The U.K. Open University has announced a US$9.9 million project to make a selection of its learning materials available free of charge to educators and learners around the world. Supported by a grant of US$4.45 million from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, UKOU is revising course materials to comply with copyright laws. The Open Educational Resources will be freely available on the Internet, reflecting the university's mission of promoting fair access for all. UKOU plans to launch the website in October 2006.
http://oci.open.ac.uk/pressrelease.html
From 24 October to 2 December 2005, almost 500 individuals from 90 countries came together virtually to take part in an Internet discussion forum that was hosted by UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning, with support from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
The forum was intended to support information exchange and reflection upon the potential of open educational resources (OER - resources, particularly in this case course elements and materials, that are freely available on the Internet for consultation, use and adaptation), and to consider the experience of a number of providers and users. The vibrant debate - more than 700 messages were exchanged over the six-week period - benefited from the expert input of some of the most innovative and committed OER practitioners and advocates. The forum reflected a shifting perception among academics to begin exploring the notion of OERs more seriously and in a constructive way. Also, there were strong calls from developing societies that they want to be joint creators of OERs - not merely passive users.
The highlights of that debate have been captured in the forum report, which is now available online on the project website.
Informal discussion is continuing in an ongoing Community of Interest. A second formal forum will be held jointly with OECD in late 2006. To join the community, contact Ms. Susan D'Antoni at virtual.university@iiep.unesco.org.
Principals of 921 institutions accredited with India's National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) took part in a workshop using the Indian Space Organisation's EduSat facility. Organised by Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) in collaboration with NAAC, Bangalore, this mega-event was a great success, according to Dr. Rajan M. Welukar, Vice-Chancellor of YCMOU.
"The workshop reaffirms our conviction that technology is the real answer to the problem of carrying education to the masses," said Dr. Welukar. "The success of this collaborative venture reinforces my firm belief that if all of us who are entrusted with the responsibility of providing higher education can come together and work in unison, sharing each other's expertise and resources, the nation's overall objective with respect to education can be achieved easily and quickly."
The Southern Africa Regional Distance Education Centre has been renamed the Southern African Development Community - Centre for Distance Education (SADC-CDE) after becoming part of the SADC network. Located at the Botswana College of Open and Distance Learning (BOCODOL), SADC-CDE is a regional centre of expertise in distance and open learning supported by the Botswana Ministry of Education, BOCODOL and COL. It organises, promotes and supports distance education and the use of technologies for education and training in the region. SADC is a group of 14 states that aims to promote Southern African regional cooperation in economic development.
Malaysia's first charity-backed private open learning institution is teaming up with COL to offer Executive Masters programmes in business and public administration by distance learning.
Wawasan Open University College and COL have signed an affiliation agreement that will pave the way for working adults to obtain an internationally recognised qualification without having to quit their jobs or to attend evening or weekend classes. Instead, students enrolled in these courses will be able to advance at their own pace using Wawasan's flexible open campus approach.
The Commonwealth Executive MBA and MPA (CEMBA/CEMPA) programmes were developed collaboratively by COL and four open universities in South Asia. The availability of these degrees in Malaysia marks another milestone in the collaborative approach adopted by the international open learning community. Specially designed for part-time study by busy working professionals, the programmes are flexible, modular and affordable. Students can choose either Business Administration (MBA) or Public Administration (MPA) as their major. The Commonwealth Executive masters programme is internationally recognised and allows students mobility and credit transfer across participating institutions.
Wawasan Open is opening its doors to undergraduate students in October. The main campus in Penang will be supported by regional offices and learning centres in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Johor Baru, with the coverage later expanded to cover all states in the country. The driving force behind the development of the not-for-profit Wawasan Educational Foundation and the new university college is its Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chancellor, Dato' Professor Emeritus Gajaraj (Raj) Dhanarajan, who was President of COL from 1994 - 2004.
www.col.org/newsrelease
The Commonwealth Action Programme for the Digital Divide (CAPDD) Steering Committee held its inaugural meeting in London, U.K. in March 2006. CAPDD is intended to accelerate the social and economic development of Least Developed Countries and small island developing states of the Commonwealth through the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to enable them to enter the information age fully equipped to compete effectively in the global marketplace.
The CAPDD Steering Committee is responsible for establishing the strategy and methods to ensure that the CAPDD meets its targets on the creation of ICT strategy and processes in developing countries. The Committee is made up of representatives from India, Malta, Mozambique and Trinidad & Tobago; non-governmental organisations and five Commonwealth agencies including COL.
As part of its ongoing initiatives to support engagement of rural women in the use of community radio for development, COL's regional agency, the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), partnered with IT for Change, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Bangalore to provide a workshop on developing community radio skills among disadvantaged rural women. The five-day workshop was held in Mysore, India in December 2005 using resources drawn from various organisations successfully employing community radio for development.
What made this workshop different was the profile of the participants: most were illiterate. The workshop methodology was improvised and based on a mix of talks and activity, as text-based resource materials were not accessible to the women. Instead, the workshop made simple but potent use of audio and visual technology. The women explored various facets of community radio through discussions, activities, films, visits to studios and hands-on experience with production. As part of their group work, the women planned their programmes, recorded them and sat through the editing process to come up with almost complete radio programmes in a variety of formats including songs, talks, interviews and drama. Looking at this as a first step towards setting up a community radio, CEMCA hopes to support capacity building of a core programme team within the women's group.
http://www.cemca.org/
The Government of Papua New Guinea supports the development of distance education and flexible learning modes of education, and with this undertaking, Minister for Education the Honourable Michael Laimo set the pace for the symposium on open and distance learning at the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) in April 2006. Later, the Minister for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, the Honourable Don Polye, challenged open and distance learning (ODL) providers to be innovative in their approaches.
More than 150 scholars, administrators, professionals and practitioners attended the symposium, where over 20 papers were presented on the theme Providing Learning Opportunities through Open and Distance Learning in the new Millennium.
Symposium participants deliberated on the progress of teaching by open and distance in the hope of shaping the future directions for re-positioning the system. Participants also discussed the power of information communication technology and its adoption and direction in the country.
Sir John Daniel, President and CEO of COL, delivered a keynote address. He discussed how distance education has a huge role in progressing the development agenda and that there are many models of open and distance learning to enforce this. The kinds of development Papua New Guinea should seek, he said, are in development that increases human freedom in many dimensions.
The symposium ended with provincial administrators affirming their support for distance education and the Minister for Community Development, the Honourable Dame Carol Kidu, voicing her ministry's support for education at all levels and to the masses.
ODL professionals and practitioners also met in April to revitalise the Papua New Guinea Association for Distance Education (PNGADE). Convener of the Symposium and Executive Director of the UPNG Open College, Mr. Abdul Mannan, was elected President of the PNGADE.
After his election, Mr. Mannan said there is still a lot to be done in the progress of ODL in the country. Together with his executive he has set the course for a vigorous drive on this path.