1) Congratulations to Excellence in Distance Education Award winners
2) More than 700 attend PCF5
3) PCF6 to be held in Kochi (Cochin), India -- November 2010
DETAILS ON THESE ITEMS FOLLOW ...
1) Congratulations to Excellence in Distance Education Award winners
COL's biennial Excellence in Distance Education Awards were presented at the Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning in London last month. Congratulations to all the winners:
Honorary Fellows of COL: Professor Anuwar Ali, President & Vice-Chancellor, Open University of Malaysia; Professor Uma Coomaraswamy, Emeritus Professor of Botany and a former Vice-Chancellor, Open University of Sri Lanka; Professor Brenda Gourley, Vice-Chancellor, The Open University, U.K.; Dr. Myra Harrison, Education Advisor, New Zealand Agency for International Development; Professor Abdul Khan, Assistant Director-General for Communications & Information, UNESCO; Mr. Mahesh Chandra Pant, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling, India; Professor Barney Pityana, Vice-Chancellor, University of South Africa (UNISA); Ms. Esi Sutherland-Addy, University of Ghana.
Institutional Achievement: Namibian College of Open Learning and the University of Papua New Guinea.
Materials, Category A: print or other "low-end" media materials, such as audio/ video tapes or a combination of these: Master of Arts in Teacher Education, Faculty of Education, Open University of Sri Lanka
Materials, Category B: interactive, electronically delivered materials, which may be supplemented by materials developed in other media: OpenLearn Website, The Open University, U.K.)
Distance Learning Experience: Mr. Kelly H. Yapa, Papua New Guinea (degree granting programme) and Mr. David Benthu Nthengwe, Democratic Republic of Congo (eLearning in difficult circumstances).
Further details on the awards and the winners:
www.col.org/edea/2008
2) More than 700 attend PCF5
More than 700 people from 70 countries, including several Ministers of Education, attended COL's Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF5) in London, UK from 13-17 July 2008. Papers and reports from sessions are available online in the Forum 'wiki' and 'blog' at
www.wikieducator.org/pcf5 and
http://pcf5.wordpress.com. Keynote presentations, Sir John's sum-up keynote and the four theme reports (conclusions and ways forward) are available at
www.col.org/speeches.
The Forum explored how open and distance learning can help achieve international development goals and education for all.
PCF5 was hosted by COL in partnership with the University of London, forming a part of the University's celebration of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of its External Degrees initiative. Major sponsorship support for delegate participation from developing countries was provided by COL, the U.K. Open University, the U.K. Department for International Development, the University of London External Programme and AusAID -- the Australian Government's overseas aid programme. Conference Co-Chairs were Sir Graeme Davies, Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, and Sir John Daniel, President and CEO of COL.
www.col.org/pcf5
3) PCF6 to be held in Kochi, India -- November 2010
Sir John Daniel, President and C.E.O. of COL, and Dr. Latha Pillai, Pro Vice-Chancellor of India's Indira Gandhi National Open University, took the podium at PCF5 in London last month to announce that the Sixth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning will be held in India in Kochi (Cochin, Kerala), co-hosted by IGNOU. Exact dates during late 2010 will be announced soon.
www.col.org/pcf
The Commonwealth of Learning, which is based in Vancouver and New Delhi, was created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies. The Commonwealth comprises 53 countries -- most of which are developing nations -- and one-quarter of the world's population.