[Reader-list] The Sixth Pan-Commonwealth Forum : Call for Proposals

[rohitrellan at aol.in]

Many conferences and workshops in this area of work are concerned with 
the concepts, themes, trends, techniques and technicalities of open and 
distance learning. The previous PCFs (1-5) focused on purpose, and
specifically on the unique contributions that open and distance 
learning (ODL) can make towards achieving the development goals of the 
international community and related themes.


PCF6 aims to consider what ODL has done and still can do in terms of 
success, rather than simple access that can provide opportunities to 
millions of people of all ages and diverse backgrounds, particularly
  from developing countries. Gender, disabilities, social, economic and 
cultural diversities and skills development play a key role in ensuring 
quality as well as success and, thereby, social justice through ODL
policies and practices.


PCF6 has four main themes, all grouped under the overarching theme of 
‘Access and Success: Global Developmental Perspectives'.  Each 
contribution may address one or more of these. Some may take a
forum-wide perspective. Others may address individual themes, or one of 
the three cross-cutting topics, identified by the Programme Committee 
as being relevant to all of these themes.  There may be several special
sessions relevant to the specific context of PCF6.


Four Main Theme


Cross-cutting  issues
  Social Justice  Community Development Skills Development Formal
Education
Gender
Disabilities
Quality


Description of Main themes


Under the overall theme of Access and Success: Global Developmental 
Perspectives, four main themes will have a number of sub-themes or 
topics as follows:


1.Social Justice
•Access to Justice: Life, Liberty & Livelihood
•Scaling up Quality Education for All
•Education & Employment of Persons with Disabilities
•Assistive and Affordable Technologies

2.Community Development
•Community based Learning and Outreach
•Open Education Resources: Models to Choose Adopt and Adapt
•Innovative Pathways to Knowledge Society

3.Skills Development
•Skills Development for National Development
•Global Development Discourses; North-South Dialogues
•Regional Cooperation: Who can benefit from whom?

4.Formal Education
•Revamping Teacher Education
•Open Schooling
•Technologies for Scaling up ODL programmes
•Quality Issues


The cross-cutting issues which could be considered under the above main 
themes will be: Gender, Disabilities & Quality.


Short description of the four main themes:


Social Justice: Access to education is usually understood as an 
opportunity to get admission for various courses and programmes leading 
to certification. In non-formal situations it may mean creating
awareness among the participants on a mass scale regarding livelihood, 
basic health, legal rights, including human rights and participation in 
all spheres of a democratic society which places emphasis on inclusive
growth and development. However, often we find that educational access 
to the majority of people living in poor and developing countries does 
not go beyond formal admission or certification. Access in this sense
does not lead them to success because of the shortcomings and failures 
of institutions and programmes which suffer from many weaknesses in 
terms of policy making, planning, execution, evaluation and governance.
As a result, in many developing countries of the Commonwealth, the 
Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees do not provide justice to many who 
are otherwise academically qualified. Poor self-esteem, lack of job
opportunities and poor standards are the negative indicators of the 
value and quality of the educational programmes in the developing 
countries. Where awareness programmes are aimed at mass audiences to
improve their livelihood through day to day activities such as farming 
and skills-based economic activities, the common people are not 
sufficiently aware of the guarantees provided by the constitutions and
the laws of the respective countries.


In order to provide them with their fundamental rights as citizens of 
an equal society, there should be arrangements to give them access to 
education, health and employment.  ODL is ideally placed to make an
impact on this dismal scenario through effective and imaginative use of 
different modes of education as well as appropriate and affordable 
technologies.


Community Development:  Over the centuries, universities played a 
social role but indirectly through creation, preservation and extension 
of knowledge to society in general and communities in particular.
However, for various reasons, universities gradually started looking 
more and more inward in the name of specialization and have turned 
themselves into ivory towers. Though the importance of research,
discovery of new knowledge and application of it in controlled 
situations of experimentation need specialisation, with the growing 
demand for democratisation of education at all levels, universities can
ill afford to remain as islands of excellence, when the communities 
sustaining then are silently turning into deserts due to global 
warming, climate change and various forms of industrial/ nuclear
pollution.


The link between the universities and the communities has never been 
felt as keenly important as it is today. The universities have to reach 
out to the communities by making their own policies and structures more
flexible and relevant to community development in all aspects. 
Different types of educational institutions such as new forms of 
university campuses, community colleges, virtual universities/colleges,
online/e-learning institutions etc. need to be created to effectively 
respond to the needs of the community, keeping in view the 
geographical, social, economic, political and cultural specificities in
view. Mindless homogenisation certainly leads to a weakening of the 
different spheres of human learning and also results in the extinction 
of traditional economic activities, cultural mores, languages , art and
culture of people. In order to arrest this process– a perhaps 
inevitable part of the impact of globalization - ODL philosophies and 
practices need to rethink their role, potential and possibilities with
the view to reversing the present negative trends and ensuring as far 
as possible the continuity of communities with their individual 
identities.


Skills Development:  To achieve the previously described goals, the 
members of the community need the necessary knowledge, skills and 
attitudes. In order to bridge the disconnect between traditional skills
and modern literacy or vice-versa, we need to fill the gaps in order to 
recognize prior skills and integrate them with the final goals of 
abstract theories to ensure learning for development in the real sense.
Appropriate, affordable and assistive technologies play an important 
role in addressing the issues of disabilities, gender and other 
inequalities. Traditional knowledge, native wisdom and experiences need
to be recognised and certified.


Formal Education: Teacher education at all levels is crucial to assure 
quality.  Scaling up of teacher education provision is possible only 
through information and communication techonoligies (ICTs). However, we
need to consider qulity issues and new ways of addressing teacher 
education. Without scaling up teacher education, quality cannot be 
assured. Open schooling is one way of assuring quality education of the
under priviledged, whereas ODL is  the methodology to scale up. Without 
adequate number of trained teachers, the Millenium Development Goals 
will remain a distant dream. In this context, revamping teacher
educaton becomes a priority.


We look forward to participating with you in this Forum and working 
together on the ideas that emerge.   Please send your Abstracts to:

Conference Manager PCF6, latest by 31st January, 2010 as per
Guidelines.   E-mail ID: abstract at pcf6.net


Please note most sessions will involve short presentations by panels of 
speakers followed by discussion of key questions addressing the key 
theme of access to learning for development, or specific aspects of the
main Forum themes.


All the Forum papers will be available on-line/under a Creative Commons 
license which means that they can be shared, adapted and reused freely. 
  Many of the authors may like to publish open access versions of their
papers in wikiEducator which means that the community can make 
contributions to the papers, provide links to other topics and websites 
and discuss the issues online.


The PCF6 website shall enable the participants to add their own 
commentaries and provide links to the papers and to other relevant 
research, learning resources and websites.


For more details about the themes and the cross-cutting aspects, write 
to us: pcf6 at pcf6.net