Back row, left to right: Ms. Rashmi Chowdhary (representing Ms. Vibha Puri Das), Professor Clement Sankat, Hon. Dr. Dame Carol Kidu, Mr. Ransford Smith (representing Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr. Kamalesh Sharma), Professor Akilagpa Sawyerr, HE Mrs. Mariam Katagum, Professor John Wood, Ms. Jo Bourne
Front row, left to right: MS. Janet Ecker, Professor Atta-ur-rahman, Sir John Daniel (President and C.E.O.), Hon. Burchell Whiteman (Chair), Dr. Linda Sissons, Ms. Jenny Glennie.
Missing from photo: Mr. Martin Bean
COL BOARD OF GOVERNORS MEETING IN VANCOUVER
COL’s Board of Governors met this month in Vancouver. Representing major donors and all regions of the Commonwealth, the current Board includes four current or former ministers, four current or former heads of international organisations, six current or former heads of higher education institutions, three current or former ambassadors, four current or former senior civil servants and two current or former senior corporate executives. There is equal female/male membership on the Board.
The Board of Governors oversees COL’s financial matters and reviews the impact that COL is having on people and institutions across the Commonwealth. It received with compliments COL’s annual detailed programme-progress and financial reports (following the quarterly updates that it receives throughout the year), approved COL’s budget and financial policies for the ensuing year, discussed long-term programme planning and reviewed human resources strategies. It also unanimously re-appointed the Honourable Burchell Whiteman, O.C. for a second three-year term as Board Chair, “with acclaim”.
Programme reporting to the Board, financial statements and Board minutes are publicly available on COL’s website.
www.col.org/Board
www.col.org/GovInfo
www.col.org/blog147
www.col.org/bwhiteman
BUILDING SKILLS IN BASIC TRADES IN VANUATU
Workshop participants in Vanuatu display repaired small engines
In recent years, COL and the Pacific Association of Technical/Vocational Education and Training (PATVET) have developed training courses in basic trades to help meet the skills needs of small island states in the Pacific. These course materials are being adopted and used throughout the Pacific. Mr. David Lambukly, CEO of the Vanuatu National Training Council, sends this report from the island of Vanuatu.
Five training courses developed in partnership with COL have been accredited by the Vanuatu National Training Council. The COL courses in Small Business, Small Engine Maintenance, Tourism as a Business, Working with Timber and Working with Concrete are accredited at Level 2 on the National TVET Qualification Framework. The courses are now ready for delivery by registered training providers in Vanuatu. The accreditation process was part of the Vanuatu TVET Reform initiative funded by AusAID.
The Small Engine Maintenance course was delivered in Malekula by Uripiv Rural Training Centre in 2010 and in Luganville Santo by Saint Michel Technical College last year and again in February. The 2011 training programme drew participants from local businesses based in Luganville and from rural communities across Sanma Province. There were 47 participants ranging in age from 16 to 62 and education level from Class 2 to Year 12. This is an excellent example of how flexible TVET delivery facilitates broad access! By the end of the training, 23 pieces of small engine-based equipment – including outboard motors, chain-saws, lawnmowers, string-cutters, and generators – had been successfully repaired by the participants.
LEARNER SUPPORT FOR OPEN SCHOOLING
To bridge the gap between distance learners and teachers, learner support is critical to the success of all open schools. COL helps open schools throughout the Commonwealth build their capacity in learner support through training such as a workshop at Bangladesh Open University (BOU) in February. Fifty faculty members attended the workshop, which used the “Manual for the Tutors of Learning Centres in Open Schools”, a resource developed at a previous BOU learner support workshop hosted by COL.
Now available in Portuguese and pan-Commonwealth versions, the manual was translated into Bengali for use at this workshop. By using training materials developed locally and communicated in the local vernacular, COL is working to introduce learning that can be easily replicated and sustained beyond COL’s involvement.
All three versions of the Manual are available on COL’s website, along with other training resources, research and reports related to open schooling.
www.col.org/OpenSchooling
SUPPORTING RESEARCH IN SOUTH AFRICA
Professor Asha Kanwar (centre) with participants at the research workshop at UNISA in March
“Developing a research proposal/report” was the subject of a two-day workshop led by COL Vice President Professor Asha Kanwar at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in March. The 35 workshop participants learned about the donor’s perspective, publication requirements and best practices in research. They developed research proposals over the two days, which underwent peer review.
While at UNISA, Professor Kanwar was the guest speaker at the 6th Lecture in the ODL Occasional Lecture Series. Her presentation provided an overview of Open Education Models, from the opening of the University of London in 1858 to current day development with open educational resources (OER). There are new and diverse constituencies of learners today, she explained. There are more women and young learners, and they are tech savvy – increasingly, learners in developing countries use mobile phones for all of their electronic communication. Today’s learners want to work with their peers, co-operate as well as compete with them, and prefer education which was “real” rather than simply relevant.
Professor Kanwar’s speech at UNISA is at www.col.org/speeches
ODL FOR TEACHER EDUCATORS IN THE GAMBIA
Participants at the Instructional Design for Open & Distance Learning workshop in Banjul, The Gambia in January 2011
COL partnered with the Faculty of Education at the University of The Gambia (UTG) to hold a workshop on instructional design for 30 teacher educators from the College of Education and university faculty. The week-long workshop, supported UTG’s efforts to upgrade its unqualified and under-qualified teachers in the country’s interior through open and distance learning (ODL).
The objectives of the workshop were to enhance the participants’ understanding of the use of ODL to train and upgrade teachers, and to disseminate basic skills in instructional design. Learner support and areas requiring COL’s support, including course development, management of ODL and ODL tutoring, were also explored.
eGOVERNMENT AND ICT LITERACY
L to R: Mr. David Spiteri Gingell, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Information Officer, Malta; Ms Trudi van Wyk, COL Education Specialist, eLearning, the Honourable Dr. Edmond Mansoor, Minister of State with responsibility for Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunications, Science and Technology and Special Projects, Antigua and Barbuda and Mr. Anthony Ming, Informatics Advisor, Commonwealth Secretariat
The Commonwealth Secretariat’s Governance and Institutional Development Division, in partnership with the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration, Barbados and COL, organised a regional “eGovernment & eBusiness Strategy Development” workshop for the Caribbean in March. The workshop, held in Antigua & Barbuda, provided senior civil servants from 10 Caribbean countries with a range of emerging practices and examples of how eGovernment and eBusiness services can be undertaken by public sector organisations to strategically plan and transform their operations. COL’s Education Specialist, eLearning, Ms. Trudi van Wyk, facilitated sessions on information and communication technology (ICT) literacy in government, the workforce and society.
In his opening address, the Honourable Dr. Edmond Mansoor, Antigua & Barbuda’s Minister of State with responsibility for Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunications, Science and Technology and Special Projects, emphasised the importance of ICT literacy. The integration of ICT into teaching and learning is non-negotiable, he asserted, and it is the responsibility of governments to provide the enabling technological environment, including broadband services, for learning to take place.
The Government of Antigua & Barbuda is working with COL to train 300 secondary school teachers in the use of ICT in the classroom.
OER FOR THE BAHAMAS
Thirty-two people from the College of The Bahamas, the Ministry of Education and practicing teachers participated in a one-day workshop on “Finding, Using and Re-purposing OER” in Nassau in April. The educators were introduced to the practical aspects of finding open educational resources (OER), customising them and using them in the classroom. Open licensing and quality issues were also explored as were noteworthy OER initiatives, different sources of OER and potential use of OER in The Bahamas.
This one-day OER workshop was also delivered in Tanzania in May. The workshop materials are now available online for use by educational institutions that want to conduct OER training or by individuals to use for self-directed learning.
OER workshop resources: http://col-oer.weebly.com
http://oerworkshop.weebly.com
QUALITY IN DUAL-MODE UNIVERSITIES
Recognising that universities that offer both face-to-face and distance learning options have unique quality challenges, COL sponsored a workshop on Quality Assurance in Dual-Mode Universities in advance of the Asia-Pacific Quality Network conference hosted by India’s National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). Thirty people attended the day-long workshop, including representatives from quality assurance agencies and a number of state university vice chancellors. In addition to identifying key challenges and issues for dual-mode universities, participants identified best practices in quality assurance. The workshop was facilitated by COL President, Sir John Daniel and COL Honorary Fellow Professor Ram Takwale, who is a former Chair of NAAC.
TEACHER STANDARDS CONSULTATION IN THE CARIBBEAN
Teacher quality was the focus of the first Consultation on the Regional Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession in Antigua & Barbuda. The two-day meeting was hosted by COL in partnership with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
Senior education officers, teacher educators, teacher union representatives, teachers and principals from all 12 Commonwealth member countries, plus Montserrat, provided a critique of the “Draft Framework for Generic Teaching Performance and Academic Standards”. The Consultation sought to encourage dialogue, obtain input from participants about teacher quality and empower a cadre of persons across the region to become advocates for quality assurance initiatives.
The lead presentation on related international experiences was delivered by Dr. Pauline Greaves of the Commonwealth Secretariat. Dr. Morella Joseph of the Caribbean Community Secretariat gave an historical perspective on teacher education initiatives. Dr. Paula Mark, Teacher Education Specialist and a member of the Task Force, presented an overview of quality assurance issues related to teacher development and the role of academic and teaching performance standards in maintaining quality. Following these presentations, participants were engaged in group activities discussing the introduction of the standards and the implications for current policies and practices. Participants also suggested changes to the draft teaching standards document.
The common view among participants was that the standardisation of practice is a necessary step in the harmonisation of policies and in determining equivalencies of teacher education programmes and teacher qualifications across the Caribbean.
UPCOMING EVENTS
- 24th ICDE World Conference on Open and Distance Learning
Expanding horizons – new approaches to ODL
2-5 October, 2011, Bali, Indonesia
www.ut.ac.id/icde2011
25 - 28 September 2011, Cambridge, UK
Internationalisation and Social Justice: the role of Open, Distance and e-Learning
Presented by the Centre for Educational Research and Development, St Edmund's College, Cambridge UK in association with The Open University and the Commonwealth of Learning.
www2.open.ac.uk/r06/conference