Browsing by Author "Balasubramanian, K"

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    Achieving Lifelong Learning for All: Where are We Now? What Next?
    (2019-02-11) Kanwar, Asha; Carr, Alexis; Balasubramanian, K; Mishra, Sanjaya
    Presented by Professor Asha Kanwar, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning at the ICDE Lillehammer Lifelong Learning Summit 2019, 11 February 2019. Co-written with Ms Alexis Carr, Research Coordinator, COL, Dr K Balasubramanian, former Vice President, COL, and Dr Sanjaya Mishra, Education Specialist: eLearning, COL.
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    Advancing Research in ODL: Where are the Missing Links?
    (2014-10-28) Kanwar, Asha; Balasubramanian, K
    Transcript and presentation slides from the Opening Keynote at the 28th Annual Conference of the Asian Association of Open Universities, Hong Kong, China, 28 October 2014. Presented by Professor Asha Kanwar, and co-written with Dr. K. Balasubramanian, Commonwealth of Learning.
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    Agricultural Higher Education in the 21st Century: Non-traditional educational models
    (2015-06-16) Kanwar, Asha; Balasubramanian, K; Balaji, Venkataraman
    Speech delivered by Professor Asha Kanwar at 'Agricultural Higher Education in the 21st Century: A global challenge in knowledge transfer to meet world demands for food security and sustainability'. Zaragoza, Spain June 2015.
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    Book Review: Learning as Development: Rethinking International Education in a Changing World
    (2018-12) Balasubramanian, K; Gaskell, Anne
    Daniel Wagner’s Learning as development is an important contribution in this area and, as Marlaine Lockheed of the World Bank points out, the volume “humanizes and broadens the discussion of education and development”. Wagner’s book calls for rethinking education and defining its relationship with international development. It calls for moving towards “an agenda that puts human development closer to the center of global ambitions and prioritises learning as the thread that binds each phase of human life into a coherent whole”. // The world has come together and has agreed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be realised by 2030. According to Wagner, the shift from the “economic growth” models to a human and sustainable development approach has necessitated a need to rethink education in the context of international development, particularly with reference to equity vis-à-vis poor and marginalised communities. While lamenting the siloed approach in education, Wagner offers a four interconnected and overlapping quadrant learning framework vis-à-vis learning contexts and learning practices. This framework covers the entire gamut of learning: structured non-formal education, less structured non-formal learning, structured formal education, less structured in-school learning. The conventional educational policies and programmes offered at educational institutions in many developing countries are sectoral and focus exclusively on structured formal education.
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    Bridging the Technology Gap: Mobile Phones for Education and Learning
    (2012-08-30) Balasubramanian, K
    Slides from the Ministerial Roundtable, 18th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (18CCEM), Mauritius, 30 August 2012. Presented by Dr. K. Balasubramanian, Commonwealth of Learning.
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    Can Mobile Learning Empower Women and Girls?
    (2015-02-27) Kanwar, Asha; Carr, Alexis; Balasubramanian, K
    Transcript and presentation slides from a presentation given at a research seminar, UNESCO Mobile Learning Week, Paris, France, 27 February 2015. Presented by Prof. Asha Kanwar, President & CEO, co-written with Alexis Carr, Project Assistant, Lifelong Learning for Farmers Programme, and K. Balasubramanian, Education Specialist, Agriculture & Livelihoods, Commonwealth of Learning.
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    Can Open Learning Transform Society?
    (2017-12-16) Kanwar, Asha; Balasubramanian, K; Mishra, Sanjaya
    Presented by Professor Asha Kanwar, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning, at Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU), 16 December 2017, Guwahati, India. Co-written with Dr. K Balasabramanian, Vice President, COL and Dr. Sanjaya Mishra, Education Specialist: eLearning, COL.
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    COL's Lifelong Learning for Farmers Initiative
    (2011) Balasubramanian, K
    COL's Lifelong Learning for Farmers model promotes prosperity by blending social capital and banking services with the innovative use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This model can enable many thousands of poor farmers, men and women, to learn and earn. COL's programme: • Adopts/adapts the L3F model in different jurisdictions train a cadre of “knowledge info-mediaries” to scale up the L3F model; • Works upstream by helping agricultural universities use ODL to design better education and training programmes; • Helps research organisations to apply science to the challenges of rural development and to provide services to resource-poor communities; • Consolidates and scale up pilot grassroots activities through policy advocacy and capacity-building; and • Works with a global network of strategic partners to promote L3F and extend the use of knowledge info-mediaries.
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    The Commonwealth of Learning
    (2013-04-11) Kanwar, Asha; Naidoo, Vis; Ferreira, Frances; Umar, Abdurrahman; Kaushik, Madhulika; Lesperance, John; Mead Richardson, Alison; Balasubramanian, K; Pringle, Ian; Bullen, Mark; Balaji, Venkataraman; McEachern, Doris
    The Commonwealth of Learning’s presentation to the Honourable Julian Fantino, Minister of International Cooperation, Canada, 11 April 2013, Vancouver, Canada // It gives me great pleasure to formally welcome, for the first time at COL, a Minister of International Cooperation. It is perhaps appropriate that the visit is happening this year, when COL celebrates its 25th anniversary. Thank you, Minister for your time and for your interest in our work.
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    Creating Knowledge Networks for Sustainable Development
    (2013-02-25) Kanwar, Asha; Balasubramanian, K
    World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+10 Review Meeting, From Digital to Knowledge Divide, Thematic Forum 1, UNESCO, France, 25 February 2013, Presented by Professor Asha Kanwar and co-written with Dr. K. Balasubramanian, Commonwealth of Learning // Let me begin with a brief introduction to my organisation the Commonwealth of Learning. The Commonwealth of Learning is an intergovernmental organization established by Commonwealth Heads of Government to serve the 54 Member States that span all regions of the globe. Our headquarters are in Vancouver and we have a regional office in New Delhi. Our overarching theme is ‘learning for development’. COL’s mission is to help Commonwealth Member States harness the potential of distance education and technologies to enhance access to learning which contributes to development. // Many Commonwealth countries are trying to accelerate progress towards the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals by the fast-approaching target date of 2015. As such, the Commonwealth Heads of Government are concerned about how to address the rural-urban divides that keep more than half their populations from accessing vital global knowledge flows. The rural-urban divide is also a knowledge divide.
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    Creativity in Advancing Distance Learning: Models and Technologies
    (2009-11-23) Daniel, John; Kanwar, Asha; West, Paul; Balasubramanian, K; Lesperance, John; Sreedher, Ramamurthy
    Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 23-29 November 2009, People’s Forum, Theme: Creativity and Innovation // Today’s theme is Creativity and Innovation. This is a particularly appropriate theme for the Commonwealth of Learning to address in the context of CHOGM. COL, as everyone calls it, is celebrating what you might call its 11th CHOGM birthday this year. // We were set up in 1987 when Heads of Government met in Vancouver. They believed that a communications revolution was underway and that the mass media, information technology and new developments in telecommunications had much to contribute to the advancement of education, training and learning. COL was created to help countries to secure that contribution. Our slogan, and the title of our Three-Year Plan, is Learning for Development. We focus on the use of educational technology in general and of open and distance education in particular, to advance learning in support of development. // Today, rather than simply outline our work programme we shall focus on the notions of creativity and innovation as applied to the development of distance learning. Our title is Creativity in advancing distance learning: models and technologies and we shall flag three models and three technical developments.
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    Developments in Distance and Online Learning: Can They Address Development Challenges?
    (2014-03-10) Kanwar, Asha; Balasubramanian, K
    My topic today is ‘Developments in Distance Education and elearning: can they address emerging challenges?’, which I have prepared jointly with my colleague Dr K Balasubramanian. I will first look at the context of higher education globally and in the Caribbean region. I will then review the response to these needs-- developments in distance education and elearning, which include the emergence of OER and MOOCs. In conclusion, I will raise questions relating to whether the developments in distance education and elearning are addressing emerging challenges.
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    Distance Education: Threats and Opportunities: Selected speeches and website blogs of Sir John Daniel and colleagues 2009-2010
    (2010) Daniel, John; Uvalić-Trumbić, Stamenka; Kanwar, Asha; West, Paul; Balasubramanian, K; Lesperance, John; Ramamurthy, Sreedhar
    This selection of speeches from 2009 and 2010 is entitled Distance Education: Threats and Opportunities. It also includes some entries from the blog that COL has introduced since the publication of the previous booklet. Open, distance and technology-mediated learning (ODL) is becoming steadily more pervasive as traditional educational institutions adopt this approach for more of their course offerings. Paradoxically, however, the rising use of ODL has provoked threats to its development that I have summarised in a more recent speech: Distance Education under Threat: An Opportunity? (www.col.org/resources/speeches/2010presentation/Pages/2010-10-06.aspx). These threats are of two types. The first are fraudulent operations, known as degree mills, which purport to offer instruction through ODL but merely offer credentials in exchange for payment. In 2008-2009 I was part of an international group convened by UNESCO and the US Council for Higher Education Accreditation that made proposals for combating this scourge. These are summarised in the first speech reproduced here (p. 4). The second type of threat, sketched in the blogs on p. 30, comes in the form of regulations issued by governments and institutions that seek to restrict the offering of education by ODL and the use of qualifications obtained through it. While some of these initiatives claim to be a response to degree mills, most are really a rearguard action to prevent the erosion of traditional methods of instruction and the accompanying loss of institutional income. This backlash against ODL will fail, as has similar opposition to the use of technology in other areas of life. Where technology can give better and less expensive products and services to more people, as ODL does, it will prevail. But we must take the threats seriously nevertheless.
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    Empowering Entrepreneurs: What opportunities? What enterprise?
    (2013-12-10) Kanwar, Asha; Balasubramanian, K
    Council for Education in the Commonwealth, Gladwyn Lecture 2013, London, United Kingdom, 10 December 2013, Presented by Professor Asha Kanwar (co-written with Dr. K. Balasubramanian), Commonwealth of Learning // 2013 is also the year when the Commonwealth adopted the Charter that expresses the commitment of Member States to promoting peace and prosperity to improve the lives of all its people. All the signatories to the Charter highlight the importance of education, health, gender equality and sustainable development. // It is perfectly appropriate then that the Commonwealth theme for this year is ‘Opportunity through Enterprise: unlocking the potential with innovation and excellence’. This is a celebration of the enterprising spirit that thrives unseen and unsung within the remote corners of our diverse and distributed Commonwealth, a constituency that the Commonwealth of Learning tries to reach through its various initiatives.
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    Empowerment of Women and Profit: The Role of Coevolution Partnership
    (2016-09-06) Balasubramanian, K; Carr, Alexis
    Session VI: Intergenerational and Cross-Collaborative Partnerships of the 11th Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting (11th WAMM), The Commonwealth in Apia, Samoa, 6-8 September 2016. Presented by Dr. K Balasubramanian, Vice-President, COL. Co-written with Alexis Carr, COL.
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    From Learning to Empowerment: A Study of Smallholder Farmers in South West Uganda
    (2015-11) Carr, Alexis; Tenywa, Moses; Balasubramanian, K
    The relationship between education and empowerment has been widely debated in development literature. In recent times, social capital and community-centric learning have been increasingly recognized as important variables in the empowerment process. This paper outlines the development of a ‘Three-dimensional Empowerment Framework’, and looks at the relationship between a community-centric learning process and empowerment in selected villages in Uganda. Based on a study of two villages, the paper evaluates the role of the Lifelong Learning for Farmers (L3F) programme, developed and supported by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), in empowering farming communities. The purpose of the study was to gain a better understanding of empowerment in the selected farming communities and to identify factors that may contribute to empowerment, including the L3F programme. Two sample villages with similar demographics were used for comparison, one L3F village and one non-L3F village, with 62 respondents from the L3F village and 78 from the non-L3F village, selected randomly. A survey, which included demographic questions as well as an empowerment scale, was administered to respondents from both groups. The responses were analysed and a regression model showing the factors that influenced empowerment was developed. The study shows that the integration of human capital (viewed purely from learning, knowledge acquisition, reflective practices, skills and competencies), social capital and financial capital, has a positive impact on development outcomes such as empowerment.
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    Gender and Life Long Learning: Impact on Women’s Empowerment
    (2013-11) Raj, Rengalakshmi; Thamizoli, P; Balasubramanian, K
    COL has been working on L3 for farmers’ project for the last five years in collaboration with NGOs; Community based organizations, technical institutions, telecom service providers and commercial banks in Tamil Nadu, India. The project is aiming to improve the livelihood security of the illiterate and semiliterate poor women and men farmers through knowledge empowerment. Here Open and Distance Learning with the support of modern and affordable ICT tools; the mobile phone and print media has been used to support the learning process. Using ICTs, the project aims at building the capacity among farmers, and landless labourers which could help them in developing value-added farming, encourage more sustainable use of natural resources, strengthen their ability to face globalization, and ensure food and livelihood security. The intervention process adopted gender sensitive approach in project cycle approach; from planning to monitoring and evaluation. At the initial stage, for better implementation of gendered approach, the capacity of the NGOs was given adequate attention. // Appropriation of mobile and print technology to facilitate credit specific learning process and livelihoods, institutional linkages, creation of assets and access to production related technologies and services were specific strategies adopted to reduce gender gap and progress towards transformation. Credit specific learning through mobile created new learning environment to improve the livelihoods and utilize the credit effectively for women. The space created through mobile use, has enhanced decision making ability of women in managing the livelihood activity. Access to technology and information has subtly enhanced women’s power to go beyond the culturally constructed space, associate with external agencies and effectively participate in the market based institutions. The paper will cover the existing gender gap, process of addressing the same in the learning process and how the gender equity based approaches are being used to reach towards transformation to achieve gender equality. // Paper ID: 417
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    Higher Education, Service to the Community and ICTs
    (2009-07-07) Balasubramanian, K; Daniel, John
    Microsoft Education Leaders’ Forum, Paris, 2009-07-07, Higher Education, Service to the Community and ICTs by Dr Kodhandaraman Balasubramanian & Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning (presented by Sir John Daniel) // So much for the prologue: we are in France and Caesar divided Gaul into three parts. I shall make three points. // First, higher education should engage with communities by playing to their agendas rather than imposing its own view of the world. // Second, ICTs are only useful in rural development as part of a wider system. // Third, we must focus on creating a new type of professional, which we at the Commonwealth of Learning call an infomediary. // For a wider discussion of these issues I refer you to the background paper ICTs for Higher Education that COL prepared for this week’s World Conference.
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    How ICT can Support Teacher Training
    (2014-10-06) Kanwar, Asha; Aguti, Jessica N; Balasubramanian, K
    Transcript and presentation slides from the Keynote at the Open Forum on "Teaching today: an international overview of professional development and conditions of work" for the 20th anniversary of World Teachers' Day, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France, 6 October 2014. Presented by Professor Asha Kanwar, President & CEO (co-written with Dr. Jessica Aguti & Dr. K. Balasubramanian), Commonwealth of Learning.
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    ICTs for higher education
    (2009) Balasubramanian, K; Clarke-Okah, Willie; Daniel, John; Ferreira, Frances; Kanwar, Asha; Kwan, Angela; Lesperance, John; Mallet, Joshua; Umar, Abdurrahman; West, Paul
    A background paper from the Commonwealth of Learning for the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education; Paris, 5-8 July 2009.