Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning
Excellence in Distance Education Awards - Part 2
Institute of Education
University of London
London, UK
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
By Prof. Asha Kanwar
Commonwealth of Learning
Distinguished Participants, Ladies and Gentlemen and as they say in Nigeria 'consider all protocols observed'.
Welcome to the second part of our Excellence in Distance Education Awards. Yesterday in our initial presentations, we honoured the individuals who have been named Honorary Fellows of the Commonwealth of Learning - the COL fellows. Let me also welcome four COL Fellows who are present at PCF 5: Dominique Abrioux, Ros Morpeth, Hilary Perraton and BN Koul. I saved them for special recognition this afternoon. Please give them a big hand.
Today we turn our attention to outstanding accomplishments by individuals and institutions whose achievements have contributed to quality distance education in the Commonwealth.
And lets change the discourse today: no more poetry; only prose!
The EDEA awards have become an integral feature of each Pan-Commonwealth Forum. We at COL are very proud of these awards, and so are the recipients: if you look at the inside cover of any IGNOU course material, you will find a picture of the Excellence in Distance Education Award. If you enter the foyer of the State Open University in Nashik, India, you will find the EDEA trophy proudly displayed. And in Dunedin, the Award to the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand hit national headlines.
One of the reasons that the institutions and individuals who receive these awards prize them so highly is that they represent Commonwealth-wide achievement. The EDEA Awards show that the recipients have survived a rigorous selection process, and have been identified as the most deserving among their peers.
To identify the recipient of each award, COL establishes an international adjudication panel of external members and COL specialists and each panel thoroughly examines every nomination with care. COL is very grateful to all the external experts who have served on these EDEA Panels this year. Please accept our thanks and appreciation.
Our first award honours institutions that orchestrate and enhance the learning experience. The second award celebrates outstanding learning materials developed by an institution. And, finally, we shall recognise the learners who are at the heart of ODL − real people with faces and names. Without them, there would be no need for any of us.
Each award will be announced by the Panel Chair.
First, the Award of Excellence for Institutional Achievement
Even though distance education (DE) has been in existence for over 150 years, it is only in the last forty years it has grown so phenomenally, and it has emerged as a viable support for and serious alternative to the formal "bricks and mortar" educational institutions. In the Commonwealth, there were 10 open universities in 1988; by 2005, the number had increased to 24. In Africa, there was only one open university in 1988; today there are four. India alone has nearly six million students in its 14 open universities and 126 dual-mode institutions.
Is the 'high moment' of the Open University movement over? The answer is clearly, "No" as seven additional countries in Commonwealth Africa are planning to establish open universities in the next few years. So quality ODL systems are still multiplying and remain a priority for expanding access to educational opportunities.
At this PCF, we routinely talk of ODL as a serious education modality for the twenty first century. ODL's reputation and stature has grown exponentially since the first PCF in Brunei. We no longer need to be defensive advocates!
The first award acknowledges, in particular, those institutions that have successfully catered to the learning needs of socially and geographically marginalised groups.
Eleven Awards in this category have been presented in the past.
I call on the Panel Chair, Dr. Willie Clarke-Okah, to announce the winning institutions.
Thank you Willie.
Award of Excellence for Distance Education Materials
MIT's initiation of the Open Courseware movement marked the first generation of sharing knowledge freely. The on-line course materials of the UK Open University made freely available in electronic format were the second generation. The third generation is collaborative course development as exemplified by the WikiEducator, a course authoring tool being used to develop materials for the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC) and many other projects. In this phase, the focus is shifting from 'this courseware is mine' to 'this courseware is for (open) mining'. At a recent meeting in Malawi to identify the educational priorities for Africa, all the 16 countries present identified the need for content as a top priority. Will the open university of the twenty-first century adopt and adapt existing content rather than create it?
Materials of fourteen institutions have been recognised at previous Forums in these two categories over the last 10 years.
I now call on the Panel Chair for Category A, Mr. Joshua Mallet, to announce next award.
Thank you Joshua.
Will the Panel Chair for Category B, Dr. Wayne Mackintosh, please announce the winner?
Thank you Wayne.
And now for the Awards Recognising Distance Learning Experience.
The characteristics of the twenty-first century student have changed. Half the world's population (6.5 billion) is under twenty, and two billion teenagers currently live in the developing world. In countries such as Malaysia and Pakistan, approximately 65% of the population is under the age of 30, while over two thirds of the tertiary education students in Singapore are over the age of 25.
There are relatively more women in HE today. Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania offer incentives for women candidates In Bangladesh, women account for only 34% of all enrolments in public institutions. On the other hand, in Brunei Darussalam, women at the tertiary level outnumbered males by 32% in 2004 and the trend continues.
Distance education has always dealt with a diverse range of learners and as conventional institutions grapple with this challenge, will open universities and distance education institutions assume a leadership role in pedagogic design and delivery in the coming years?
Finally, there are two awards for outstanding distance learning experience. A total of five awards in both categories have been presented in the past.
The first Award recognises distance learning experience in a degree granting programme. I now invite the Panel Chair, Ms. Frances Ferreira, to announce the winner in this category.
Thank you Frances.
The second Award recognises an eLearning qualification gained under difficult circumstances. This Award was given for the first time at PCF4.
I now call on the the Panel Chair, Ms. Angela Kwan, to announce the winner in this category.
Thank you Angela.
I'll now hand you over to the President Sir John Daniel for his final comments.
