Note from the Editor Regional ODL Policy …...SADC Open and Distance Learning Newsletter– April...

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To facilitate harmonisation of education and training through ODL in the SADC region, the SADC Capacity Building Project has developed a Regional ODL Policy Framework to guide Member States in the development of national ODL policies. development process. Key regional Policy documents that have been approved which was approved in June 2012. To operationalize the Regional ODL Policy Framework, a Regional ODL Strategic Plan has been developed. National ODL Policy Development in the SADC Region. SADC Open and Distance Learning NewsletterApril to June 2013 Regional ODL Policy Development and Strategic Planning Note from the Editor I am excited that the SADC ODL Newslet- ter has been published and ready for circulation. This will facilitate resource, knowledge and information sharing on the provision of Open and Distance Learning in the SADC region. The SADC Secretariat through the Direc- torate of Social and Human Development & Special Programmes is implementing a Capacity Building in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Project with financial support of the African Development Bank (AfDB). The Purpose of the Project is to contribute to the regional integration through development and deployment of effective, harmonised open and distance learning in the SADC region. The Project has two main components Regional Policy development and Strategic Planning; and Capacity Building for open and distance learning. The ODL Project implementation started in 2008 and several regional policy frame- works have been approved by SADC Ministers of Education and Training to facilitate ODL provision in the SADC region. The Project focuses on secondary, teacher, TVET and High education. Further, a number of capacity building activities have been implemented and others are on going. The direct beneficiaries of this Project are seven Member States namely; Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Project has come up with quarterly SADC Newsletter which is intended to create awareness on ODL activities that are being implemented in the SADC region with a view to increasing access to education and training. This will enhance visibility as well as marketability of ODL across the region. It is anticipated that Member States will take advantage of this platform to create awareness on their ODL initiatives in the area of policy development, ICT, gender mainstreaming in ODL initiatives, re- search, M and E and other interesting activities. It is through sharing of informa- tion, success stories and best practices that SADC Member States can learn and encourage each other in an effort to foster regional integration through development of well trained, educated and skilled human resources. The Editor therefore welcomes you all to participate in this forum through contribu- tion of articles from your institutions and Member States. Participants at the National ODL Policy Finalisation Workshop, Maseru. The Region has made strides in developing national ODL Policies as mandated by the SADC Protocol on Education and Training article 9A (2). To date the following five (5) Member States have been supported by the SADC ODL Project to develop their national ODL policies aligned to the Regional ODL Policy Framework: Democratic Republic of Congo Lesotho Malawi Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia and Swaziland have been supported by SADC Centre for Distance Education to develop National ODL policies The SADC Centre for Distance Education has been formally recognised as a SADC institution through principle of subsidiary. This is a fulfilment of the provisions of the SADC Protocol on Education and Training which mandated Member States to establish a SADC Centre for Distance Education which will contribute towards improving and strengthening distance education and training systems in the region through collabo- rative efforts. The general objectives of the Centre are: To undertake and promote training and development in ODL; To engage in and support systemic research activities in ODL to provide quality distance educa- tion in Southern Africa; To increase the provision of quality distance education in Southern Africa The Centre has made tremendous progress in promoting ODL in the region. For instance it produces annual referred ODL journal. In addition, the SADC CDE has conducted several training workshops aimed at pro- ducing a cohort of researchers in open and distance learning. The Centre is governed by a Board which is made up of selected Permanent Secretaries of Ministries of Education and Training, SADC Secretariat and Commonwealth of Learning Representatives. It is currently funded by the Government of Botswana through Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning which hosts the Centre and The Commonwealth of Learning. SADC CENTRE FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION SADC Centre for Distance EducationBoard Members

Transcript of Note from the Editor Regional ODL Policy …...SADC Open and Distance Learning Newsletter– April...

Page 1: Note from the Editor Regional ODL Policy …...SADC Open and Distance Learning Newsletter– April to June 2013 Regional ODL Policy Development and Strategic Planning Note from the

To facilitate harmonisation of education and training through ODL in the SADC region, the SADC Capacity Building Project has developed a Regional ODL Policy Framework to guide Member States in the development of national ODL policies. development process. Key regional Policy documents that have been approved which was approved in June 2012. To operationalize the Regional ODL Policy Framework, a Regional ODL Strategic Plan has been developed.

National ODL Policy Development in the SADC Region.

SADC Open and Distance Learning Newsletter– April to June 2013

Regional ODL Policy Development and Strategic Planning Note from the Editor

I am excited that the SADC ODL Newslet-

ter has been published and ready for

circulation. This will facilitate resource,

knowledge and information sharing on the

provision of Open and Distance Learning

in the SADC region.

The SADC Secretariat through the Direc-

torate of Social and Human Development

& Special Programmes is implementing a

Capacity Building in Open and Distance

Learning (ODL) Project with financial

support of the African Development Bank

(AfDB). The Purpose of the Project is to

contribute to the regional integration

through development and deployment of

effective, harmonised open and distance

learning in the SADC region. The Project

has two main components Regional Policy

development and Strategic Planning; and

Capacity Building for open and distance

learning.

The ODL Project implementation started in

2008 and several regional policy frame-

works have been approved by SADC

Ministers of Education and Training to

facilitate ODL provision in the SADC

region. The Project focuses on secondary,

teacher, TVET and High education.

Further, a number of capacity building

activities have been implemented and

others are on going.

The direct beneficiaries of this Project are

seven Member States namely; Angola,

Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho,

Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia

and Zimbabwe.

The Project has come up with quarterly

SADC Newsletter which is intended to

create awareness on ODL activities that

are being implemented in the SADC

region with a view to increasing access to

education and training. This will enhance

visibility as well as marketability of ODL

across the region.

It is anticipated that Member States will take advantage of this platform to create awareness on their ODL initiatives in the area of policy development, ICT, gender mainstreaming in ODL initiatives, re-search, M and E and other interesting activities. It is through sharing of informa-tion, success stories and best practices that SADC Member States can learn and encourage each other in an effort to foster regional integration through development of well trained, educated and skilled human resources. The Editor therefore welcomes you all to participate in this forum through contribu-tion of articles from your institutions and Member States.

Participants at the National ODL Policy Finalisation

Workshop, Maseru.

The Region has made strides in developing national ODL Policies as mandated by the SADC Protocol on Education and Training article 9A (2). To date the following five (5) Member States have been supported by the SADC ODL Project to develop their national ODL policies aligned to the Regional ODL Policy Framework:

Democratic Republic of Congo

Lesotho

Malawi

Tanzania

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia and Swaziland have been supported by SADC Centre for Distance Education to develop National ODL policies

The SADC Centre for Distance Education has been formally recognised as a SADC institution through principle of subsidiary. This is a fulfilment of the provisions of the SADC Protocol on Education and Training which mandated Member States to establish a SADC Centre for Distance Education which will contribute towards improving and strengthening distance education and training systems in the region through collabo-rative efforts. The general objectives of the Centre are:

To undertake and promote training and development in ODL;

To engage in and support systemic research activities in ODL to provide quality distance educa-

tion in Southern Africa;

To increase the provision of quality distance education in Southern Africa

The Centre has made tremendous progress in promoting ODL in the region. For instance it produces annual referred ODL journal. In addition, the SADC CDE has conducted several training workshops aimed at pro-ducing a cohort of researchers in open and distance learning. The Centre is governed by a Board which is made up of selected Permanent Secretaries of Ministries of Education and Training, SADC Secretariat and Commonwealth of Learning Representatives. It is currently funded by the Government of Botswana through Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning which hosts the Centre and The Commonwealth of Learning.

SADC CENTRE FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION

SADC Centre for Distance Education—Board Members

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Important Highlights

SADC Secretariat estab-lished two centres of Spe-cialization to facilitate capac-ity building in Open and Dis-tance Learning.

Centre of Specializa-

tion for Teacher Education at Open University of Tanza-nia

Centre of Specializa-

tion for Secondary Education—Malawi College of Distance Education in Malawi.

SADC Secretariat launched Knowledge Management System at Open University of Tanzania which has a back up at Malawi College of Dis-tance Education Visit the website for more information ht t p : / / s a d c k m s . o ut . a c . t z o r http://41.93.35.13/kms/.

The SADC Centre for Dis-tance Education has been formally recognised as a SADC institution through the principle of subsidiary. SADC Secretariat through the Capacity Building Project facilitates National ODL Pol-icy Development in selected SADC Member States SADC Centre for Distance Education complements the SADC ODL Project by sup-porting other SADC (ADB) Member States to develop National ODL Policies. The SADC ODL Newsletter will be

produced quarterly as per the schedule

below;

Contact the Directorate of Social and

Human Development & Special Pro-

grammes SADC Secretariat, P/Bag

0095, Gaborone, Botswana

[email protected]

Prof. Tolly Mbwete– Vice Chancellor of Open University of Tanzania (left) and Dr. Tomaz Augusto Salamao (right)

signing the Memorandum of Understanding. On 4th April, 2013 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

SADC ODL Knowledge Management System has been Launched The SADC Capacity Building in ODL Project has developed a Knowledge Management System (KMS) for the SADC region to be used by ODL institutions, researchers, students and other interested stakeholders. The KMS was launched in October 2012 at the Open University of Tanzania (OUT) which hosts the SADC Centre of Specialisation (CoS) for Teacher Education. The IP address of the KMS is http://sadckms.out.ac.tz or http://41.93.35.13/kms/. The purpose of the KMS is to enhance information sharing in the SADC region as well as to promote knowledge creation, collaboration and networking. The KMS is a hybrid of two globally well known applications namely Moodle and Alfresco, these two applications have been fused together to create a system that offers both online learning and serves as a knowledge repository. The KMS is a much sought after utility that will harmonize the various platforms that are currently being used by different ODL Institutions within the SADC Region for e-learning. It is therefore a single system that serves all ODL learners and practitioners alike.

Super users of Knowledge Management System at Open University of Tanzania

Centres of Specialisation Guided by the provisions of the SADC Protocol on Education and Training article 7E, Member States have agreed to establish Centres of Specialisation (CoS) in the region at existing institutions to offer regional programmes. The purpose of CoS is to build capacity of regional training institutions to offer education and training programmes in critical and specialised areas with a view to increasing stock of trained personnel in the region. In view of this, the SADC Capacity Building in ODL Project has facilitated the establishment of two Centres of Specialisation for secondary and teacher education at Malawi College of Distance education in Malawi and Open University of Tanzania, in Tanzania respec-tively. Through the signed MoU, the SADC Secretariat through its SADC Capacity Building in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Project funded by the African Development Bank has pledged to support the capacity building of Open University of Tanzania (OUT) and Malawi College of Distance Education (MCDE) in networking, office equipment and furniture, ICT equipment for training, bandwidth, tuition fees, bus and standby generator and other related costs. The support will enable the Centre of Specialisation in Teacher Education and Secondary Education to training ODL practitioners in short term training courses designed to close competency gaps in the ODL personnel with a view to ensuring quality development, deployment and delivery of ODL across the region. The Centre of Specialisation will also offer training at diploma and masters degree levels in ODL to ODL practitioners in the region. This initiative is in accordance with the SADC Protocol on Education and Training, which is a blue print for education and training in SADC Member States. The cooperation between SADC and the two centres (OUT and MCDE) shall include; but not limit to: - Provision of both short-term training and long-term training for the development of ODL professionals, techni-cal and research skills in relation to Teacher Education and secondary education. - Provision of specialized training in priority areas as stipulated in their respective policy documents and man-dates - Facilitation of joint ODL curriculum development and programme delivery with other universities/institutions

SADC Secretariat signs Memorandum of Understanding with two Centres

SADC Secretariat trained super users of Knowledge Management System at Open University of Tanzania

Due Month

Period to be covered

July April to June

October July to September

January October to December

April January to March

SADC Open and Distance Learning Newsletter– April to June 2013

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Short courses in ODL with SADC Centres of Specialisation

SADC Centre of Specialisation in Teacher Education -Open University of Tanzania– commences short courses in ODL priority skills areas, from July 2013

E Learning , 22—26 July,

2013

Research, Skills in ODL

Application 12-16 August

Monitoring and Evaluation,

26-30 August, 2013.

Learner, Support, Assess-

ment and Accreditation 16-20th September, 2013

Strategic Planning and

Management in ODL 21-25 October, 2013

SADC Centre of Specialisation in Secondary -Malawi College Distance Education releases it schedule for short courses

Conferences

Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning to host 48th Distance Education Association of Southern Africa (DEASA) , 20th –21st Septem-ber 2013. Theme : Strengthening Collaboration in Open and Distance Learning for development in the SADC region. www.deasa.org.za Distance Education and Teacher Education (DETA) fifth Conference to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, 30th July to 1st August 2013: Theme– Teacher education and development in Africa: the need for access, equity, sustain-ability, quality and relevance within the context of globalization.

Domestication of Regional ODL Policy frameworks at Member

States level.

Zambia and Zimbabwe to

conduct M and E Training in August, 2013 in an effort to domesticate the regional ODL M and E framework.

Lesotho to finalise its

National ODL Policy in July 2013

The SADC Ministers of Education and Training meeting will be held in Maputo, Mozambique from 16-20th September, 2013 The SADC Secretariat to convene Consensus Building Workshop on the Draft Regional Module in September, 2013

SADC Open and Distance Learning Newsletter– April to June, 2013

Upcoming Events Gender Mainstreaming in Open and Distance Learning Programmes

The SADC Capacity Building in Open and Distance Learning Project is an exemplar Project in main-streaming gender in its activities. One major break-through has been the development of the Regional Gender Mainstreaming Strategy for Open and Dis-tance Learning which was approved in 2009. The Regional Strategy guides the gender mainstreaming processes in ODL programmes at regional and na-tional levels. Some of the key activities that have been imple-mented from this Regional Strategy are as follows;

Development of Gender Mainstreaming

Guidelines for ODL programmes

Development of a Gender Mainstreaming

Training Manual

Training of ODL practitioners as Training of

Trainers in Gender Mainstreaming

Development of a Regional Gender Module

for ODL institutions which will be finalised in

SADC Capacity Building supports ODL practitioners from ADF Member States to attend the E—learning Confer-ence in Namibia, 27th to 31st May, 2013

The SADC Secretariat through the Capacity Building

Project financially supported participants from ADF

Member States to participate in the e Learning work-

shop in Namibia.

The conference provided an in depth wealth of knowl-edge on e-learning and related issues. Presentations unveiled the direction in which the world is moving with regards to e-learning. Through this platform the ODL Project is now better placed to make informed developments that would scale the current size of the KMS to benefit the SADC Region. The ODL Project can now benchmark its efforts

against global e-learning trends.

Participants at the E learning Conference in Namibia, May 2013

The SADC Secretariat conducted training for Trainers for all the ADF Member States. The purpose of the training was to orient member states on the regional framework with a view to domes-ticate key indicators that have to be tracked by Member States. The Major outcome of this Training was Action Plans for domes-ticating the Regional M and E Framework at national levels.

Participants at the National ODL advocacy campaign in

Angola embarks on National ODL Advocacy campaigns

Participants at the M and E training of Trainers

Domestication of the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for Open and Distance Learning

In an effort to promote development and utilisation of open and distance learning in the SADC region, the SADC Secretariat developed the Regional ODL Information, Communication and Education Strategy to guide awareness campaigns on ODL in the SADC region. Angola conducted a National ODL awareness cam-paign that drew participants from a wider stakeholders group in April, 2013. The advocacy campaigns create awareness on the utilisation and benefits of open and distance learning.

Participants at the Zambia National ODL Policy workshop

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Contact the Directorate of Social and Human Develop-

ment & Special Programmes SADC Secretariat,

P/Bag 0095,

Gaborone,

Botswana

[email protected]

www.sadc.int/odl