusOntario through the Request for Supplier Qualification (RFSQ) process. Service providers may also be referred to as suppliers or vendors.
Dashboard	This is the home page that both project leads and service providers will see when they are logged into their OEX accounts.
Project Card	Project cards represent your submitted projects (for project leads) or accepted projects (for service providers) and can be found in your dashboard. Use them to ‘See Matched Service Providers’ or complete certain actions when they are available to you (i.e., progress reporting)
Supplier	See Service Provider description
Vendor	See Service Provider description