Creativity in Advancing Distance Learning: Models and Technologies

Abstract

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 23-29 November 2009, People’s Forum, Theme: Creativity and Innovation // Today’s theme is Creativity and Innovation. This is a particularly appropriate theme for the Commonwealth of Learning to address in the context of CHOGM. COL, as everyone calls it, is celebrating what you might call its 11th CHOGM birthday this year. // We were set up in 1987 when Heads of Government met in Vancouver. They believed that a communications revolution was underway and that the mass media, information technology and new developments in telecommunications had much to contribute to the advancement of education, training and learning. COL was created to help countries to secure that contribution. Our slogan, and the title of our Three-Year Plan, is Learning for Development. We focus on the use of educational technology in general and of open and distance education in particular, to advance learning in support of development. // Today, rather than simply outline our work programme we shall focus on the notions of creativity and innovation as applied to the development of distance learning. Our title is Creativity in advancing distance learning: models and technologies and we shall flag three models and three technical developments.