Mr. Paul G. West
former Director, Knowledge Management & Information Technology, Commonwealth of Learning
Mr. West left COL at the end of May 2010 and is now with the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), leading the development of SAQA’s Career Development Multi-Channel Helpline. See Staff News.
Paul West, originally from South Africa , joined COL in August 2001 as Education Specialist, Knowledge Management and became Director, Knowledge Management and Information Technology in July 2006. His previous post as Director, Centre for Lifelong Learning at Technikon SA, in South Africa, saw him setting up the African Digital Library (www.africaeducation.org/adl) which serves users throughout the African continent who have Internet access. His work there also involved establishing non-formal education at the institution and developing and implementing models for Information Communication Technology (ICT) Centres.
Paul moved to COL to work on knowledge management issues, including the management of internal knowledge assets and to harness the wealth of knowledge across the Commonwealth, and to make this accessible to those who need it. In this quest, he has created the "COL knowledge finder", a virtual library of about one million documents that are available on the Internet (www.col.org/kf). In his work at COL, he has encouraged the use of open source software and free services available via the Internet where it is appropriate to expand access to learning content, and IT systems to support teaching and learning. He has promoted both open educational resources (also called open courseware) and helped to clarify issues around the interpretation and use of Creative Commons copyright licenses (www.col.org/copyright). COL has a number of tools at its disposal, including a staff Intranet to compliment its public website, online collaboration tools and systems for providing access to education in Commonwealth countries and to find open education al resources (www.col.org/oer). Paul led the establishment of the "Virtual University for the Small States of the Commonwealth" initiative (www.col.org/vussc).
In his personal capacity, Paul writes an occasional technology newsletter called "Selected TechNotes" which is available on the Internet (www.pgw.org). When not at work, Paul enjoys travel, reading and learning about how computers can help people in their work.