2011-2015

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Open Access
Enseignement en ligne: État des lieus et enjeux
(2011-01-14) Daniel, John
Le Sénat de France, le 14 janvier 2011, Enseignement en ligne: État des lieus et enjeux, Formation en ligne : pour quoi faire? Perspectives d’avenir, Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // Le titre de notre colloque est L’enseignement en ligne : état des lieux et enjeux pour l’avenir et j’ai intitulé ces remarques préliminaires La formation en ligne : pour quoi faire?
Open Access
Greetings from the Commonwealth of Learning
(2011-01-31) Wilson, Dave
Greetings from the Commonwealth of Learning, Reception to celebrate the announcement of the UNESCO-COL Chair in Open Educational Resources at Athabasca University, Monday, 31 January 2011 Government House, Edmonton, AB, Canada, Dave Wilson, Commonwealth of Learning // I am very pleased to be here from the Commonwealth of Learning. I bring greetings from COL’s President, Sir John Daniel – who is a former Vice President of Athabasca University in its early days – and Vice President Professor Asha Kanwar, as well as from my other colleagues in much-warmer Vancouver. // COL is an international, intergovernmental organisation. We’ve been privileged to be hosted in Canada since our inception in 1989. The Government of Canada is one of COL’s six major donor governments. We work with partners throughout the 54-member Commonwealth, including Athabasca University, to help improve opportunities for learning through the application of open, distance and technology-mediated teaching methods.
Open Access
Collaborative Leadership and Irrational Exuberance
(2011-02) Daniel, John
Hamdan Bin Mohammed eUniversity – Annual Congress 2011, Theme: Being at the Leading Edge – How to give the Quest for Excellence a New Meaning, Virtual Executives Club Dinner, Theme: “Collaborative Leadership”, the Recovery Act and Beyond, Collaborative Leadership and Irrational Exuberance, Sir John Daniel Commonwealth of Learning // It is a pleasure to be in Dubai and I thank you for the honour of addressing your Virtual Executives Club. Your theme is Collaborative Leadership: the Recovery Act and Beyond and I have entitled my contribution Collaborative Leadership and Irrational Exuberance. // As your first speaker this evening after the Chancellor’s gracious welcome it may be useful if I define some terms and sound some warnings. You are experienced executives and know that writing about management and leadership is full of fads and fashions – some of them signifying nothing. Collaborative leadership is a trendy term, but what is it? To those whose image is the leader as hero, it sounds like a contradiction, what we call an oxymoron, when two opposites are juxtaposed. // After exploring collective leadership I shall talk about the dangers of groupthink and irrational exuberance. You know all about groupthink and irrational exuberance in the business sector here so I shall take a different example. You are the Virtual Executives Club, so I shall recall irrational exuberance in the virtual world, the online world which is the home of our host tonight, the Hamdan bin Mohammed eUniversity. // That will lead me to reflect on strategic planning. I will suggest what makes a good plan and how collaborative leadership helps to create one. I shall use universities as my example, but what I have to say will be relevant to your own attempts at collaborative leadership.
Open Access
New Dynamics of Higher Education; New Dynamics of Distance Education
(2011-02) Daniel, John; Uvalić-Trumbić, Stamenka
Open University of Beijing, New Dynamics of Higher Education; New Dynamics of Distance Education by Sir John Daniel (President, Commonwealth of Learning) and Stamenka Uvalić-Trumbić, (Chief: Higher Education – UNESCO) // UNESCO’s 2009 World Conference on Higher Education charted a course for higher education in the second decade of the 21st century. The conference identified important and emerging trends, notably rising demand that has created the phenomenon of mass participation, diversification of providers, the use of new learning methods, and a sharper focus on quality assurance. However, higher education is marked by large differences in participation rates and quality in different parts of the world. It is by resolutely embracing the new dynamics that developing countries will bridge these gaps. // Open and distance learning (ODL) and ICTs offer particularly important opportunities. Indeed, developing countries in Asia have led the way in the large-scale use of these technologies. The second part of the paper focuses on the new dynamics of distance education. Now well-established in higher education; ODL will now expand at secondary level and in non-formal learning. The growing pool of Open Educational Resources will both raise the quality and lower the cost of ODL materials as they are shared and adapted around the world. Mobile technology will become an important tool in non-formal learning and the advent of very low cost computing devices will hasten the end of the digital divide.
Open Access
eLearning: Open or Closed?
(2011-02) Daniel, John
Hamdan Bin Mohammed eUniversity, Dubai – Annual Congress 2011, Theme: Being at the Leading Edge – How to give the Quest for Excellence a New Meaning, Keynote address: eLearning: Open or Closed? Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // It is a great pleasure finally to be here, more than a year after you kindly invited me to become an associate of the Hamdan Bin Mohammed eUniversity as a member of an advisory committee. I see from the number of appearances that I have on the programme that you are making up for lost time so I hope that I do not wear out your welcome mat. // My title this morning is eLearning: Open or Closed? It is a title that can be interpreted in various ways and I shall explore some of them. // Open and distance learning is still a relatively new phenomenon in this part of the world so I shall begin with some simple statements about how, by applying technology through open and distance learning, we can achieve a revolution in education. // Open and distance learning has long been viewed with suspicion in the Arab world. In the second part of this talk I shall address that issue head on and suggest what we can do to lessen the hostility. // Third, I shall talk about eLearning as a modern expression of open and distance learning, explore its advantages and disadvantages and make a recommendation for improving its quality.
Open Access
Crisis in ODL: What is the Response?
(2011-02-23) Kanwar, Asha
Symbiosis International Conference on ODL, Pune, India, Crisis in ODL: what is the response? 23 February, 2011, Presented by Prof. Asha Kanwar, Commonwealth of Learning // I represent the Commonwealth of Learning and bring to you greetings from my President Sir John Daniel and all colleagues at Vancouver and New Delhi. Our motto, ‘learning for development’. // Our mission is to help Commonwealth Member States to harness the potential of distance education and technology to enhance access to learning which will contribute to development. // One of COL’s priorities is providing equitable access to quality learning. The Symbiosis institutions too emerged from the idea of ‘promoting international understanding through quality education’, a motto that resonates well with us at COL. ODL is the obvious solution. So my topic today is ‘Crisis in ODL: what is the response?’ // I will first highlight some of the crises that are being encountered by Open and Distance Learning around the world. I will then give an overview of how some institutions have responded to these challenges over the last forty years. I will then suggest three things that can be done to establish the credibility of ODL and finally conclude with how international organisations such as the Commonwealth of Learning have responded to the situation.
Open Access
Open but Tough
(2011-02-23) Daniel, John
Open Education Foundation: Consultative meeting on opening up higher education: the OER University. Otago, New Zealand, 23 February 2011. Speaker: Sir John Daniel Commonwealth of Learning. Duration: 9:13 (mins) // Resource contains link to video as well as a document of the transcript.
Open Access
Three Generations of Open Education: Future Implications
(2011-02-24) Kanwar, Asha; Balaji, Venkataraman
Inaugural Address, Institute of ODL, University of Mumbai, 24 February 2011, Three Generations of Open Education: Future Implications, Prepared by Prof. Asha Kanwar and Dr. Venkataraman Balaji, Commonwealth of Learning Presented by Prof. Asha Kanwar // My topic today is Three Generations of Open Education: Future Implications’ and I have prepared these remarks with my colleague Dr Balaji, Director IT & KM, COL. We will try to put Open Education Resources or OER in a historical context. As you know OER are educational resources that are freely available and can be used by educators and learners without having to pay license fees or royalties. I will return to what OER are later in the presentation. // I will first look at three generations of open education. I will then give you two examples of OER development that my organisation the Commonwealth of Learning supports and will finally raise some questions about the future implications of OER for the learner; for pedagogy and for higher education.
Open Access
The Future of Universities: New Dynamics for Development
(2011-03) Daniel, John
University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad & Tobago, The Future of Universities: New Dynamics for Development, Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // Are universities becoming more open or more closed? Starting from the trends identified at UNESCO’s 2009 World Conference on Higher Education the presentation looks at the recent evolution of higher education, most especially the use of technology. It finds that the for-profit sector is moving much faster into the use of eLearning than public institutions. This raises the possibility that higher education might split into a public sector focused on research and a for-profit sector doing most of the teaching. However, the use of open educational resources may provide a vehicle for the public sector to become more open through an Open Educational Resource University with a network of participating institutions.
Open Access
Fitness for Purpose, Fitness of Purpose: The Case of Teacher Education
(2011-03-02) Daniel, John
Asia-Pacific Quality Network, Annual Conference Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Expectations and Achievements, Bangalore, India, 2- 4 March 2011, Keynote address: Fitness for Purpose, Fitness of Purpose: The Case of Teacher Education by Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // After the challenge of providing secondary education to the 400 million children between the ages of 12 and 17 who do not now receive it, expanding the supply of teachers and improving the quality of their training is the world’s biggest educational challenge. Some 10 million more teachers will be required in the coming decade and, since many of the 75 million teachers already in place have only the most rudimentary training, there is a massive task of in-service training as well. // The paper reviews two aspects of the provision of teacher education, making it fit for purpose as well as fit of purpose. First, how can we improve the quality of all forms of teacher education: pre-service and in-service; initial training and continuing professional development. The Toolkit for Quality Assurance in Teacher Education produced by NAAC and COL is having a positive impact in various jurisdictions. // Drawing on his recent book, Mega-Schools, Technology and Teachers: Achieving Education for All, the author will then ask whether current approaches to teacher education can be described as ‘fit of purpose’. Are they addressing teachers’ real needs and are they likely to promote the ultimate outcome of better learning by the children they teach? He argues that the focus of effort in teacher education should be switched from long largely theoretical pre-service programmes to shorter but regular in-service programmes that address the reality of the classroom. In this context ICTs can greatly enrich the distance learning methods required. Open educational resources, of which the large-scale programme of Teacher Education in sub-Saharan Africa, TESSA, is an excellent example, can make an important contribution.
Open Access
Open Education Models: Past, Present, Future
(2011-03-02) Kanwar, Asha
UNISA ODL Occasional Lecture Series, 2 March 2011, Open Education Models: Past, Present, Future Presented by Prof. Asha Kanwar, Commonwealth of Learning // My topic today is ‘Open Education Models: past, present and future’. The term ‘open education’ is used in the widest sense possible. As we all know, that in a distance education context, it refers to policies and practices that permit entry to learning with as few barriers as possible. What are the different models that we have witnessed thus far? // I will first look at the broader historical context. I will then look at three generations of open education in order to provide a context within which the Open Education Resources (OER) movement emerged. As you know, OER are educational resources that are freely available and can be used by educators and learners without having to pay license fees or royalties. I will then give you examples of OER development that my organisation the Commonwealth of Learning supports and will finally raise some questions about the future implications of OER for the learner; for the teacher, for pedagogy and for higher education.
Open Access
The Commonwealth of Learning Review and Improvement Model
(2011-03-02) Kaushik, Madhulika; Daniel, John
Asia-Pacific Quality Network Annual Conference, Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Expectations and Achievements, Bangalore, India, 2- 4 March 2011, The Commonwealth of Learning, Review and Improvement Model by Dr. Madhulika Kaushik & Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // We are grateful to APQN for giving us this opportunity to talk about the Review and Improvement Model (RIM) to quality assurance that we have developed at the Commonwealth of Learning. // Although I am describing it, my former colleague Dr. Willie Clarke-Okah, COL’s Higher Education Specialist until December 2010, must take the credit for developing the model. // Now his successor as COL’s Higher Education Specialist, Dr. Madhulika Kaushik is responsible for guiding the further development and implementation of the model and is the co-author of this short presentation. // First, why did COL develop this Review and Improvement Model?
Open Access
Will Higher Education Split?
(2011-03-08) Daniel, John
4th Annual Australian Higher Education Congress, Innovation in boosting participation: considering the potential of IT, Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Sydney, Australia, 8 March 2011, International keynote: Will Higher Education Split? by Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // I was given the topic Innovation in boosting participation: considering the potential of IT, and being an obedient fellow I will talk to that. // You also suggested some sub-topics and I shall address those too. // How can IT be used to boost participation? Innovation to achieve higher participation, A global perspective: reviewing global developments, successes and failures, To what extent will distance learning reform the higher education sector? // I shall begin by enumerating some of the questions around the issue of boosting participation. Then I shall look at the different ways in which innovation can make higher education more open. Then, after giving a sweeping summary of some global developments, I shall conclude with the interesting question of whether distance education will reform the higher education sector. I suspect that it might, but not in ways we all would welcome.
Open Access
Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth
(2011-03-10) Daniel, John
Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth Programme Development Workshop, Maseru, Lesotho, 10 March 2011
Open Access
Revolutions in Higher Education: How Many Dimensions of Openness?
(2011-03-23) Daniel, John
Empire State College, State University of New York “All College” "Open Learning: Reflecting on the Past, Celebrating the Present, and Creating the Future" The Ernest Boyer Lecture, 23 March 2011, Revolutions in higher education: how many dimensions of openness? Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // Ernest Boyer was that unusual combination in higher education: an impeccably establishment figure who was also a consistent innovator. He joined SUNY in 1965 as winds of change began to blow open the doors to higher education, and as its Chancellor he created Empire State College (ESC) in 1971 so that people could take degree courses without attending classes. That same year, in Britain, the Open University (UKOU) inaugurated its distance learning system with a first cohort of 25,000 students. // Both ESC and the UKOU were revolutionary. ESC opened up the curriculum so that people could design their own programs, whereas the UKOU abolished all academic prerequisites for entry. These initiatives sparked a wave of innovation around the world, although the emergence of the blanket term ‘open and distance learning’ conflated two essentially different concepts and obscured the variety of ways in which higher education could become more open. // The Internet has further increased the dimensions of openness. The ideal of a global intellectual commons is becoming reality as the licensing of content as Open Educational Resources (OER) makes it possible for students and faculty to find and adapt quality learning materials on almost any subject. Social media are creating a movement toward open educational practices where assessment and credentialing can be collaborative endeavors. // Is what is possible always desirable? Drawing on his experience as an academic and university president in North America and Europe, as well as his leadership roles in international educational organizations (UNESCO and the Commonwealth of Learning) the author will distinguish between revolutions and fads. What are the dimensions of openness that must be combined to provide sustainable and credible higher education in the 21st century?
Open Access
The Commonwealth of Learning: the Basics
(2011-03-28) Daniel, John
Meeting of COL’s Focal Points in the Caribbean, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, 28-30 March 2011, The Commonwealth of Learning: the basics, Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // It is a pleasure to be here. As you know this is the first of four meetings in which we shall gather COL’s Focal Points together by region. Thank you so much for coming. This meeting will be followed by a similar event for the Africa region in Mauritius in May; one for Asia in Malaysia in September; and finally one for the Pacific in New Zealand in November. // These meetings have several purposes. First, COL wants to hear from you about the priorities for your countries in the areas of COL’s mission. After reviewing the priorities of all Commonwealth countries we shall be well equipped to design a three-year plan for COL for 2012-15 that answers your needs in an optimal fashion. // Second, in order to set the context, given that some of you are new since we last held this exercise in 2008, we shall remind you of COL’s purpose, status, organization and programme. I am starting this process now with a summary of the basics about what COL is; our Vice-President, Asha Kanwar, will follow up with an outline of our programme of work and then the two Education Specialists who have joined us for this Caribbean meeting, Dr. Madhulika Kaushik and Ms. Trudi van Wyk, will say more about the programme initiatives in our two sectors of Formal Education and Livelihoods and Health. // The third key aim – and we expect quite a few additional benefits as well – it to enable you to exchange with each other about the ambitions and experiences of your countries as they relate to COL’s mission. // I’ve called this presentation COL: the Basics.
Open Access
Leadership Forum Breakfast: Keynote presentation
(2011-04-05) Daniel, John
Leadership Forum Breakfast, Box Hill Institute, Box Hill, Victoria, Australia, 5 April 2011, Keynote presentation, Sir John Daniel Commonwealth of Learning via Skype // At the Sydney Conference I was given the topic Innovation in boosting participation: considering the potential of IT. // That conference also suggested some sub-topics and I shall address those too. // How can IT be used to boost participation? Innovation to achieve higher participation, A global perspective: reviewing global developments, successes and failures, To what extent will distance learning reform the higher education sector? // I shall begin by enumerating some of the questions around the issue of boosting participation. Then I shall look at the different ways in which innovation can make higher education more open. Then, after giving a sweeping summary of some global developments, I shall conclude with the interesting question of whether distance education will reform the higher education sector. I suspect that it might, but not in ways we all would welcome.
Open Access
OER: a Developing World Perspective
(2011-04-07) Kanwar, Asha
Harvard University Extension, Vancouver, Canada, April 7, 2011, Presented via teleconference, "OER: A Developing World Perspective" Prof. Asha Kanwar, Commonwealth of Learning
Open Access
The Global Challenge of Achieving Education for All: Some Answers
(2011-04-17) Daniel, John
Learning and Sharing, BC Partners in Online Learning, Digital Learning Spring Conference, Vancouver, April 17-19, 2011, The Global Challenge of Achieving Education for All - Some Answers, Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // The challenge of getting all of the world's children through primary school - let alone bringing in the 400 million 12-to-17 year olds who are not in secondary school - cannot be addressed by business as usual. Two important parts of the answer are open schooling and classroom-focused in-service teacher education. Both rely on the use of distance learning at scale.
Open Access
Open Courseware, Open Content, Open Practices, Open Learning: Where are the limits?
(2011-05-04) Daniel, John; Kanwar, Asha; Uvalić-Trumbić, Stamenka
OpenCourseWare Consortium Global 2011 Conference, May 4-6, 2011 • Cambridge, MA, USA Track: Next Generation Open Learning, Open Courseware, Open Content, Open Practices, Open Learning: Where are the limits? by Sir John Daniel1, Asha Kanwar1 and Stamenka Uvalić-Trumbić2 (1Commonwealth of Learning (COL); 2UNESCO) // The first part of the paper reports on the outcomes of a joint UNESCO-COL project Taking OERs beyond the OER Community: Policy and Capacity. Its purpose was to expand understanding of the potential of OERs among university leaders and quality assurance officials in Africa and Asia, who have low awareness of this phenomenon. The project concluded with an intergovernmental policy forum where participants enjoined UNESCO to lead a global campaign to encourage governments and institutions to foster the development and use of OER and, more widely, to make documents of educational value created with public funds available under open licenses. // The second part of the paper draws on the experience of creating and using OERs to explore how far open educational practices can take us towards more cost-effective higher education systems. The authors argue that openness has to be balanced against the requirements of certification, accreditation and quality assurance. An important function of OER is to provide a route for potential students and teachers to move from the informal cloud of learning to a more formal engagement with education and training.

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