Welcome Speech
I am delighted to be here with you today, as you start the first Conference on Research in Distance and Adult Learning in Asia (CRIDALA 2000). I congratulate the Open University of Hong Kong and its Centre for Research in Distance and Adult Learning (CRIDAL) for this endeavour. I am told that the conference will focus primarily on Asia, but the participants, over 100, have come from all over the world --- the subject is surely of global importance. Let me therefore add a word of welcome to the overseas participants. I wish you a pleasant stay in Hong Kong and fruitful deliberations at the conference.
The operating environment for open and distance learning (ODL) is very different from the traditional tertiary environment to which most academics are accustomed. I had an opportunity to learn something about ODL during the visit of the Research Grants Council to the Open University last August. The visit was organised, at the request of the Secretary for Education and Manpower, to gain an overall understanding of the research policy, culture, infrastructure and activities in OUHK, and to review and comment on the research capability of the OUHK in relation to its role and mission. We learnt much about the research activities in distance and adult learning. Today marks my second close encounter, and I am sure I will learn even more.
Changes in demography, developments in information technology including tele-communications, new thinking on pedagogy and new institutional or organisational policy are radically altering the concepts of what it means to be a student, to learn, to teach and to be a teacher. It seems to me that there are now three types of players on the scene, as far as providers are concerned.
First, there are traditional distance providers such as OUHK, which know this sector best, and which are well experienced in the modes of delivery and the management of these courses.
Secondly, traditional universities are drifting
The operating environment for open and distance learning (ODL) is very different from the traditional tertiary environment to which most academics are accustomed. I had an opportunity to learn something about ODL during the visit of the Research Grants Council to the Open University last August. The visit was organised, at the request of the Secretary for Education and Manpower, to gain an overall understanding of the research policy, culture, infrastructure and activities in OUHK, and to review and comment on the research capability of the OUHK in relation to its role and mission. We learnt much about the research activities in distance and adult learning. Today marks my second close encounter, and I am sure I will learn even more.
Changes in demography, developments in information technology including tele-communications, new thinking on pedagogy and new institutional or organisational policy are radically altering the concepts of what it means to be a student, to learn, to teach and to be a teacher. It seems to me that there are now three types of players on the scene, as far as providers are concerned.
First, there are traditional distance providers such as OUHK, which know this sector best, and which are well experienced in the modes of delivery and the management of these courses.
Secondly, traditional universities are drifting