|
|
||||||
 |
||||||
|
June 2006 Volume 2, Number 2 |
||||||
|
IN
THIS ISSUE CREAD MERCOSUR FROM THE RECTOR OF UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DEL NORTE
X CREAD MERCOSUR |
TEN YEARS OF CREAD MERCOSUR
This cooperative system has led to many conferences and annual workshops with local relevance, in the local languages, at reasonable distances – without the need for long-distance travel –and at an affordable price. We are pleased to report that in our 16 years of operation we have organized conferences in practically every country in Latin America and in Spain. The topic areas have been varied and have ranged from faculty training, the appropriate use of technology, quality assurance, workforce training and health. We calculate that approximately 7,000 professionals have directly participated in CREAD conferences, creating paper publications and CD-Roms, some of which have been posted on the Internet, in CREAD’s Virtual Library. In 2006 we will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of a CREAD conference series which was produced through a remarkable collaboration effort. We named this conference series MERCOSUR because it takes place in the area of interest of the Common Market of the South, or MERCOSUR, composed of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile (as an associate member), and very recently, Venezuela. These conferences have been offered annually without interruption since 1997, rotating between Argentina, Brazil and Chile. On the tenth anniversary of this CREAD initiative, I would like to recognize Dra. Marlene Blois, of Brazil, and Lic. Norma Carosio, of Argentina, for having had the idea for this conference series and having worked on it intensively from the start. Thanks to their vision and dedication we will be celebrating the Tenth MERCOSUR conference in Antofagasta, Chile, and we will be announcing the Eleventh one, to be held in Buenos Aires in August, 2007. GREETINGS FROM THE RECTOR OF UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DEL NORTE
This year, on the 50 th anniversaryof the Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN), we are very honored to invite our fellow Americans to take part in the Tenth CREAD Mercosur/sul Congress 2006, to be held in the main building of the University, in Antofagasta, Chile. We are all the more delighted as we begin preparing for this event since it is also a celebration of the 25 th anniversary of the UCN’s Distance Education Center and the 10 th anniversary of the CREAD MERCOSUR CONFERENCES which also respond to our desire for regional integration and collaboration in a globalized world. It is our sincere hope that on August 2 nd, 3 rd and 4 th the national and international professionals and institutions at this meeting will be able to achieve their objectives, create links and move forward to increase learning, technologies and quality in distance education, both on this continent and in other parts of the world. In today’s world we have the ability to participate in joint projects and challenges, to which we can all contribute from our own individuality and experiences. With its slogan “The wider Vision” the UCN supports the improvement and continuing growth in the important field of distance education. We therefore urge everyone to take part in our conference and share the variety of their experience and knowledge, whether from academia, business or the public or private sectors . We are convinced that this meeting will genuinely support the development of our American continent, and that its impact will translate into positive consequences that will benefit the whole of society. Welcome Friends Dr. Misael Camus Ibacache CREAD MERCOSUR XI WILL BE HELD IN BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA FROM AUGUST 23 TO 25, 2007: THE ORGANIZER IS THE INSTITUTO UNIVERSITARIO DE CIENCIAS DE LA SALUD. MESSAGES FROM THE BOARD
CREAD also played a decisive role, culminating in the Loja Conference, in October 2005, on Quality and Accreditation in Higher Distance Education, held during the First CREAD Andes Conference, with broad participation by the most important Latin American Institutions and many active participants from universities in our continent, Europe and North America. The establishment, during the conference, of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Quality in Higher Distance Education ( CAL-ED) has received widespread recognition ( www.utpl.edu.ec/caled ). The main idea of CAL-ED was to continue the work already done on quality in higher distance education, but giving special emphasis to collaborative projects that had been carried out, as opposed to individual and isolated initiatives, and with the central aim of bringing new expertise to this collaborative space, paying more attention to contents and, above all, avoiding the methodological distortions in which the analysis of quality itself becomes the objective instead of the intense and fervent pursuit of quality, which has always been found in universities, but needs to be measured so as to ascertain social effects and to carry out continuous improvement. Since then a number of activities have been carried out including, in particular, several consultations on developing distance education systems and the use of quality standards, as well as developing relationships with the Ibero-American Network of Accreditation Agencies (RIACES) and the European Distance Education Association EADTU), both of whom are interested in working with CAL-ED on the subject of quality. This has turned out to be an interesting way for us to create connections with the higher education field in Europe. Dear CREAD members, I hope you will want to be a part of this collegial effort, so that collaboratively we can make distance education in our continent into a major force in university development and strengthen the universities in their labors on behalf of socio-economic development. Dr. Luis Miguel Romero Fernández
Dr. Patricia A. Book  2006 BOARD MEETING Foreground: Gerardo Coronado Ramírez (representing Manuel Moreno Castañeda). Back row (left to right): Patricia Ávila Muñoz, Armando Villarroel, Luis Miguel Romero Fernández, Marlene Blois, Luis Valter Brand Gomes Although the members of the CREAD Board of Directors are in continuous communication by email, their annual face-to-face sessions are important and irreplaceable. In keeping with our policy of keeping costs down, we try to meet in person during international conferences, where we would be in any case. This is why several of our meetings have taken place during the Virtual Educa conferences. We are pleased to inform you that on June 23 rd we gathered in Bilbao, Spain, during Virtual Educa 2006. We used the opportunity to discuss certain CREAD-related topics such as how to improve communications between Board members, the state of the membership and the progress of our projects, and to analyze the budgetary aspects. As we have frequently done in the last few years, we also took the opportunity to reflect on what we are doing, and how, and where we are heading. Among these reflections, it is worth mentioning those referring to CREAD specifics, and what makes CREAD special. We are aware that in the field of distance education there are a number of organizations and networks dedicated to the improvement of distance education. And we do have close ties with some of them, such as the Ibero-American Association of Higher Distance Education (AIESAD) and the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE) in some of our programs. However, the Board went on to emphasize those aspects where we have special strengths and they were:
Since it is a good idea to reinforce these positive aspects, the Board instructed the Executive Director to start working on the organization of a portfolio of institutional and individual members of CREAD. This portfolio will be placed on the Internet and will in the first instance contain the information included in the Members’ Directory, which is updated annually. This information will serve to identify the interests of our membership and will facilitate the cooperative efforts between them OPINION THE SPIRIT OF VIRTUAL EDUCA: PERMANENT INNOVATION
Continuing the dynamic of the last two conferences, Virtual Educa Bilbao was structured in Seminars and themed modules, which included:
Having such a wide range of quality “offerings” has always been a distinct characteristic of Virtual Educa, where participants are able to spend four days experiencing the state of the art in all aspects of virtual education in Hispano-America. But above and beyond the presentations, I must emphasize the proactive spirit that was discernible in every corner of the Euskalduna, and that has its greatest protagonist in the Secretary general of Virtual Educa, my friend José María Antón. His ability to plan and create relationships between different programs and projects in the most diverse organizations is truly amazing. Moreover it is important to note a landmark in the future direction of Virtual Educa, the creation (and presentation within the framework of this Congress) of the IberFuturo Foundation, a project of the Latin American summit of Heads of State, which will surely be a very useful instrument for the realization of joint activities and the implementation of new mechanisms for collaboration. The president of this Foundation will be Dr. Leonel Fernández, president of the Dominican Republic, which is itself a guarantee of its future success. I cannot end this brief summary without noting the hard work and cordial hospitality of all the Basques, personified by the Deputy of Labor and Training of Biskaia, Dn. Julio Artetxe Barkin. Lic. Jorge Rey Valzacchi PROFILE OF INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS OF CREAD  OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CATALUNYA (UOC)SPAIN www.uoc.edu The Open University of Catalunya (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya - UOC) was one of the pioneers in the use of the Internet for distance university education. The UOC was created by the Catalan Government in 1995 in order to offer quality higher education to all those who for whatever reason were unable to take courses in a face-to-face university, with Catalan as the language of instruction. Even though it was established as a result of a public initiative, the University is governed by a private foundation. A large part of its financing is from public funds and for practical purposes it is considered to be an integral member of the Catalan public university system. The UOC currently has more than 34,000 students in 20 degree programs accredited by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, and in addition, about 2,400 students in 117 graduate programs. Since the year 2000, similar programs of courses in Spanish have been added to the ones in Catalan. Currently the UOC has students in 56 countries. Our internationalization plan seeks to position the university in a global world and offer a quality service to our students regardless of where they are living. This objective is carried out in close collaboration with universities all over the world. In 2000 the UOC’s Research Center, the IN3 or Internet Interdisciplinary Institute was also inaugurated. All research undertaken in the UOC is focussed on studying the effects of the educational and communicative technologies on people, organizations and society in general, and their influence on the changes that are occurring in moving from an industrial society to an information and knowledge society. One of the UOC’s peculiarities is that, at its inception, it was not based on any pre-existing model, but steered by innovation, both from an organizational and participative point of view, as well as pedagogically and technologically. Our successful experiences from the first ten years and the unanimous international recognition awarded us demonstrate that the original course was correct. The UOC’s Virtual Campus is a central space for teaching and learning. This technological platform, created in-house, enables student and faculty to communicate in a fully interactive and basically asynchronous way. The teaching model is based on didactic materials developed by the University, a system of tutors that are very close to the students, continuous evaluation and a complete and easily accessible Virtual Library. The main challenges of the UOC over the next few years, as with a large part of the university system, lie in the guarantee of quality, both in the teaching area and in research, innovation, internationalization and the exercise of the socially responsible role of the university.  UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANSDIVISION OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION USA www. uno.edu The Metropolitan College, Division of International Education at the University of New Orleans has administrative responsibility for the Office of International Study Programs, the Intensive English Language Program, the Critical Languages Program and the Low Residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. The mission of the Division is to assist the university in its continuing efforts to internationalize its campus and curriculum and to contribute to global understanding by developing and supporting opportunities worldwide for students, faculty and staff as well as the general public. Summer study abroad programs include Glories of France, UNO-Costa Rica, Prague Summer Seminars, a Counselor’s View of Italy, Greece Honors Tour, UNO-Italy: Rome, the Madrid Summer Seminars, the Ezra Pound Center for Literature and the internationally renowned UNO-Innsbruck International Summer School which takes more than 250 students abroad each summer. In addition, the Division of International Education at UNO offers both an international student exchange program and AYA, Academic Year Abroad, in Innsbruck, Austria. The Intensive English Language Program has recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary and its 1300 th student! Students from over 90 different countries have enrolled in the IELP, the majority of whom have matriculated into the University of New Orleans. The UNO Critical Languages Program is a self-instructional language program that offers less-commonly-taught languages. Utilizing small class sizes, native-speaking tutors, materials with strong audio components, and external examiners, UNO students can take (for credit or non-credit) languages not typically offered. The Division of International Education, Metropolitan College, University of New Orleans will continue to devote its energy toward international educational awareness and advocacy.  FUNDAÇÃO OSWALDO CRUZ
BRAZIL www. fiocruz.br DISTANCE EDUCATION IN THE SÉRGIO AROUCA NATIONAL SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH (ENSP) – FUNDAÇÃO OSWALDO CRUZ (Fiocruz) - Brazil www.ead.fiocruz.br Distance education, as it is used at the Sérgio Arouca National School of Public Health /Fiocruz, which is located in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil, has become a kind of strategic training initiative in the health field. We are institutional members of CREAD and our main goal is to contribute to the consolidation of the Unified Health System of Brazil ( SUS), via the continuing education of personnel assigned to it. The school’s conceptual framework is based on interactions of learning communities amongst themselves and with the rest of the world, supported by educational processes that use communicative and information Technologies. The distance education program of the ENSP/Fiocruz has developed training activities in association with the Brazilian Ministry of Education, as part of the operationalization of its public policies. In addition, it also often offers regular courses to the general public, which are based on the knowledge generated by the institution. These courses are offered in the following fields: Policy, Administration and Health Care, Health Monitoring and Health Promotion and Social Development. The National School of Public Health is accredited by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture to certify postgraduate distance education courses. Currently, distance education at the ENSP/Fiocruz has approximately 35,000 students registered in 9 special training programs and 8 regular courses, and more than 15,000 graduates. There are also 14 courses that are in the development stage. As a framework for continuing education, it promotes the creation of a network of ex-students organized around reciprocal exchange and cooperation practices. Our learning support is personalized and offered by faculty who have taken the Tutors’ Teacher Training Course, which is also certified by the ENSP. Completing this course is a pre-requisite for the teaching practice. Currently, the teaching staff of EAD/ENSP/Fiocruz comprises approximately 1,600 tutors located all over the country. In order to hold face-to-face meetings, the distance education program has alliances with federal universities located throughout the national territory which constitute networked support centers. Positioned within a hundred year old institution of excellence like Fiocruz ( www.fiocruz.br ), our program plus the training programs takes care of the development of scientific knowledge by means of the dissemination of collaborative networked experiences, in the fields of Education, Science and Applied Health Technology.
The Faculty of Education of the University of La Sabana was founded to provide personal and professional training for Colombian educators and to create alternative forms of higher education. The creation of ASPAEN, the Association for Teaching, led in 1964 to a merger with COD, the Center for Teacher Training, restructured in 1971 as INSE, the Higher Institute for Education, the basis of what is now the university of La Sabana. Similarly, between 1971 and 1976 new programs and alternatives in training in technical education were developed, the modality of distance education was approved and also technological education at tertiary level. Those plans, projects and actions are reflected today in the mission of the Faculty of Education of the University of La Sabana, including the emphasis on the holistic training of the educator; the link between research and teaching, the reinforcement of pedagogy in response to the demands of the current century, and the responsibility to offer our educators continuous training for their personal and pedagogical development that will allow them to act as change agents on the stage of national and international education. Since October 20 th, 1981, teachers have been trained in the following fields: Social Sciences, Plastic Arts, Art Education, Educational Administration and Supervision, Religious Instruction, Language and Literature, Spanish Language and Literature, Preschool Education and, since the year 2000, Early Childhood Education. We have had more than eleven thousand graduates from all over Colombia. At the first Graduation ceremony of this year we had our first two graduates from the professional degree in early childhood education. On the other hand, we have graduated 26 cohorts in the Educational Administration Specialization, with more than 1,200 graduates. As an outcome of the questioning, teaching and research of the faculty and students of the School of Education, and of their different programs and fields, the first volume of the Education and Educators Review (Revista Educación y Educadores) was published, in 1997. Publication has continued to date, and in 2005 it was recognized by PUBLINDEX as an Indexed Review in Category C. In the year 2005 the faculty were awarded a Qualified Registration for our Masters Program in Education which meets the contemporary need of this country for educators who understand the primary social function of education, and are committed to the search for peace and justice in all areas of human interaction. Throughout these 25 years our educational principle has been to find the best in each human being while developing all his or her possibilities, with an absolute respect for the unique and distinctive character of each person, retaining the best educational traditions but also open to modernity: these have been the basic guidelines on our Faculty’s journey. CREAD CONFERENCES 2006 TENTH CREAD/ MERCOSUR CONFERENCE 2006 a) Tenth CREAD Mercosur Conference
General Objectives:
b) Interactive workshop on Educational Technology Applications Center for Teacher Training, Experimentation and Research – Ministry of Education of Chile and Universidad Católica del Norte – Center for Distance Education FOURTH CREAD
The central theme this year will be: Distance Learning in the Construction of the Information Society and INTEC would like to invite the governmental and international organizations, the business sector and educational institutions at all levels to conduct a profound analysis of this topic, so that together we can help build a better and more just society through the provision of education for skilled and competitive human resources. SECOND INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF EXPERTS IN LINK CHILE 2006 UTEMVIRTUAL and the Technical Training Center CFT UTEM of the Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana are pleased to invite the national and international community to join us at LINK CHILE 2006, an academic meeting that will bring together experts from different parts of the world to share their experiences with e-learning, to contribute to the processes of teaching and learning at all educational levels with an emphasis on quality. Topics of interest that will be covered at this meeting include:
A number of important experts in the field of e-learning will be in attendance, among them the well-known academic, Dr. Tony Bates, who will give a keynote address. There will also be representatives from more than 14 countries, from universities and organizations with links to distance education. This important event will take place in Santiago, Chile from October 16th to 20th, 2006. If you would like to take part, you are cordially invited. For more information, please go to http://utemvirtual.cl/link/2006 FIRST CREAD This conference is being organized by the State Distance University (UNED) and will be held November 1-3, 2006 in San José, Costa Rica.  FIFTEENTH INTERNATIONAL DISTANCE EDUCATION CONFERENCE Universidad de Guadalajara Guadalajara, México November 27- December 1, 2006 The Virtual University of the University of Guadalajara is the organizer of the Fifteenth International Distance Education Conference, with participation by academic keynoters from inland and overseas, and with representatives of the Autonomous Community of Andalucia, Spain, as guests of honor. This conference, which is the best-known international academic meeting in Mexico on distance education, and the most important of its type in Latin America, will once again be held in conjunction with the International Book Fair in Guadalajara. It seeks to promote the exchange of experiences, reflections, research findings and development proposals in continuing education, both at a distance and on line, through keynote speeches, panels, workshops and round tables.  FIRST CREAD MEXICOCompetitive Capacity in the Small Business Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara Guadalajara, México December 4-7, 2006 http://creadmexico.uag.mx The FIRST CREAD MEXICO CONFERENCE seeks to promote the creation and increase the competitive capacity of our small businesses in the global market, thus building new pathways towards economic growth. The program of I CREAD Mexico will consist of keynote addresses, case studies, parallel sessions and workshops, given by successful experts and practitioners - from Mexico and overseas - and is designed to assist small businesses with different aspect aspects of their daily activities within a market that is becoming more and more globalized. CREAD CONFERENCES 2007 EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL EDUCA CONFERENCE
EIGHTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION, PROFESSIONAL TRAINING, INNOVATION , COOPERATION & DEVELOPMENT São José dos Campos - SP (Brazil), June 18-22, 2007 CREAD BOARD OF
DIRECTORS CONTACTS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR REPRESENTATIVE OF NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY ANDEAN REGION (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru) BRAZIL ANGLOPHONE CANADA CARIBBEAN (Antilles, Belice, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Guyana, Surinam, Venezuela) CENTRAL AMERICA (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama) MEXICO SOUTHERN CONE (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA LIFETIME HONORARY MEMBER CREAD REGIONAL OFFICES ARGENTINA CANADA The CREAD Electronic Newsletter will be published four times a year, in Spanish, English and Portuguese, in order to provide information about Consortium activities and to pass on professional information of interest. |
|||||
It is my great pleasure to congratulate CREAD--its Board, staff, and members-- for their continued work to advance distance education in the Americas. The commitment of so many individuals and institutions who are dedicated to an educational mission that uplifts the opportunities for people across the CREAD regions is evident in the continued growth and vitality of this Consortium. It has always been the relationships that have fostered success based on generous sharing of knowledge and experience and a desire to find mutually beneficial and reciprocal partnerships that a Consortium like CREAD fosters. 
This is the fifth time that I have taken part in Virtual Educa (Valencia 2002, Miami 2003, Barcelona 2004 and Mexico 2005) and, in fact, I am still amazed. From June 20 th to June 23 rd the Seventh Session of Virtual Educa was held in the enormous Euskalduna Palace of Congresses in Bilbao (Basque Country) with the title: “From the information society to the knowledge society: continuous training, the strategic factor for social development”. This conference never fails to astonish me because the academic program was so extensive (294 presentations) and so rich in content and diversity of presenters, that it was a shame to have to miss so many of the parallel sessions in the six auditoria. 
UNIVERSITY OF LA SABANA,
This is the fourth in a series of conferences organized by CREAD members in the Caribbean. The number of national and international attendees and the richness of the programs has risen from year to year. Every year since 2003 a Dominican member institution of CREAD has taken on the responsibility of sponsoring this conference – in 2003 the Open University for Adults; in 2004 the University of the Caribbean and in 2005 APEC. In 2006 this event is being organized by the Technical Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC), a higher education institution of considerable prestige, and will take place at the end of September.
DISTANCE EDUCATION AND INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES