Back to blogging

I haven't been to my blog for nearly 2 years but no-one has mentioned it so maybe no-one is reading this blog?

It's been a busy time with lots going on at COL and some fantastic new projects to work on. I do spend a lot more time on Facebook now - maybe I should take a break from that and spend more time here? I'll just have to re-learn how to do it ... and of course they've updated Blogger so it doesn't work the same anymore!

I've missed out on talking about trips to Kenya, Uganda, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Nigeria, Jamaica, St Vincent, Rwanda, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and China! So I guess there's quite a lot to talk about and many photos to share.

And we've moved house and now live in a beautiful forest just off the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler with an amazing view over Howe Sound. Here's a pic of our sunset taken just last week.

More soon ....

Indi-yeah!

India was fascinating and nothing like I envisaged - although I think that Kerala is 'India for beginners' (a bit like Namibia is Africa for beginners!) The places I visited had a gentleness and calm about them - even though they were vibrant and busy - and the tooting car horn was ever-present. Maybe it was the people I met that had those characteristics.

We left via Mumbai and it was certainly busier and more brutish. Sir John had warned me that 'you haven't been to India until you've driven across New Delhi' and I got a flavour of what he was talking about in Mumbai. One thing I would say - is I never felt unsafe in India. Admittedly, I didn;t go walking the streets at night - but I don't do that in any country!

I'll always remember the different yoga teachers I had - expecially the one who intoned 'nooooormal breeeeeathing, very very nooooormal breeeeeathing' over and over as we did the pranayam ... partly because Shafika and I kept singing this as we struggled to wind our way through the crowds at Mumbai airport. The new group on Trivandrum that I will work with next year have produced a distance learning course on yoga and they gave me their materials and the video!

One of the things that amazed us (and drove my colleagues mad) was the procedure for getting a SIM card. You needed a copy of your passport, a photo and to fill in 5 pages of forms. This highly bemused the African contingent who can buy a SIM card on any street corner for a couple of dollars! In fact - when we arrived in Maseru and were met by the conference organisers - the first thing they did was hand everyone of us a SIM starter pack - now that is service!

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.

Back to Bangladesh

In September I visited the Dhaka Ahsania Mission skills training centres in the slums of the city. Here is my favourite selection of the young people trying to learn skills to earn a living. DAM does incredible work for these young people who otherwise would have no hope of skills training. Many of them have left school with no qualifications - and there simply is not enough provision of basic education. They get literacy training if they need it and they learn a skill to be employed or self-employed ... although many of them end up in the garment industry.

When I meet great organisations like this - I just want to give them all my money and help them to do more ...

Muppet

I am, as my brother often tells me - a muppet! You know I often cannot share photos on this blog with you because I don't have my camera cable or card reader .... I've just discovered the laptop has an integral card reader!!! WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE TELL ME? Like Trudi or Frances who have the same laptop! Duh!

Anyway - no excuse now - so I'll look out some photos of Trivandrum - now I just need to find the time!

workshop number two

... is about to start today. Of 10 college principals  who are coming from Africa, 8 have arrived, one has cancelled and one is still on her way - so that's not too bad. Up until yesterday lunchtime the hotel didn't have a room for us to hold the workshop but we managed to sort that out. We now have to take a boat ride (which will be fun) a few minutes down the river to another part of the hotel which is on a different property. It'll be a nice start to the day.

The participants are all staying in another hotel and they have to get a bus here - but my friend and colleague George is staying with them so I hope he manages to rally them all and get them here more or less on time. This is an important workshop for my main skills development activity this year so it is important that we get it right.

You can find information on the place we are staying here - Le Meridien. It's a huge hotel with both business and tourist guests. They seem to have back-to-back conferences and it's all a little chaotic - but it works in the end. The prople are very hospitable and try to do whatever they can to help - which is a nice attitude to work with.

So I just have to get through the next three days before the 400-odd delegates arrive for the Pan Commonwealth Forum - phew!

It's all very exciting - and a little bit scary :-)

Trivandrum

My time in the capital city of the State of Kerala is coming to an end. Today I will meet the Chairman of the State Resource Centre – where I’ve been working this week – and also visit some Continuing Education Centres. Kerala is an interesting State with high social development indicators, particularly in health and literacy, but in a context of a low productive economy and high unemployment.
We’ve just finished a two-day workshop looking at the SRC programmes and how they might benefit from using open and distance learning methodologies. I’ve been working with the most educated and highly committed group of people. On staff, there are only 10 but we were joined by 15 local academics and subject experts who are part of the SRC extended team.
Their mandate was traditionally literacy training, but given that Kerala has reached about 95% literacy the demand for their courses is changing. We’ve been talking about how they might expand their offering of skills development programmes and also strengthen their extensive (4,000) team of volunteer Community Development Promoters.
Hopefully, there will also be time to squeeze in a little shopping! I’ve already bought some beautiful ‘shalwar kemise’ Indian printed and embroidered long dress, trouser and scarf ensemble … lovely colours and patterns. My colleagues took me to a huge 4-story clothing store with thousands of saris and fabrics and traditional clothes. I resisted the pressure to buy a sari but the shalwar kemise is perfect for me – very comfortable and hides a multitude of sins!

India - the ayurvedic way

I arrived at the Mascot Hotel in Trivandrum at 5am after travelling for a day and a half - so the challenge was - how to stay awake until bedtime?? I unpacked and sorted out my stuff, had a shower, went for breakfast (or was it dinner?) and then looked around the hotel. I found the pool and the gym and then the spa. Ah ha - a massage, I thought. So I booked in immediately for an ayurvedic massage. Our VP (who is Indian) told me I should treat myself to lots of relaxing ayurvedic treatments - and I always do what the boss says!

Was it relaxing - no, not really. Was it nice? hmmm ... not sure. The masseuse was tiny - but she was so strong! First she made me remove ALL my clothes, then tied a cord around my waist and draped a bit of muslin between back and front as a vague attempt at modesty! Then I had to lay on a HUGH redwood massage table (which was VERY hard) and she proceeded to completely smother me in hot oil. I felt a bit like a turkey! The oil smelled herbal and slightly sweet - like burned sugar or toffee. The massage was ROUGH and FAST. I was expecting a deep tissue massage but this was more like a rub down with an oily (very oily) rag! It was almost impossible to turn over without sliding around and falling on my chin. Thankfully I had told her that I didn't want oil in my hair or on my face!

The massage lasted an hour and it took nearly as long in the shower afterwards trying to soap off all the oil. Once I got over the shock and got used to it, it was almost pleasant - and my skin is definitely not dry now, but as massages go, I think I'll stick to what I'm used to. There's another treatment which Asha recommended, which involves having warm oil dripped in a steady, swinging stream back and forth across your forehead (thoughts of gentle water-boarding came to mind when she descibed it to me ) I think I'll give that one a miss!

Changi Airport Singapore

I told you how friendly and attractive Changi airport is - now I can show you the pics ...

Where IS Vanuatu?

...my friend June has just asked ... and then I realised that I should explain. Well, it's in the Pacific, south of Solomon Islands and west of Fiji!

Commonwealth Pacific nations are Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tuvalu, Nauru, Kiribati, PNG & Tonga. Fiji used to be a member but they've been suspended following a military coup (in 2006, I think)

So I guess I'll be working in these countries in the coming years - I just been invited to PNG next year. I was last there in 1984!



and then the earth moved

Took a couple of hours off from answering emails and preparing for the workshop tomorrow - so I could go snorkelling. met a nice Kiwi called Mike and his Scots wife (who never told mer her name) who have been here for 15 years. They run Big Blue Scuba.

We went out into the bay to a place called Pango Cove - 6 people were diving - 3 first timers - and I was the only one snorkelling - so I had my own guide - Max. (are all dive masters called Max?) Young bloke, asked me all about my work and was interested to hear about the problem of lack of skills training in his own country. I told him how lucky he is to have a job where he gets training for an international qualification (PADI)

I've just learned - from their website - that you can do PADI qualification by elearning - yay! I've always struggled with learning to dive because I tend to do resort diving with John when we are on holiday - and the lessons are just too short for someone as thick as me! John gets it all first go but I really struggle with calcualating 'bottom times' and working out whether the air in my lungs in expanding or contracting! And if I don't get this stuff right I'm going to DIE! I've always said that the PADI manual is one of the best examples of distance learning I've ever seen - I expect their elearning is pretty good too!

That's why I stick to snorkelling most of the time - still get the views but I don't have to worry about too much about the physics. Except there was a scale 4.5 earth quake while I was in the water this afternoon!!! That was rather different.

Anyway, I saw loads of beautiful coral and tonnes of fishies - parrot fish, angel fish, bright, bright blue starfish as big as a dinner plate and so many more that I have never learned the names of. I try to memorise what they look like so I can check their names when I get back - but never quite manage it. I need to get some underwarter identification cards.

Snorkeling in Vanuatu? - one for the bucket list!

Vocational training in Vanuatu

I am working with the Vanuatu National Training Council - there's only 4 of them but I have to say they are the most efficient group I have ever met! It is a real pleasure to work with them - Sam, Gerald, Emmanuel and Janet. They have arranged my programme so that I have had meetings with all the key TVET and skills development stakeholders in Vanuatu. They pick me up and drive me to all the meetings and make sure I have important stuff like water and SIM cards. VNTC are hosting a workshop for COL which starts on Sunday - to plan pilot programmes to deliver vocational literacy in Samoa, PNG, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. They have me organised right down to the last name badge and workshop folder - great stuff! We are very much in the hands of our partners when we work in Commonwealth countries and usually things are a little haphazard - but not this time :-)

Today we drove around the entire island of Efate to visit the Epule Training Centre. 5 staff, less than 50 students - 4 vocational areas. We got there at 11am and they had already broken for lunch. Unfortunately I think the students spend more time cooking and gardening than in the classroom and workshops. The facilities were better than I expected. The centre is between Onesa and Matarisu. We started in  Port Vila.

Great roads in Vanuatu! great beaches ... great food (but very expensive because of the cost of transport) ... strong tourist industry ... all sort of quietly efficient!

If you ever get the chance to come here ... come!

Port Vila

Vanuatu must be the nicest Pacific island nation (although I quite enjoyed New Zealand - does that count?) There are good roads and everything seems to work pretty well ... they speak English and they have French chefs! What more could I want? It's pretty hot and humid but I'm used to that and after the dreary weather in Wellington - this is quite a change.

I'm here to work with the Vanuatu National Training Council - and some people from Samoa, PNG, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. From Sunday, I am facilitating a workshop to help develop vocational literacy courses in these countries. Before that I've got lots of meetings with people who work in skills development here. They've also arranged to take me out to a rural training centre - looking forward to that - I always enjoy meeting students and seeing how things happen in situ.

Go here if you want to learn more about Vanuatu!

Bangladesh

Arrived late last night in Dhaka after a long, long flight. I spent 8 hours in Changi airport in Singapore which must be the most beautiful and interesting airport in the world.I was last at this airport in 1988 so it's changed a bit! They really cater to transit passengers with gardens, massage and beauty services, kids playgrounds, computer games areas, free internet cafes plus the usual assortment of high-end retail. They even offer a free city tour – which I was going to take but then the weather was terrible and I got sucked into shopping! There is a butterfly garden and a Koi Pond garden both are full of orchids – absolutely stunning. Can't show you the pics because I brought the wrong camera cable L

Reading matters

One of my quiet enjoyments in my new life in Canada, is my journey to work on the West Coast Express train (which my dad says is so slow that it can't call itself an express!) It gently winds its way along the edge of Burrard Inlet and you can look across the water to the North Shore and see the mountains - snow-capped for about three quarters of the year.

When I reached the Waterfront Station today and climbed three fligths of stairs to the street level (thighs burning and lungs wheezing on a Monday morning!) I noticed something I'd never seen before - a book exchange box. it's such a wonderful idea and I was reminded that we saw them at every station on our epic train ride around BC ... yes, I know, I still owe you those stories! But what a charming, friendly thing to do - people leave their unwanted books on a shelf or in a box at every station and other travellers can exchange their books or just take one - for a small donation.

I was just thinking how well endowed we are in the western world when I was reminded that in Rwanda, there is still not even a single public library. My friend Paul who is a staunch Rotarian, told me recently that even thought they have made great progress, they are still trying to raise funds to build the first public library in Kigali.

You can read the full story here ... and of course, if you want to make a donation to help the Virunga Rotary Club in this fantasic effort, that would be wonderful. (Although I was a little disappointed not to see our names on the list of Founding Members even though we made our donation ... maybe Paul will fix that?)

I've just seen that you can support the fund raising effort just by making your next Amazon purchase via their search engine on this website. Go buy yourself books and support a nation to develop a reading culture ... made even more important now that Enlgish has become the official language and millions of francophonie are busy learning English.

Time to go home

Victoria Inner Harbour & Empress Hotel

Of course the sun is shining today and Victoria looks glorious - the sea and sky are blue, there are multicoloured flowers in the hanging baskets all through the harbour and downtown area ... everyone is happy and smiling ... there are street markets and entertainers and .... we have to go home!

As we speak, we are winding our way between the beautiful Gulf Islands of the Spirit of Vancouver Island ferry on our way to Tsawassen. It's great that they have internet service except that I'm supposed to be writing a conference paper, not writing my blog!

All in all, a lovely weekend of R&R - just what the doctor ordered. We've eaten too much, laughed a lot, had some nice walks and of course, enjoyed some unparalleled shopping! And I'm looking forward to having a few more weeks at home/in the office before my next trip - which is going to be Bangladesh - New Zealand - Vanuatu! Stay tuned for more travel news ....

Weekend in Victoria

John and I are spending the weekend in Victoria on Vancouver Island. We were here in June with the wrinklies and liked it so much that we decided to come back. There's lots to see and do - we especially like the BC Museum where we're learning all about the history of Canada and especially the First Nations People. It's raining today so that's probably where we will go - also to the IMAX theatre - I love those movies.

We are staying downtown near the harbour - which is really pretty. It's great to sit and watch the boats and the people go by (when the sun shines). The BC Parliament building is right here too - and at night it is all lit up - beautiful!

I've discovered there is also a cider farm so we might go there on our way back to the ferry tomorrow. Oh and of course there's lots of opportunities for retail therapy!

Make a plan ... come visit!

The Secret Powers of Time

My friend Sara, who lives in Sant Pere des Ribes near Barcelona, sent me this fascinating video. Made by Prof Philip Zimbardo from Stanford University, the presentation makes a case for why we need digital classrooms - but it is so much more than that. It gives a very different angle on cultural, social and religious responses to 'time'. This might sound unrelated, but the 'medium is the message' as McLuhan was fond of saying!!!

Check it out for yourself - The Secret Powers of Time.

Thanks for sharing Sara!

Early morning run

Early this morning I was getting my kit on to go down to the hotel gym to pound the treadmill – when I suddenly thought ... what are you doing? Why don’t you go for a run outside? It’s a bit of a no-brainer – early morning in Kigali is lovely, cool and clear and sweet-smelling, all earthy and green. I ran around the dirt rounds between the hotel and my old house, passing Harvey & Helga’s house and the place where Paul used to live. It was great to be outside in the cool sunshine (it’s going in to winter here) and get my runners covered in red dust.

I saw lots of children going to school and lots of children not going to school, hauling huge jerry cans of water or big bundles of wood for the fire on their heads. There were people everywhere (as ever) and several big trucks passed me, spewing vile diesel fumes. The biggest change I noticed from when I used to run these dirt roads – is that I was not followed by a gang of giggling and jostling kids calling muzungu, muzungu! (white foreigner). Maybe they see so many muzungus now that we are no longer sport.

I had such a great time, bouncing over the bumps and holes in the roads, trying not to slip as I ran down steep slopes with lose stones and just enjoying the feeling of being there – that I ran far too far and suddenly realised I was completely worn out – then I had to walk back! Now my legs feel like lead and I’m not sure how I got back up three flights of stairs to my hotel room. The joys of life!

elearning Africa Conference

The eLearning Africa conference www.elearning-africa.com was a mixed bag of stimulating discussion, meeting old friends, making new contacts, African ‘organisation’ and rushing around trying to get to hear all the presentations I’d marked on the programme.

My colleague (from Botswana) George & I, co-presented at the ICT in TVET Summit, held jointly by COL and UNESCO-UNEVOC. We presented the new Flexible Skills Development Initiative that we are working on together with colleagues from TVET institutions in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. George shared some interesting ideas on quality in TVET and his PPT is in great demand.

We sponsored some ladies who work in TVET from Botswana, Kenya, Zambia and Namibia – and they all made the most of the experience. Luckily, one of them won a new mobile phone in a Microsoft business card draw – that was great! There were more than 1000 people there from all over the continent discussing a huge range of emerging issues in elearning. As always, I missed more than I saw/heard, but I especially enjoyed sessions on mobile learning and open education resources. Shuttleworth Foundation are doing interesting things in literacy with mobiles – i f0rt it was gr8, cuz itz new 2 me! I heard a keynote presentation from Gilly Salmon, whose work I have admired for some years. She told us about the Media Zoo at Leicester University – where lecturers can go to learn and experiment with new teaching and learning technologies. That reminded me that we have a Second Life account and it's about time that I went there to see if we can use it for skills development courses. There was also a rockin’ Bishop from the Gambia who uses Twitter, Facebook, blogs and all the social media to communicate with young people in his diocese.

I met loads of people that I used to work with in Zambia, but also colleagues from Rwanda & UK and new friends from Nigeria that I only met a few weeks ago. It’s gr8 (sorry!) to hear that the groundwork in distance education which we did in Zambia about 6 years ago is standing them in good stead now. I met someone from the Open University of Catalunya - which is a virtual university based in Barcelona - lots of good stuff going on there with the Campus for Peace and we may be able to collaborate with them.

All in all a worthwhile trip – next year we go to Tanzania. Sorry, no pics – I didn’t even get my camera out of my bag. Josiane from UNEVOC promised to share hers with me.