During 2019-21, the Ministry of General Education in Zambia piloted an open and innovative schooling (OIS) programme. It used an e-learning model that involved developing and sharing curriculum-based open educational resources (OER) to supplement other teaching and learning processes. The resources could be accessed through both online and offline…

This policy brief looks at open digital distance learning and the potential of massive open online courses to deliver and support teacher development in low-income countries and disadvantaged regions. It addresses the particular barriers faced by teachers and their communities and proposes options to help overcome their challenges. Recommendations…

Many organisations are experimenting with micro-credentials, while others are emerging to collect, publish and offer credentials. The decision to engage with these new forms of credentials will be influenced by many factors, as described in this guide. Each organisation will need to assess their own level of maturity as new and innovative forms of…

This guide explores how pedagogy and vision underpin successful TEL [technology-enabled learning] innovation, as well as the other building blocks that are needed. It also outlines recent pedagogical innovations in TEL that can be trialled in any classroom where learners have access to smartphones and the Internet.

A recent International Labour Organisation (ILO) report noted that nearly half a billion people -- one in six of the world's working population -- did not have enough work, were looking for but unable to find work, or had given up looking for work. Women and youth were over-represented in this group. Since then, due to COVID-19, the numbers of…

As the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) was in the last year of its 2015-2021 strategic plan, COL sought to evaluate the impact of its interventions in open and innovative schooling (OIS) in the period 2018-2021 through an external review. An online quantitative study was carried out in Belize, Malawi, Mozambique, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zambia,…

The benefits and facilities of online learning at school level all over the world were not fully realised until the COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions to explore the possibilities of teaching-learning through online measures. During the lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Open Schooling (OS) using online learning as a method of…

This brief to Ministers of Education provides examples of how governments and institutions made it possible for people to continue their education during the COVID-19 pandemic and identifies factors that contributed to success.

At any one time, about 300 million children of school going age are not in school. Experience indicates that when schooling is disrupted, whether by a pandemic, a natural disaster or other reasons, not all children return to the classroom. In addition, most countries have growing numbers of young people who have not completed schooling, or not…

The Education for All initiative concluded in 2015, but in many countries, and particularly in the developing countries, secondary education is still the preserve of the privileged few. This means that millions of adults and young people are denied the opportunity to complete their basic education, which in turns sees them trapped in a pattern of…

This book includes a range of community peacebuilding experiences from across the Commonwealth that have been applying open and distance learning (ODL) approaches. The case studies offer insights into the challenges as well as the kinds of interventions that have worked and how they can be built upon. They show that ODL can be an effective and…

This study was carried out at the request of the Ministry of Education, Zambia. The Commonwealth of Learning contracted Turning Points Consultancy CC, a Namibian company, who provided the services of the author, to "carry out an evaluation of the Zambia College of Distance Education (ZACODE) and submit recommendations to the Ministry of…

This is the final report of a three-and-a-half-year project that pilot tested the usefulness of various information and communication technology (ICT) applications in the provision of literacy programmes. The report is based on data collected by in-country evaluators during the term of the project as well as from a follow-up study a year later.…

This is the first book to survey the region's use of educational media and summarise the experiences of different Commonwealth Asian countries in one collection. It includes a review of the key issues, country studies, research reviews and several case studies on harnessing technologies for distance-learning initiatives. The book is designed to…

Prepared for presentation at the 15th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers, in Edinburgh, Scotland, this report describes a proposal, created by the Commonwealth of Learning at the request by the Commonwealth Ministers of Education, to explore the creation of a virtual university to support higher education in small states. A Technical…