The Role of Open and Distance Learning in Meeting the MDGs: A Global Perspective

Abstract

I shall start by asking what we mean by development. What is the basic idea behind the Millennium Development Goals that figure in my title? I shall then ask about the role of learning in development and argue that it is a fundamental building block of development on all dimensions. Indeed, the title of COL's Plan for 2006-09 is simply Learning for Development. // The challenge that motivates our work is that conventional methods of education and training simply cannot meet the massive need for learning in support of development. Technology is transforming other areas of life and it is time to use it to improve radically the scope and scale of learning. // I shall describe four models for the use of technology in learning that countries around the Commonwealth are using in support of development goals. Thinking in terms of models makes you identify the essential components in the way that you are putting technology and people together. That is essential if you want to apply the model somewhere else because it helps you know whether it is suitable for the new environment. I shall give examples of such attempts at transfer.