www.icde.org
November 2010
ICDE Highlights An activity report from the International Council for Open and Distance Education
ICDE is an NGO in formal consultative relations with UNESCO, and is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research and its members.
On behalf of the ICDE Secretariat, I am pleased to introduce this overview of ICDE’s activities over the past twelve months. ICDE Highlights is designed to increase ICDE’s visibility among the distance education community worldwide. Indeed, I hope that you have noticed ICDE rather more this year as we have increased our communication activities, notably through the website. ICDE’s primary activity is our conferences, and we report on two meetings of the ICDE Standing Conference of Presidents which tackled themes of importance for distance education; the gap between developing and developed countries, and the global financial crisis (see pages 2 and 5). We also preview the forthcoming 24th ICDE World Conference on Open and Distance Learning to be held in October 2011 on the island of Bali in Indonesia (see page 7). During 2010, ICDE began work on highlighting governmental restrictions on open and distance education (ODE). ICDE is sponsoring an investigation of regulatory frameworks for distance education, the pilot stage of which is already underway (see page 3). In addition, a Policy Forum for executive heads from distance teaching institutions was arranged to pool experiences and provide input to ICDE’s future activity for the promotion of ODE (see page 2). An additional focus for ICDE is work to promote the acceptance of quality open educational resources by educational systems and institutions. To this end, ICDE is a project partner in the European Commission funded Open Educational Quality Initiative (see page 3).
Carl Holmberg Secretary General, ICDE
ICDE has made good progress towards the goals in our strategic plan, the organization is attracting new members, and we continue to improve our services under the guidance of a highly committed Executive Committee. I hope that you find ICDE Highlights informative and look forward to hearing from you, our members and friends.
ICDE’s Executive Committee •
Frits Pannekoek, President, Athabasca University, Canada (ICDE President)
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Tian Belawati, Rector, Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia
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Denise Kirkpatrick, Pro Vice-Chancellor Learning, Teaching and Quality, The Open University, UK
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Fredric Litto, President, Brazilian Association for Distance Education - ABED
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Marta Mena, General Coordinator PROCAE, Cabinet of Ministers, Government of Argentina
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N. Barney Pityana, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, The University of South Africa (Unisa)
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Bridging the development gap at SCOP 2010 The 2010 ICDE Standing Conference of Presidents (SCOP) meeting was held 13-15 September 2010 in Pretoria, South Africa. Hosted by the University of South Africa (Unisa), the meeting was attended by executive heads representing institutions from 23 countries including many with membership in the African Council of Distance Education (ACDE). The development of higher education in Africa In view of the challenges - and the success stories - in the provision of educational opportunity on the African continent, the overall theme for the meeting was Bridging the Development Gap. Professor N. Barney Pityana, Principal and ViceChancellor of the University of South Africa noted that with only five years of UNESCO’s Education for All initiative remaining, access to higher
education in sub-Saharan Africa is at 5%, and that while South Africa is the leader, access there is still under 20%. Bridging the digital divide The invited keynote speaker was Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Chief Executive Officer of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency. NEPAD works to address legal, policy and regulatory obstacles in relation to the provision of cross-border services in Africa, particularly on the provision of ICT broadband infrastructure. Dr. Mayaki noted that less than 3% of worldwide internet subscriptions are in Africa, compared for example with 43% in Asia. Dr. Mayaki argued that internet access is a pre-requisite for development and that increased
Delegates at SCOP 2010 exchange of knowledge would allow the African continent to drive development through the pooling of internal resources, rather than through dependence on aid. SCOP 2010 website: www.unisa. ac.za/scop2010
Why SCOP? Policy challenges to open and distance education
public perceptions of the value of qualifications obtained through online study or other distance teaching methods. As a first step towards improving attitudes to open and distance education, ICDE organized a Policy Forum on the fringes of the SCOP meeting in Pretoria to gather members’ input and experiences. Strategies for overcoming policy barriers
Dr. Nicholas H. Allen ICDE has committed through its strategic plan to highlight the increasing number of government actions which restrict the success and impact of distance education as an instrument for lifelong learning, and restrict progress towards the UNESCO Education for All goals. ICDE members have consistently reported that governmental policy towards open and distance education around the world is an issue of concern. In some cases formal limitations are placed on the use of non-traditional teaching forms, often contributing to negative
Dr. Nicholas H. Allen, Provost Emeritus of University of Maryland University College (UMUC), chaired the Policy Forum entitled Education for All? Access? Equity? Quality?, which began with perspectives from the USA, Latin America, Africa, and from ICDE’s General Delegate at UNESCO, Bernard Loing. Wider discussions resulted in calls for more vigorous advocacy work to increase appreciation of open and distance learning (ODL) within governments, including broader alliances with businesses which benefit from the skills of ODL graduates. Delegates also agreed on the need to work more closely with quality agencies to ensure that the ODL approach is both represented and respected. However, it was noted that measures to improve standards within institutions
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The ICDE Standing Conference of Presidents (SCOP) is a unique arena for executive heads from open and distance teaching institutions to come together and discuss issues relating to their national and institutional context in a confidential, in-camera setting. In concluding the 2010 SCOP meeting, Dr. Frits Pannekoek, President of ICDE and President of Athabasca University, Canada, underlined the significance of the Standing Conference of Presidents as a forum where ideas for cooperation and exchange come about and where collegial relationships are developed: “One of the great powers of ICDE is that it provides the ability to network, the ability to meet in groups, the ability to expand one’s horizons and one’s mind.”
and to effect internal culture shifts often have a key role to play. Delegates concluded that collaboration is the key to promote change, both for joint advocacy, training and sharing of best practice, but also with traditional face-to-face teaching institutions in order to counter negative arguments.
Policy challenges on the ICDE website
the main regulatory frameworks that apply to distance and online education in different regions of the world, and to identify good practices.
Project objectives Pilot project
A section containing articles and resources relating to policy challenges to distance education can be found on the ICDE website at www.icde. org/en/context/policy_challenges.
The Regulatory Framework for Distance Education ICDE announced in 2010 that it would sponsor an investigation of regulatory systems within distance education throughout the world. This represents an important strand to ICDE’s active engagement in global discourse on open and distance education policy as foreseen through the ICDE strategic plan. It is argued that the social relevance of distance education, as well as security, quality and equity of access, are closely linked to the application of sound regulatory systems. The aim of the project is therefore to identify
The Open Educational Quality Initiative Together with UNESCO and ICDE member The Open University, UK, ICDE is a partner organization in the two-year Open Educational Quality (OPAL) Initiative. OPAL aims to highlight quality and innovation in the production, use and reuse of open educational resources (OER). The project is coordinated by the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, and is part funded by the European Commission Education and Training Lifelong Learning Programme. Defining open educational practices During the first ten months of the project, the consortium has worked hard to gain support among the academic and regulatory communities within higher and adult education for the term open educational
This pilot project will run during the final quarter of 2010 and first quarter of 2011.
Twelve applications were received and the successful bidder for the pilot stage of the project was announced in September 2010. This is a consortium of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education, the Australasian Council on Open, Distance and E-Learning, the Distance Education Hub, and the Australian Universities Quality Agency. The selection panel noted that the winning consortium has a strong research group with all necessary expertise, and local and national associates. The network spans across academia to include researchers, universities, agencies and organizations.
The objectives of the wider project are ultimately: • To identify the main regulatory frameworks that apply to distance and online education in different regions of the world • To identify similarities and differences, both within each region, and also across regions • To gather the existing laws, norms and rules related to distance and online education in a database • To identify good practices in terms of the regulation of distance and online education
The pilot will assess the Asia Pacific region, including key members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Pacific Island Forum nations. This region will provide a pilot study area that is sufficiently diverse to offer opportunities for comparison and a good basis for a generative framework, useful also in other regions.
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OPEN EDUCATIONAL QUALITY INITIATIVE practices (OEP). These are practices at the policy, institutional and teaching levels which provide the pre-conditions for creating, sharing and using freely available learning materials. Online consultations and workshops have been held together with a quantitative survey of policy makers, institutional managers and administrators, educational professionals and learners. The OPAL Consultative Group on Open Educational Practice, a multi-stakeholder network of organizations including quality bodies, policy experts and institutional leaders held a first meeting to discuss policy implications of the research work carried out by the consortium, and to help OPAL to
coordinate effectively with existing international OER initiatives. The role of ICDE ICDE’s role in the consortium is in two key areas; dissemination, and the development of awards to recognize outstanding achievements in the field of OEP. ICDE has authored the dissemination plan for the project and has carried out significant communication activity including encouraging participation in the consultation exercises through its network, the ICDE website and electronic newsletters. The OEP Innovation Awards will open for nominations in the second quarter of 2011. The OPAL website: www.oer-quality. org
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Website developments Since the new ICDE website went live in September 2009, ICDE has worked steadily to develop the content, functionality and appearance, with greater interactivity, increased opportunities to become involved and a greater wealth of resources. These developments demonstrate that the ICDE website is well on its way to being both an authoritative reference tool and a virtual meeting place for all actors from the open and distance education community. Increased capacity in the ICDE Secretariat means that ICDE publishes a greater number of news stories and has increased the regularity of its electronic newsletter service to twice per month. Over 1,200 individuals have actively subscribed over the past twelve months and approximately 10,000 active email addresses receive the newsletter.
The Contribute function allows for the submission of events to the Global conference calendar - one of the website’s most used services - as well as to submit news stories for immediate publication Recordings of presentations at ICDE conferences are available in the Video library Interactive maps in the ICDE Membership and Context sections - where regional and national associations and major institutions within distance education are described - make it easier to find those working in open and distance learning in a particular region
While exploring the website users will notice that the right hand menu of each page contains updates from within that particular section, providing an at-a-glance view of what is new.
ICDE’s General Delegate at UNESCO
Dr. Bernard Loing, ICDE’s General Delegate at UNESCO, was re-elected as President of the International Conference of NGOs for the period 2010-2012 at the UNESCO Conference of NGOs at UNESCO in December 2009. His re-election is a great responsibility and an honour for both Dr. Loing and for ICDE and his position brings ICDE tremendous insight in the workings of UNESCO, and a broad network of contacts within the organization.
terms of democratization, accountability and integrity. He also spoke of the great contribution to democracy, freedoms and human dignity made by Professor Pityana. An issue of ICDE’s online journal, Open Praxis, will now be dedicated to Professor Pityana and to the service that he has given to open and distance learning.
Professor N. Barney Pityana has been Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of South Africa since 2001. Unisa is among the world’s mega distance education institutions with over 250,000 registered students and 5,000 staff and academics. He was previously Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, one of the independent constitutional institutions established to protect democracy in South Africa. He has also served as a member of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights for a term of six years.
The Message board facility allows users to post questions for the Secretariat and comment on ICDE’s activities and news articles ICDE can now be found on Facebook making it easier to access news updates, and providing an extra communication channel: www.facebook.com/icde. org
Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Africa (Unisa), Professor N. Barney Pityana, will retire at the end of 2010 and will leave ICDE’s Executive Committee.
Sections have been established devoted to the Open Educational Quality (OPAL) Initiative, reports and handbooks on distance education, and information about open educational resources
The ICDE website: www.icde.org
Developments over the past twelve months include:
Professor Barney Pityana to step down
A list of leading journals with RSS feeds links to most recently published articles as they become available
In a tribute to Professor Pityana at the conclusion of the 2010 Standing Conference of Presidents, Dr. Frits Pannekoek, President of ICDE, spoke of Professor Pityana’s service to ICDE, noting that he has been hugely influential within the organization, and within distance education. Dr. Pannekoek spoke of the tremendous standards Professor Pityana brought to the ICDE Executive Committee in
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The ICDE Executive Committee will co-opt a new member in its December 2010 meeting to take the place of Professor Pityana until the expiry of the current Executive’s term at the end of 2011.
SCOP 2009: the role of the university, innovation and quality The 2009 ICDE Standing Conference of Presidents meeting held in late November 2009 in Barcelona, Spain, was attended by eighty executives representing fifty institutions on five continents. The meeting, hosted by Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), focused on how to ensure continued and enhanced quality of service to the student and to society, and how to provide the global economy with the entrepreneurs and innovators of the future. These themes were chosen because of their relevance to open and distance education institutions in the context of the global financial crisis.
ICDE President, Dr. Frits Pannekoek and President of UOC, Dr. Imma Tubella
Student-driven innovation The keynote presentation was given by Dr. Xavier Sala-i-Martín, Professor of Economics at Columbia University, New York, and Senior Economic Advisor to the World Economic Forum, Davos. Dr. Sala-iMartín underlined that only through competitiveness and productivity can solutions both to the current financial crisis and future crises be found. But he cautioned that in the history of great business ideas, only a very small proportion of innovations have come through formal research and design. Critical thinking and the critical spirit are what lead to the creation of ideas. Dr. Sala-i-Martín called for educational systems to move away from the teacher monopoly on ultimate truth, to a situation where learners are encouraged to think differently. A role for open and distance education The SCOP 2009 declaration, published on the basis of discussions within working groups, noted that the solution to society’s learning needs lies in flexibility, innovation and new technologies, and that open and distance teaching universities are ready to the lead way. Traditional universities are failing adequately to respond to student needs, and the financial crisis presents a tremendous opportunity for institutions which specialize in virtual and distance learning to gain acceptance for modern and innovative approaches within higher education. The declaration made four key recommendations:
• Proponents of open, online and distance education must use the current economic crisis as an opportunity both to influence policy and to drive forward innovation in teaching. • The open, online and distance education community must strive to meet the highest expectations with regard to effectiveness, transparency and accountability. • Institutions commit themselves to a deeper understanding of the aspirations of individual students within the needs of the global economy. • Open, online and distance universities will nurture and encourage entrepreneurship to lessen the impact of future economic crises. The SCOP 2009 website: www.uoc. edu/symposia/scop2009
Open Praxis During 2010, the ICDE Executive Committee determined that Open Praxis should be made an open access journal. An issue focusing on quality was published in March 2010 featuring papers from SCOP 2009, and highlights from the 23rd ICDE World Conference as well as papers from ICDE members. The Open Praxis website: www.openpraxis.com
STVU study tour to Norway In May 2010, ICDE welcomed a delegation from member institution Shanghai TV University (STVU) to the ICDE Secretariat in Oslo, Norway. Led by the Vice President of Shanghai TV University, Xu Hao, the delegation visited both the ICDE Secretariat and the Norwegian Association for Distance Education (NADE) as part of a study tour to Norway. The delegation heard presentations from NADE staff and ICDE Secretary General Carl Holmberg, and also discussed the further development of STVU’s relationship with ICDE. ICDE is pleased to assist other member institutions interested in arranging a study tour to northern Europe.
The delegation from STVU with the ICDE Secretariat
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Membership news Associate membership of ICDE The ICDE strategic plan states that ICDE should work more closely with national and regional organizations. With this in mind, the ICDE Executive Committee voted to allow national and regional distance education associations to apply for associate membership of ICDE. While ICDE has always enjoyed informal and working relations with a number of associations, it was decided to take this step in order to demonstrate openness and equality in our policy towards all associations. Associate membership status does not permit taking part in the governance of ICDE, but allows associations to play a role in ICDE task forces and projects, to launch activities and events in partnership with ICDE, to promote links between
Presence at third party conferences ICDE’s Executive Committee and Secretary General receive frequent invitations to attend third party conferences. It is usual for the hosting institution or the Executive Committee member’s own institution to fund their participation. Over the past twelve months, ICDE has been represented at the following conferences: • Online Educa, Germany, December 2009
Membership discounts Membership fees for 2011 have not been increased, though members may notice a difference to the discount structure. In order to promote inclusiveness and provide an incentive for institutions from developing nations to join ICDE, the Executive Committee has determined that a 15% discount be offered to institutions from low-income, lower-middle-income and upper-middle-income economies according to World Bank country income criteria.
the organization’s members and ICDE members, and to work together to disseminate news of projects and initiatives. Associations which have been accepted for associate membership of ICDE at time of writing are: • Società Italiana di e-Learning • The African Council for Distance Education • The Australasian Council on Open, Distance and e-Learning • The Distance Education Association of New Zealand • The European Association of Distance Teaching Universities • The Norwegian Association for Distance Education • The Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia • The South African Institute for Distance Education
• 3rd forum on e-Learning Excellence in the Middle East, United Arab Emirates, February 2010 • International Seminar on Quality and Accreditation in E-Learning in Higher Education, Brazil, April 2010
Membership services on the ICDE website Information relating to membership of ICDE is available at www.icde.org/en/ about/membership. The members’ section of the ICDE extranet contains news articles exclusively for members, reports from the ICDE President and Secretary General, member documentation, minutes of Executive Committee meetings, and ICDE’s annual accounts. For a reminder of the login details, members of ICDE are asked to contact the Secretariat: icde@ icde.org
New members ICDE has welcomed twelve new institutional members as well as five new individual members over the past twelve months. New member institutions are: • Asia e University, Malaysia • Beirut Arab University, Lebanon • Fundação Getulio Vargas - FGV Online, Brazil
• Fourth NRN Regional Conference, USA, May 2010
• Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University, United Arab Emirates
• International Education Forum and Exhibition: e-Learning Russia: e-Learning Opportunities Today, Russia, June 2010
• Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics, and Informatics (MESI), Russia
• EDEN Annual Conference: Media Inspirations for Learning, Portugal, June 2010
• National Academy of Management Studies, India • National Teachers’ Institute, Nigeria
• ICT2010 Singapore, June 2010
• Studiesenteret.no, Norway
• The Future of Distance Teaching, Norway, August 2010
• The University of Newcastle, Australia
• ABED 16th International Congress on Distance Education (CIAED), Brazil, August 2010
• Thompson Rivers University, Canada
• Adult Learning in Europe Understanding Diverse Meanings and Contexts, The Annual ESREA Conference, Sweden, September 2010
• University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia
• Sixth EDEN Research Workshop, Hungary, October 2010 • AAOU Annual Conference, Vietnam, October 2010 • International Forum “Innovation. Business. Education”, Russia, November 2010 • Future Learning Spaces, Norway, November 2010
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• Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Spain
Institutions wishing to apply for membership of ICDE are required to provide evidence of recognition in their home country and references to confirm their institution’s good standing and commitment to codes of ethics in distance learning. New member applications are presented to ICDE’s Executive Committee for their approval on a monthly basis, and institutions are only accepted as members after this stage.
Coming soon 24th ICDE World Conference on Open and Distance Learning Preparations are well underway for the 24th ICDE World Conference which will take place in Nusa Dua on the beautiful island of Bali on 2-5 October 2011. The conference will be hosted by Universitas Terbuka, Indonesia, with the support of the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia. The international programme committee has already begun its work and the call for abstracts remains open until 10 January 2011. The conference theme will be: Expanding Horizons - New Approaches to ODL, with the following sub-themes: • ODL and human capacity building • ODL in a changing world • Quality and ODL in the future • Management and strategic development of ODL • OERs in a global world
• International development and distance learning Registration will begin in early 2011 with early bird fee rates available until 1 April 2011. About the World Conference The biennial ICDE World Conference is widely recognized as the leading world event in open and distance education and offers a forum for the presentation of cutting edge developments, network building, and professional development. The ICDE World Conference attracts an average of 1,000 participants from around the globe representing the research community, teaching staff, management of educational institutions, the public sector, and both training companies and suppliers from the private sector. 24th World Conference website: www.ut.ac.id/icde2011
ICDE International Conference in Argentina Member institution Universidad Nacional de Quilmes will hold an ICDE International Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 13-15 April 2011. The theme will be: Distance Education, Information and Communication Technologies and the University: Quality, Equity and Access to Higher Education. It is a well-established tradition in ICDE to hold International Conferences on distance education based around regional structures and activities. ICDE member institutions may apply to host an ICDE International Conference aimed at a regional audience, and can draw upon ICDE’s resources to attract leading figures from the world of open and distance education to speak at the event International Conferences give local institutions the opportunity both to showcase their achievements and positively to affect attitudes and policy towards distance education.
SCOP 2011 in New York
make up the State University of New York (SUNY). The meeting will have the same structure as SCOP 2010, with opening events on Sunday, a Policy Forum on Monday, and the SCOP meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Alan Davis, President of Empire State College, spoke on behalf of the College and the State University of New York (SUNY) at the closing of SCOP 2010 in Pretoria, South Africa:
ICDE is pleased to announce that the 2011 ICDE Standing Conference of Presidents (SCOP) will be hosted by SUNY Empire State College in the heart of Manhattan, New York, USA, on 19-22 June. SUNY Empire State College is one of 64 schools that
“We hope to provide a rich programme to engage you as leaders in ODL and to build on this year’s discussions as far as possible. We want to provide opportunities to hear from some outstanding keynote speakers drawn from the environment in which we will be hosting the conference.”
Call for interest 25th ICDE World Conference 2013 Member institutions are invited to submit declarations of interest for hosting the 25th ICDE World Conference scheduled for 2013. Applications should be submitted by e-mail by 10 January 2011. For further information please contact Vibeke Hoffmann at the ICDE Secretariat: hoffmann@icde.org
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INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR OPEN AND DISTANCE EDUCATION
Contact persons at the ICDE Secretariat: Carl Holmberg Secretary General holmberg@icde.org
Vibeke Hoffmann Administration OfďŹ cer hoffmann@icde.org
Nick Moe-Pryce Information and Membership Services pryce@icde.org
Sarah McSeveny Information Coordinator mcseveny@icde.org
Find ICDE on Facebook: www.facebook.com/icde.org
The ICDE Message Board: www.icde.org/en/forum/message_board
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Picture credits: page 2 - University of South Africa; page 4 - UNESCO, University of South Africa; page 5 - Universitat Oberta de Catalunya; page 7 - Universitas Terbuka, SUNY Empire State College
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