Open and distance learning (ODL) has evolved over the last century, but the ways in which its benefits are marketed to students and other stakeholders have remained relatively unchanged. The benefits are still relevant but they are no longer sufficient as marketing strategies in the context of education systems in the 21st century. Educational institutions need to incorporate the benefits of ODL into a more comprehensive marketing strategy based on the relationships they develop with their students and stakeholders.

Healthy Communities brochure: Affordable, appropriate communication channels – including digital audio, radio and mobile devices – enable access to learning by large numbers of citizens at low cost. Participatory approaches and quality content ensure relevance and results. Open and distance learning (ODL) methods offer three major advantages in health education and training: large scale, high quality and low cost.

Non-formal education takes place both within and outside educational institutions. It caters to all ages and spans adult literacy, basic education, life skills, work skills and health promotion. This new COL publication explores quality assurance in non-formal education with an emphasis on evaluation programme outcomes, outputs and impacts. It examines approaches to quality assurance that are needed in non-formal education and introduces a rigorous but simple quality assurance framework.

15 January 2012: Current drafts of COL’s Three-Year Plan 2012-2015 and related Logic Model are now available for review by stakeholders. The drafts benefit from wide consultation and results of surveys and evaluations.