Pan Commonwealth Forum - Virtual Conferences

PAN	Commonwealth	1 - 5 March 1999

	FORUM ON OPEN LEARNING	Bandar Seri Begawan
	Empowerment through Knowledge and Technology A Celebration of Ten Years of The Commonwealth of Learning Co-hosted by the Brunei Darussalam Ministry of Education and Universiti Brunei Darussalam


The Commonwealth of Learning	Ministry of Education Brunei Darussalam	Universiti Brunei Darussalam

Virtual conferences

For both participants and those who are unable to attend the Pan-Commonwealth Forum in person:

On-line, "virtual" conferences are being organised to help participants and conference planners to prepare for the Forum and to provide means of participation for those who may not be able to attend the Forum in person. Topics will cover specific areas within the Forum sub-themes and will be World Wide Web-based, taking place toward the end of 1998 and beginning of 1999.

Running consecutively, four topics have been identified for the virtual conferences. Each conference (topic) will be given three weeks of coverage with a one- or two-week break between conferences.

Each topic will be introduced by a Moderator who will also present some thought-provoking questions. Participants are then invited to join the discussion virtually. At the end of the third week, the Moderator will wrap up the discussion.

A Round Table, scheduled for the first day of the Pan-Commonwealth Forum programme, will serve as an icebreaker and will include discussions on regional and sectoral developments. Suggestions and recommendations arising from the virtual conference will be reported at these plenary sessions.

Technical support and assistance for the virtual conferences will be provided by Mr. David Walker, Education Specialist, Educational Technology, The Commonwealth of Learning. (dwalker@col.org)

Topics and Moderators

Topics

Moderators

Distance Education and Challenged Communities (1 – 22 October 1998)

Code for subscribing: cc

Dato' Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan
President and CEO
The Commonwealth of Learning

Moderator's introductory comments
[posted 1 October 1998]

Moderator's summary and closing comments [posted 22 October 1998]

Library/Information Systems and Student Support (10 – 30 November 1998)

Code for subscribing: li

Dr. (Mrs.) Neela Jagannathan
University Librarian and Information Officer
Library and Documentation Division
Indira Gandhi National Open University, India

Ms. Elizabeth F. Watson
Librarian, Learning Resource Centre
The University of the West Indies, Barbados

Moderators' introductory comments
[posted 10 November 1998]

Moderators' summary and closing comments
[posted 6 December 1998]

Accreditation/Quality Assurance/Credit Banking (11 – 29 January 1999)

Code for subscribing: qa

Dr. David Woodhouse
Director, New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit
and President, International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE), 1998/99

Moderator's introductory comments
[posted 11 January 1999]

Moderator's summary and closing comments [posted 7 February 1999]

Staff Development (February 1 – 20 1999)

Code for subscribing: sd

Dr. Bernadette Robinson
Consultant
(formerly of The Open University, UK)

Moderator's introductory comments
[posted 1 February 1999]

Moderator's summary and closing comments [posted 23 February 1999]

Role of and guidelines for Moderators

To help participants understand the aim of the Virtual Conference by stating clearly the purpose and objective of the topic under discussion.

To stimulate discussion by the posing of questions.

Perhaps this introductory message could be kept to one screen of text.

To direct the discussion so that participants stay on topic.

To feed in ideas periodically to keep the discussion momentum.

To answer questions raised by participants.

To wrap up by synthesising the thoughts emerged throughout the Virtual Conference.

To write a closing statement and/or pose further questions for consideration and reporting at the sectoral and regional discussions scheduled for Day One of the Pan Commonwealth Forum.

At midnight the messages posted to the conference will be displayed on a web page accessed through the forum web site at: http://www.col.org/forum

The virtual forum will be terminated at the end of the three-week discussion

How to join the Virtual Conferences?

The Virtual Conference will be set up under the Pan-Commonwealth Forum home page (http://www.col.org/forum)

To join the conference, send an e-mail message to majordomo@hub.col.org

In the body of the message you would put in the following:
subscribe (topic of the conference, e.g. cc for Distance Education and Challenged Communities) (your e-mail address), e.g. subscribe cc dwalker@col.org

You will receive a confirmation by e-mail with further instructions

Codes for subscribing to conferences:

Distance Education and Challenged Communities: cc
Library/Information System and Student Support: li
Accreditation/Quality Assurance/Credit Banking: qa
Staff Development: sd

Further information and links will be available on this site and will be announced in COL’s quarterly newsletter, Connections.

PANCommonweatlh
FORUM ON OPEN LEARNING
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Forum Secretariat:
Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning
1285 West Broadway, Suite 600
Vancouver, BC V6H 3X8
Canada

Tel: 604 775 8200
Fax: 604 775 8210
Email: forum@col.org
Web site: http://www.col.org/forum

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