In just a few months, COVID-19 has turned whole educational systems

upside down. At the height of the pandemic, an estimated 574

million students across the Commonwealth were out of school due

to closures. Distance and online learning became the primary means

to keep the doors of learning open, and for many, it was uncharted

territory.

Despite these formidable challenges, the Commonwealth was quick

to respond — improvising and implementing new approaches to

teaching and learning in a matter of days. In many Member States,

education ministries targeted children with stepped-up digital and

broadcast lessons and launched virtual learning portals for teachers,

students and parents.

Past examination papers have been regularly published in the Guyana

Chronicle, and the Namibia Reads digital reading app has been

made accessible for the entire country. In India, the SWAYAM MOOC

platform has provided learning continuity online, and in Fiji, parents

and guardians were encouraged to access educational materials via the

Walesi platform, available on their smartphones.

The current challenge of COVID-19 has provided governments

and institutions with an opportunity to rethink their approach to

education. Pandemics, natural disasters and social/political unrest are

realities that countries will continue to face in the future. As Member

States are coming out of lockdowns and are slowly reopening their

institutions, they can start thinking about ways to build education

systems that can permanently withstand these shocks.

To help Member States draw lessons from the COVID-19 experience

and identify factors that will make education more resilient in the

future, COL has produced the Report to Commonwealth Education

Ministers: From Response to Resilience.

It is available on OAsis, COL’s institutional repository, at

http://hdl.handle.net/11599/3592.

L E A R N I N G F O R S U S T A I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T

“Pandemics, natural disasters and social/political unrest are realities that countries will continue to face in the future.”

3 IN BRIEF 14 FAIR COMMENT COVID-19 AND ONLINE

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58 FOCUS BUILDING RESILIENCE

7 TOP FIVE: TIPS FOR BUILDING

EDUCATION RESILIENCE

Education during COVID-19: the Commonwealth response

Photo: Mohammed Rezwan, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, Bangladesh

2

COL held regional online consultations with its Focal Points (FPs)

to engage these key stakeholders in the development of its new

strategic plan (2021−2027) and ensure its initiatives continue to

match regional and national priorities. Representatives from Africa,

Asia, Europe and the Pacific discussed ways in which COL can help

build the resilience of educational systems in the face of pandemics

and climate change.

Online consultations with COL Focal Points

Capacity building for teachers at all levels emerged as a key priority,

with participants noting the need for new blended learning approaches

and expanded use of online learning resources. Developing 21st-century

skills for employability and entrepreneurship, using blended learning

approaches in TVET, and increasing learning delivery through standard

communication channels, such as radio and television, were identified

as other key priorities. Participants in the consultations stressed the

need for increased focus on vulnerable populations and youths and

welcomed the idea of peer learning exchange among FPs from

various regions.

CORNER

Focal POINTS

International Partnership of Distance and Online Learning for COVID-19

https://opendoor.col.org/.

Considering the strengths of distance and online learning to provide

workable solutions, and recognising the need for collaboration to

serve these demands, COL has brought together institutions and

organisations committed to supporting learning at this time of crisis.

Through this new initiative, over 55 institutions and organisations

across the world are enjoying access to pooled resources and online

training, sharing expertise and facilitating collaborative projects.

Find out more at:

Online consultations with Focal Points from Africa and Europe on 28−29 April.

Online consultations with Focal Points from the Pacific on 26 May.

Online consultations with Asia Focal Points on 1 June.

Feedback neededTell us what you need from https://www.col.org. COL invites you to participate in a survey to improve the functionality

and design of its website to effectively meet the needs of its stakeholders. You can access the survey here:

https://colsurvey.limequery.com/328878?lang=en.

Consultation reports are available on COL’s institutional repository, OAsis.

3

OER for online learning

On 29 June, COL's Board of Governors held the annual meeting online.

CEMCA webinars in response to COVID-19In response to the COVID-19 lockdowns in

most countries in the Asia region, CEMCA

organised webinars on Cybersecurity in

Online Learning and Artificial Intelligence

and the Future of Jobs. They were led by

well-known experts Dr Pavan Duggal,

Honorary Chancellor, Cyberlaw University,

and Dr Manish Gupta, Head of Research,

Google, India, and brought together

some 260 participants.

COL has developed a four-week course on Using

Open Educational Resources for Online Learning

as a response to the needs of teachers forced to

move their classes online. With an overview of

useful resources, applications and guidelines,

which can be freely accessed online, the course

provides a foundation for further engagement

with online and blended learning. It has already

been offered to teachers in the Pacific and

the Caribbean.

Thank you to outgoing Chair

DR LINDA SISSONS,

CNZM stepped down

after 13 years on the

Board, including six years

as Chair. Dr Sissons is

a former CEO of New

Zealand’s Primary Industry

Training Organisation.

IN BRIEF

PROFESSOR NAREND

BAIJNATH, CEO, Council

on Higher Education,

South Africa has been

named Chair of the Board

of Governors. Previously,

he represented South

Africa on the Board.

COL welcomes new Chair

A face-to-face workshop on designing and

developing MOOCs initially planned for the

Universiti Malaysia Sabah was converted into

a series of 12 webinars for global audiences.

The online sessions were facilitated by experts

from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the

United Kingdom and the USA.

Design and development of MOOCs

4

New mentoring programme for women leadersGIRLS Inspire:

changing lives one at a time

GIRLS Inspire has shone a light on the plight of vulnerable women and

girls, many of whom are victims of child and forced marriage. These

young women now have agency to stand up for themselves and are

empowered to follow their dreams.

A new mentoring programme will help build the future generation

of leaders among women and girls from underserved communities

across the Commonwealth. Through CommonwealthWiseWomen,

COL is leveraging tools and resources to support women’s

empowerment and lay the foundations for their success.

For a period of six months, mentees will be paired with successful

and influential women to map their future paths. Each mentee has

also received a free licence to master new skills via Coursera.

For more information about this new initiative, please visit:

https://www.commonwealthwisewomen.org.

Beenish (Pakistan) was married at 16 and

endured years of physical and psychological

abuse. This left her isolated from her family

and friends and disillusioned about her

future. A life-changing break came when she

enrolled in the free vocational and life-skills

training supported by COL through its

partner, SPARC. Now, Beenish has a job as a

beautician and plans to open her own salon.

Mahana (Bangladesh) is 17 years old

and had dreamed of being a tailor. Due

to poverty, she dropped out of secondary

school, and her parents wanted to marry

her off. With COL’s support, she was able to

get a new start and complete skills training

through the boat school programme run

by Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha. Mahana

has now purchased a sewing machine and

started making clothes for women and

children. She is supporting her family and has

returned to school.

Ruwanthi (Sri Lanka) was at her lowest

point when she was referred to COL’s partner,

the Women’s Development Centre. Divorced

and with a young daughter in her care, this

26-year-old was financially destitute. Through

counselling assistance and self-employment

training, she was able to regain her

confidence and jumpstart her career. Having

learned new skills in design, sewing and

product upcycling, she has now become an

instructor in bag-making.

Sandhya (India) comes from a poor

household and got married at the age of 14.

Fleeing her abusive husband, she returned

to her parents’ house and was looking for

ways to make a living. Having completed

skill-development and financial-literacy

courses run by COL’s partner, Mann Deshi

Foundation, she now receives many orders

to install water pumps and repair solar lamps

in her native village.

Women in rural PNG gain livelihood skills

Despite disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of

women from rural areas in Papua New Guinea successfully built their

livelihood skills through training supported by COL. Facilitated by

the Servants of Saint Joseph, it was part of a programme aimed at

empowering women and girls and supporting their efforts to generate

income for their families. During the training, 22 participants, who

mainly tend their homes and gardens, acquired valuable cooking and

sewing skills. Participants were awarded certificates of completion,

and for many, this was the greatest academic achievement and the

first certificate in their lives. COL will upskill over 150 women under

this project.

As part of the training, participants learned how to make face masks.

5

New mentoring programme for women leaders

Boosting Nauru’s food security

Canada’s Athabasca University to host PCF10

Q & A with AU President

COL and Athabasca University, Canada’s online university,

will be hosting the 10th Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open

Learning (PCF10) in Calgary in September 2022, marking the

first time the international event will be held in Canada.

The Forum, which is held every three years, is one of the

world’s leading international forums in open, distance and

technology-enabled learning, attracting hundreds of delegates

from across the Commonwealth and beyond. Since 1999, the

Forum has been held in Brunei Darussalam, India, Jamaica,

Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa and the UK.

COL is helping Nauru achieve its aspiration to have more than 70% of

the average person’s diet sourced locally. In partnership with the local

education and agriculture departments and the Taiwanese Technical

Mission, it is supporting the development of a mobile app to help

communities grow kitchen gardens as one of the strategies to assist

in decreasing the country’s reliance on air-freighted fresh produce. A

series of recent in-country workshops explored the design, technology

options and functionalities of the app, which will share information

on how to grow plants effectively, offer cooking tips and recipes,

and enable local extension officers to answer questions from the

community of backyard farmers.

Dr Neil Fassina, President of AU

Building the capacity of TVET educators in Zambia

In response to a request from Zambia’s Ministry of Higher Education,

COL is working with the Technical and Vocational Teachers College

(TVTC) to build the capacity of Zambian TVET educators in online learning.

TVTC and ministry staff trained by COL are now working with facilitators

from the country’s 27 public institutions using COL’s OER. Through a

train-the-trainers model, the facilitators will then train over 800 TVET

teachers across Zambia in flexible skills development. Zambia is now able

to quickly scale up online learning by using OER-based courses, which COL

has successfully offered across the Commonwealth.

Q:

Q:

Q:

A:

A:

A:

How does online education contribute to

building a more resilient education system?

Online technology can be a huge tool for

democratising education and creating a more

resilient, accessible system. I have heard it said

that human potential is equally distributed around the

globe, but access to the education needed to harness

and fulfill that potential is not. Online education is an

incredible tool to do that.

How does Athabasca University put that into practice?

As Canada’s online university (with more than 43,000 learners across

our own vast country and around the world), AU is dedicated to

removing barriers. We are open to all, regardless of age, educational

experience, geographic location, work and life circumstances and

commitments. The flexibility to provide learners what they need, when

they need it, in the way that works best for them, is key to maximising

accessibility and meeting the needs of learners now and in the future.

How has the global pandemic affected the future of education?

It has certainly focused more attention on online education, both

for better and for worse. It has highlighted the value and potential of

online technology to deliver and democratise education to a broader

audience. But the rush to deliver emergency remote education

online by so many institutions has given some learners a

less-than-optimal experience, potentially undermining our message

that online education, when well designed and executed, provides a

rich, immersive and enjoyable learning experience.

6

For the full version of the interview, visit: https://tinyurl.com/ybvsc5fq.

Interview with CNBC-Africa

Skills at scale Blue Economy driving innovative thinking

Combatting COVID-19 with UNESCO

COL has partnered with Coursera to make a difference to the lives

of 50,000 Commonwealth citizens whose immediate need is to

acquire skills for regaining employment lost due to COVID-19.

Commonwealth Member States can enrol their unemployed citizens

in any of the 4,000 Coursera courses through to 30 September 2020,

and learners can complete courses and obtain certifications by

31 December 2020.

A helpdesk staffed by experts around the world will advise learners

on the choice of courses, and provide administrative and academic

support, as well as mentorship and counselling. Over 13,000 learners

from 44 countries have joined the programme, and 1,300 certificates

of completion have been issued to them. For more information, please

write to cwr-helpdesk@col.org.

Rapidly growing interest in the environmental and economic benefits of

a successful Blue Economy had close to 1,500 learners participating in

a free MOOC delivered by VUSSC in partnership with the University of

Seychelles (UniSey).

The course was launched on World Oceans Day and incorporates

discussion forums and quizzes, along with videos and readings. It illustrates

how and why the Blue Economy concept is driving innovative thinking,

and is designed as an introduction for persons from a wide variety of

backgrounds.

Participants from over 70 countries joined the MOOC, with the largest

representation from India and countries of the Pacific and Caribbean

regions. The course serves as the foundation for three further Blue

Economy MOOCs that COL and UniSey will be offering later this year.

COL has joined UNESCO and its partners across the globe to

provide governments, teachers, students, as well as education

and technology specialists with solutions and resources for

distance learning during the pandemic. The Global Education

Coalition was launched by UNESCO-Paris, while the “Combat

COVID-19: Keep Learning. Together We Are on the Move!”

initiative is spearheaded by IITE-Moscow. Partner resources can

be accessed here: https://iite.unesco.org/combating-covid-19-together-

we-are-on-the-move/updates/.

COL Chairs webinar series

The COL Chairs webinar series, Responding

to COVID-19 and Beyond, featured Professors

Mohamed Ally (Athabasca University,

Canada), Mpine Makoe (University of South

Africa), George Veletsianos (Royal Roads

University, Canada) and Martin Weller

(Open University, UK) as keynote speakers.

The focus was on their respective projects and recent publications,

collectively aligned to technology-enabled learning.

7

TOP5TIPS FOR BUILDING

EDUCATION RESILIENCE

1

2

3

4

5

COVID-19 has forced educators across the Commonwealth and

beyond to transition to online teaching practically overnight.

For many, this was an entirely new experience and uncharted

territory, presenting a formidable challenge but also an opportunity

to embark on the road to building resilient education systems.

Thinking beyond the current crisis, how can we integrate distance

and online learning into all education systems for better resilience?

We should:

Supporting blended learning at KAFUCO, Kenya

Launch of Teacher Futures – The Gambia

COL has been working with Kaimosi Friends University College

(KAFUCO) to improve teacher capacity in blended learning. A

workshop on blended course design in Kisumu, Kenya focused

on using the Moodle learning management system to design and

develop blended courses. The event followed a baseline study of TEL

at KAFUCO, which revealed the need for institutional and systemic

scaling up of TEL policy, resources and infrastructure to help boost the

digital readiness of its learners and academics. COL has also assisted

KAFUCO to develop a TEL policy. The study can be accessed here:

hdl.handle.net/11599/3496.

A webinar on Pedagogies for the Post COVID-19 Era marked the launch

of Teacher Futures – The Gambia, a school-based teacher development

programme enabled by digital technologies and supported by COL.

The webinar, which focused on teacher professional development and

learner-centred teaching, brought together education leaders, teacher

educators and teachers from The Gambia.

Panelists presented some “minimum criteria” for learner-centred

education, while exploring different ways in which these would be

met in light of the current restrictions occasioned by the COVID-19

pandemic. Other discussions addressed technologies for learning,

school-based teacher development, and teacher communities for

collaborative learning outside of the school environment.

Ensure access to ICT Ensure access to ICT tools, and build the capacity of

teachers and learners to use ICT effectively, while also

including low-tech solutions and options for those

without ready access to devices or in locations where

connectivity and bandwidth are unreliable.

Look for innovations to reach the unreached

Look for innovations to cater to the needs of

marginalised communities and groups. Develop special

initiatives for women and girls.

Develop targeted approaches for persons with disabilities

Persons with disabilities require special supports and

targeted technological solutions so they are not left

behind in a crisis.

Embed resilience in teacher training

Teacher training and professional development should

include scenarios for coping with crises.

Use open educational resources

The importance of access to learning materials cannot

be overemphasised. OER can assist in making these

accessible to all learners.

8

BUILDING RESILIENCEFOCUS

Unstable, expensive Internet no obstacle to young Ghanaian

L3F sets Ugandan widow up for success

Fiji teacher’s learning journey during COVID-19

Mrs Nazmeen Raju is the acting Head of the Social Science

Department at Sabeto College in Fiji. According to her,

completing COL’s course on Using Open Educational Resources: An

Introduction has been

“the best decision”

taken so far in 2020.

Most of her students

come from families

actively involved in

farming in a semi-

urban area in Fiji, which

is a well-known tourist

destination. Many of

them have been greatly

affected by COVID-19.

Mrs Raju credits the course with enhancing her teaching through

tools and knowledge that will greatly benefit her learners. She

is now using SMS to contact her students and is ready to launch

Google Classroom when they have access to email.

“If you want to say that this COVID-19 era was not a waste, you

can only do this by taking up this course. I feel like telling all the

teachers to take this opportunity to learn and pass on the best to

our students,” she says.

Betty Wule is a 40-year-old widow from a village in Uganda, who

has to provide for her five children while also taking care of five

orphans from her late relatives.

COL’s L3F initiative, which integrates

social, financial and human capital

development, has allowed her to

overcome barriers to sustainable and

improved livelihood. Following an

initial training in income-generating

activities, she began selling baked

goods. She also learned how to grow

good varieties of cassava and started

selling cuttings to other farmers in

the area.

Betty then brought together a group

of widows to share her newly acquired knowledge and skills. The

group was introduced to an L3F learning platform that facilitates

farmer capacity building in local languages, free of charge. Betty has

now opened a store, where she sells different types of seeds, and has

built a house with rooms for rent.

As a manager at Ghana’s National Health

Insurance Authority (NHIA), Hassan Hamadu

monitors and evaluates ICT projects across

his region. He is also involved in building the

capacity of the NHIA staff and stakeholders and

is always looking for professional development

opportunities.

He has recently benefited from free online

courses in the framework of a joint initiative

between COL and the Read2Skill Ghana

programme of the Ghana Library Authority.

Hassan has built his hard and soft skills, from cloud

computing to cyber security to public speaking and

leadership. Due to an unstable and expensive Internet

connection, he would download the course content

at night, when the bandwidth was cheaper, and

watch the lectures offline in his free time during the

day. Hassan says his new skills have helped boost his

confidence to impart knowledge to his trainees.

Through this partnership with COL, some 5,000

young Ghanaians are expected to obtain new

employability skills by December 2020.

9

BUILDING RESILIENCE

New mother from Bangladesh gains skills for changing market

Helping a Mauritian student follow her dreams

Quality assurance champion in Trinidad and Tobago

parallel sessions

Nahid Sultana from Dhaka, Bangladesh had to leave her

software development job at a private company to take care of her

newborn baby two years ago. As a new mother, she had to spend

most of her time at home, taking care of her child, and feared that

she might never be able to restart her career, which had been her

only source of income. Nahid’s dream was to continue to learn the

latest software development skills while staying at home, but she

was reluctant to enrol in expensive courses.

Through a joint initiative of COL and Better Future for Women, in

Bangladesh, Nahid obtained an eLearning scholarship opportunity

and learned

new skills to

stay relevant in

the changing

software

development

market.

“I have received

certificates and

now look forward

to reaching out to

my old employer and also to applying for new job opportunities,”

she said. “I have regained my lost confidence to resume my

career afresh.”

Preety Daby is a secondary-school student from

Mauritius whose academic pursuits have been

hampered by accessibility issues. She cannot

travel on her own and requires assistance from her

family. She also has had difficulty obtaining the

Braille version of her textbooks.

COL’s partner, the Global Rainbow Foundation,

has ensured that she has learning resources and

assistive devices. Along with other students with

disabilities, Preety will also benefit from a series

With traditional face-to-face

learning brought to a halt by

COVID-19, the number of tertiary

institutions moving to an online or

blended environment has soared.

Given the unexpected and hasty

transition to teaching, learning

and assessing in new ways, quality

assurance for distance education

has become a priority. In response

to these needs, COL’s Virtual

University for Small States of the

Commonwealth has launched an eight-week course for those who

have responsibility for internal and external quality assurance.

Jeremy Williams, Manager, Academic Standards, at the University

of Trinidad and Tobago was one of the first to complete the course.

“Quality is everyone’s business,” notes Mr Williams. “The course

created fertile ground for the growth and expansion of quality

blended learning delivery in the Caribbean context.” As the

university seeks to build a total quality culture, Mr Williams plans to

use the course’s learnings to inform the training and development

exercises for quality champions like himself and to sensitise them on

issues impacting blended learning delivery and development.

of online courses being developed as part of the

project Technology-Enabled Learning for Persons

with Disabilities (PWD) and Practitioners Who

Support Them.

Preety, who is now getting ready to sit for the

Grade 9 national examinations and feels optimistic

about the future, has the following message for

other persons who are visually impaired: “Never

give up, despite your difficulties, and follow

your dreams.”

10

OUR COMMONWEALTH

University of South Africa (Unisa)

With a history dating back to 1873, the University of

South Africa (Unisa) is a grandmother of distance teaching

universities. Having started as an examination agency for

the University of London, Unisa has become the first public

university in the world to teach exclusively by distance modes,

and one of the world’s mega providers of quality education.

Even during the apartheid years, it continued to be the

only university catering to the needs of students

from different racial groups. Some of Unisa’s

famous alumni received their qualifications while

incarcerated, and it has produced two Nobel Peace

Prize winners.1

Unisa has made immense contributions to the

development of the country and continent, and

it has been instrumental in the establishment of

many universities in South Africa, as well as open

and distance universities across Africa. With an

enrolment of close to 400,000, it currently caters to a

third of all higher education students in South Africa.

Throughout its existence, Unisa has forged many

relationships with institutions and associations that were

concerned with increasing access to education through the

open and distance learning (ODL) modes. COL is one of

the early organisations with which Unisa forged relations

immediately after South Africa was welcomed as a member of

the Commonwealth. In the mid-1990s, COL was instrumental

in providing development training for ODL practitioners

in distance education skills and practices, which was

subsequently incorporated into Unisa’s Certificate for Distance

Education Practitioners programme.

Following the success of this valuable training for ODL

practitioners throughout the African continent, Unisa

1 Nelson Mandela, the first democratically elected president of South Africa, won the prize in 1993, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 1984.

partnered with 16 higher education institutions throughout

the Commonwealth to develop and implement the Youth in

Development programme.

COL has also cooperated with Unisa’s Department of Planning

and Quality Assurance and its various colleges to develop

an employability readiness model, which was presented in

Pretoria in 2019.

Another important milestone in this partnership was COL’s

support to Unisa’s institutional quality assurance for the

review by South Africa’s Council of Higher Education. A trial

audit conducted by COL in December 2019 not only focused

on quality assurance but also identified recommendations to

facilitate a culture of continuous improvement at Unisa.

The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has forced many students

to stay at home to curb the spread of the disease. This has

created problems for educational institutions, which had to

adopt distance and online learning approaches to ensure

that learning occurs even during the pandemic. While many

teachers in schools and universities were expected to move

their courses to online environments, problems arose when

teachers who were forced to teach online were not equipped

with the necessary skills to use this mode of delivery. To

address this problem, Unisa joined hands with COL in the

International Partnership of Distance and Online Learning for

COVID-19 to harness free open educational resources, with

a view to training and upskilling South African teachers in

online learning.

The vibrant partnership with COL is mirrored in a relationship

that began with developing capacity for ODL practitioners in

the 1990s and continues today with training teachers to teach

online during the pandemic lockdown and beyond.

Professor Mpine Makoe, COL ChairThe Institute for Open and Distance Learning, Unisa

Professor Luvuyo Lumkile Lalendle Executive Director: Department of Planning and Quality Assurance, Unisa

“Some of Unisa’s famous alumni received their qualifications

while incarcerated,

and it has produced two Nobel Peace

Prize winners.”

11

Reskilling for livelihoodsSome 140 million labourers in India are reported to have lost jobs

and their livelihoods due to COVID-19. At the same time, the

pandemic has sensitised institutions and individuals about the

need to ensure cleanliness at all levels to avoid infection, creating

a demand for deep-cleaning and disinfection services for personal

and commercial vehicles, as well as public places.

In response to these needs, COL recently partnered with Sambhav

Foundation, a LabourNet initiative in India, in a pilot project to reskill

some 2,100 auto-technicians, tailors and beauticians into sanitation

hygiene entrepreneurs. The programme will equip them with the

skills needed to provide deep-cleaning and disinfection services to

vehicles as well as in places where many people congregate.

Few training options are available to those who live in the remote,

flood-prone villages of Bangladesh, and the pandemic has made the

situation worse. With COL’s support, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha

(SSS) has developed a new strategy to ensure learning continuity.

The trainer now travels by boat from one community to another,

offering livelihoods training to learners who are practising social

distancing in open-air classrooms. COL has been working with SSS

to leverage the power of open and distance learning to improve the

economic, social and environmental outcomes for hard-to-reach

populations, especially vulnerable women and girls.

Some 300 TVET instructors in Jamaica will gain new competencies in

online teaching through a collaboration between COL and two local

organisations — the HEART/NSTA Trust and the Council of Community

Colleges of Jamaica (CCCJ). Repurposing programmes and courses for

online delivery while ensuring continuous engagement with students

have been some of the immediate needs of both organisations in the face

of COVID-19. COL’s model trains a smaller number of facilitators as they

cascade the training to hundreds of instructors. It thereby ensures future

sustainability, with each organisation then having its own capacity and

the use of COL’s OER. HEART/NSTA and CCCJ look beyond the current

challenges and are striving to become thresholds of quality learning to

prepare their students for the digital age.

Training TVET teachers in JamaicaEnsuring learning continuity in Bangladesh

Introduction to Technology-Enabled Learning aims to develop

knowledge and practice in teaching and learning with technology.

Register here: telmooc.ca

Register here: blp.mooc.org

MOOCs for teachers

Blended Learning Practice provides guidance on adopting

blended learning strategies through a step-by-step approach.

12

With fewer opportunities for online learning available for students

of agriculture during COVID-19 lockdowns, COL’s innovative

solutions provide a bridge to continuing education. In partnership

with IIT, Kanpur, three AgMOOCs covering topics related to

pest management, improved practices in extension, as well as

agricultural and rural entrepreneurship were offered to learners.

Close to 31,000 participants from 30 countries had signed up

for the MOOCs, with the majority hailing from Ghana, India,

Kenya and Nigeria. They came from a variety of backgrounds and

included students, faculty, extension workers and researchers

in the agriculture sector and beyond. COL is also offering these

MOOCs to farmers via basic cell phones, with the current

enrolment at 7,500.

With support from COL, Dominica’s Ministry of Education and

Human Resource Development is promoting climate change

resilience through a series of public education messages. A local

multimedia piece developed by the ministry under the theme

Update, Upgrade for a More Resilient Dominica describes how

individual and community action can contribute to a viable solution

and offers advisories on best practices for implementation before,

during and after emergencies. You can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFdevLdv4HY.

S TA F F ANNOUNCEMENTS

PEOPLE

FRANCES FERREIRA

Ms Ferreira was appointed Education Specialist:

Gender. Previously, she served COL as Education

Specialist: Basic Education and Open Schooling and

Senior Adviser: Women and Girls. Prior to joining

COL, she was Director of the state-owned Namibian

College of Open Learning. Ms Ferreira also served the

Namibian community as a teacher and school principal

and was the first female Mayor of Grootfontein.

DAVID PORTER

Dr David Porter joined COL as Senior Adviser:

Higher Education in June 2020. Dr Porter has been

working in the higher education sector for many

years, providing leadership direction in support of

academic planning, quality assurance, teaching and

learning and is a strong advocate for adopting new

technologies. Dr Porter holds an EdD in Educational

Leadership and an MEd from Simon Fraser University,

and a BA from the University of Toronto.

ROMEELA MOHEE

COL acknowledges Professor Romeela Mohee for her

contribution to COL. Professor Mohee joined COL as

Education Specialist: Higher Education in 2017 from

Mauritius, where she had served as Vice-Chancellor

of the University of Mauritius. Professor Mohee

completed her tenure at COL in March 2020.

RAY LEE

Congratulations to Mr Ray Lee, Accounting and

Payroll Manager, who completed 25 years of service

to COL in May 2020. His commitment and dedication

to the work of COL is greatly appreciated.

Contributions are invited for the Journal

of Learning for Development, which focuses on

innovations in learning — in particular, but not

exclusively, open and distance learning and its

role in development. Contributions can take

the form of research articles, case studies,

commentaries and reports from the field. Please visit the journal’s

website for more details and to submit work: www.jl4d.org.

JL4D seeks contributions

AgMOOCs reach the last mile

COL in Dominica

13

OER4COVID Employability strategy for University of Rwanda

For nearly two decades, COL’s eLearning for International Organisations

(eLIO) has supported staff of humanitarian organisations to pursue career-

advancing certification programmes. The Operational Data Management

Programme offered to

the offices of the UN

High Commissioner

for Refugees (UNHCR)

is one of eLIO’s many

successes. Two of the

many beneficiaries

described how the

course has contributed

to their professional and

personal development.

“When you are based in a remote area, at times with safety and security

threats, having a social life out of work is challenging and sometimes

non-existent,” says Elham Baghdadi, UNHCR Field Officer in Uganda.

“COL’s course was not just virtual coaching but a real human-to-human

connection, bringing other dimensions to my life as an eLearner.”

“The different modules [of the course] were oriented to meet the real

needs of my operation, as we were in the middle of receiving new

refugees and settling them in the camps,” notes Bobo Kitoko, UNHCR

Data Management Associate in DR Congo. “Thanks to this training,

appropriate and adequate solutions have been found to enhance

the operation.”

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, COL and the OER Foundation

in New Zealand have established an Open Educational Resources for

COVID (OER4COVID) community. The initiative has brought together

over 1,100 participants from 79 countries and is supported by the

International Council for Open and Distance Education, the UNESCO

Institute for Information Technologies in Education, the World Bank

Group Open Learning Campus and Open Education Global.

Led by volunteer coordinators at the institutional, regional and

national levels, the community is developing OER in areas that

include curriculum and learning design, technology, online

facilitation, resource curation, research, and educator health and

well-being. A series of webinars provided support in smoothing the

transition to online learning during the pandemic by using OER.

To learn more, please visit: https://oer4covid.oeru.org/.

With COL’s support, the

University of Rwanda (UR)

successfully adapted the key

phases in the development

of an employability strategy

to online delivery. Despite

the COVID-19 lockdown,

workshops on assessing UR’s

employability attributes and drafting an employability strategy, as well as

stakeholder consultations at the School of ICT, were successfully finalised,

and the resulting strategy has been submitted to university management

for review.

S TA F F ANNOUNCEMENTS

eLIO: Contributing to learners’ success

Skills courses in The Bahamas

COL is helping The Bahamas meet the demand for technically skilled

employees. During the recent lockdown, 22 instructors from The

Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI), along with a

staff member from the education ministry, developed five blended

courses for dual enrolment purposes. These easily accessible

courses will be offered in September and include Maths, Literacy,

Information Technology, and Entrepreneurship. According to

BTVI, they have synergies with other subject areas and are

especially relevant at a time when many students are facing an

uncertain future.

Elham Baghdadi with refugee children in Liberia.

Bobo Kitoko at work.

14

FAIR COMMENTThe onset of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 has caused

chaos in higher education systems worldwide. In most

developed countries, universities and colleges shut down

their campuses and made a rapid move to emergency remote

learning, literally moving their lectures online through

video systems such as Zoom. I blame no one for doing this,

because in many cases, instructors had no other options, but

it would be a mistake to think that this is what online learning

was before the COVID-19 crisis, and it is certainly not what

it should be afterwards.

The short-term response

Most institutions teaching online before the onset of the

coronavirus had a tried and trusted method of developing

and delivering online courses, as part of degree or diploma

programmes, that resulted in learning outcomes matching

or surpassing those of regular face-to-face teaching. There

simply were neither the resources nor the time to apply

these methods to the cancelled on-campus programmes,

although institutions with an already well-developed online

programme were able to provide more support to instructors

moving online for the first time. It also became clear that

even in economically advanced countries, online learning was

not the answer for everyone. The minimum requirement

is broadband access at a reasonable cost to the student.

There are ways to design online learning for those with low

bandwidth, but these do not include downloading

60-minute lectures.

What next?

Institutions are likely to be either closed completely or

operating in a severely restricted way on campus for at least

another nine to 12 months, until there is a vaccine for the

virus (or herd immunity is achieved).

But before the onset of the coronavirus, online learning was

already steadily growing in North America, for a number of

reasons. First, it provides the access and flexibility that many

students need in a gig economy, where many are working

part-time or even full-time to pay their way through college.

Second, online learning enables the development of many of

the skills needed in a digital society. Third, the move to blended

learning — a mix of on-campus and online learning — will rapidly

increase as instructors realise that much can be taught well

online. So online learning is not going to go away; indeed,

it will become even more important. At the same time, it is

not a panacea. It needs to be used wisely, where it is most

appropriate and in ways that are known to be effective.

Also, this will not be the last crisis that forces campuses to

close. Institutions need to be better prepared for future

emergencies, and providing good-quality online learning

is one valuable strategy for such emergencies.

The need for new methods of teaching

However, for online and blended learning to be used

successfully, teaching methods will need to change. Courses

will need to be redesigned to lever the unique advantages

of both online and face-to-face teaching. This, though,

will require all instructors to be better informed about the

strengths and weaknesses of online learning: which students

it suits most; which subject areas require different mixes of

online and classroom activities; what choice of media to use;

how to support students when they are not in class.

Most faculty members are not well prepared for this. They

are mainly subject experts. Subject expertise will still be

important, but instructors will also need training and

preparation for teaching effectively online or in a

blended manner.

Resources for instructors teaching online

For this reason, the Commonwealth of Learning has

commissioned 12 short videos based on my book Teaching

in a Digital Age (see p. 15 of this Connections issue). The

videos offer theoretical as well as practical tips to improve

the quality of teaching in campus-based, blended or fully

online learning environments. Topics range from the

choice of teaching methods to ideas on how to implement

online learning, to understanding different learner needs

and providing targeted supports, to the use of emerging

technologies, and much more. The videos are available for

free on YouTube and will be the basis of a micro-learning

course offered by the Commonwealth of Learning, with a

certification. The book on which the videos are based is an

online, open textbook for instructors and faculty. It has been

translated into ten languages and has been downloaded over

500,000 times.

The need for a plan

It is not enough, though, for individual instructors to find

their own way to learn how to teach. Not only do institutions

need to provide professional development for their

instructors; they also need a plan for how to move into what

I prefer to call “digital learning.” Online, and particularly

blended, learning will continue to grow rapidly, as will

broadband access, and the costs will come down in time.

Institutions need to prepare their instructors for this reality,

and now is the time to start.

COVID-19 and online learning: lessons for the future

14

Tony Bates Senior Advisor, Chang School of Continuing Studies, Ryerson University, Toronto, and Research Associate, Contact North, Ontario

“Institutions need to

be better prepared for future

emergencies, and providing good-quality

online learning is

one valuable strategy for such

emergencies.”

15

NEW RESOURCES

Toolkit for Key Employability Indicators for National Qualification Agencies This toolkit outlines the importance

of developing key employability

indicators (KEIs) through which

higher education institutions (HEIs)

as well as national quality assurance

agencies (NQAAs) will be able to

monitor employability as a quality

concept in higher education. This

self-evaluative instrument will

enable HEIs and NQAAs to review performance for each KEI,

based on their specific context.

hdl.handle.net/11599/3599

Towards More Resilient Schooling: Possible Models for the FutureWhen campuses close, for whatever

reason, alternative ways need to

be found to ensure continuity of

learning. This publication explores

how distance and online learning

approaches have been used to

support continuity of learning

and how these approaches might

continue to be used even after school

campuses have reopened after COVID-19. It identifies useful key questions

that might help education officials with their planning and decision making.

hdl.handle.net/11599/3612

Report to Commonwealth Education Ministers: from Response to ResilienceWhat lessons can be drawn from

the COVID-19 experience to make

education systems more resilient

in future? This policy brief provides

examples of how governments and

institutions made it possible for

people to continue their education

during the pandemic and identifies factors that contributed to success.

The responses required are reviewed from social, pedagogical, techno-

logical and psychological perspectives.

hdl.handle.net/11599/3592

Teaching in a Digital Age: Introductory Video Series with Dr Tony BatesThe 12-part video series features insights

from Dr Tony Bates, renowned leader in

the field of online and distance

education, and aims to

become a significant resource

for educators facing the forced

transition to online teaching

caused by COVID-19. Based

on the key ideas discussed

in his seminal book Teaching

in a Digital Age: Guidelines

for Designing Teaching and Learning,

the videos offer theoretical as well as

practical tips to improve the quality of

teaching in campus-based, blended or

fully online learning environments.

https://www.col.org/resources/teaching-

digital-age

Guidelines on Distance Education during COVID-19The publication provides practical

directions for the use of distance

education tools and practices to

support teaching and learning and

offers tips on the use of appropriate

technology to address the social and

pedagogical issues of learning in a

crisis. Specific recommendations are

offered to governments, educational

institutions, academic and support

staff, quality assurance/accreditation

and academic recognition bodies, as

well as students and parents.

hdl.handle.net/11599/3576

C O N N E C T I O N S | July 2020, Vol 25, No 2

COMMONWEALTH OF LEARNING 4710 Kingsway, Suite 2500 Burnaby, BC V5H 4M2 CanadaTel: +1.604.775.8200 | Fax: +1.604.775.8210 E-mail: info@col.org | Web: www.col.org

Editor: Natalia Angheli-Zaicenco

Designer: Ania Grygorczuk

Connections is published by the Commonwealth

of Learning. COL is an international organisation

created by Commonwealth Heads of Government

to encourage the development and sharing of

open learning/distance education knowledge,

resources and technologies.

Chair: Professor Narend Baijnath

President & CEO: Professor Asha S. Kanwar

Unless otherwise stated, items appearing in Connections

may be reproduced. Acknowledgement should be made

to the Commonwealth of Learning. Further details on any

news item that appears in Connections may be obtained

by contacting COL’s Communications Department or by

visiting our website.

Descriptions of products are provided for information only

and do not constitute endorsement by COL.

##TECHTRENDS

One thing is certain: the impact of the coronavirus is here

to stay. What this implies for all levels of education provi-

sion is that “business as usual” will no longer be possible.

A massive reinvention effort will be required. Given that our

traditional methods for imparting education, from schools to

universities, are many centuries old, this reinvention will be

no easy task, and it will take a long time for new best prac-

tices to emerge and be adopted the world over.

As an emergent response, educational institutions were shut

down around the globe. While many informal, supportive

actions were launched, very few attempts were made to con-

tinue the delivery of education in a way that could be formal-

ly assessed and that would allow the granting of

credentials. Only well-established online institutions could

have continued working normally, but even in these cases,

staff were required to work from home. Operations were

severely disrupted and summative assessments postponed.

Many conventional institutions, usually with government

support or direction, attempted to continue educational

activities online but with varying degrees of success.

For younger students, schools handed out assignments

electronically, and teachers came online to review student

attempts, but the actual task of teaching was left to parents,

usually without any instructions or training. At the high

school and university levels, while regulators suggested

that activities be moved online, very few institutions or

teachers were able to do so. In countries where access to

adequate bandwidth was a challenge, other approaches

to education provision were adopted. Broadcast radio and

television were possible contenders, but the lack of suitable

content, combined with the inflexible nature of broadcast

media, hampered these efforts, to put it mildly.

So what will happen when the world emerges from lock-

down and attempts are made to go back to the business

of living? Top-tier institutions are already experimenting

with advanced approaches such as augmented and virtual

reality as substitutes for face-to-face interaction. Policies are

being drafted that would regulate the use of and behaviour

in laboratories, which are an essential component of the

research and tertiary education landscapes. Online use of

advanced laboratories, which some institutions have already

tried, may become mainstream, thereby reducing foot traffic

while increasing the utilisation of these expensive facilities.

The use of online simulations as a substitute for laboratory

experiments is expected to grow exponentially, especially at

the school level. The alternatives available to advanced coun-

tries are many, and a large number of innovative solutions are

expected to emerge very quickly.

Real and seemingly daunting challenges face the

less-developed countries. Schools have been experimenting

with smaller and staggered classes, but all such approaches

further reduce the capacity of an already underprovisioned

sector. The use of dedicated broadcast media is re-emerging,

especially for large populations, but the real challenge here

is achieving the widespread availability of devices to receive

the broadcasts. In any case, these are unidirectional methods

that will still require supplementation with other means to

ensure interaction between teachers and students.

An earlier concept that could really come into its own is the

flipped classroom. Any combination of online or broadcast

content to provide primary delivery combined with

synchronous discussion sessions could be a game changer.

Where infrastructure is not a limitation, the discussions

could be done online using the lockdown experience as a

guide. The endemic nature of the coronavirus dictates that

large classes and discussion sessions be minimised. In face-

to-face situations, the flipped classroom approach would

enable a reduction in the number of sessions and would

simultaneously benefit the sector by enhancing the capacity

of schools and colleges. Chatbots as substitute teachers

could also be deployed using inexpensive technology such

as feature phones, which would extend outreach even further.

One thing is certain: best practices suited to each particular

circumstance will emerge, and a new era in the history of

education will begin.

What will education look like after COVID-19?

“Best practices

suited to each

particular circumstance

will emerge, and a new era in the history of

education will begin.”