MICO TEACHERS College will be joining the international trend of introducing dual mode programmes in its curriculum. This, as the College seeks to implement distance learning, for teachers at the primary level.
Wesley Barrett, President of the Jamaica Association for Distance and Open Learning (JADOL), says that the administration at Mico was "quite concerned that they are not reaching some of the rural and prospective teachers".
Mr. Barrett, who is also Chief Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, said that JADOL had discussions with Mico's principal, Dr. Claude Packer, who has been garnering information from those involved in the delivery of distance and open education.
"He has visited the Com-monwealth of Learning, as well as India, where they have some focus on open and distance learning," Mr. Barrett said.
The Commonwealth of Learning is an institution set up by the heads of Common-wealth countries to promote the use of open and distance learning, to either commence or continue education, Mr. Barrett explained.
This comes as good news in light of JADOL's promotion of distance and open learning in Jamaica. Distance education involves tuition which is not constrained by time, physical location or pace of learning, Mr. Barrett pointed out. This can take place through correspondence courses, the Internet and other high end technologies.
To promote the concept and inform the wider public of options available in distance education, JADOL will be hosting a week of activities, commencing October 20.
The week begins with a church service at the Church's Teachers College chapel. The Annual General Meeting will be held today. An exhibition will be staged tomorrow, titled "The Classroom of the 21st Century, as well as two workshops.
One workshop will be on Designing Content for Open and Distant Learning, while the other workshop will be on Designing Learning Support Materials for Distance Learning. The gathering will also be addressed by Errin Keough of Memorial Univer-sity of Newfoundland, Canada.
On Friday, Professor Lalor will be inducted as the first honorary member of JADOL, for his contribution to distance learning in Jamaica and the Caribbean.
Mico is not the only teachers college joining this global trend. The University of the West Indies (UWI) is running a pilot project aimed at linking at least three teachers' colleges, with the purpose of sharing teaching resources, Mr. Barrett pointed out.
These are "Mico, Shortwood and St. Joseph's Teachers College," he said. Delivery of teaching material in this system would include "voice, video and data", he explained. Hence, "a lecturer at one of the colleges could conceptually deliver a teaching programme to students at all three colleges, at the same time..."
The University of the West Indies is already making use of existing technology to expand its reach throughout the region.
"Many programmes are delivered from the Mona Campus and from other campuses to various territories and to different sites," the JADOL President noted.
He added that "many persons, for example in rural Jamaica, have done certificate and diploma courses, through distance education."
