Saide's Director, Jenny Glennie, together with keynote speakers and Unisa Management

 

Unisa Cambridge Open Distance and eLearning Conference 2013

The Unisa Cambridge Open Distance and eLearning Conference 2013 was recently held in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Greig Krull reports.

The theme for the conference was Continuity, Change and Sustainability in Open, Distance and eLearning. The conference was held in the beautiful grounds of the Spier wine estate.
Keynote speakers at the conference included:

  • Prof Alan Tait, former Pro Vice Chancellor at the Open University, UK, who looked back at the history of ODeL and also looked at the possible future
  • Prof Belinda Tynan: Pro Vice-Chancellor, Teaching and Learning, The Open University, UK who spoke about the ODeL experience in Australia
  • Prof Asha Kanwar, CEO of the Commonwealth of Learning who looked at trends around Open Educational Resources
  • Prof Bakary Diallo: Rector of the African Virtual University who looked at the experiences of the AVU

The highlight of the conference were the world café sessions. These involved small group discussions where all delegates participated in discussing:

  • What do we not know about Open and Distance eLearning?
  • What do we want to retain for the future in ODeL?
  • What do we want to leave behind when moving forward?
  • What statements of intent to we want to release?

Some of the key issues that were discussed included:

  • How will technology reshape Higher Education?
  • Who will be our students and what are their needs?
  • Who will be our faculty and what skills are required?
  • What will meaningful learning look like in the 21st century?
  • What is the nature and scope of higher education institutions?

Another highlight of the conference was the open debate and discussion on “What we don’t know about Open Education?” In particular, Prof Laura Czerniewicz's presentation on the silence and misunderstandings around copyright was particularly thought-provoking.

Saide was represented at the conference. I presented a paper entitled eLearning or eKnowledge: What are we offering to students? Jenny Glennie, Director of Saide, adjudicated the conference papers and presented the best paper award to Roger Mills and Anne Gaskell for their paper entitled "Change and Continuity: the role of regional networks in distance and online learning". Unisa’s write up on the conference is also available online.