06. Speeches & Presentations

Permanent URI for this category

http://oasis.col.org/handle/11599/2404

Browse

Browsing 06. Speeches & Presentations by Issue Date

Jump to a point in the index:
Now showing 1 - 20 of 1030
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Asa Briggs Lecture: Communications, the Commonwealth and the Future
    (1994-05-10) Dilks, David
    The Inaugural Commonwealth Lecture (since renamed to the Asa Briggs lecture) delivered in The Middleton Hall of The Universily of Hull on 10 May 1994, by Professor David Dilks, Vice Chancellor, The University of Hull.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Remarks: Indira Gandhi National Open University
    (1996-02-07) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    I bring you greetings from the Commonwealth of Learning; thank you for inviting me to this important meeting, to learn from you of developments in student support systems here in India and to share with you a few thoughts of my own on the subject.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Remarks: Kota Open University
    (1996-02-10) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Transcript of speech at first convocation ceremony, Kota Open University, February 10, 1996. Presented by Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, President, The Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Global Trends in Distance Learning: A Broad Overview
    (1996-02-11) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    It gives me enormous pleasure to attend this meeting today and share with you some thoughts on the environment, issues, challenges, opportunities and practise of higher distance and open education around us. I do not wish to describe ad nauseam the typologies of distance education around the globe (there are some good accounts of these which you can read for yourself), but look at some major trends that are emerging and draw some conclusions from these as to what future distance education globally may look like in the next century. As you would appreciate, given my experience, I am guided by what is happening in the dedicated distance teaching institutions around the Commonwealth rather than the entire world. However, important developments are taking place elsewhere which will have an impact on all of us. Therefore, with your indulgence, I will attempt to wrap this discussion by drawing on developments peripheral to education per se especially in areas such as the information highway which in one way or another will have a role to play in our sector.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Setting Up Open Universities
    (1996-04-21) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    During the next forty minutes or so that we have, I will divide my presentation into three parts: // 1. I will briefly reiterate some points to those you may have already heard about in terms of key planning and implementation considerations once the decision has been made to start, say, an open university or a distance education system. // 2. In the second part, I would like to discuss with you the case study of the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong; I chose the OLI for three reasons: (i) in some ways it is unique in the manner in which it handled curricular issues; (ii) its financial arrangements are challenging and perhaps characteristically Hong Kong; and (iii) most importantly, I have personal knowledge of the organisation and therefore I can share with you insights into lessons to be learnt from that experience. // 3. In the third part, I will present to you a video programme looking at the OLI five years after its launch to see how far the objectives of the community, the planners and the managers have been accomplished.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Distance Education: Crossing the Distance in the Commonwealth
    (1996-05-22) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    The Commonwealth of nations is home to 1.2 billion people; one out of four human beings on earth lives in one of the 53 Commonwealth countries. Almost half these nations are small with populations under a million while three (or four) of them are among the nine populous countries of the world. Except for the richer countries of the Commonwealth (Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore) which are aging, the others have populations that are young (those under 15 far out number those above 65); those with younger populations are also among the poorest having a higher percentage of illiteracy and employing the working populations in less skilled and low paying jobs. The need for more education and training in these less well endowed nations is clearly obvious. // By and large, this group of nations subscribe to decent and participatory government, preservation of human dignity, improving the health and well being of its individual peoples and sharing of experience with member Commonwealth countries.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Face to Face with Distance Education
    (1996-07-02) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    I consider it a singular honour and a great privilege to be here this evening to remember and pay tribute to a caring leader, a great teacher, a wonderful friend, a faithful husband and a loving father. Professor Gaddam Ram Reddy was all of these things and more.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Remarks: Indira Gandhi National Open University
    (1996-07-03) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Transcript of remarks presented at Indira Gandhi National Open University, National Seminar on "Performance Indicators in Distance Education", Wednesday, July 3, 1996, New Delhi, India. Presented by Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, President, The Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Partnerships in Open Learning
    (1996-07-04) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Transcript of speech inaugurating the Professor G. Ram Reddy Memorial Trust, Hyderabad, India, 4 July 1996. Presented by Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, President, The Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Young Women’s Unemployment: The Education Factor
    (1996-07-10) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    When the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) came into existence in 1988, the United Nations Decade of Women with its theme of Equality, Development and Peace had contributed greatly to the process of eliminating obstacles to the improvement of the status of women at the national, regional and international levels. Out of this emerged the Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women which were designed to provide an effective guide for global action by the international community to the advancement of women and the elimination of gender-based discrimination, particularly in the areas of employment, health and education.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Opening Remarks: Educational Technology 2000
    (1996-08) Macdonald, H Ian
    I believe that access is what this Conference is all about; it is certainly what the Commonwealth of Learning is all about. And the miracles of educational technology make access possible now on a scale heretofore unimagined.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Partnership or Paternalism
    (1996-08-13) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    There are many things about OUR century that we can be proud of. Colonialism is by and large gone and most countries are now independent; more and more people want to participate in making their communities work and the voice of and for human freedom is finding a hearing across the world; there are signs of perhaps global peace and security; human development generally seems to be on a fast course with the developing countries on a much faster pace than, say, that of industrialised countries in the last century, and the ingenuity of humans has led to many technological advancements in space, medicine, agriculture, information and communication. While we can and should commend ourselves on this progress, there is still a long list of deprivations, for example, the disparity between the rich and poor nations in terms of food, health care and social security is still large and increasing; there are now more conflicts within nations than between nations, and the social and political fabrics of many countries are beginning to disintegrate; the environment is largely endangered and our biodiversity at risk of massive erosion. It is still a world of great inequality.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Distance Education And The New Technologies
    (1996-08-25) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    I have this challenge to describe to you in ten minutes the world of distance education - an educational sector that is probably the fastest growing in the world, has some 867 institutions, uses, both experimentally or developmentally, every known communication technology and reaches out to about 10 million off-campus learners in their homes, work places, clubs and regular classrooms. The past and present successes of distance education itself are good reasons for a longer discussion but the future direction of the practice and its enormous potential to educate the world would warrant at some point, a more in-depth consideration by this audience because in one way or another, distance educators are going to be working with broadcasters even more intensely than they have ever done before. In the ten minutes I have, let me make 9 points - six on the application of the technology to education and three on its implications to the practice.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Notes for The Royal Commonwealth Society (Vancouver Island Branch) Dinner Meeting
    (1996-09-18) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    To keep you informed is not only a privilege but an obligation which I am pleased to meet This occasion also enables me to pay public tribute to the people and the Government of this Province for being host to The Commonwealth of Learning, the first international inter-governmental organisation located here with substantial support from Canada. The immense kindness and abundant generosity we have received does British Columbia proud and has brought you widespread credit and respect throughout the Commonwealth.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Technology: an Opportunity not a Threat
    (1996-09-30) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Throughout the ages, education has been the most powerful agent of change. Many of our leading thinkers, political leaders, development specialists have come to recognise that the empowerment of individuals through the provision of learning - a basic human right and social responsibility - must therefore be protected.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Student Learning and Support on a Virtual Campus
    (1996-10-02) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    As you and I consider what it is we must do to support learners of the virtual universities in the future, it may not be out of place to review our current position, in terms of educational opportunities and needs, from where we are planning to operate the proposed virtual classrooms.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Open Learning: The Distance Ahead
    (1996-10-14) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    I consider it a great honour and a special treat to be here on the same platform with young Michael to share a few thoughts on Development and Distance Education in an increasingly interdependent and badly bruised world in which we live. Also, I wish to share with you, at the same time, the question as to how far we should still travel to reach that ambitious philosophical ideal behind the establishment of the International Extension College 25 years ago.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Education: Equalising Opportunities
    (1996-10-16) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    Transcript of presentation at Charter Fellows Presentation Ceremony, University of London Institute of Education, Wednesday, 16 October 1996, at 6.30 p.m. Presented by Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan, President, The Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Distance Education: Status and Issues
    (1996-10-21) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    The development of open and distance learning during the last 25 years has been described as a response to increased needs and demands on the educational sector by population growth and economic and societal necessities.
  • Item
    Open Access
    Education in the New Millennium: Supporting a Learning Society
    (1996-11-01) Dhanarajan, Gajaraj
    The organisers of this seminar invited me to speak on the present developments and future trends in Education as we prepare for the new millennium. Those of you who know me well enough also know that while I am modestly familiar with the former, I am not very good at the latter, i.e., soothsaying, and the few times that I have attempted doing this seemed to confirm my self assessment of a singular lack of this talent. But, there are some very clever people out there in the big world who, with their computers and uncanny foresight, are predicting the developments in industry, technology, communication, commerce, environment, population, governments and humanity's knowledge base. Using their wisdom, I will attempt to speculate on some new directions for education generally. Together we could also look at what entails for distance education, particularly, if indeed such a dichotomy continues to exist in the coming millennium.