COL is proud to announce the winners of the 2005-2006 Excellence in Distance Education Awards
Honorary Fellows of COL
Dr. Felicity Binns , Projects Director, Cambridge Education, and former Executive Director of the International Extension College; Cambridge, United Kingdom
Dato' Dr. Gajaraj Dhanarajan , Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer, Wawasan Open University, and former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth of Learning; Penang, Malaysia
The Honourable Zobaida Jalal , Women's and community education advocate, Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education, and former Minister for Education and Women; Islamabad, Pakistan
Father T.V. Kunnunkal , Research Director, Indian Social Institute, and founding Chairman of India's National Open School (now the National Institute of Open Schooling); New Delhi, India
The Honourable Fiamé Naomi Mata'afa , Minister for Women, Community and Social Development, former Minister of Education and former member of COL's Board of Governors; Apia, Samoa
HE Professor Michael Omolewa , Ambassador/Permanent Delegate, The Permanent Delegation of Nigeria to UNESCO and member of COL's Board of Governors; Paris, France
The Honourable Burchell Whiteman , former Senator and Minister of Information and Minister of Education, Youth and Culture, and member of COL's Board of Governors; Kingston, Jamaica
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Awards of Excellence
for Distance Education Materials
Category A: print or other "low-end" media materials as part of a distance education course/programme
Advanced Certificate in Education in the Field of Learners with Special Educational Needs - Submitted by the School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Accepted by Judith Inglis
Learning Skills for Open and Distance Learners - Submitted by the Open University Malaysia. Accepted by Abtar Kaur
A Facilitation Handbook for Women's Learning Group Facilitators - Submitted by the Women in Fishing Industry Project (WIFIP), Education and Development Trust, Kenya. Accepted by Jennipher Kere
Honourable Mention: Environmental Education Modules, submitted by the Centre for Environmental Education, India
Category B: interactive, electronically delivered materials, which may be supplemented by materials developed in other media
PharmaLearn, Anticoagulation - Submitted by the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Alberta, Canada. Accepted by Theresa Schindel
NAMCOL Online, Welcome to the World of Physical Science Grade 12 - Submitted by the Namibian College of Open Learning. Accepted by Jerry R. Beukes
Indigenous Approaches to Healing and Helping - Submitted by the School of Social Work, University of Victoria, Canada. Accepted by Dora Leigh Bjornson
Honourable Mention: French as a Second Language, submitted by the Alberta Distance Learning Centre, Canada
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Awards of Excellence
for Institutional Achievement
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC - Accepted by Dr. Jennifer Evans, Head, Distance and Flexible Learning
BOTSWANA COLLEGE OF DISTANCE AND OPEN LEARNING - Accepted by Mr. Daniel R. Tau, Director
NETAJI SUBHAS OPEN UNIVERSITY - Accepted by Professor Surabhi Banerjee, Vice Chancellor
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Award Recognising
Distance Learning Experience
DEGREE GRANTING PROGRAMME: Acknowledging a notable distance education learning experience
Ms. Neelam Narayan , Suva, Fiji (The University of the South Pacific)
eLEARNING EXPERIENCE IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES: Acknowledging the experience of learners from international organisations who have completed the COL-developed and delivered workplace eLearning courses
Ms. Najwa Qaisy , DM Manager, Iraq Deligation, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Baghdad, Iraq)
Honourable Mentions:
Dr. Bernardino Pereira Teixeira, Leprosy Programme Officer, World Health Organization (Luanda, Angola)
Dr. Pingping Zhang, National Programme Officer, World Health Organization (Beijing, China)
BROCHURE
(Acrobat PDF - 221 Kb)
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
The Commonwealth of Learning is continuing the tradition of recognising and honouring excellence in distance education through awards to be presented during the Fourth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning: Achieving Development Goals. The Forum will take place in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, from 30 October to 3 November 2006. Since its inception as part of COL's tenth anniversary celebrations, the programme has honoured 27 individuals and 20 institutions. It has become a staple of the Pan-Commonwealth Forums on Open Learning where they are conferred at a banquet sponsored by COL.
There are four categories of awards designed to recognise excellence: at the institutional level; in the development of learning materials including a new award for reusable learning objects; and in student accomplishment including another new award for an eLearning experience under difficult circumstances. This latter award is open to those who have taken the course in effective writing offered by one of the multilateral agencies with which COL has been working. The fourth category recognises a lifetime of achievement and contribution to open and distance learning by conferring the award of Honorary Fellow of COL. This is the only award for which nominations are not sought.
I encourage our colleagues and friends in open and distance learning to submit nominations for the awards and to attend the Fourth Pan-Commonwealth Forum. The Forum is being jointly organised by COL and the University of the West Indies' Distance Education Centre (UWIDEC), in co-operation with the Caribbean Association for Distance and Open Learning; the Jamaican Association for Distance and Open Learning; the Trinidad & Tobago Distance Learning Association; and the Office of Continuing Education and Distance Learning at the University of Technology, Jamaica. The Forum's web site is www.col.org/pcf4.
Sir John Daniel
President and CEO
Commonwealth of Learning