September 2006 : Sir John Daniel announces the Commonwealth Computer Navigator’s Certificate

Coinciding with Software Freedom Day 2006 (16 September), Sir John Daniel, President and CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), announced plans to institute the Commonwealth Computer Navigator's Certificate (CCNC). This COL initiative will widen access to ICT skills training using free software and will be distributed as free content for anyone to use, modify and distribute.

Inspired by the nautical history of the small island states that constitute half the Commonwealth's membership, the Navigator's certificate will equip many prospective learners on their voyage to become full participants in our knowledge society. It will be closely associated with the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (www.col.org/vussc), whose creation COL is facilitating on behalf of 24 small states. "Free content is a new miracle in education" said Sir John. "We must dispel the myth that developing societies can't participate equally in virtual methods of educational design and delivery. We can do this by creating more opportunities to acquire the prerequisite ICT skills, thereby throwing a wide bridge across the digital divide".

COL has a firm base on which to build the CCNC. The foundations established by the Go Open Source campaign in South Africa will allow COL to add value to the existing materials of the Open International Computer Drivers License (http://icdl.tsf.org.za/). This demonstrates the infinite scalability of free content because the share-alike license permits COL to add value to this content, and release the results of its efforts for more people to share. COL's expertise in distance education will focus on the learning design aspects of the content thus reconfiguring the materials in formats more suitable for asynchronous learning.

COL recognises the quality of proprietary software and the wide range of training initiatives supporting these software tools. The CCNC will further widen the options available and allow learners to acquire ICT skills in the tools of their choice. The Global Software Piracy Study reports that 35% of packaged software installed on personal computers worldwide is illegal (www.bsa.org/globalstudy) with high concentrations in developing countries. "We hope to provide an alternative for people to acquire ICT skills without being tempted into the illegal use of pirate software for lack of funds" says Wayne Mackintosh, education specialist for eLearning and ICT policy at COL. "Access to ICT skills must be seen as a fundamental right of all citizens of the world to share in the knowledge of humankind."

COL will arrange an array of options for learners to be certified for the CCNC. Phase 1 of the CCNC project extends an open invitation to tertiary education institutions throughout the Commonwealth to join the initiative. The only requirement is for institutions to initiate the internal approval procedures for this new certificate. COL will provide the content and training resources at no cost. Phase 2 will involve the pedagogical refinement of the existing course materials followed by Phase 3, the pilot offering of the certificate around the Commonwealth.

CCNC developments will be hosted on COL's WikiEducator at www.WikiEducator.org. In this way the global community will be able to participate in this voyage of discovery and collaboratively improve the quality of our work as we proceed.

Sir John concluded: "The miracle of a global intellectual commons is that it cannot suffer the tragedy of the commons. That is because when you give your knowledge to someone you still have it to use yourself."

The Commonwealth of Learning is an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning/distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. COL is helping developing nations improve access to quality education and training. The Commonwealth comprises 53 countries - most of which are developing nations - and one-quarter of the world's population.

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LEARNING FOR DEVELOPMENT

Further information:
www.col.org
www.col.org/vussc
www.col.org/jdaniel
www.col.org/wmackintosh
http://www.wikieducator.org/
www.WikiEducator.org/vussc
www.col.org/newsreleases
www.softwarefreedomday.org

Mr. Dave Wilson
Communications Manager
Commonwealth of Learning
info@col.org

Mr. Wayne Mackintosh
Education Specialist for eLearning and ICT Policy
Commonwealth of Learning
info@col.org