Connections, October 1997

ARCHIVE DOCUMENT

News and Events
From Connections, October 1997
(Compiled based on selected news items, meeting reports and event notices
appearing in Connections , COL's quarterly newsletter)

COL has successfully completed three workshops in the final phase of a contract with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the area of Training for Capacity Building in Distance Education for Primary Teacher Training. This initiative is in response to a request by ministers of education for the Nine High Population Countries at their meeting in New Delhi in 1993. The ADB agreed to finance certain activities for five of those countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Peoples' Republic of China. ADB awarded the contract to COL in May 1996. The first phase of the contract consisted of COL selecting four researchers to prepare working papers on the following topics:

• Cost effectiveness in primary teacher training through distance education,
• Current trends, methods and technologies in distance education for training primary school teachers,
• Development of monitoring and evaluation systems for primary teacher training through distance education, and
• Evaluative research on the quality of primary teacher training through distance education.

The papers were prepared with the help of a regional seminar, which took place in Bangkok in October 1996. This phase was concluded with the submission of the reports to ADB in December 1996.

The final phase consisted of organising three workshops to assist in the provision of primary teacher education through distance learning. "Training toolkits," designed to provide comprehensive manuals for use in training distance educators, were developed in collaboration with the International Extension College (UK) and ministers of education in the five selected countries were invited to nominate three delegates to attend each workshop. Each delegation was asked to prepare a presentation on the status of distance education for primary teacher training in their respective countries.

The first workshop, entitled Instructional Design for Open and Distance Learning, was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in May 1997 and was jointly hosted by the Bangladesh National Commission for UNESCO and the Bangladesh Open University. The trainers were Dr. Mavis Kelly, of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Dr. K.S. Yuen, from The Open University of Hong Kong. All participants agreed that the workshop was a good forum for distance educators to compare and contrast their operations, and to share experiences with each other. Much was gained by both organisers and participants about the merits of the toolkits and their effectiveness for use in Asia. Useful recommendations were also made for future workshops.

The second workshop covering the Planning and Management of Open and Distance Learning, was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in July 1997 and was hosted by the Universitas Terbuka. The trainers were Dr. Bruce King, a consultant based in Australia, and Ms. Judy Roberts of Roberts & Associates, Canada. Particular emphasis was given to the role of leadership in management and planning; the distinction between production and duplication of teaching resources in terms of cost; and the role of management information systems in service, quality and accountability. The participants made valuable comments to modify and enhance the toolkits for their particular use.

The third workshop was on the Use and Integration of Media in Distance Education. It was held in New Delhi, in August 1997, and was hosted by the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA). The trainers were Dr. Abdul Khan, COL's Principal Communications Specialist, and Mr. Jim Bizzocchi, of British Columbia's Centre for Curriculum, Transfer and Technology. In the instructional design portion of the workshop, participants prepared detailed plans for production of audio/visual materials on selected topics. The response was positive and enthusiastic about further exploration of the role of media in distance education materials.

The toolkits and workshop materials will now be available for use in other COL programmes. COL would like to sincerely thank all involved in the workshops for their valuable contributions. A generous note of appreciation also goes to the host institutions for their remarkable efforts in handling local arrangements.

Tech/Voc

A workshop was held in Namibia in September to discuss the potential within Southern Africa to collaborate on the implementation of technical/vocational education and training (TVET), using distance education or alternate delivery mechanisms. The workshop was a collaborative initiative, involving COL, the Namibia Ministry of Basic Education and Culture and the Namibian College of Open Learning. It brought together a group of 25 TVET educators from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as from Ghana.

Representatives from each of the countries presented at least one paper illustrating aspects of technical and/or vocational education as delivered in their country. From this, common issues emerged. As the intent of the workshop was to collaborate on finding solutions to some of these common problems, an action plan was drawn up, which will start a process of collaboration. The first stage involves teacher training by distance education, in the agriculture subject area, and ultimately should establish a model, which will demonstrate the feasibility of offering vocational subjects by flexible delivery mechanisms.

Co-ordinated national policies

National Forums on Distance Education were held in July and August in Tanzania and Malawi. The meetings were well attended by ministers of education, senior educational policy officials and educational administrators, as well as by experts with experience in other countries and representatives of aid agencies operating in the region. Participants reviewed the development of distance education at all levels and established frameworks for co-ordinated national policies together with recommendations for their ministries of education. This important and very successful initiative was sponsored and facilitated by COL, and has now resulted in requests for similar assistance from other countries in the region.

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