Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Publication Human Development for Innovation: Changing the Profile of Global Higher Education(2007-03-02) Daniel, John; Kanwar, Asha; Uvalić-Trumbić, StamenkaChina now has the largest postsecondary education system with 21 million students and an Age Participation Rate (APR) of 19%. India lags behind with an APR of 10% and some 10 million students. Creating an innovative society requires postsecondary education to be more widely available and developed countries have APRs of 40% or more. China and India must continue to grow their postsecondary systems. India's combination of demography (60% under 25) and democracy will propel its postsecondary enrolments past those of both the US and China. // As China and India come to dominate postsecondary education in the 21st century their patterns of provision will effectively define its global profile, which will differ from the current profile for both economic and technological reasons. First, private, for-profit education will play a larger role because the public sector will not be able to afford the necessary investments. Second, distance learning, conducted at scale, already accounts for a larger proportion of enrolments in China and India than in America. Third, distance learning lends itself readily to conducting higher education across borders. Distance learning, by its nature, is more likely to foster the spirit of innovation than face-to-face instruction. // In America the for-profit sector, for example the Whitney International University System, is attempting to take distance learning to scale at low cost by making investments aimed at achieving the quantum shifts in price and volume necessary to serve those at the bottom of the economic pyramid around the world. // The paper notes how connectivity and open educational resources could be combined in conducting postsecondary education at scale with lower costs and consistent quality. It also indicates steps being taken internationally to regulate and assure the quality of these very large postsecondary systems in the interests of protecting students.Publication Reflections on a Career in Distance Education(2007-01) Daniel, JohnReflections on a Career in Distance Education, Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning, January 2007 // I found distance education whilst seeking something else. My first real job, after a long, conventional and highly specialised education, was an assistant professorship of Metallurgical Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique (Université de Montréal). Fate appeared to have made me a university teacher so I thought I ought to develop some professionalism in my new métier by undertaking formal study of education. // Before I realised that this was an unusual - even a perverse - reflex for a young engineering academic, I had enrolled in a Master's programme in Educational Technology at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University). I had little idea what educational technology was but swallowed my scepticism because it was the only programme in Montreal with 'education' in the title that could be studied part time and appeared to offer some intellectual challenge.Publication Peace and Conflict Resolution in a Globalised World: Issues of Culturalism: Can Higher Education Make a Difference?(2007-01-06) Daniel, JohnINTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, Peace and Conflict Resolution in a Globalised World: Issues of Culturalism, Can Higher Education Make a Difference?, Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, 6 January 2007 // This Commission, which met for the first time last month, has a practical focus. It is charged to explore initiatives to promote mutual understanding and respect among all faiths and communities in the Commonwealth. It will look at the communities that work well in the Commonwealth - those that really manage 'respect and understanding' - and suggest how to replicate these successes across the Commonwealth's 53 member states and beyond. // So there are my caveats; there are my health warnings. I am a latecomer to your event; I am not versed in peace studies; and I wonder what I can say that India has not already thought.Publication Celebrating Open Universities(2007-01-10) Daniel, JohnVardhaman Mahaveer Kota Open University, 3rd Convocation, 10 January 2007, Celebrating Open Universities, Remarks by Sir John Daniel on the conferment of the honorary degree, Doctor of Letters honoris causa // I congratulate the graduates and I thank you for making me an honorary doctor of Vardhaman Mahaveer Kota Open University. I am proud to become a member of your academic community. // University convocations are enjoyable events. I estimate that I have taken part in 150 such ceremonies. At the UK Open University I shook hands and talked to some 50,000 graduates as they were presented for their degrees. // For me today's convocation is an anniversary and a double milestone. 2007 marks the 35th anniversary of my involvement with open universities. It was in 1972 that I went to the British Open University as an intern, had a conversion experience and re-oriented my career to advance the concept of open universities.Publication What is an Open University?(2007-01-11) Daniel, JohnTAMIL NADU OPEN UNIVERSITY, Convocation 11 January 2007, Address by the Chief Guest, Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning, What is an Open University? // At the moment some 24% of the ten million Indians engaged in higher education are learning at a distance: in the Indira Gandhi National Open University; in 12 State open universities like this one; and in the many dual-mode providers. The Government wants to raise this figure to 40%. Moreover, India's commitment to distance learning extends beyond the university level. The National Institute for Open Schooling is the world's largest open school and India is now creating state open schools analogous to its state open universities. // There is intense international interest in open schooling, particularly in Africa. Those countries that are struggling to get all children into primary school cannot aspire to universal secondary schooling in the foreseeable future using conventional methods. They must seek alternatives like open schools. COL often works as an intermediary between India and Africa; helping to share Indian expertise on alternative schooling with African governments. // This is the convocation of the Tamil Nadu Open University, so I shall narrow my focus to a simple question: what is an Open University? I once had the inestimable privilege of serving for eleven years as Vice-Chancellor of the British Open University, the institution that pioneered, and continues to lead, the implementation of the concept of the open university.Publication Learning for Development: The Work of the Commonwealth of Learning(2007-01-31) Daniel, John; Menon, MohanThe World Bank, Washington, DC, USA, 31 January 2007, Presentation to World Bank Staff, Learning for Development: The Work of the Commonwealth of Learning, Sir John Daniel & Professor Mohan Menon, Commonwealth of Learning // It is a pleasure to be here and to return the visit that Jamil Salmi and Rick Hopper made to COL last fall. It is good to be at the Bank again with friends that I worked with when I was at UNESCO. Thank you for this opportunity to talk to you about the work that the Commonwealth of Learning. // I shall present COL in a general fashion and then my colleague Mohan Menon, Team Leader of our Education Sector, will focus specifically on Teacher Development and Open Schooling, two areas that Jamil and Rick thought might resonate well with some of your concerns. He will try to relate COL's work in these two fields to your own interest and suggest potentially productive areas for collaboration. // I shall start with some background on COL before explaining the thinking behind our Three-Year Plan for 2006-09, called simply Learning for Development. This Plan was endorsed by Commonwealth Ministers of Education at their Conference in Cape Town in December. The Plan gives the overall framework of our programme for the Commonwealth as a whole. It is made operational through 49 Country Action Plans which we have finalised since the Ministers' Conference and will present to our Executive Committee in London on Friday.Publication The Expansion of Higher Education in the Developing World: What can Distance Learning Contribute?(2007-02-01) Daniel, JohnCHEA INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION CONFERENCE 2007, 1 February 2007, Washington, DC, The Expansion of Higher Education in the Developing World: What can Distance Learning Contribute? Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // One of UNESCO's functions is to develop what are called, somewhat grandly, 'global public goods'. For all countries an important public good is a higher education system in which students, parents, employers and governments can have confidence. In that context globalisation presents new challenges. It is accelerating the expansion of higher education and driving it to greater diversity of provision. // I am going to explore the processes of expansion and diversification of higher education in the developing world. The effect of these will be to make it harder for students to make wise choices and avoid fraudulent providers. Stamenka will explain what UNESCO is doing to help them by describing a series of tools that already exist or are in preparation. // This is the International Commission so I shall focus particularly on the developing world and most especially, for starters, on India, the world's largest democracy. My title is The Expansion of Higher Education in the Developing World: What can Distance Learning Contribute? // In an article that we published in Change Magazine last summer (Daniel, Kanwar and Uvalić-Trumbić, 2006) with our colleague Asha Kanwar, Stamenka and I argued that the growth of higher education in the developing world is a tectonic shift that will break up the old order. In a decade or two most university and college students will be in the developing world, which will, by definition, redefine the norms in higher education globally.Publication Distance Learning for Development: Achievements, Trends and Plans(2007-02-07) Daniel, JohnInternational Institute for Educational Planning, UNESCO, Paris, Strategic Seminar Series, 7 February 2007, Distance Learning for Development: Achievements, Trends and Plans, Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // So I shall try to wrap planning and distance learning up together and I've taken as my title Distance Learning for Development: Achievements, Trends and Plans. I shall try - with how much success you will have to judge - to weave the warp of comments on planning into the weft of remarks on distance education. // I shall start with some background on COL before explaining the thinking behind our Three-Year Plan for 2006-09, called simply Learning for Development. This Plan was endorsed by Commonwealth Ministers of Education at their Conference in Cape Town in December. // The Plan gives the overall framework of our programme for the Commonwealth as a whole. However, the key lesson that I learned by working at UNESCO for Director-General Matsuura was that what counts for individual countries is what you do for them. We translated this principle into our planning process in two ways. // First, in reporting on our work for last three years we produced a set of 49 country reports - one for each Commonwealth country except Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. We omitted them because our mission is to the smaller and developing countries of the Commonwealth. These are available on our website if you are interested. Compiling them was a considerable task for a small organisation and it would have been an impossible task were it not for our rather sophisticated knowledge management systems, which capture every mission report and update the profiles of our work in each country. // These provided the springboard for preparing the 49 Country Action Plans that we have finalised since the Ministers' Conference in December and which make operational our overall plan for the current triennium.Publication How Can Learning Contribute to Development?(2007-02-27) Daniel, JohnUniversity of Guyana, The Dennis Irvine Lecture, 27 February 2007, How Can Learning Contribute to Development? Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // Six years ago, when my predecessor and friend Professor Raj Dhanarajan gave this lecture he chose as his topic Combating Poverty through Adult Education. I shall be returning to some of the themes that Raj explored and have taken as my title: How Can Learning Contribute to Development? I shall begin by dwelling on the notion of development. We use the word liberally every day, but what do we mean by it? How do we break this broad concept down into some goals that we can pursue in a systematic way? // Looking at such goals I shall argue that achieving them - and I mean achieving all of the development goals and not just those directly related to education - depends fundamentally on mass learning. This conclusion presents a problem, because current methods of teaching and learning in face-to-face groups cannot address the scale of the challenge. What has happened in other areas of life when old methods cannot respond to contemporary demands? The answer is technology. // Whether it is in transport, food production, power generation, communications or consumer goods, technology has created revolutions that have provided mass access to goods and services of high quality and relatively low cost. Many of you are carrying a good symbol of that technological revolution in your handbags or pockets this evening - a cell phone. You have others in your homes and your work places. // Can we create a similar revolution by applying technology to learning and so respond to the challenges of development? The evidence suggests that we can. The Commonwealth of Learning has been engaged in that revolution for nearly twenty years. I shall share some of that experience and tell you how we propose to continue that work in the Commonwealth and in Guyana in the coming years.Publication Innovation for Human Development: Redesigning Higher Education(2007-03-02) Daniel, JohnThe India, China, America Institute, Education for Innovation in India, China and America, Atlanta, Georgia, 2 March 2007, Innovation for Human Development: Redesigning Higher Education, Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // The paper explores how connectivity and open educational resources could be combined in conducting postsecondary education at scale with lower costs and consistent quality. It also asks how governments will regulate and assure the quality of these very large postsecondary systems in the interests of protecting their citizens as consumers.Publication The Status of Global Postsecondary Education(2007-03-06) Daniel, JohnWhitney International University System, Advisory Board, 6 March 2007, The Status of Global Postsecondary Education, Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // It is a pleasure to experience the gracious hospitality of Randy and Nancy Best in such beautiful surroundings and an honour to be in such distinguished company. Thank you for the invitation to summarise The Status of Global Postsecondary Education in eight minutes. That is a tall order. I recall Pascal's words: "I am writing you a long letter because I do not have time to write a short one." // Let me offer you a few words on each of ten themes: status; expansion; private for-profit; cross-border; distance learning; scale, student support, harmonisation; quality; and international community.Publication Virtual University, Flexible Learning: How Far Have We Come?(2007-03-12) West, Paul; Daniel, JohnVirtual university, flexible learning: How far have we come? 2 nd Boot Camp for Educators from Member States of the Commonwealth, held at the 
National Institute of Education, Singapore
12 March 2007 by: Paul West, Director, Knowledge Management and Information Technology and Sir John Daniel, President and CEO, Commonwealth of Learning // While there are some significant differences between the member countries, they all experience similar natural and economic threats and have populations of under 4.5 million; mostly much less than 4.5 million, making them tiny players in a world where most countries are much bigger and wealthier. // Small States are remote, so travel can be excessively expensive for citizens wanting to participate in collaborative projects with other countries. However, all VUSSC countries now have Internet access and connectivity for their educators and learners improves by the day. It is this Internet access and the so-called "web2" environment that makes it possible for small states, no matter how remote, to be a full part of any initiative, anywhere. // The boot camp that starts today will provide participants with an opportunity to become immersed in the online technologies that bridge distances. This is immersion training in the technologies that support education.Publication Open Schooling: What COL Does(2007-03-29) Daniel, JohnThe President of COL was invited by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to present an information session on: Open Schooling: What COL does, Ottawa, Canada 29 March 2007 by Sir John Daniel Commonwealth of LearningPublication Using ICTs to Promote Non-Formal Learning in Health and Agriculture(2007-03-29) Daniel, JohnThe President of COL was invited by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to present an information session on: Using ICTs to Promote Non-Formal Learning in Health and Agriculture, Ottawa, Canada, 29 March 2007 by Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of LearningPublication New Learning Technologies: Mirage, Miracle or Muddle?(2007-04-11) Daniel, JohnUniversity Continuing Education Association, 92nd Annual Conference, April 2007, Vancouver, Pre-Conference Workshop on the Future of Learning Technologies 11 April 2007, New Learning Technologies: Mirage, Miracle or Muddle? Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // My title today is New Learning Technologies: Mirage, Miracle or Muddle. If you want a sub-title it would be Technology is the Answer: What was the Question? Some technologies are miraculous - if not in the biblical sense then at least in the sense that they can create quantum changes in the scope, scale, efficiency and effectiveness of human endeavours. But we are in a muddle about learning technologies because we do not pause to define what changes we wish to effect. That leads us to head for any technological prospect we see on the horizon without asking if it is a mirage. // Hence my sub-title - what was the question? I shall suggest two important questions arising from the major challenges facing higher education in the USA and the rest of the world. Can learning technologies answer these questions and help us rise to these challenges? Here I shall encourage us to take a broad view of technology and identify the fundamental characteristics of technology. Having set the stage in this way I shall end with a critique of the most fashionable current application of learning technologies, namely eLearning, and suggest how an unsatisfactory situation might be turned around.Publication Impending Changes in Global Higher Education: Cataclysm or Smooth Transition?(2007-04-16) Daniel, JohnLouisiana State University, Teaching in Higher Education Forum - Tenth Anniversary, Via videoconference link from Vancouver, 16 April, 2007, Impending Changes in Global Higher Education: Cataclysm or Smooth Transition? Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // How can developing nations respond to the massive emerging demand for higher education? Are new approaches needed? Since developing countries will soon account for most of higher education worldwide, their answers to this question will effectively define the global profile of higher education. // The profile of higher education seems likely to change in three ways. First, private, for-profit institutions will play a greater role. Second, distance learning, in all its rapidly evolving forms, will account for a growing proportion of provision. Third, seeing the opening of a massive market, first-world institutions will expand their cross-border activities. // In these remarks I shall focus particularly on the situation in India with some comments on China and the USA.Publication Organising for the Future(2007-04-30) Daniel, JohnUNIVERSITY OF GHANA, Visitation Panel, Organising for the Future, Remarks of the Chairman Sir John Daniel, at the Opening Ceremony, 30 April 2007 // We, the members of the Visitation Panel, are both deeply honoured by the invitation to undertake this important task and acutely conscious of the heavy responsibility that we bear. In recent years Ghana's premier university has been rocked by failures of organisation which, by undermining the credibility of its examinations, have sapped the institution's reputation. // The Panel's immediate task is to help the University of Ghana restore its academic integrity and regain its traditional credibility. But if that were all the Vice-Chancellor would not have brought together such a diverse and distinguished group of people. I have the privilege of leading an enormously eminent team. Our Vice-Chairman is your distinguished former Vice-Chancellor, Professor Aki Sawyerr, who is currently Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities. The Panel includes well-known Ghanaians and academics, experts and institutional leaders from five other countries: India, Jamaica, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the USA who are serving in a personal capacity. UNESCO is assisting the process by assigning Ms Stamenka Uvaliæ-Trumbiæ of its Higher Education Division to the Panel and the Commonwealth of Learning is expressing its support through my own participation. // Our wider task is to help the University organise itself for the future. Although that future will present an ever-changing environment, the University's mission expresses aspirations that are valid for any future. According to the Strategic Plan the mission of the University of Ghana is to 'develop world-class human resources and capabilities to meet national development needs and global challenges through quality teaching, learning, research and knowledge dissemination'.Publication Access to Learning for Development(2007-05-17) Daniel, JohnLaunch of the 5th Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning, University of London, 17 May 2007, Access to Learning for Development, Remarks by Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // It is a great pleasure to be here with our colleagues from the University of London to participate in the launch of the 5th Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning. I am particularly delighted that my former UNESCO colleague Dr Abdul Khan was able to give the keynote address. He and I were appointed Assistant Directors-General at UNESCO at the same time at the end of the year 2000 but our links go back longer than that. We have both led open universities, he in India, me in the UK, and we have both worked for the Commonwealth of Learning. Today UNESCO and the Commonwealth of Learning are working together to harness information, communications and educational technologies to development. I thank him for his inspiring words. // The Commonwealth of Learning is delighted to be working with the University of London to put on the 5th Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning here in London in July next year. Let me begin with a few words about the Commonwealth of Learning before I talk about the Forum itself.Publication Using Technology to Educate the Commonwealth about the Commonwealth(2007-05-20) Daniel, JohnAssociation for Commonwealth Studies, Conference 20-23 May 2007 - Windsor, UK, Educating the Commonwealth about the Commonwealth, Using Technology to Educate the Commonwealth about the Commonwealth, Sir John Daniel, Commonwealth of Learning // My purpose is to inform you about two related developments. The first is the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth, which is a collaborative venture of 28 of the Commonwealth's small states to produce collectively eLearning materials related to their economic development. The courses presently under preparation are on postsecondary, skills-related topics. They are of the Commonwealth but not about the Commonwealth. // However, the way that the materials are being developed, as open educational resources, or OERs, in a collaborative electronic space called WikiEducator, is directly relevant to educating the Commonwealth about the Commonwealth. // I shall argue that the best way to raise the profile of Commonwealth studies is to create a Commonwealth-wide community of teachers who contribute exciting learning materials to what you might call a WikiCommonwealth. Teachers seek to make their lessons interesting and telling. Helping them do that will be a more effective way of raising the profile of the Commonwealth in the classrooms of the Commonwealth than badgering ministers of education to make place for the Commonwealth in the curriculum.Publication Signs of the Times: Change or be changed?(2007-05-21) Kanwar, AshaChanging Contours of Education: Future Trends, 21 - 24 May 2007, SIGNS OF THE TIMES: CHANGE OR BE CHANGED? Asha Kanwar, Commonwealth of Learning // In this paper I will look at five major trends that are shaping the Higher Education (HE) landscape across the world. These include i) the phenomenal expansion and diversity of HE Institutions (HEIs) in the developing world, ii) the rise of crossborder HE (CBHE); iii) the significant emergence of private provision, iv) the Open Education Resource movement and v) the advent of the 'new learner'. I have given examples from different countries in the developing Commonwealth to show how they have responded creatively to these developments. An understanding of the 'best practice' from different jurisdictions will help us to formulate 'next practice', as C.K. Prahalad puts it, for our own contexts. I conclude with a consideration of whether to change or not to change are the only two options available to us.