COL’s Lifelong Learning for Farmers (L3 Farmers) is expanding in Sri Lanka. By bringing together farmers, a local university, banks and information and communication technology (ICT) providers, the L3 Farmers programme is helping farmers develop improved methods for mushroom cultivation.

A Sri Lankan farmer involved with COL’s L3 Farmers programme prepares to sell mushrooms on the street on a tricycle he designed and built

Members of the Ekamuthu mushroom growers’ society in the Kamburupitiya area in southern Sri Lanka are working with local educational institutions to learn modern agro-technologies that will increase production in their mushroom farming. Computer facilities are being provided by the University of Ruhuna and the Vidatha Centre. The Sanasa Development Bank is providing credit to farmers on a collective basis. Future plans include expanding marketing efforts beyond the local community, providing lessons to mushroom farmers by mobile phones and developing value-added mushroom products.

Launched in the Tamil Nadu region of India in 2004, L3 Farmers is being adapted for use in Jamaica, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and Uganda.

www.col.org/L3Farmers

• Professor Dato’ Dr. Ansary Ahmed, President/CEO, Asia e University, Malaysia
• Mr. Desmond Bermingham, Visiting Fellow, Center for Global Development, Washington, DC
• Professor Veronica McKay, CEO, Kha Ri Gude Literacy Campaign, South Africa
• Professor Dr. Abdul Mannan, Executive Director, UPNG Open College, University of Papua New Guinea
• Professor Tolly S.A. Mbwette, Vice-Chancellor, The Open University of Tanzania
• Professor Ajaga Nji, Ph.D, Université de Dschang, Cameroon
• Dr. Kondapalli Rama, Education Quality Assurance Officer, United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Jordan
• Dr. Caroline Seelig, CEO, The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand
• Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Open Campus, The University of the West Indies, Barbados
• Mr. Rod Tyrer, Lead Adviser, Organisational Development Direct, UK
• Ms. Ruby Vaa, Acting Campus Director, Alafua Campus, The University of the South Pacific
• Ms. Jenny Williams, Consultant, New Zealand

COL and The University of the South Pacific (USP) have signed a formal collaboration agreement. In the Commonwealth South Pacific, USP is the primary provider of off-campus tertiary education and employs distance education methods to reach learners throughout the region. COL has always worked closely with USP. The new Memorandum of Understanding formalises and adds structure to the long-standing relationship.

ONLINE DIRECTORY OF OPEN SCHOOLS

COL is compiling a detailed listing of secondary level distance education institutions in the Commonwealth. To see the list, add information about your institution or update information, go to the COL Wiki at www.colwiki.org/SLDEIC.

SUPPORTING THE GROWTH OF OPEN SCHOOLING

Like many developing countries, Tanzania and Zambia are seeing growing demand for secondary education as a result of the expansion of Universal Primary Education. In Tanzania, only 29 percent of primary school leavers are enrolled in lower secondary studies and a scant 1.5 percent are enrolled at the senior secondary level. This huge and largely unmet demand for secondary education, coupled with an increasing need for adult and non-formal education, has resulted in increased interest in open schooling from both government and private providers.

COL is helping the Government of Tanzania by drafting guidelines to support the growth of open schooling in the country. “Guidelines for the Establishment and Management of Open Schools” clarify the legal requirements for establishing and registering open schools in Tanzania. These guidelines, which were developed at a stakeholders meeting in November 2009, will encourage uniformity in curricula, delivery modalities and assessment in open schools, which will improve public confidence in Open Schooling as a cost-effective means of providing quality education for all.

COL also commissioned an assessment of the Zambia College of Distance Education (ZACODE). The study provided the Ministry of Education with recommendations on how to re-design the operations of the college to make it a more accessible and effective open school that can meet the growing demand for secondary education.

“Guidelines for the Establishment and Management of Open Schools” and the ZACODE assessment are available on the COL website.

www.col.org/OpenSchooling

OPEN SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION LAUNCHED

A group of open schooling and distance education practitioners formally launched the Commonwealth Open Schooling Association (COMOSA) at a meeting organised by COL in New Delhi, India in November 2009. COMOSA’s mission is to support the efforts of open and distance learning (ODL) institutions to co-ordinate, co-operate and collaborate in the development, promotion and introduction of innovative, high quality, relevant, equitable, gender-sensitive and cost-effective education for sustainable development.

“We believe COMOSA has a role to play as an advocate for distance education at the school level,” said Mrs. Frances Ferreira, COL Education Specialist, Open Schooling. “And by bringing together open schooling practitioners from around the Commonwealth, we will be able to build consensus and share information about best practices.”

A Constitution was adopted at the November meeting and an interim executive was appointed consisting of:

• Dr. Sitansu S. Jena (National Institute of Open Schooling, India): Chairperson
• Ms. Fancy Amey (Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning): Vice-Chairperson
• Ms. Lystra Sampson-Ovid (National Open School of Trinidad & Tobago): Secretary
• Professor Desh Bandhu Gupta (J&K State Open School, India): Treasurer

India’s National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) is providing support for COMOSA in the form of office space and one staff member. Participants at the inaugural meeting agreed that the next steps would include developing a COMOSA website and issuing an invitation to all open schools to join the association.

COMOSA’s first annual general meeting will be held prior to COL’s Sixth Pan-Commonwealth Forum of Open Learning (PCF6) in Kochi (Kerala), India in November 2010, in conjunction with a pre-conference open schooling meeting hosted by NIOS.

Attending the launch of COMOSA are (L to R): Mrs. Frances Ferreira, COL Education Specialist; Dr. S.S. Jena, Chairman of NIOS; Mrs. Anshu Vaish, Secretary School Education & Literacy, Government of India; Sri S. C. Khuntia, Joint Secretary, School Education & Literacy, Government of India and Dr. R. Sreedher, Director of COL’s Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA)

OERS FOR OPEN SCHOOLS

Teams from six Commonwealth countries are completing work on new open educational resources (OERs) for open schools. The educators from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Seychelles, Trinidad & Tobago and Zambia are developing learning materials for 20 subjects at the secondary level as part of a two-year partnership between COL and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which is providing funding. The print materials are largely completed; the next step is converting them to online formats.

In addition to creating an extensive set of OERs, this initiative has built capacity in online materials development. Ms. Izaan Klazen, a teacher at a rural secondary school in Namibia who developed course materials in English as a Second Language for the Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL), shares her thoughts about this experience:

The biggest thing I learned from this project was to be willing to learn and to let people teach me. At the first workshop, I felt nervous and intimidated because I did not know anything about computers. By the second week of the workshop, I wanted to leave, but later on I felt more at ease due to the constant motivation from my two friends, Miems and Imogene. Thereafter I was determined to improve my skills. Now I have almost completed my International Computer Driver’s License.

I have already used some of the OERs in my teaching, and I’m sure I will use my computer skills in my class. I’m very grateful to NAMCOL for providing me with the opportunity to be part of this project.

www.col.org/OpenSchooling

LIVES: MOBILE PHONES FOR LEARNING

The University of British Columbia’s Networks and Internet Computing (NIC) Lab in Vancouver, Canada is working in partnership with COL to develop a system that delivers learning via mobile phones. Learning Through Interactive Voice Educational Systems (LIVES) is an educational software system that offers audio lessons to multiple users over mobile telephone networks. This innovative system takes advantage of a recent phenomenon in developing countries: the rise of mobile phone networks and high mobile phone adoption rate.

LIVES offers two-way communication, flexibility and anywhere-anytime learning.

Learners specify when they are available to receive phone calls.

When a call is received, the learner has the option to listen to a pre-recorded lesson, request a call at another time or not listen.

After listening to the lesson, the learner has the option of listening again, responding to a multiple choice quiz by keying in numbers or letters, or ending the call. The quiz format reinforces the learning and provides feedback to the organisation about the effectiveness of the lesson and learner engagement.

After the quiz, the learner can provide feedback or listen to a lesson again.

LIVES makes effective use of auditory learning to reach illiterate learners. Rather than creating a new communications channel, LIVES uses existing mobile infrastructure, which is readily available even in remote areas of developing countries. Aside from acquiring a mobile phone, the learner does not incur any costs. The system uses cost-effective Voice over IP (VoIP) technology, open source software and special arrangements with mobile network providers.

Learners can listen when and where they choose – an important advantage of ODL. Whether it’s a farmer in the field, a fisher on a boat or a small business owner working from their home, people can choose which audio lessons they hear and do so at their convenience.

“LIVES is a practical and effective mobile learning system that has great potential to affect the livelihoods of millions of people,” explained Dr. Son T. Vuong, Principal Investigator with the NIC Research Team. “It is highly motivating to my team to develop a system that can help lift people out of poverty. We believe it has limitless possible applications.”

While LIVES currently uses a “push” model of learning, where learning is delivered to the student, it can easily implement a “pull” model, where students call in and choose the lectures they wish to hear.

Having completed beta testing, the NIC lab plans to initiate field testing with farmers involved in COL’s Lifelong Learning for Farmers programme in India. With the ability to reach large numbers of learners, LIVES offers the potential of vastly increasing access to education.

http://lives.cs.ubc.ca

COL Education Specialist, Higher Education, Dr. Willie Clarke-Okah, at the Alberta Legislative Assembly with the President of Athabasca University, Dr Frits Pannekoek (left), and the Honourable Alison Redford, Alberta’s Minister of Justice & Attorney General (right)

COMMONWEALTH EXECUTIVE MBA PROGRAMME GRADUATES

Learners in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean celebrated their graduation from the Commonwealth Executive Master of Business Administration (CEMBA) and Master of Public Administration (CEMPA) programme in 2009. The graduates completed their studies at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana), the Open University of Sri Lanka and the University College of the Caribbean (Jamaica).

Developed originally by COL in partnership with four open universities, the CEMBA/CEMPA programme offers working professionals the opportunity to study part-time through open and distance learning. The programme is offered by partner universities throughout the Commonwealth. Courses feature relevant local learning materials and case studies, and cover subjects ranging from managing information and public systems to development planning and quality assurance.

www.col.org/cemba

DEVELOPING CAPACITY IN RADIO SCRIPTWRITING IN AFRICA

A radio scriptwriting competition on smallholder farmer innovation held by Farm Radio International in partnership with COL attracted 82 entries from 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. A two-month eLearning course on radio scriptwriting prior to the competition drew 126 participants from radio stations and agriculture groups across Africa.

Farm Radio International announced 15 winners from seven countries in the scriptwriting competition in January 2010. The first prize winner, Mr. John Cheburet with The Organic Farmer magazine and radio show on the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, impressed the international panel of judges with his script about an innovative Kenyan farmer who uses sawdust to lengthen the storage period of Irish potatoes. Mr. Cheburet’s prize is a study visit to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, Italy. The other winning scripts featured subjects ranging from sack farming and hanging gardens technology to improved methods of composting.

The online scriptwriting course enabled wider participation in the scriptwriting competition and better quality scripts, according to Ms. Blythe McKay, Development Communication Coordinator with Farm Radio International.

“I was very impressed with the high level of interest shown in the online training course by radio broadcasters from countries across Africa,” she said. “More and more broadcasters are accessing the Internet and are keen to participate in training opportunities. Several of the participants indicated that they were using what they learned in their daily work and to train their peers.”

Farm Radio International will mail the 15 winning scripts to 500 radio organisations in Africa. The radio stations will have the opportunity to adapt and translate the farmer innovation stories before airing them, ensuring that the programmes are shared with a wide audience of farmers across the continent.

The scriptwriting competition was run in collaboration with FAO, the Donner Foundation, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), UNESCO and the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC).

Farm Radio International and COL plan to collaborate on a radio scriptwriting competition focused on community health this year. Meanwhile, COL is seeking other organisations looking to partner in activities that build capacity in media and community-based learning in developing countries of the Commonwealth. Contact Mr. Ian Pringle, COL Education Specialist, Media for more information.

Thirty-four learners were the first graduates to receive their CEMBA at the University College of the Caribbean graduation ceremony in Kingston, Jamaica in November 2009