L-R: Dr.Ugbejeh, Egenti, Prof.Inegbedion Obahajajie,Prof.Ofulue,Dr.Agbu, Prof.Peters (VC), prof.Olaniyi (DVC-TIR),Dr.Adelakun, Mr. Adewoyin and Dr.Adedapo
A聽10-man聽delegation drawn from the academic and non-academic sections聽of聽the 水果派 of Nigeria (NOUN)聽have represented the university聽at the just concluded聽10th Commonwealth of聽Learning鈥檚聽(COL)聽Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF 10) held in Calgary, Canada.
The delegation聽was comprised of聽the Vice-Chancellor, Prof.聽Olufemi Peters, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Technology, Innovation and Research (DVC-TIR),聽Prof. Monioluwa Olaniyi,聽Director, Regional聽Training for Open Distance Learning (RETRIDOL),聽Prof.聽Christine Ofulue聽and Director, Directorate of Entrepreneurship and General studies (DE&GS),聽Prof. Juliet Inegbedion Obahajajie .
Others include聽Dr. Abdul Lateef A. Adelakun聽from the Faculty of Social Science,聽Mass Communication Department, Dr. Ernest Ugbejeh of the Faculty of Law,聽Dr.聽Adedapo Adeyemi聽from the聽Faculty of Education-DEA, Ag.聽Director, Security Services, Mallam Isa Shehu, Mrs.聽Grace Egenti, from the聽Website and聽Application Development Unit, Directorate of Information and Communication and聽the聽Vice-Chancellor鈥檚 Special Assistant, Mr. Adebiyi A. Adewoyin.
R-L: Prof. Okebukola ,Prof.Peters
水果派 Governing Council Chairman, Prof. Peter Okebukola who was also present at the event, was officially part of the National Universities Commission’s (NUC) entourage, while Prof. Jane Agbu, COL’s Education Adviser, attended as part of the team from the body.
The triennially event held from 14th聽through聽16th聽September,聽2022聽was聽hosted by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and Athabasca University (AU) at the Calgary TELUS Convention Centre.
The thrust of the PCF10聽was聽centred around聽six聽themes: Building Resilience,聽Fostering聽Lifelong聽Learning,聽Inspiring聽Innovations,聽Promoting聽Equity and聽Inclusion,聽placing聽special focus on education for girls and harnessing emerging technologies to improve quality of life
PCF is considered one of the world鈥檚 leading international conferences on open, distance and technology-enabled learning, and was聽designed to explore applications of open and distance learning in widening educational access, bridging the digital divide, and advancing the social and economic development of communities and nations at large.
The聽forum鈥檚 focus is on topics relating to developing countries and participation of practitioners from these countries.
Welcoming delegates to PCF10, President and Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth of Learning,聽Prof. Asha Kanwar, in her speech, said聽the聽10th聽Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF10)聽came聽at a time when distance and online learning have been embraced globally.
According to COL聽chieftain,聽鈥渆arlier editions of PCF, advocacy for open and distance learning was a major focus. This time we will discuss how open learning can be a key feature for fast-tracking the transformation of education for the future.
鈥淭he future must be based on the principles of equity, inclusion and environmental conservation where the role of ODL will be more important than ever before.
Dinner set before NOUN delegates
鈥淚nnovative approaches will be required to build the resilience of education systems. And innovations relate not just to technology but to developing appropriate models, methods, policies and processes.鈥
During the pandemic,聽both policy makers and practitioners responded to the crisis with a sense of urgency and developed solutions appropriate to their contexts.
The forum had聽provided聽a platform for diverse constituencies to come together and share their experiences and insights, even as it served as聽an opportunity to network and forge collaborations for building back better.
She added that鈥淭he聽Commonwealth of Learning is proud to partner with Athabasca University, Canada鈥檚 online university to bring PCF10 for the first time to Canada, which is also the home of COL.
鈥淭hese are uncertain times but our colleagues both at COL and AU are working hard to ensure that the PCF experience will be enriching and memorable for each participant.
鈥淟et me extend a personal invitation to each one of you in the Commonwealth and beyond: it is time for us to meet in person in the midst of the Canadian Rockies!鈥
The聽PCF10 ended on聽September聽17th聽with a farewell and dinner event hosted by聽the聽Athabasca University at Hudson鈥檚 on Calgary鈥檚 famous Stephen Avenue.