News FY 2021

On January 20–21, ICDE hosted its first fully hybrid event, the ICDE Leadership Summit 2022, on the theme of “Leadership for EdTech-Oriented Innovation in Education.” The summit was co-hosted by ICDE and the Korea National Open University (KNOU) and was sponsored by the Ministry of Education (MOE) of the Republic of Korea. The conference program included world-class speakers and panelists, as is customary at ICDE events.

Main Theme: Leadership for EdTech-Oriented Innovation in Education

Sub-themes:

1. Leading open and distance universities to overcome global crisis: Sharing experiences in responding to the pandemic hit
2. Improving quality education using EdTech: Sustainable enrollment and personalized learning strategies
3. Innovative leadership for open education: The benefits of open access, open source, open science, and open educational resources (OER)
4. Leadership for digital transformation and resilience: Equitable and quality education for all

Day 1 of the conference wrapped up with presentations from Dr. Deborah Adair, Executive Director Quality Matters and Professor Won Ho of Kongju National University addressing the topic of “Improving quality education using EdTech: Sustainable enrollment and personalized learning strategies.”

On Day 2, the conference welcomed the second keynote speaker, Ms. Beth Havinga, Managing Director of the European EdTech Alliance, who created two startups and has worked with numerous education ministries and organizations in building their digital education strategies. Ms. Havinga spoke on the topic of "EdTech Innovation Opportunities and Challenges." This was followed by the second panel discussion on “Innovative leadership for open education: The benefits of open access, open source, open science, and open educational resources (OER),” moderated by Dr. Melissa Layne, Vice President/Founder and former Editor-in-Chief, OEGlobal and the International Journal of Open Educational Resources.

ICDE believes that strong partnerships between universities, governments, and civil society are critical, and will continue to provide a platform for dialogue and knowledge exchange through events like the ICDE Leadership Summits.

The Open University of Japan has renewed its Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Open University, Taiwan.

OUJ President Professor Masaya Iwanaga and NOU President Professor Sung-Po Chen signed the agreement on November 26, 2021. The signing ceremony was held online, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Chen gave a keynote speech providing an overview of NOU and describing its current issues and prospects. He also proposed further collaborative work with OUJ, such as a faculty exchange program and a joint research project.

President Iwanaga gave a keynote speech titled “Orientation and role of open universities in the post-COVID-19 new normal.” He discussed the impact of COVID-19 on education in Japan, how Japan’s universities responded, and the orientation and role of open distance higher education in the post-COVID-19 era.

It is hoped that the signing of the MOU will be a turning point for the two universities to strengthen their relationship and communication in exploring more opportunities for cooperation in the future.

The virtual version of the ICDE World Conference 2021 was held during the week of 25–29 October 2021 under the title “ICDE Virtual Global Conference Week 2021: Upskilling and upscaling for quality open, flexible and distance learning (OFDL).” More than 130 delegates from 53 countries took part, including educational experts mainly from European countries. From OUJ, Vice President Professor Masahiro Kumabe, Professor Tsuneo Yamada, and General Affairs Division staff members participated.

Based on the main theme, "Upskilling and upscaling for quality open, flexible and distance learning,” and three subthemes, the conference had four keynote addresses, multiple academic paper sessions, a concise impact talks session, digital poster sessions with short video pitches, lab workshops, and panels, all in various time zones.

As the next event in the series, the ICDE Leadership Summit 2022 will be hosted by Korea National Open University (KNOU) at the Conrad Seoul in hybrid format on January 20–21, 2022.

The 20th China International Conference on Distance Education was held by the Open University of China(OUC) on October 14-15, 2021 in Beijing. President Prof. Iwanaga was invited to deliver a 30-minute keynote speech at the conference. The topic of the speech was "Orientation and Role of Open Universities in the New Norm of Post-Covid-19.

President Prof. Iwanaga discussed three topics regarding the impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on education in Japan, how Japanese universities coped with, and what are the orientation and role of open distance higher education in the post-Covid-19 era. The speech was concluded by showing OUJ's next action plan and expecting to deepen the relationship through the exchange of people, teaching materials, and information with OUC.

Hosted by the Open University of Sri Lanka, the 34th Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) Annual Conference was held at Cinnamon Grand Colombo on June 1–3, 2021. About 200 university officials and educational experts in the field of open and distance learning from 23 countries participated in the conference. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was conducted in hybrid form combining onsite and online attendance and presentations, and OUJ participated online.

From OUJ, President Masaya Iwanaga and Vice President Masahiro Kumabe attended the AAOU Executive Committee Meeting, and papers and posters were presented by Professor Tsuneo Yamada, Professor Taisuke Togari, and Associate Professor Soichi Omori. Additionally, Mr. Toshiaki Tanaka, Deputy Director-General, and staff members of the General Affairs Division took part as observers.

The main theme this year was “Opening minds for a sustainable future: Re-orienting ODL to surmount challenges.”

Professor Yamada showed a video presentation titled “Digital badge as an e-certificate of informal education program: A case study at the Open University of Japan,” which outlined the results of his team’s pilot implementation of “digital badges” at OUJ extension programs. They compared two prototypes, IMS Open Badge version 2 and Blockcerts, and clarified that different badge delivery channels should be prepared depending on recipients’ readiness.

Professor Togari made a video presentation titled “A cooperative nursing professional education at the Open University of Japan.” He talked about a correspondence course in which nursing training schools cooperate with OUJ to help students qualify for the National Nursing Examination, and described trends among users of this education service.

Associate Professor Omori shared a video presentation titled “Network-based remote laboratory in distance education: Scanning electron microscopy experiment” and outlined a computer-controlled scanning electron-microscope observation experiment at OUJ. His talk was followed by lively questions from the audience on the number of students who can access the microscope experiment at a time and other matters of interest.

The conference concluded with a presentation by Korea National Open University, which will host the 35th AAOU Annual Conference from October 19 to 21, 2022 at the International Convention Center on Jeju Island, Korea.