ASIA: CONTENT DEVELOPMENT FOR L3 FARMERS

In association with Sri Lanka Association of Distance Educators (SLADE), COL organised a content development workshop on open agricultural education resources in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 31 March to 3 April 2008. The aim of the workshop was to build capacity among university partners in the Lifelong Learning for Farmers (L3 Farmers) programme in Sri Lanka. Under the guidance of COL Education Specialist, Dr. Krishna Alluri and Professor Uma Coomaraswamy, COL consultant for L3 Farmers Sri Lanka, the workshop was facilitated by Mr. N.R. Raji and Mr. P. Anil Prasad from India.

Each of the university teams at the Colombo workshop prepared an interactive lesson on WikiEducator. The subjects included Housing and Feeding Poultry, Banana Cultivation and Chili Diseases. The next step is for university partners to get feedback on these draft learning materials from farmers and revise the materials based on this input.

COL expanded the L3 Farmers programme to Sri Lanka last year. The pilot phase in four villages is helping people improve their livelihoods by bringing together four partners:

• farmers, 
• learning institutions that serve as an information resource for farmers,
• information and communication kiosks that link farmers to the learning institutions, and
• banks that provide loans to farmers.

AFRICA: EXPANDING ODL IN NIGERIA

COL VICE PRESIDENT PROFESSOR ASHA KANWAR IS SEEN HERE WITH (L TO R) MR. OTUNBA OMOLADE OLUWATERU, DEPUTY GOVERNOR; DR. OLUSEGUN KOKUMO AGAGU, GOVERNOR OF ONDO STATE; AND PROFESSOR OLU JEGEDE, VICE CHANCELLOR, NOUN AT THE LAUNCH OF THE AKURE STUDY CENTRE

The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) opened a new study centre at Akure, Ondo State in March 2008. Located a five-hour drive from Lagos, the study centre is equipped with 25 computers with Internet connectivity as well as video-conferencing facilities for local students. NOUN has now established similar study centres to support open and distance learning in more than 60 percent of the Nigerian states.

ASIA: CREATING GENDER-FRIENDLY SCHOOLS

Gender-sensitivity in schools was the focus of a Round Table on Gender Friendly Schools hosted by COL, the Commonwealth Foundation, the Commonwealth Secretariat and India's Institute for Social and Economic Change. The three-day meeting in Bangalore, India in February 2008 included educators, development agencies and researchers from South Asia and the Caribbean.

Many stakeholder groups have the ability to influence the quality of schools in relation to gender, including teachers, policy makers, school management committees and parents. The purpose of the Round Table was to identify factors influencing gender-friendly schools and to develop draft indicators for these stakeholder groups so they can help create enabling environments in schools for both boys and girls.
These indicators are being further refined with community input in South Asia with field testing to follow. Round Table participants will also continue to collaborate online on the further refinement of indicators, with the goal of developing a template that can be tailored for used in all regions.

CARIBBEAN: USING MEDIA TO SUPPORT FARMERS' LIVELIHOODS

 

AGRICULTURAL SPECIALISTS AND GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES FROM ACROSS THE CARIBBEAN AT THE COL-SPONSORED MEETING IN OCHO RIOS, JAMAICA

Developing new strategies to use media to support agricultural extension was the focus of a meeting sponsored by COL in Ocho Rios, Jamaica in March 2008. The Consultative Meeting on Using Media for Education for Livelihoods brought together agricultural researchers and extension specialists with partners from ministries of agriculture and education where COL has helped to establish media units to disseminate information about agriculture. Participants from Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent and Trinidad & Tobago brainstormed new strategies for communicating important information that will help improve livelihoods among farmers in the Caribbean. The group visited Jeffrey Town, the site selected for the Lifelong Learning for Farmers programme in Jamaica where a local farmers' group has established a telecentre and community radio centre.

PACIFIC: ODL GROWS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA

COL BOARD MEMBER DAME CAROL KIDU (CENTRE, IN BROWN AND WHITE DRESS) AND PRESIDENT SIR JOHN DANIEL JOIN MEMBERS OF PNGADE AT THE GROUP'S CONFERENCE IN APRIL 2008

The Papua New Guinea Association for Distance Education (PNGADE) highlighted the growth of open and distance learning (ODL) in the country at its second conference in Port Moresby. The conference was carried live nationwide on radio.

The University of Papua New Guinea now has 10,000 students in its Open College compared to 4,000 students on campus. The Open College's learning centres will be significantly enhanced when broadband connections are introduced in 2009.

Sir John Daniel spoke about COL's work in support of ODL for development in Papua New Guinea, including the participation of several educators from Papua New Guinea in Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth training workshops, the addition of COL's executive masters degree programmes at the University of Papua New Guinea and media empowerment initiatives aimed at preventing HIV/AIDS.

www.col.org/speeches
www.upng.ac.pg

ASIA: QA FOR PRIVATE ODL

COL's Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) partnered with UNESCO and the Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning, Pune to host a two-day conference of private tertiary open and distance learning (ODL) providers in India in April. The focus was on facilitating professional development in the institutions, especially in the area of quality assurance. While private provision is an increasingly important component of higher education in India, there are issues with how they are treated by governments and the varying levels of quality among the institutions.

In his opening remarks to the meeting, COL President Sir John Daniel identified four ways in which higher education in the 21st century will differ from the current system:

The private sector will have a much larger role.

• Programmes will relate more closely to livelihoods.
• A far greater proportion of higher education will take place by distance learning.
• The emergence of many cross-border partnerships will improve the quality, lower the cost and enrich the curricula of higher education.

Symbiosis, the organisation that hosted the meeting, is an example of excellence in private provision. A not-for-profit institution, Symbiosis includes a network of 35 face-to-face teaching institutions spanning a range of disciplines. Its Law School and Management Institute are rated among the top five in India. The Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning has grown to 160,000 students in just over 10 years under the leadership of the Director, Ms. Swati Mujumdar. Today it is an impressive institution that features state-of-the-art information technology, high quality learning materials and strong management.

Participants at the meeting in Pune agreed to form a consortium of non-governmental ODL tertiary providers to further their interests with governments and to work together on professional and institutional development.

ASIA: LEARNING FOR COMMUNITY CARE

The Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), COL's regional office, has introduced a multimedia resource kit for children with special learning needs. Developed in consultation with organisations that work with children with disabilities, the resource kit will serve as a learning resource for families, teachers, counsellors and community care professionals. It examines issues concerning disability in early childhood years and explores ways of improving early intervention in the community.
www.cemca.org

 
COL VICE PRESIDENT PROFESSOR ASHA KANWAR AND PROFESSOR P.R. RAMANUJAM, PROFESSOR OF DISTANCE EDUCATION AT THE STAFF TRAINING  AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE  OF DISTANCE EDUCATION (STRIDE) AT INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, LAUNCH THE RESOURCE KIT FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL LEARNING NEEDS AT A MEETING IN NEW DELHI, INDIA IN APRIL, 2008

AFRICA: QA FOR TEACHER EDUCATION

COL is working with UNESCO's Teacher Training Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa (TTISSA) in the area of quality assurance for teacher education. A Joint Forum on Quality Assurance in Teacher Education in West Africa in February 2008 was organised by COL, UNESCO's Field Office in Abuja and Nigeria's Universal Basic Education Commission. The three-day workshop drew 28 teacher education policy makers and senior administrators from The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone and focussed on COL's Quality Assurance Toolkit.

ASIA: IMPROVING MONITORING & EVALUATION

For COL to effectively monitor and evaluate its operations, its country and regional partner organisations must contribute to the process. To increase understanding of COL's planning model, and its monitoring and evaluation process, COL is hosting regional workshops across the Commonwealth.
The first workshop, held in New Delhi, India, drew 36 representatives from partner organisations in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Workshop participants are involved in activities related to COL's three programme sectors: Education, Learning and Livelihoods, and Human Environment. They gained a better understanding COL's planning model, which will enable them to contribute to the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the partnership activities. 

CARIBBEAN: DEVELOPING NATIONAL POLICY

COL facilitated a workshop in Trinidad & Tobago to develop a national policy on open and distance learning (ODL). Attending the three-day session in February 2008 were Mr. Peter O'Neil, Chief Education Officer with the Ministry of Education, along with more than 30 people from government ministries and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions. The national ODL policy framework deals with open schooling, TVET and higher education.  

UPCOMING EVENTS:

SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND
CONFERENCE OF THE AFRICAN COUNCIL
FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION (ACDE)

8 - 11 July 2008, Lagos, Nigeria
Hosted by ACDE and
National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)
www.nou.edu.ng/noun/acde2008

THE FIFTH PAN-COMMONWEALTH FORUM
ON OPEN LEARNING

13-17 July 2008, University of London, UK
Organised by COL and the University of London
Theme: Access to Learning for Development
www.col.org/pcf5

17TH CONFERENCE OF COMMONWEALTH
EDUCATION MINISTERS (17CCEM)
MINISTERS' MEETING AND PARALLEL FORA

15 - 19 June 2009, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Hosted by the Government of Malaysia