Keynote speakers and plenary panel
TEL-isphere 99
The Caribbean & Technology-Enhanced Learning
Confirmed keynote speakers:
- The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Minister of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture, Barbados
- The Honourable Brian Tobin, Premier, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
- The Honourable Burchell Whiteman, Minister of Education and Culture, Jamaica
- Dr. Huguette Labelle, O.C., President, Canadian International Development Agency
- Professor Cardinal Warde, Faculty Director, Department of Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Dr. Rafael Pérez Colón, Academic Programs Manager, Microsoft Caribbean Inc., Puerto Rico
Plenary panel (see below)
Mia Mottley
The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Minister of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture, Barbados. Mia Mottley was elected to the Barbados parliament in September 1994, as part of Owen Arthur's new Barbados Labour Party government. Appointed Minister of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture in the first cabinet, she became a key player in developing the government's job-creation initiative, and authored a well-known white paper that draws the link between better education and job fulfilment. In 1996, she served as Chairman of the CARICOM Standing Committee of Ministers of Education (Caribbean Community). With a law degree from the London School of Economics, she is a Barbados Attorney-at-Law and a Barrister of the Bar of England and Wales. Minister Mottley will open the conference at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 25.
Brian Tobin
The Honourable Brian Tobin, Premier, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. A journalist prior to entering politics, Premier Tobin was a Canadian Member of Parliament from 1980 to 1995, serving as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans from 1993. In 1996, he was elected Premier of his native province. He grew up in and represents a western Newfoundland electoral district whose residents are heavily dependent on seasonal employment in fisheries and oceans. He is a passionate speaker on overcoming the obstacles and off-shore competition that face human resource development in small island states and isolated regions, including the importance of bringing education to as many people as possible. He boasts that his government has ensured that the Internet reaches every school in the province and that it has the highest per capita use of the Internet in education across Canada. As a partner in COL's Canada Caribbean Distance Education Scholarship Programme, Memorial University of Newfoundland is currently working with the University of the West Indies to provide technology-assisted, distance-taught, teacher training programmes in Dominica and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Premier Tobin will speak on Saturday, November 27 at 9:00 a.m.
Burchell Whiteman
The Honourable Burchell Whiteman, Minister of Education and Culture, Jamaica. Minister Whiteman is an educator who has been a Member of Parliament since 1989 and Jamaica's Education Minister from 1992. Minister Whiteman will discuss the role of Government in developing policies for education and in co-ordinating national and institutional efforts. Together with stakeholders, his Ministry is facilitating the development and adoption of a common vision for the systematic integration of information and communications technology in education, building innovative partnerships for empowering local stakeholders, and creating strategic international alliances. Minister Whiteman will speak during the luncheon on Thursday, November 25.
Huguette Labelle
Dr. Huguette Labelle, O.C., former President, Canadian International Development Agency.
Madame Labelle has held many senior positions in the Canadian government and is widely respected for her leadership in the uses of new technologies for human development. She holds a Ph.D. in Education, has extensive civil service experience and is currently Chancellor of the University of Ottawa. She has also served as a consultant on health care planning and health sciences education to two Caribbean governments. Madame Labelle headed CIDA from 1993 until the end of October 1999. Mme Labelle will deliver the Inaugural Address for the conference at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 25.
Presentation title: Developing Countries and the Interdependence of Technology and Education
While technology may be a means to global prosperity, we must not forget that most of the world's people cannot even access a telephone, let alone a computer or the Internet. Distance and cost are further obstacles that may result in the exclusion of the world's poor as globalisation steams ahead. Without education - literacy, basic skills, and professional training - technology is useless. And this is just as relevant for the most-advanced technologies. At every level, there must be a profound and continuous investment in learning. The Canadian International Development Agency is committed to helping provide education for all in the developing world and to promoting the appropriate, effective, and equitable use and dissemination of technology.
Cardinal Warde
Professor Cardinal Warde,
Faculty Director, Department of Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Warde is a Barbadian who is an eloquent speaker on developmental issues in the Caribbean, technology in education, and relationships between U.S./Canada and the Caribbean and the dynamics of citizens from one region living and working in the other. Professor Warde will speak on Friday, November 26 at 9:00 a.m.
Presentation title: Potential for Technology-Enhanced Education Reform in the Caribbean
Opportunities for economic development in the Caribbean have never been brighter. There is room for nations to compete with developed countries in new information-technology-based services, but to do so education reform is urgently needed. This will involve not only curriculum reform, but the use of technology to aid learning and teaching. The same information technologies that are revolutionizing the workplace must be embraced to revolutionize the way we educate our children, our government leaders, and ourselves. The discussion will include means by which to achieve these goals.
Rafael Pérez Colón
Dr. Rafael Pérez Colón, Academic Programs Manager, Microsoft Caribbean Inc., Puerto Rico. Dr. Colón has 20 years of experience in the information technology field as a professional engineer (computing), university professor, researcher, consultant, and journalist. He holds a doctorate (ABD) in Informatics from Madrid Polytechnic University, Spain, has published internationally, and is a weekly newspaper columnist and daily television presenter. Dr. Colón is responsible for Microsoft's business strategy in the Caribbean region academic market. The title of Dr. Colón's address is Microsoft Digital Nervous System in Education: Enabling Lifelong Learning. Dr. Colón will speak during the luncheon on Friday, November 26.
Plenary panel -
"The Interconnected Worlds of Technological, Educational and Social Change"
(Friday, November 26 at 2:00 p.m.)
Rafiq Khan (Chair), Senior Director, Strategic Development, CANARIE Inc., Ontario, Canada. Mr. Khan is a widely recognised speaker on the economics of telecommunications and information technology trends and has spoken internationally to industry, government, and non-profit and academic organisations. He is an advocate of the application of IT as a low-cost solution for the delivery of distance education and health services, particularly to rural and low-density areas. CANARIE Inc. is a non-profit, private-sector led consortium initiated by the Government of Canada to foster the development and deployment of advanced networks, including the Canadian Internet Backbone and associated applications, with special emphasis on tele-health, learning products and services, and electronic commerce.
Chris L. Colombo, Managing Director, Open Knowledge Laboratories, Ontario, Canada. Mr. Colombo has been involved in business development activities relating to advanced telecommunication products and services for 20 years. With Open Knowledge Laboratories, he focuses on developing new, innovative international partnerships between educators, telecommunication providers and hardware infrastructure suppliers to facilitate access to networked educational programming. Partner/client organisations include the United Nations Development Programme, Teleglobe Communications Inc., Rebel.Com, and Corel Corporation.
Peter Diedrich, Vice President, Corporate Strategy, BCE and Bell Canada, Québec, Canada. Before rejoining BCE in 1998, Mr. Diedrich was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company where he worked with Fortune 500, Canadian and international clients. From 1988 through 1995, he held progressively senior positions with Nortel and its predecessor, Bell-Northern Research. With Nortel, he spent two years in China managing a commercial electronics joint venture. Mr. Diedrich is a Professional Engineer and holds a Masters in Management from the MIT Sloan School and a B.Eng. and M.Eng. in Electronics from Carlton University in Ontario.
Olabisi Kuboni, Campus Coordinator, Distance Education Centre, The University of the West Indies
Trinidad & Tobago. Dr. Kuboni has been Campus Coordinator for distance education at the St. Augustine Campus of The University of the West Indies for three years. Previously, she was an Educational Technologist in UWI's School of Education and also has 18 years experience as a teacher in the secondary school system in Trinidad and Tobago.
Gopal Rajagopalan, Managing Director, Schoolnet India Limited, and Director, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS), Mumbai, India. Gopal Rajagopalan has over 21 years of experience in the banking and financial services sector. He supervises select private equity and venture capital initiatives of IL&FS, including Schoolnet India for which he is responsible for developing joint ventures, state government programmes, new products and services. Schoolnet seeks to use the power of technology to enhance access and provide greater equity in the learning and training process, building e-businesses in environments ranging from its K-10 Programme to corporate training.
