Pan Commonwealth Forum

We have just completed Day 2 of our conference - the 6th Pan Commonwealth Forum. It is a fantastic experience with nearly 600 distance educators and community development people from all over the world (but mostly Commonwealth countries). We have been talking about the use of technology in technical and vocational education today and how to get the most out of regional cooperation.

In this pic, L-R ... amr, Emma Kruse Vaai from Samoa, Guil Vaz from India, Caroline Seelig from New Zealnad and George Herd from Scotland.

We have a cultural programme every evening and have been treated to all kinds of music and dance from different areas of India - all with the most amazing, elaborate costumes. We announced the winners of the Excellence in Distance Education Awards and also 5 COL Honorary Fellows. This evening we heard wonderful stories of women in India who are developing small businesses and building their skills in very innovative ways.

Tomorrow we will launch the Flexible Skills Development Community Learning Network - which is quite exciting for us. I'm pretty exhausted but it's been great to see so many old friends and meet lots of interesting new people who are doing great work in our field.