Connections, February 1998

ARCHIVE DOCUMENT

News and Events
From Connections, February 1998
(Compiled based on selected news items, meeting reports and event notices
appearing in Connections , COL's quarterly newsletter)

Southern African ministers sign accord

Education ministers from six Southern African Commonwealth countries have signed an agreement that will see their respective ministries working together in order to meet similar educational needs. Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe will be sharing resources, experience and expertise, while COL will be co-ordinating the implementation of the distance-education-based programmes in a cost-effective manner.

Priorities include the in-service training of teachers in science, mathematics and technology subjects and increasing access to senior secondary level education through open schooling. A work plan was also developed.

The agreement was signed last month in Vancouver at the conclusion of a consultation on regional collaboration that COL held with ministers and senior education officials from the six countries. Resource persons from development agencies and other international organisations joined COL in helping to facilitate the discussions and develop the proposals. The sessions were opened by the Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, The Honourable Garde B. Gardom, Q.C.

 COL announces internship programmes

The Commonwealth of Learning is pleased to announce the creation of three new initiatives that will enhance the professional growth of distance educators from developing Commonwealth nations by the sharing of experiences and information. The programmes provide for attachments and internship opportunities for distance educators at institutions within their geographic region, or at the COL office in Vancouver, Canada.

Opportunities will also exist for senior individuals, perhaps retired, who have a wealth of experience and knowledge to share. They will have the opportunity to go on assignment for several weeks to another Commonwealth country and undertake a volunteer advisory role to help others develop or enhance the work they are doing in distance education.

Three new programmes have been established:

Internship Programme - provides financial support for individuals who are at an early stage or mid-point in their careers and would benefit from a short-term attachment to another institution within their geographic region.

Sharing our Services Programme - assists developing or evolving distance education institutions/organisations by providing the voluntary services of senior distance education professionals who will share their knowledge, expertise and experience during an attachment period.

Young Professionals at COL - provides financial support for individuals at an early stage or mid-point in their careers to enable them to enhance their knowledge of distance education and international co-operation through a work assignment at COL.

Internship and attachment assignments will be linked to the current priorities in COL's Three-year Plan, e.g., the use of appropriate technologies, instructional design, non-formal education, copyright, learner support systems and training.

COL's internship and attachment programmes are scheduled to begin in February 1998 and will continue for a three-year period. Interested parties are encouraged to contact COL as soon as possible for further details. Details are also available on the COL web site at http://www.col.org/internship.

 Canadian scholarships for Caribbean students

Following last year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, the Honourable Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, announced the establishment of a Cdn.$1.75 million fund for a pilot programme offering Canadian scholarships to students in the Caribbean as an extension of the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP).

The Canada Caribbean Distance Education Scholarship Programme (CCDESP) will be administered by COL over the next five years and will provide opportunities for undergraduate students in the Caribbean to study "at a distance" through Canadian post-secondary institutions.

While a unique departure from the traditional CSFP, the new COL programme will maintain CSFP's concept of facilitating a "multilateral trade in ideas," but will be delivered chiefly through the use of new technologies with only a short on-campus component. The programme will allow for a greater number of students at a lower cost and will minimise disruptions to students' personal lives.

The initiative also responds to the Commonwealth Education Ministers' desire for a more flexible CSFP and for undergraduate scholarships for small states.

COL President, Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, notes that "downstream benefits also include the furthering of co-operative working relationships between Canadian and Caribbean educational institutions. Unlike other study-abroad schemes, this one will ensure that the local institutions and study centres are partners in the arrangements, providing them with opportunities for growth."

The new scholarship programme addresses identified vocational skill shortages and, as a pilot, will be available to students living in three countries: Dominica (teacher education), Jamaica (information technology) and St. Vincent & the Grenadines (hospitality management). The first students will commence studies in September 1998. Further information is available on COL's web site.  

DfID funds COL literacy programmes

The campaign to eliminate illiteracy in the world will benefit from new project funding for COL announced by Britain at last year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Provided through the British Department for International Development (DfID) as additional core funds, the UK£500,000 "Focus on Reading" grant will enable COL to initiate new Commonwealth programmes directed at literacy training for adults and skills enhancement for those teaching reading to children.

Distance education methods and new technologies are to figure prominently in the literacy initiatives. Referring to distance education as "the educational wave of the future," COL President Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan said that "with education central to the political agenda, distance education is rapidly becoming the means by which we can provide opportunities for learning to the world's masses."

Dhanarajan noted that around the Commonwealth there are still several hundred million illiterate teenagers and adults, two-thirds of them women. "COL will ensure that its new literacy programmes will be available to women on an equitable basis."

DfID has has also provided funding for COL to conduct a study on current trends in "virtual" delivery of higher education.

COL is currently forming international advisory groups to help set directions for the new programmes.

Training of technical teachers

COL's Technical and Vocational Teacher Training Programme addresses a need that has been identified as being of crucial importance across all Commonwealth regions. Starting with implementation in the Caribbean, a core curriculum has been developed and programme offerings have begun.

Starting in 1992, all Commonwealth Caribbean countries contributed to the core curriculum process and, in 1996/97, four countries were involved administering a pilot. Fifty students were enrolled in the pilot through The Bahamas Hotel Training College, Erdiston Teachers Training College (Barbados), the Vocational Training Development Institute (Jamaica) and Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (St. Lucia).

Nine months later when the pilot ended, the total dropout rate was only 18%. This by any measure represents a particularly good retention rate for a distance education programme, but when the logistical problems involved in the implementation of this programme are considered, the result is even more impressive. This was due in no small part to the quality and dedication of the tutors and co-ordinators who were responsible for the programme in their respective territories.

An evaluation of the pilot has recently been completed and the overall assessment was favourable and positive.

In October 1997, a workshop was held in St. Lucia, under COL sponsorship, at which tutors and co-ordinators reviewed the learning materials that were used for the pilot. Among the recommendations from the workshop were suggested amendments to the original core curriculum to better reflect the needs of technical teachers as they had evolved since the inception of the project.

Tasks which remain to be addressed are the development of the remaining units and the resolving of accreditation issues. Although systems are being put into place to assist the process of regional accreditation across the Caribbean, difficulties remain. However recognition of the course of studies has been sought elsewhere, and this has first been achieved in Australia, with credit and articulation being offered into Melbourne University's Bachelor of Education and Training, for those who successfully complete the core curriculum.

At the conclusion of the workshop, some of the St. Lucia students who were involved in the pilot received their certificates of completion from the Vice Principal of Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, Mr. Alban Antoine. It was a fitting conclusion to both the workshop and the pilot.  

Laboratory Technician Training

In a continuing collaboration between COL and the Commonwealth Secretariat in promoting the establishment of programmes to provide training for laboratory technicians through distance education, a workshop was convened in November 1997 in co-operation with the School of Pure and Applied Sciences at the University of the South Pacific.

During this workshop, participants discussed the concept and purpose of a training programme in laboratory techniques, developed syllabuses for such a training programme and reviewed existing learning modules. USP staff also agreed to work with COL and the Secretariat toward implementing such a programme.

The Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu were represented at the workshop. International resource persons and facilitators also attended.