VUSSC/Singapore BC/Teamleaders orientation Jan07

Dear Interlocutors

We are fast approaching the scheduled time for the next Virtual University of Small States in the Commonwealth (VUSSC) boot camp, which will be held in Singapore, from March 12-30, 2007 under the theme “Professional Development for Educators”.

In preparation of this event, we would like to appoint four team leaders, who will represent the different VUSSC regions and lead the process.

We are therefore seeking your nomination of a person that could be available to meet in Vancouver, Canada for the duration of one week (costs of travel and subsistence will be paid). We have scheduled for them to be in Vancouver, from January 29 (arriving by Sunday 28 January), to February 2, 2007, to work on the necessary preparation to work with the whole group and for the training of others on how to work in online teams after the boot camp.

The VUSSC work will require a continuing commitment of at least a part-time basis for the next few years.

The team leader nominees should fulfill the following selection criteria:

be an employee of your national institution; should be given the time in their current job description, to both participate in the boot camp and online in the team for the foreseeable future (2 years +); should have access to internet-enabled computers, so as to collaborate and work online; and should have the subject matter expertise relevant to the group (in this case, “professional development of educators”).

We recommend that your nominee has some instructional design and/or experience in the development of distance education materials which would be an asset.

Action needed: Upon your selection of an appropriate nominee as team leader for the next boot camp in Singapore, kindly forward his/her CV to Patricia Schlicht at COL at pschlicht@col.org or to me at pwest@col.org. We will select four people based on regional distribution and your recommendations.

Summary of steps to be taken:

Countries nominate a suitable person to become a team leader as mentioned above, for COL’s final selection process. We are looking for one person from each region that is very computer and internet literate. S/he should have excellent skills at motivating others. A good command in materials development for the professional development of educators is required. Countries nominate a participant who will take part in the actual boot camp in Singapore and the ongoing work following the boot camp (a maximum of 1 person per country). The maximum number of people in total for the boot camp should not exceed 18 people, including team leaders). This group will meet in Singapore in March 2007 for three weeks and will gain additional technical and educational skills. Once COL has selected the four team leaders from your nominations, we will bring them to Vancouver for a week-long orientation session. The dates for this are: 29 January to 2 February. The team leaders (4 people) and participants (another 14 people) will meet in Singapore for three weeks (12 to 30 March), to begin the process of content development. The group will develop as much material as possible during their time in Singapore (the last group developed around 30 notional learning hours during this phase), and have continued working on the materials online once they returned home. The new group will also need to work with your institution on the implementation of the materials in your country.

During the boot camp, the team will be expected to post draft materials on WikiEducator (http://www.wikieducator.org) each day for peer review, both by the local team members, and anyone else. This way, people from other countries not directly involved in the boot camp can still participate.

Priority action 1: Kindly provide a nomination of a suitable person from an institution in your country who could commit to the VUSSC efforts who COL could consider for the team leader role. One person per region will be selected.

Priority action 2: Please let us know if you would like to nominate a person from your country to participate in the next boot camp for the Professional Development of materials for Educators in Singapore.

Please do not nominate anyone who participated in the Mauritius Boot Camp. The existing "Mauritius team" will remain in place and continue to function online.

Regards

Paul West

--- Paul G. West Director: Knowledge Management & Information Technology The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) 1055 West Hastings Street,  Suite 1200, Vancouver, BC, V5E 2E9, CANADA. Tel: +1(604)775-8200 (Switchboard) / Personal Tel: +1(604)775-8236 Fax: +1(604)775-8210 / Personal eFax: +1(702)995-6243

www.col.org / pwest@col.org / www.col.org/pwest COL knowledge finder: http://www.colfinder.org/public

COL is an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies.