1 Standard setting in education A UNESCO Case Study & Proposal Supporting Human Diversity through Inclusive Design - The Role of e-learning Standards What is there to be done? 14 September 2007 Abdul Waheed Khan Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information.

2 UNESCO and education  Since its creation in 1945, UNESCO has worked to improve education worldwide  UNESCO believes that education is key to social and economic development  UNESCO works for a sustainable world with societies that: –value knowledge –promote a culture of peace –celebrate diversity –defend human rights –achieve education for all

3 Today’s learning challenge Six educational goals to meet until 2015:  Expanding and improving early childhood education  Ensuring that all children have access quality education  Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes  Achieving 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy  Achieving gender equality in education  Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.

4 Rapid changes… … in education: –Students as “multi-dimensional processor- receivers” of knowledge –Multitude of knowledge sources … in the professional world: –Old professions become obsolete –Job transformation by job retraining

5 Shift in learning New literacies: –Technology literacy –Information literacy:  recognize need for information  locate, evaluate use information effectively Shifts in learning process: –from teaching to self-directed learning –from one-time event to lifelong learning process

6 Shift in education Challenges –Access –Equity –Quality –Relevance –Lifelong learning –Cost and efficiency New pedagogical paradigm –Learning as a constructive process –More than acquisition of basic literacy skill –Non-formal and non- linear learning –New flexible learning environments

7 ICT in learning – Holistic model

8 ICT in learning – Requirements  Orchestrated effort  Wide spectrum of competencies, skills and inputs

9 UNESCO’s functions Laboratory of ideas Standard-setter Clearinghouse Capacity builder Catalyst for international cooperation

10 Case Study: UNESCO ICT-CSE ICT Competency Standards for Educators (ICT/CSE) A tool/benchmark to:  Determine competencies of pioneer/ leader/ innovative teacher  Develop core of learning activities which can be adapted and used throughout Member States  Deal with knowledge and skills related to four main areas of competence:  Pedagogy and ICT  Collaboration and ICT  Organizational development and ICT  School innovation and ICT.

11 ICT-CSE: Why? Increasing role of private sector in education

12 ICT-CSE modular structure

13  A strategic model of partnerships involving all stakeholders in ICT skills for educators  Inclusive nature as the emerging standards encompass some existing ones, compliment others, ensure multilingual needs, respect different governmental needs around the world  A sustainable business model  Ensures greater global impact and harmonization of efforts in capacity building of educators ICT-CSE: Overall features

14 Why e-standards?  Consumer’s perspective: Standards prevent lock-in to particular vendors and products Costs are lowered as custom installations are replaced by “plug and play” set-ups.  Learning content producer’s perspective: Standards allow content to be produced in a single format for use by any delivery system  Learner’s perspective: Standards can lead to more choice of products Standards make the results of their learning (for example, credit or certification) more portable, thereby supporting the “life long learner

15 Why e-standards?  Designer’s perspective: Standards facilitate design Standards give access to large storehouses of reusable content Standards reduce need to develop to multiple systems Standards allow them to create modular content that can be more easily updated and maintained

16 E-content standards – Situation  Learning content revolution requires universally-agreed standards for management of e-content  Many e-content initiatives worldwide, but fragmented approach  Uncoordinated nature of the activities results in patchy network of e-content:  different management and business models  no comprehensive gap analysis  no tools to support previous, current or planned activity

17 E-content standards – Needs  Ensure interoperability by sharing expertise, and resources and identifying suitable content  Co-ordinate initiatives on a significant scale  Develop e-content management standards in education to create frameworks for the creation of divers content and fosters its access  Establish common policy framework for e-content activities in life long learning and teaching  Bring key stakeholders together to work towards a common set of principles and guidelines for best practice

18 Conclusion 1.Using UNESCO’s ICT-CSE multi- stakeholder partnership approach as model for universal standardization of managing e-content 2.Using UNESCO’s convening power to drive joint international, multistakeholder efforts in that area 3.Building universal e-content management standards to revolutionize e-education and ensure its diversity