Event

COL’s Sixth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF6) will be held from November 24th to 28th,  2010 at Le Méridien Cochin Resort & Convention Centre, Kochi, Kerala, India, in partnership with India’s Indira Gandhi National Open University.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is February 1st, 2010. 

The Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning has grown to become one of the world’s leading conferences on open learning and global development. PCF6 in Kochi aims to consider what open and distance learning has done and still can do in terms of success. 

Theme: Access & Success in Learning: Global Development Perspectives 

Sub-Themes:

Social Justice

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

 

Community Development

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

 

Skills Development

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

 

Formal Education

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

 

PCF6 as an international conference will explore the contribution of open and distance learning to international development goals, by opening up access to learning at every level. The Forum brings together practitioners, researchers, planners and policy makers in the fields of open and distance learning and development from over 70 countries. It provides opportunities to share experience and expertise, and to contribute to future policy and provision. Participants will represent international institutions and agencies active in the field, including funding bodies and technology providers. 

Professor M.S. Swaminathan is PCF6’s Honorary Chair. Forum Co-chairs are Sir John Daniel, President & CEO of COL, and Professor V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU. 

Information on available subsidies and this year’s Excellence in Distance Education Awards will be available in January. Registration and accommodation details will follow. To find out more, please visit www.col.org/pcf6. 

At this conference, COL will present its 2009-2010 Excellence in Distance Education Awards, and submissions are now being accepted. These awards recognise excellence in four categories: the overall institutional level, the development of learning materials, a lifetime's work as an educator and student accomplishment. The deadline for submissions is 30 April 2010.To find out more about the COL Excellence in Distance Education Awards, please visit www.col.org/edea.