Matthias Sturm has been part of the Avenue story from the beginning. His work with Rob McBride predates the project itself, reaching back to the 2007 Fast Forward report for IRCC’s Ontario region, which explored how online learning technology could support settlement language training. Nearly two decades later, Matthias continues to help Avenue ask a deceptively simple question: how do we know our work is making a difference?
In this Teammate Spotlight interview with Rob McBride, Matthias reflects on the social foundations of learning technology, Avenue’s evolution, the role of evaluation, and what his recently completed doctorate has taught him about technology, language learning and newcomer settlement.
In this spotlight conversation, Rob McBride speaks with Nancy Van Dorp, Avenue Canada’s Distributed Learning Manager and one of the organization’s most experienced learning technologists and e-developers.
You and I were part of the team that researched and wrote the Fast Forward report in 2007. Looking back, do you think its ideas have aged well?
Absolutely. At the time I was the distance learning coordinator at AlphaPlus, working with the precursor of what is now Ontario’s Literacy and Basic Skills e-Channel, and I was also completing my master’s in distance education at the Université du Québec. Those experiences came together in the Fast Forward work.
What still resonates most strongly for me is the focus on social constructivism. The participatory web, what we then called Web 2.0, opened people’s imaginations to what online learning could be. Learning with technology is not simply an individual interacting with a machine. It can be a deeply social way of making meaning, participating in networks and working toward personal goals.
How does that idea shape your own vision of technology in settlement language training?
I think the social dimension is fundamental. A network approach can be especially important for newcomer settlement, and educators are central to making it work. They are the conduits who help ensure that learning with technology remains human-centred. I explored this further in my doctoral work, looking at how adult learners, educators and programs can come together around technology in ways that support both learning and settlement.
What does your role as Avenue Canada’s Lead Evaluator & Researcher involve today?
Almost anything related to evaluation and research can land on my desk. That ranges from the quality-assurance surveys educators complete after Avenue training stages to broader surveys about the use of Avenue resources and services. From time to time I also conduct interviews and focus groups with educators and program managers.
The purpose is to understand how we can better support settlement language training. Ultimately, though, it comes back to newcomers and helping them achieve their goals. That has to remain at the centre of the work.
COVID dramatically accelerated the sector’s use of online learning. What did that period look like from your perspective?
It was extraordinary timing for me personally because I was preparing the data collection for my doctorate when COVID disrupted everything. At the same time, Avenue’s services scaled up very quickly and there was an enormous amount to do.
But the deeper change was professional. Educators had to reconsider what learning and teaching could look like. Much of the challenge has been taking the best of face-to-face and technology-supported learning and finding the right balance for each educator and context. Through all of that, I think Avenue has done quite well at keeping a human-centred approach to learning with technology at the heart of what we do.
What are you investigating through Avenue’s evaluation work in 2026-27?
We’re looking more closely at impact, particularly the impact of Avenue’s training, services and resources on teaching practice and on learning with technology. We’re also reaching out to programs that have had less contact with Avenue so we can better understand their needs and how technology might support their educators and learners.
One approach I particularly value is participatory action research. Evaluation can provide feedback throughout a development cycle rather than simply delivering a judgment at the end. That makes evaluation part of improvement, not something separate from it.
After so many years with the project, what still motivates you?
Being involved in a variety of Avenue initiatives and being able to contribute to their success. I like seeing how different pieces connect, and I’m motivated by the positive impact the project can have on educators and learners.
There are also moments of personal pride. Years ago, at a TESL conference, I saw the immigration minister speaking with the project name LearnIT2teach on a slide behind him. I remembered sitting with the original team, throwing words around and coming up with that name. Seeing it there was a small but very meaningful moment. It is a little hard to let the name go in the current rebranding, but you move with the times, and Avenue Canada is a strong name, especially because it works bilingually.
And there has been another major milestone. You’ve completed your doctorate?
Yes. I defended in the spring, it is now official, and the thesis is online. It took longer than I expected, partly because of COVID and other challenges along the way, but I’m very pleased to have completed it.
I hope the research finds its way back to the settlement language training community. Most participants were learners at LINC levels 5 and above. I initially chose those levels because I wanted participants who could speak in depth about technology in their lives and learning journeys. What emerged also reinforced for me the value of higher-level language training.
Settlement learning is not only about language or preparing for a citizenship test. It is also about networking, social and cultural capital, and figuring out how to build a life in a new country while navigating technology that is increasingly embedded in everyday life. Those settlement processes continue well beyond LINC level 4.
So can we officially call you Dr. Sturm now?
You can, although I’m not much for the title! What matters more to me is that the research contributes something useful to the field.
That final answer is characteristic of Matthias’s approach to his work: curious, collaborative and focused on what evidence can contribute to practice. From the early days of online settlement language learning to today’s rapidly changing digital environment, his focus remains remarkably consistent: technology matters most when it strengthens human learning, connection and opportunity.
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