Open Poly CEO Elected to Global Organisation
Thursday 13 December 2007, 11:46AM
By The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand
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Chief executive of The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand Paul Grimwood has been elected to the executive committee of the global organisation for flexible and distance learning.
Dr Grimwood joins representatives from the United Kingdom, Brazil, Canada, South Africa and Argentina on the executive of the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE). Election is by ballot among ICDE members.
Based in Oslo, Norway, the ICDE has 99 member institutions from 45 countries.
They include leading international distance learning organisations such as the United Kingdom Open University.
A number of the world’s largest “mega-universities” are also members, including the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India with over 1.5 million students.
The ICDE is recognised by the United Nations and works closely with organisations such as UNESCO and with the European Union in promoting international collaboration and developments in distance learning.
Dr Grimwood said his election was recognition of The Open Polytechnic’s international reputation in the distance learning field.
“This is the fastest growing area of education in the world and The Open Polytechnic is seen as a first rate provider in distance design and delivery.
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“Our focus is very much on upskilling people in the workforce and that’s mirrored in many distance institutions across the OECD.
“At the same time there are huge education challenges in the developing world. Distance learning is seen as the key to meeting those challenges.”
Dr Grimwood said he was particularly looking forward to ICDE’s work in the emerging area of Open Educational Resources (OER).
OER involves making educational resources and content freely available on the web for other organisations and individuals to access and modify for their own needs.
“It’s potentially a very powerful way of enhancing and opening up access to learning world-wide,” Dr Grimwood said.
“There are also some complex issues around such things as intellectual property, academic integrity and where content developers get a return on their investment.
“It’s going to be challenging and productive to engage with colleagues at the forefront of these issues from around the world.”
The ICDE executive committee is responsible for making policy decisions in line with the organisation’s mission and constitution. Members of the committee serve a four-year term.