With support from SITE I attended the UNESCO consultation on e-learning in October and I was present when we voted for UNESCO to become co-ordinators for this action line from the World Summit on the Information Society. The discussions raised many issues including the ciritical success factor of ICT teacher education – our focus! Hopefully we can advocate for more action e.g. through SITE’s OSDE award.
In UNESCO I met with the new UNESCO leader for teacher training, Caroline Pontefract, who is very knowledgeable about technology in education and distance education having worked for the UK OU, UK DFiD, and the African Development Bank. Mariana Patru, our SITE international committee member, who also works in UNESCO Paris, presented me with a copy of the book we produced ICT in teacher education: A Planning Guide translated into its fourth language, Arabic.
Please use this Blog to comment and ask questions about what SITE can do to support development worldwide, especially for developing nations. Following that meeting I travelled to Rwanda to understand for myself what we may be able to do in that peaceful country today with Kigale Institute of Education, because they are eager to use IT to help their country and educational grow fast in an equitable fashion! Niki
P.S. These visits helped me increase my understanding of equity and social justice in teacher education both globally and in national contexts.