Open Air

We are winners!

July 17th, 2008 Posted by: l.dewis

Last week I was at the Science Museum in London sitting under a giant plane tucking into a 3 course dinner and hoping, just hoping, that this time we might win an award. I was optimistic as we had been placed right next to the stage – a sure sign – unless of course they want to play some dramatic music and encourage applause as the winner walks down to the stage from the back of the room. My hopes were dashed as the music began and we came away with 1) a very welcome Highly Commended award from Nominet in the category of the Open Internet and 2) a very useful invitation to the UK preparatory meeting for the Internet Governance Forum.

This week, glory arrived in the form of a Commonwealth of Learning award for OpenLearn. OpenLearn was the “unanimous winner for this category based on its Educational Value and Learning for Development Value”. Our use of RSS was particularly highlighted and as if in response to the “document dump” critics, the judges noted “Above all, the OpenLearn website is not just a repository of materials but a platform for collaborative content development and recontextualisation, thus widening access to high quality learning resources around the world.”

The Fifth Pan Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning has been on all week in London and is exploring how open and distance learning can help to achieve the international development goals and education for all. The conference theme is Access to Learning for Development, with a focus on governance, conflict and social justice, health, livelihoods and provision for children and young people.

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