| SAN FRANCISCO - Vis Naidoo was named a Finalist in the "Policy" category at the 2004 World Technology Awards Gala Ceremony, held at San Francisco City Hall, San Francisco, California, on Friday evening, 8 October 2004. As a Finalist, Mr. Naidoo becomes a member of the prestigious World Technology Network. The Awards ceremony was held in conjunction with the World Technology Summit. For immediate release - 12 August 2004 Vancouver Resident/South African/COL Staff Me mber Nominated for World Technology Award VANCOUVER - Vis Naidoo, an Education Specialist at the Vancouver-based Commonwealth of Learning (COL), has been named a nominee for a 2004 World Technology Award. Current members of the World Technology Network - most of whom are previous winners and finalists for previous Awards cycles - first nominate the innovative companies and individuals that they believe are doing the work of greatest likely long-term significance, and then later cast their votes to determine the four Finalists and a Winner for each of the different Awards categories. The Finalists and Winners will be announced at the World Technology Awards gala ceremony, to be held at the conclusion of the World Technology Summit (October 7th & 8th in San Francisco), and are inducted into the Membership of the World Technology Network, which operates in association with NASDAQ, Microsoft, TIME Magazine, and Science Magazine. Naidoo is a South African citizen working on an international basis at COL. His role is to work with Commonwealth Governments and organisations to focus on educational technology policy and applications and its impact on education and training systems within an open and distance learning context. He is currently working with governments to support their educational technology policy processes, the application of ICT within basic and secondary schools, supporting schoolnet developments and the use of technology for teacher training. Prior to joining COL, Mr. Naidoo was the Director of the Centre for Educational Technology and Distance Education, Department of Education, South Africa. During his five years as Director, he was instrumental in shaping policy environment in the area of distance education and technology-enhanced learning. He was also involved in implementing technology-based initiatives that focused on using radio and television broadcasting, computers and the Internet to support different sectors of the education and training system in South Africa. The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is an intergovernmental organisation created by the Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the application of educational technologies, notably knowledge management, open learning and distance education to the challenges of development. It is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Further information: http://wtn.net
(select Policy, and then Visagan N.S. Naidoo, to view background information on Vis Naidoo and nominee commentary)
www.col.org/vnaidoo |