SARDEC NEWS

The Southern African Regional Distance Education Centre (SARDEC) has hit the ground running since its establishment in June 2005. Since one of its primary roles is to disseminate information on ODL, SARDEC organized a public lecture in collaboration with Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning (BOCODOL).  SARDEC and BOCODOL requested Sir John Daniel, The President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) to deliver a public lecture to the ODL practitioners in Botswana. 

 Sir John Daniel, was in Botswana attending the World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR) from 1^st- 3^rd September 2005 where he presented a paper entitled: ICTs in Education: Can Digital Dividend Replace Digital Divide.  On the afternoon of 1^st September 2005, he presented a paper entitled: ODL and ICTs for Teacher Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Experience of The Commonwealth of Learning. (This paper was prepared by both the President and Prof. Mohan Menon).  SARDEC wishes to share this informative speech with the rest of the region and the world.  Both papers can be read at  www.col.org

Sir John Daniel, President and CEO of COL

 The lecture attracted fifty-five (55) people from the country. Sir John’s lecture gave his audience a lot of insightful information which they appreciated a great deal. Below are some of the topical focal points of his lecture:  

• the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the challenges there in;
• Why ODL?
• Policy and advocacy;
• Training and training materials;
• Capacity Building in ODL and ICTs;
• Networking and Consortia;
• Quality Assurance in Teacher Education;
• Learning and Teacher Training and challenges there in;
• Professional Development of Teacher Educator.

Photographs from the lecture