ICDE Lab Workshop for Responsive Action

Launch of ICDE Global Advocacy Campaign for quality OFDL – Task Forces, Road Map and Toolkit 

ICDE invited ICDE Presidents, Chancellors, Vice-Chancellors and Rectors among ICDE members to participate in the first ICDE-organised Lab Workshop for Responsive Action on the ICDE Global Advocacy Campaign for quality OFDL. This was a special session for ICDE members only, taking place during the ICDE Virtual Global Conference Week 2021.

Background to the ICDE Global Advocacy Campaign for quality OFDL

The work of ICDE members to push for global advocacy of quality OFDL was initiated in April 2021 at the ICDE Presidents’ Forum where members discussed and elaborated on 7 indicators for quality OFDL – Open, Flexible and Distance Learning. These indicators are as follows:

Indicator 1: Systems supporting asynchronous and synchronous learning activities and communication between teachers and learners

Indicator 2: Regulatory frameworks acknowledge distance and online education

Indicator 3: A culture of sharing resources, tools and best practices, where teachers and learners are invited to share, re-use, co-create and develop OER

Indicator 4: Teachers have the necessary competencies for distance and online teaching

Indicator 5: Leaders of educational institutions ensure quality assurance of distance and online learning provision through continuous evaluation, development and innovation

Indicator 6: Learning concepts are accessible to all, including disabled and marginalized learners

Indicator 7: Pedagogy focused on the individual learner’s needs is the driver for the design of flexible, distance and online learning concepts, not technology.

ICDE members were challenged during 3 regional interactive sessions to discuss indicators most pertinent from their perspective and within their regional context. Furthermore, delegates discussed how indicators of quality OFDL, as opposed to Emergency Remote Teaching could be formulated into advocacy messages that could be built into a global advocacy campaign.  

Early June, the ICDE Secretariat distributed a Summary of the 2021 ICDE Presidents’ Forum to all Presidents, Rectors and Vice Chancellors among ICDE members, as well as a first Draft for Advocacy Messages captured from the forum. Members were invited to provide additional suggestions to the messages and indicate their interest and capabilities for the establishment of local/regional Task Forces. ICDE received numerous responses from institutional members across world regions to this call, which shows that we are off to a good start for initiating the first piloting regional Task Forces during the last part of 2021.

What next?

We invited ICDE members to particate and take ownership in the next phase of solidifying a framework for ICDEs global advocacy campaign for quality OFDL through participating in an ICDE Lab Workshop for Responsive Action.

The lab was hosted virtually in two different time zones.

ICDE members who voiced interest in taking a leading role in helping to realise the delivery of the ICDE Global Advocacy Campaign within their region was invited to pitch their ideas for how they envision the role and establishment of a local/regional Task Force, and the steps needed to be taken to deliver an effective pilot of the campaign. Delegates also had the opportunity to review the consolidated advocacy messages and reflect on the supporting materials that will be required by the Task Force to aid in the delivery of a successful campaign.

Agenda (1,5 hours):

• Introduction and Welcome

• Presentation pitches from invited ICDE members

• Q&A

• Focused Discussions:

  • Task Force Mandates

  • Roadmap

  • Advocacy Tool Kits

• Summary and Next Steps

• Acknowledgments and Close of Lab Workshop

Reference document: LINK to Draft Advocacy Messages

Register your participation

Opt to join one of two sessions.

1. ICDE Lab Workshop (Europe Africa/ Middle East /Central Asia): 27 October at 9.00 AM-10.30 AM CEST. Chaired by the ICDE Secretary General.
   Presentation pitches from Prof. Dato Ansary Ahmed, President, Asia eUniversity and Ms. Lucy Howe López, Deputy Executive Director, Globethics.net
   Check your timezone here

2. ICDE Lab Workshop (North America / South America/ Oceania/South East Asia) 28 October 21.00 - 22.30 CEST. Chaired by the ICDE President.
   Presentation pitches from Dr. Rajni Chand, Director, Center for Flexible Learning, University of the South Pacific, Fiji and Prof. Alexandre M. dos Anjos, President of UniRede, together with Dr. Daniela da Costa Britto Pereira Lima, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Brazil
   Check your timezone here

Why take part in an ICDE Lab Workshop for Responsive Action?

Be part of a proactive global ICDE community

By taking part in this ICDE Lab Workshop for Responsive Action for progressing the ICDE Global Advocacy Campaign for quality OFDL, you will be prepared to act locally by thinking globally. Through collective forecasting of potential challenges and opportunities in the prevailing climate we can influence these emerging patterns and be pro-active in our approach to address the importance of quality Open, Flexible and Distance Learning for sustainable and resilient education.