Browsing by Document Type "Book"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 213
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    Addressing the Learning Needs of Out-of-School Children and Youths through the Expansion of Open Schooling
    (2020-12) Mays, Tony; Singh, Rajiv Kumar
    At any one time, about 300 million children of school going age are not in school. Experience indicates that when schooling is disrupted, whether by a pandemic, a natural disaster or other reasons, not all children return to the classroom. In addition, most countries have growing numbers of young people who have not completed schooling, or not well enough to progress, and who find themselves neither in employment nor in further education and training. Open schooling can create learning opportunities for those not in school, those who left school and those who are in school but not learning effectively. // There is no single model for open schooling provision which might offer a complementary or alternative curriculum, or both. However, all models can benefit from greater use of open educational resources; open, distance and flexible methods and open educational practices. In this way it is possible to address issues of access, quality and affordability in a sustainable way. // Addressing the Learning Needs of Out-of-School Children and Youths through the Expansion of Open Schooling makes a case for open schooling to be an integral part of future-looking education systems that will be more resilient to changing contexts and needs. // The nine chapters in Part A of the book explore the need for and nature of open schooling as well as cross-cutting issues related to curriculum, open educational resources, technology enabled learning, monitoring and evaluation, finance, open and distance learning methods and open educational practices, as well as gender and policy. The first four chapters in Part B then explore open schooling practice in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific. In the final chapter, the editors summarise the key issues which policy and practice need to address. // This book offers guidelines and examples that will be of use to teachers, managers, policy-makers and education leaders interested to ensure that the education system meets the needs of all children and youths.
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    Administrative Structures for Distance Education
    (1991) Perraton, Hilary
    The purpose of this book is to help anyone considering the use of distance education and trying to decide how it should be organised. The acclaimed success of the world's 25+ open universities gives the impression that learning at a distance demands the establishment of an open university. But, in practice, there are many different ways in which governments, universities, or private bodies can teach students at a distance. The book explores and compares the options that may be possible.
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    An Anthology of "Best Practices" in Teacher Education
    (2007-08) Lakshmi, T K S; Rama, K; Hendrikz, Johan
    Quality Assurance in the education sector is one of the major initiatives of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) in its Three-Year Plan for 2006-09. To achieve the outcome of enhanced quality at all levels of education, COL has been focusing its attention on quality assurance in higher education and teacher education. We are proud of our association with the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of India in recent years, which has built capacity in quality assurance among personnel at all levels of the system. The partnership has also led to development of a quality assurance framework and resource materials for assessing and assuring the quality of higher education and teacher education institutions.Lakshmi, T. K. S. Rama, K. Hendrikz, Johan
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    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.
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    Audio for Distance Education and Open Learning: A Practical Guide for Planners and Producers
    (2001) Thomas, John
    Written by John Thomas, who has worked with and produced audio support for education systems over 30 years, this handbook sets out good professional practice in the design, development and delivery of audio materials - radio, audio cassettes and audio-vision - for open and distance learning. The handbook is intended for all those who are involved in the design, development, production and use of audio materials in distance education and open learning, including policy makers, managers, tutors/facilitators and trainers. The approach adopted is appropriate to both industrialised and developing countries. However, it has been designed to be particularly relevant to those working in institutions and projects with limited access to resources.
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    Basic Education at a Distance
    (2000) Bradley, Jo; Yates, Chris
    Open and distance learning has been used in many ways in the recent past to provide both primary education and adult education. The Commonwealth of Learning works with governments, schools and universities with the aim of strengthening the capacities of Commonwealth member countries in developing human resources required for their economic and social development. Many existing policy documents link distance education with new information and communication technologies, portraying them as a promising universal access and exponential growth of learning. This book answers the key questions to these issues and assesses the impact and effect of the experience of basic education at a distance all over the world and in a wide variety of forms. This is the first major overview of this topic for twenty years.
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    A Basic Guide to Open Educational Resources (OER)
    (2015) Butcher, Neil; Kanwar, Asha; Uvalić-Trumbić, Stamenka
    Its purpose is to provide readers with a quick and user-friendly introduction to Open Educational Resources (OER) and some of the key issues to think about when exploring how to use OER most effectively. The second section is a more comprehensive analysis of these issues, presented in the form of a traditional research paper. For those who have a deeper interest in OER, this section will assist with making the case for OER more substantively. The third section is a set of appendices, containing more detailed information about specific areas of relevance to OER. These are aimed at people who are looking for substantive information regarding a specific area of interest. Originally published 2011; Revised 2015.
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    Benchmarking Toolkit for Technology-Enabled Learning
    (2019-08) Sankey, Michael; Mishra, Sanjaya
    This toolkit helps educational institutions implementing TEL to assess and benchmark their practices in comparison to other institutions. It provides a framework for self-assessment and reporting based on 10 areas and detailed indicators to measure quality.
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    Best Practices in Open and Distance Education: Case Studies from Commonwealth Countries
    (2021) Panigrahi, Manas Ranjan; Mishra, Sudarshan
    The diversity of population with respect to age, qualifi cations, locality and social and economic status cannot be addressed through a single and traditional mode of education. Secondly, growing need for continuous upgradation of knowledge and skills and technological advances mean that traditional ways of organising education and learning systems need to be augmented with innovative, fl exible and technology-driven methods, so as to universalise education as a fundamental right of all people. It is well accepted that Open and Distance Learning is an indispensable part of mainstream education both in developed and developing countries due to widespread use of web-based multimedia technologies. It has become a powerful force for social and economic development. // During the last two decades, many institutions have undergone profound changes in their organisational structures, governance and modes of operation. ICT has been used in every sphere of institutional and teaching learning activities. Traditional universities are transforming themselves to dual mode universities and providing students with the best possible learning resources. More and more open universities and dual mode institutions are being established across the world.
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    Best Practices of Community Radio and Sustainable Development Goals: A Handbook
    (2021) Vemraju, D Rukmini
    Community radios as a third tier of broadcasting in addition to commercial and public radios, cover relatively smaller geographic areas but cater to a wider range of communities of interest. The hyper local and participatory nature of content creation in community radio has great potential to reduce the gap between the content creators and listeners making communities - especially the marginalized and vulnerable – active partners in the development process. Thus, community radios are well suited for providing new and unexplored opportunities for more inclusive sustainable development. In the time of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, community radio stations (CRS) have once again proved their mettle as sources of timely and dependable information and guidance, increased their listenership, and grown in stature as a valuable community asset. Time and again, the role of community radios has been lauded in making critical public information accessible to people be it about various government provisions that they can benefit from, national campaigns on health, mobilizing people to participate in the democratic process by exercising their right to vote, or providing life and livelihood saving information in times of disasters and natural calamities. That community radios can, and do, play a vital role in engaging people in the development process is no longer in doubt, even if this is in small numbers in pockets of their immediate reach. Hence, community radios can be an integral part of the task force of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a blueprint for achieving a better and more sustainable future for all socially, economically, and environmentally.
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    Open Access
    Biogas Production for Domestic Use: A Flexible Learning Course
    (2015-01) Macharia, Francis N
    This course aims to provide learners with the knowledge and skills needed to plan, build and operate a biogas plant for domestic purposes. It is designed for dairy farmers, masons, prospective biogas plan operators and other stakeholders working with this technology. Over reliance on wood fuel has depleted forests and endangered the environment. In addition, smoke inhalation, soot and ash have been found to cause ill health amongst users of wood fuel. The other alternative source of fuel has been fossil sources such as crude oil, lignite, hard coal and natural gas. These are fossilized remains of dead plants and animals which are non-renewable resources whose reserves are depleted much faster than new ones are being formed. This has led to a search for alternate sources of energy such as wind, solar and biogas. Of all these sources, biogas has been found to be the most suitable for domestic use. This is because it is a renewable, simple and cheap to generate. Upon successful completion of this course, learners should be able to convert domestic or farm waste into biogas and bio-manure. This course was developed as part of the short-course offering from Thika Technical Training Institute, designed to provide skills training to meet the needs of the local community. Thika Technical Training Institute is a partner in the Commonwealth of Learning INVEST Africa partnership.
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    Brave New Women of Asia: How Distance Education Changed Their Lives
    (2001) Kanwar, Asha; Taplin, Margaret
    The aim of this book of case studies is to inspire and encourage women to participate in open and distance learning. Going through the case studies, potential women learners will see that most of their reservations and fears are unfounded. Other questions in their minds about how to cope with studies after a long gap, at a mature age or without regular tutorials will be answered as they read about the experiences of other women like themselves.
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    Case Studies of Non-Formal Education by Distance and Open Learning
    (2000) Siaciwena, Richard
    This research report will be useful to people involved or interested in the planning, development and implementation of non-formal education programmes because of the useful lessons it offers. The case studies in this report demonstrate the potential and importance of distance learning approaches in enhancing the contribution of non-formal education to socio-economic development in Africa. For example, the Zambia Radio Farm Forum programme enables the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries to reach larger numbers of peasant farmers than is possible through other extension services. The Radio Farm Forum programme helps over 21,000 small-scale farmers/peasants in rural areas, who listen and participate in the programme, to learn new knowledge and develop new skills. In the Ghanaian case study, the use of radio strengthened the coverage, by the literacy programme, of the functional and developmental themes. Another important lesson is that distance learning approaches can be effective in changing people's attitudes/behaviour and in motivating rural communities to undertake action leading to the improvement of their socio-economic conditions. The Zambian and Ghanaian case studies again provide good examples. In Zambia, there was evidence of changes resulting from the Radio Farm Forum programmes, which included changes in attitudes to slash and burn shifting cultivation and to certain crops which were previously seen as women's crops. In Ghana, radio changed, among many things, people's attitudes towards family planning and contributed to the establishment of income-generating ventures
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    Case Studies on OER-based eLearning
    (2014) Naidu, Som; Mishra, Sanjaya
    Preface Case Studies: Open University of Sri Lanka Integrating OER in a Teacher Education Course by Shironica Karunanayaka Indira Gandhi National Open University OER-based Post Graduate Diploma in e-Learning by G. Mythili National Institute of Open Schooling Open Educational Resource Initiative by S.K. Prasad Wawasan Open University Developing a Fully OER-based Course by Mohan B. Menon References Brief Profile of the Editors and Authors
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    The Changing Faces of Virtual Education
    (2001) Farrell, Glen M
    This study is a report on some of the major developments that are influencing the evolution of virtual education. It examines not only the nature of these developments, but also the implications for the use of virtual education models, particularly in developing countries. It follows up on our first volume The Development of Virtual Education: A Global Perspective. Since the release of that report in 1999, numerous other publications have made their appearance, each contributing in a significant way to the increased level of activity in the field. This second volume is not an attempt to describe what is happening in the world of virtual education, but more about where, why and how virtual education is happening. By continuing to monitor developments, we hope to capture major trends, identify critical challenges and consider emerging opportunities as technologies improve, access to those technologies increase and skills to apply them are enhanced
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    Climate Literacy for Community Media: A Systematic Learning Curriculum
    (2023) Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA)
    India faces its own set of climate-related challenges such as extreme weather events, water scarcity, air pollution, rapid urbanization and its impact is worst on the most vulnerable and poor. This systematic learning curriculum attempts to simply climate issues and make them more understandable, relevant and relatable, particularly for communities that are living in coastal, drought-prone, and tribal-inhabited areas. Community media can play a crucial role in raising awareness about climate change, its causes, and its consequences. This curriculum is an effort to provide effective communication strategies that can help community media to educate and empower their communities. As climate action often requires local action and local solutions- even if the problem is global, the curriculum adopts a ‘glocal’ perspective, and highlights local initiatives, innovative practices and replicable solutions for addressing climate related issues.
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    COL in the Commonwealth 2012-2015: Country Reports
    (2015)
    COL in the Commonwealth: 2012-2015 Country Reports summarises COL’s activities over the last three years (2012-2015) and captures what we have achieved in each Member State and across the Commonwealth.
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    COL in the Commonwealth: 2015-2018 Country Reports
    (2018) Commonwealth of Learning
    COL in the Commonwealth: 2015-2018 Country Reports summarises COL’s activities over the last three years (2015-2018) and captures what we have achieved in each Member State and across the Commonwealth.
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    Commerce
    (2012) Commonwealth of Learning
    Unit 1: Foreign Trade- Unit 2: Customs Authority- Unit 3: Organisation of Business Units – Private Sector- Unit 4: Organisation of Business Units – Public Sector- Unit 5: Stock Exchange 1- Unit 6: Stock Exchange 2- Unit 7: Banking 1- Unit 8: Banking 2- Unit 9: Banking 3.
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    Commercial Food Preparation: Local Cuisine
    (2016-09) TVET Unit: Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development of St. Lucia
    Employers in Saint Lucia and the region continue to lament that employees lack the skills to operate productively and efficiently at the workplace. The local cuisine of a country is one of its unique selling points (USP) which sets it apart from other places and attracts visitors. As a country whose economy depends heavily on tourism, it is imperative that visitors continue to sample the appetizing foods that Saint Lucia has been known to create, both those that they may be familiar with in their home country and those that are unfamiliar. In that regard, a course in Commercial Food Preparation with an emphasis on preparing delicacies using local produce and variation in preparing imported produce will equip hospitality workers with the skills, knowledge and competencies of how to prepare our local produce and other produce using our signature methods and techniques as well as cater to the pallet of people of different cultures. This is likely to foster longevity of the local cuisine and maintain a particular standard of preparing foods. Moreover, since the course can be taken by any nationality, it will be a medium to market the local cuisine internationally. Most importantly, it is hoped that the emphasis on local cuisine will encourage practicing and up-coming food preparation personnel to develop even more creative ways of preparing our local produce.