Events

Partnership for ODL resources

Virtual platform for eLearning content development launched

"The software capital of India", Bangalore is internationally known for commercial software development. However, very little work goes on in the area of eLearning, especially in the social and educational sectors. A recent meeting facilitated by COL focused on developing a viable and cost-effective model for e-content development.

Twelve experts from universities, regional institutes and non-governmental organisations attended a meeting in Bangalore in May hosted by COL and Learning Initiatives, a non-profit organisation. They discussed initiating a virtual platform for e-content development. The major obstacle in good e-content development is combining expertise in subject areas with effective instructional design and good software engineers. It is important that their knowledge, expertise and creativity related to their own areas integrate well to develop effective eLearning materials.

Learning Initiatives will bring together expert content developers to build, develop and deliver well-researched and original content to the worldwide communities of learners and trainers. The content developers will work on the latest technology platforms hosted and supported at Learning Initiatives and create content with multimedia inputs; rich animation, text and graphics; and the latest instruction designs. The Learning Initiatives website (www.learninginitiatives.org) will offer both public domain material and also platforms for the registered users.

Meeting participants decided to work in the priority areas of Special Education, Teaching of English and Environment Education, focussing on needs of teachers and teacher educators. COL will begin to network its partners in the region with learning initiatives to try out this virtual platform for e-content development. The hope is that the emerging model of e-content development could also be used elsewhere in the Commonwealth.

Focus on Teacher Education in Sri Lanka

"Making Teacher Education Interactive" was the subject of a seminar organised by COL and the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) under the umbrella of the South Asian Consortium for Teacher Education and Development (SACTED) on 19 May 2005 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Twenty-three teacher educators from Australia, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka participated in the seminar. The discussion focused on the importance of human interaction in creating processes such as collaborative reflective practice in teacher development. It was emphasised that teacher training programmes by ODL that have materials and learner support which encourage interactivity will be more effective in developing teaching competence in the trainees.

Dr. Shardindu, Chairperson of the Advisory Committee of SACTED chaired the Seminar. Professor Mohan Menon, COL Education Specialist, School Development remarked that both classroom and distance mode teacher training programmes face the challenge of facilitating human interactivity through materials and learner support systems. Professor Chandra Gunawardena, Dean, Faculty of Education, OUSL welcomed all participants from different countries to the seminar.

Renewing the African University

The University of Abertay Dundee in Scotland was the site of a meeting from 29 June to 4 July 2005 that included more than 30 leaders of African higher education institutions and invited guests from other parts of the Commonwealth. The Abertay Conversation focused on the future development of African higher education, producing a communiqué that was provided to G8 leaders at their meeting the following week in nearby Gleneagles, Scotland.

Among the recommendations of the Abertay Conversation Communiqué was a call to G8 leaders to implement the recommendations of the Commission for Africa (www.commissionforafrica.org).

The Abertay Conversation also recommended a "step-change" in the application of ICTs, pointing out the necessity to immediately enhance the telecommunications infrastructure and expand access to, and effective use of, bandwidth.

The Abertay Conversation was convened by the Association of African Universities (AAU), the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and COL, working in partnership with the Scottish Executive, the UK Government and the University of Abertay Dundee.

www.abertay.ac.uk/avcc

Building eLearning capacity

COL is facilitating a series of workshops to provide eLearning training to policymakers, practitioners and technical support people at Commonwealth universities. The eLearning initiative began last year with a workshop in Nairobi, Kenya for policymakers and practitioners. Organised in association with the Global Distance Education Net (GDENet) and the African Virtual University (AVU), the eLearning Workshop focused on sharing knowledge about eLearning, drafting policies, converting courses for an online environment and developing action plans.

Following this session, it became clear that the institutions must have the ability to support open source learning management systems. Learning management systems are online environments where students can read study material, share information with other students, chat online with classmates and submit assignments. Due to budgetary constraints, many Commonwealth universities cannot afford expensive learning management systems. There are about 40 free open source learning management systems available, but technical staff must first be proficient with the Linux operating system before an institution can take advantage of them.

In Open Source Workshops held at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Nairobi and in the Seychelles, about 25 technical support people learned how to use the Linux system and manage open source learning management systems. They can now do exams to become designated a certified Linux engineer if they qualify. A workshop was also held in Nigeria in August and another is scheduled for Namibia in November 2005.

Future eLearning workshops will run concurrent sessions for policymakers, practitioners and technical support people. The idea is that institutions will send representatives from all three groups and that after the workshop, they will return to their university and work together to make eLearning work effectively.

Building Capacity in West Africa