Ms. Susan E. Phillips
former Education Specialist, Basic Education
Commonwealth of Learning
Susan Phillips retired from COL staff on 31 December 2006.
Susan Phillips joined the staff of the Commonwealth of Learning in 1989, its first year of operation. Her roles and responsibilities were in a variety of sectorial areas, such as materials design and development, gender issues, open schooling and basic education. Ms Phillips has worked in all regions of the Commonwealth - she has been responsible for convening Chief Education Officers meetings in the Caribbean, she has organised a series of pan-Commonwealth regional meetings on barriers that women and girls encounter when using information and communications technologies for education, she has worked in both Africa and Asia to increase awareness about the use of open/distance learning at the school-level (open schooling) and she has established partnerships, again in Africa and Asia, with non-governmental organizations to produce and pilot learning materials designed to impart skills and knowledge to their staff.
Most recently, Ms. Phillips worked as Education Specialist in Basic Education. In this position, she assisted member countries in their work towards achieving the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals in education. She worked primarily with institutions and ministries to assist in the establishment of new, or to strengthen existing institutions that offer school-level education through open/distance learning, and information and communications technologies.
Before joining COL in 1989, Ms. Phillips worked in a Canadian community college and was group manager and instructional designer for a team with the mandate to create and deliver computer based training courses. She also tutored courses and conducted workshops in computer-related areas, such as programming, software applications, awareness training, etc. Ms. Phillips holds a Bachelor degree and Teaching Certificate from the University of British Columbia, a Diploma of Computer Studies (Business) and a Master of Arts in Education (Curriculum) from the University of Victoria.
