|
|
|
|
|
Events
| DELEGATES AT COL-SINGAPORE JOINT MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE |
Sir John Daniel, President and CEO of COL presented certificates in the concluding session of the fourth COL-Singapore Joint Management Development Institute held in Singapore from 18-29 October 2004.
Twenty heads of teacher education colleges and institutes from 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, five of them women, participated in the Institute held at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nangyang Technological University, Singapore. NIE provided all academic and professional support. Dr. Moo Swee Ngoh, Associate Professor from NIE was the Director of the Programme.
Academics from NIE presented sessions on teacher training, curriculum and education management with special focus on the Singapore experience. Professor Mohan Menon, Education Specialist, Teacher Training with COL coordinated the country presentations and organised sessions in course development and learner support systems in the context of teacher training and development. Participants also visited several institutions including schools, polytechnics and technical training institutes. Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported in-country expenses and managed the logistics of the Institute.
In his meeting with Professor Leo Tan, Director of NIE, Sir John Daniel noted the successful organisation of the Joint Institute for four years and discussed the possibility of further joint activities by the two agencies.
COL is a one of the sponsors of the 2005 conference of the Canadian Association for Distance Education. CADE 2005 will be hosted in Vancouver, Canada, by the Centre for Online and Distance Education at Simon Fraser University. It will take place from 7 to 11 May 2005. www.cade2005.ca
COL and the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in India hosted a two-week Institute on Open Schooling for senior educators from Africa and the South Pacific from 23 August to 3 September 2004. The 14 participants were from Malawi, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
The programme provided delegates with the opportunity to gain experience with the operational processes of an open school. During visits to study centres and NGOs, the delegates interacted with open schooling field practitioners and learned how NIOS shares expertise and resources with other institutions. The delegates also shared status reports on open and distance learning (ODL) in their respective countries. By seeing firsthand how NIOS functions and sharing information, the educators will be better able to establish or enhance open schooling in their countries.
The Institute is one of many collaborative activities between COL and NIOS. This was the third time that NIOS has hosted visitors from developing countries of the Commonwealth, and a fourth institute is planned for later this year. As a leader in open schooling, NIOS is well positioned to share its experience in providing open and distance learning.
"Reflective practice in open and distance learning: how do we improve" is the theme of the 11th Cambridge Conference on Open and Distance Learning, to be held 20 September to 23 September 2005 in Cambridge, UK. The conference is co-sponsored by COL.
Organisers welcome contributions and papers on themes such as:
-
How can reflective practice impact on the learning organisation?
-
Who sponsors evaluation and why?
-
How does reflective practice inform quality and research?
-
How does one learn to be a reflective practitioner?
The deadline for submission of papers is 1 May 2005 and for registration 1 June 2005.
In keeping with previous Cambridge conferences, there will be ample opportunity for delegates to meet in small groups and develop their own reflective practice.
http://www2.open.ac.uk/r06/conference
COL collaborated with the Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning (BOCODOL) and the South African Research and Distance Education Centre (SARDEC) to support and host a Forum on Open Schooling at the Secondary Level in October 2004. More than 40 people from 14 Sub-Saharan countries attended the meeting, along with experts from the United Kingdom and India.
The forum included presentations by many participants about open schooling at the secondary level in their countries such as the Interactive Radio Instruction initiative in Zambia, the National Institute of Open Schooling in India and SchoolNet, Nigeria. Opportunities to discuss major issues with respect to the open/distance delivery of school level education were provided during the four-day event. Participants also received documented case studies that reflected the different types of open schools in existence.
The forum was the first activity hosted by SARDEC, a new regional centre for open learning situated at BOCODOL. The centre is supported by COL and other partners.
Curriculum specialists and tourism educators from across the Caribbean took part in a virtual workshop to learn about developing online learning programmes. The 40-hour virtual workshop, "ATutor Course Development and Delivery" was hosted by the Caribbean Tourism Organization/Caribbean Tourism Human Resource Council, working in partnership with COL.
The workshop attracted approximately 25 educators from training institutes and colleges across the Caribbean. The plan is to use the skills of workshop participants to develop an online course in Sustainable Tourism in 2005, as well as other online courses. This collaboration between the Caribbean Tourism Organization and COL is expected to reap benefits for Caribbean students in the long term by providing greater access to courses in tourism and hospitality throughout the region through online delivery.
The quality of research methodology for distance education should be stepped up in proportion to the revolutionary technology that is available due to the launch of Edusat, said the Vice-Chancellor of Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, Professor H.P. Dikshit.
Delivering the inaugural address at the five-day National Workshop on Research Methodology for Distance Education, Professor Dikshit said a new era has begun with the launch of Edusat. The Edusat satellite system provides "education on demand" for classrooms, regional learning centres, homes and workplaces. Massive futuristic research is required to improve the quality of distance education, Professor Dikshit said. With eight to 10 national networks giving Edusat coverage and with transmission and bandwidth connectivity in place, distance educators are facing enormous challenges in updating course content.
The workshop, sponsored by COL, was held in December 2004 at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University in Hyderabad. It trained 31 educators from various open universities and distance education centres of conventional universities to become trainers in research and evaluation techniques.
A growing proportion of higher education participants are involved in distance education in India, according to Professor Asha Kanwar, Education Specialist, Higher Education with COL. It's estimated that by 2010, 40% of people involved in higher education will be pursuing studies through open and distance learning (ODL). This means Edusat will require a great deal of course content based on quality research.
A workshop on Research Methodology in ODL for mid-career Indian academics organised in partnership with the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University (BRAOU), Hyderabad was held from 6-10 December 2004 at the G. Ram Reddy Research Academy of Distance Education (GRADE), BRAOU, Hyderabad. The workshop was designed in consultation with a group of international experts during the third Pan-Commonwealth Forum held in Dunedin in July 2004 and was the first of its kind organised by any ODL institution in India. The Practitioner Research and Evaluation Skills Training materials (PREST, see New Resources, page 14) were used as the primary resource for the workshop.
Thirty-one academics from 16 universities/institutions in eight states of India participated. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Vice Chancellor, Professor H.P. Dikshit gave the Inaugural Address and the Vice Chancellor of BRAOU, Professor D. Ram Chandram delivered the Valedictory speech. The resource persons included Professor S. Panda, IGNOU; Professor V. Venkaiah and Professor Pushpa Ramakrishna, BRAOU; Professor Olu Jegede, Vice Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria; Professor B.N. Koul, former Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Professor G.K. Mitra, Fellow, Centre for Economics and Social Studies; Professor S.N.N. Pandit, former IIT professor and Dr. Asha Kanwar, Education Specialist, Higher Education, COL.
|
|
|
![[pdf]](/colweb/jsp/jahia/templates/myjahiasite/corporate_portal_templates/images/icons/standard/pdf.gif){kind=icon}
