COALAR Southern Skies Distance Education Academic Exchange
Project team members
Professor Belinda Tynan: University of New England
Dr Carina Bossu: University of New England
Professor Alan Smith: University of Southern Queensland
Professor Mike Keppell: Charles Sturt University
Associate Professor Roberta Harreveld: Central Queensland University
Dr Fredy Valenzua: School of Business, University of New England
Dr Fredric Litto: Executive Committee IDCE, Forrmerly University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Dr Stavros P. Xanthopoylos: Online-Distance Education Unit at Fundagao Getulio Vargas, Brazil
Associate Professor Marta Mena: ICDE Latin America Network and University of Mornon, Argentina
Dr Sara Perez: National University of Quilmes, Argentina
Overview
The Southern Skies project has been devised to provide a range of environments to facilitate the international sharing of information, technologies, systems and procedures relating to DE practices in the higher education sector. The outcomes of this project will improve distance education practices and quality, enhance best practices and provide a more socially inclusive and accessible educational atmosphere within the Australian and Latin American higher education sectors. Funded by the Australian Government's Council on Australia Latin America Relations (COALAR), this project promotes academic exchange between the four Australian universities collaborating as "DEHub" (Distance Education Hub) and four educational institutions in South America.
Phase 1: From 3rd to 13th May 2010 representatives from DEHub travelled with visiting scholars from the four Latin American institutions to visit the DEHub consortia partners to discuss issues and opportunities for collaboration in distance education amongst the participating institutions. Their visit also represented the first stage of the Southern Skies Academic Exchange project. In meetings with senior representatives of each university, they learned more about the differences and similarities in approaches to - and technologies employed in - distance education by the participating institutions in Australia, Brazil and Argentina. The positive outcomes of this exchange program can already be recognised by the opportunities that have emerged during the visits such as the use and distribution of the DEHub database by ICDE; an invitation to assist ICDE to investigate and gather data related to a national framework and regulations for distance education from around the world; and opportunities for research and development of Open Educational Resources/Content between the participating institutions, amongst other opportunities.
Representatives visited CQUniversity from 7-10 May 2010 and presented to our members and colleagues Distance Education DeHub COALAR Presentation.
A Stage 1 Overview summary is provided in the DE Quarterly no.5 newsletter.
Phase 2: The second stage of the project took place from 22 August to 6 September 2010, when the Australian partner universities of the DEHub consortium, led by the Director of DEHub Professor Belinda Tynan (UNE), made the reciprocal exchange trip to the participating universities in Argentina and in Brazil. The project team hosted a session at the Brazilian Association of Distance Education International Congress (with simultaneous translation of all the plenary sessions), which attracts 1,000‐1,200 participants. This event showcased both the Southern Skies project and Australian DE research and expertise more generally. Members of the delegation were: Dr Carina Busso (DEHub, UNE), Dr Fredy Valenzuela (UNE), Professor Mike Keppell (CSU), Associate Professor Peter Albion (USQ) and Associate Professor Bobby Harreveld (CQU). View the Report prepared by CQUni delegate A/Prof Bobby Harreveld.
A Project Summary is provided in the DE Quarterly no.6 newsletter.
Further details on the project can be found at http://WikiEducator.org/1._Southern_Skies_Distance_Education_Academic_Exchange
