Greetings, hello, from the secretariat. Of icd, in oslo, norway, my name is turin nelswick, i'm the secretary, general of icb. And i'm very pleased to be able to speak to you, on the occasion, of the brazilian. Congress, of higher. Distance education. And the international, congress, of higher distance education. 2020. So, let me pull up my. Slides. Allow me to briefly, introduce. Icd. We are as far as i know the leading. Oldest, global, membership, organization, for open flexible, and distance learning we were founded. Already, back in 1938. In canada. We are. A not-for-profit. A non-governmental. Organization. We have been supported, by the norwegian. Ministry. Of education, and research, since. Which is why the secretariat. Is based, in oslo. And we are. In a consultative. Partnership, with unesco, we've been so since. The 60s. And on the map, you will see. The global. Outreach. Of icde. Um, we have more than, 250. Members and partners, and the dots indicate. On the map. Where these members and partners. Which countries, they are, situated. That's more than 70 countries. Across the world regions, and. All our members are impacting. Altogether, more than 15. Million, students. Around the globe. And the purpose, of what we're doing. Is the same as it's been since 1938. It's, to, bring. Education. To all. Inclusive, education, through. New. Method. Methodologies. And technologies. For learning, the technologies, were different, of course, in 1938. When we were established, as the international, council for correspondence, education. Where the communication. Took place, through. Postal, letters, between the students, and, the teachers. However. The purpose. Is, still the same today. With inclusive, education. A little bit more about how we work, so the secretariat. In oslo. Is very small one we have only 45. Permanent staff members, so, we are able to do meaningful, activities, across the globe only through our members and partners. The members. Are basically. Higher education, institutions. But we also have individual, membership, and student memberships. So these would be experts, and faculty, members. Within. Primarily higher education. And we also work with associations. On regional, and global level. In different, regions of the world. And through these members and partners we are able to work on different levels, so for example, with unesco, we work on the policy, level. On the. 2030. Education, framework for action. Icd took part. We have been working with unesco, on developing, guidelines, on the inclusion. Of learners, with disabilities. And we are. A member of the. Unesco. Oer. Dynamic, coalition. We also work on advocacy, and leadership with directors, and presidents. Of our institutional, members. And through our committees, and, networks. And we work on the, practice level. With experts. Within distance and online. Education. So, why do we need a global network for education. Well. We all, face global, challenges, and the global challenges, for education. Have to be solved by global solutions. And, the sustainable, development. Goals. Especially, number four. Is valid for all educators. It is to. Ensure. Inclusive, and equitable. Quality, education, and promote lifelong learning for all. It is. A common goal for educators, across the globe and. Of at least. The ones that are engaged, in. Flexible. And, distance and online education. And learning methods. And the the covert 19 pandemic, has affected, education, so severely. And it still is and and with schools, and campuses. Lockdowns. And the immediate. Need shift, to. Flexible. And distance learning modalities. Um. Has. Also shown that the the. The access, or the need. To access the connectivity. Is core. The right to connectivity. And technology, has now been included. By unesco, into the right. To education. And. The effect, of the pandemic, has shown that. The ones, who, suffer the most. From from lack of access to, the right proper technology, and connectivity. Are the ones that already. Are the vulnerable. Most vulnerable. Learners such as as women and girls and, learners, in remote and rural. Areas. The silver lining however. Is that. The increased, attention. That. Open flexible, and distance learning methods. And innovation. In teaching and learning. Has been seen as a response, to to the crisis. This, requires. Cross-sectoral. And cross-country. Collaboration. And we have seen many. Significant, global partnerships. Um. Emerge from the crisis and also. An increased willingness, to share expertise, and and resources. Uh as a response to the pandemic. Uh furthermore. Um. So, um, the global megatrends. Of digitalization. And globalization. Affects also. The higher education, institutions. Who must prepare, candidates, for a global, job market. With competencies, and skills for constantly. Changing. And shifting, um landscape. We know that that automatization. And digitization. Require, constant, upskilling, and reskilling.
Of Workers, in order to, um. Secure. The relevant. Skills. Um. And, um. Employability. Um. And relevance for the candidates. And. This is why. Internationalization. Is so high on the agenda. For many higher education institutions. And even though. There's a competition. Also, in in the global education market. Many find that. International. Orientation, and collaboration. Through, global networks, is, is the only way to develop. This international, profile. And. The need to be, globally relevant. Applies to everyone. While the uniqueness. And, regional, connections. Of the university, make the institution. Locally relevant. So these are, are just a few examples. Of the. Global partnerships. And increased collaboration, that has emerged, from the crisis. Unesco. Pulled together. The global. Education, coalition. Where they have attracted. Members of civil society, ministries, and the private sector in order to solve. The immediate. Need. Of. The, the coveted nine, team pandemic, and the effect it had on on education. The. International, teacher, task force, um. It's also a unesco, initiative it existed already before. The pandemic, but. They have for example. Increased, their efforts, towards. Copyrighting. Responses. Related, to. Competencies. And skills development, for for teachers. Having to pivot, their. Teaching to. Flexible, and distance and online learning modalities. And we have seen other. Partnerships, such as. Commonwealth, of learning. Who. Initiated, this open door. Collaboration, international, partnership, of distance and online education, for covert 19. And. Again again initiative. Um. From, commonwealth, of learning and oeru. The oer. For covet. Uh which also. Icd. Is a partner too. Uh, through these partnerships. Um. There are virtual, activities. Uh emerging, such as webinars, but also. Uh reports. Um. An example, is this one, on the left side the. Report from the association. For the development, of education, in africa which also is a partner, organization, to icde. It's about. The impact, of covet 19, on education in african countries. And. Icd, also has its own special resource. Page. You can find it through icd.org. Corona. We pulled it up. Shortly, after the covet 19 had been declared. As a pandemic. And. The purpose was to. Gather. Relevant, resources. Tips, for, online, distance. Teaching and learning, and to gather resources, and use. And, also to. Engage, our membership, into. This. Task force. And the campaign that we called. Learning together. Because it's. More important than ever, that we share. Our knowledge, and. Expertise. And. And learn. Together because this is a global. Challenge. That requires collaboration, and we can only do so through our members contributions. So we have held. Several. Webinar. Series. And, um, gathered, a lot of resources. So so check out this this page we populate, it. And. As we go. With the contributions. From. All our, members and stakeholders. A more concrete, example. Of. A partnership. That, icd, has entered into recently, is with. The brazilian, association. Universe. As a. Regional, association, for federal, universities. In brazil. And, icd, as a global membership, organization. We have. Entered into this partnership. By mapping. The mutual, areas of interest. Where we identify. Synergies. And, also benefits, for our respective, members. And we. Together, when collaborating. We can. Create. Increased, visibility. For each other's. Organizations. And. Share. Expertise. We need, has the regional. Knowledge, and the key context, and the network. That we need, in a global. Organization. In order to. Develop meaningful, activities. Within, um. This region, and you need, to see the value, of being connected, to. Our global, expertise, and the broader, international, network. So. We can collaborate, then through. Events, such as this one. Projects. We could work on. Material, and reports. With for example, regional. Contextualization. Or translational. Material. So, those are just a few, examples, on, how such a partnership, can. Develop concrete. Results. And we look very much forward to the continued. Collaboration. With united. To look more forward to icde's, focus areas, and strategic, priorities, we will be launching, our next, strategic, plan, in november, this year. But a sneak peak on this. So. Icd, will advocate, globally, for open flexible, and distance, learning. And we do, so by, enabling. Our members and partners.
And Empowering, them, to, influence. Nationally, and regionally, on this field. We will. Extend our global reach, um. Even more and specifically, target underrepresented. Regions. Um. And, um. Also attract new stakeholders. And. Focus on the disadvantaged. Learner populations. And, we have. Some core. Priority, areas. Which we have been worked, working on for a while. They will they will still. Mean. Value, and. Create value for our members. As they have for a while. So those are quality. Quality enhancement. Of. Distance, and. Online education. Open educational, resources. And open education practices, and. Innovative, use of technologies. For learning. As a member. A partner. You can engage, with icde, through various. Various activities. And these are just, some snapshots. Of. These activities. Our members. Host, conferences. And we. Usually have a biannual, world conferences. And annual, leadership, summits but we also have, topical, international, conferences. Across the globe. We work with them. With reports. Um. Such as. There's a few examples, here uh the one about models, for online. Open flexible, and technology, enhanced higher education, across the globe, with an analysis. Made a couple of years ago. And there's this. Report, here, on. The present and future, of, alternative. Digital. Credentials, it's actually been. Translated, to spanish. So these working groups topical working groups. Consist, of, engaged. Icd, members, and. They can conduct webinars. Or produce. Reports. That we share with, the community. We also work with the larger projects, such as. This. Project called epica, which is a. Horizon, 2020. Project. And it's about. A e-portfolio. It's a strategic, partnership for the co-design, of an, innovative, and scalable, e-portfolio. To be implemented, in, sub-saharan, africa. And, uh last but not the least we have, our own, um. Open scholarly, journal, uh it's called open praxis. Um. So it's an open access journal, uh peer-reviewed. Uh. And it's been hosted by, one of our members, in spain, called uned. And. This. Journal. Then. Promotes. And. Showcases. The latest, research. Within the. Field. Uh. On the side of the event so all events now are. Virtual, um. Of for obvious reasons, and our, next upcoming, event is, the. President's, forum. With the title, recalibrating. Educational, leadership, for, resilient. Education, it takes, place on the 25th. Of november. And it's for, this is a, closed event for. Institutional, members. Directors, and presidents. And, to engage. The leaders, educational, leaders, into discussions, on how we can recalibrate. Our leadership. To make education, more resilient, for. A future crisis. Um, however. Pre-conference. Activities, are. Free and open, for everyone. Um. You can check out the website. At icd.org. Pf pf2020. And, here we populate, the. The website, with the. Video. Video blog posts, and, blogs. Which, are provided, by, our members, and stakeholders. Addressing. Challenges. And these, input will be provided. As discussion, topics, for. The forum, which will take place on the 25th, of november. It's a real, um. Challenge. To have a virtual. Um, event. Um. At a global level. Uh because of the time zones. Uh so um. Because there's always, night for for someone, um, across the globe so we are doing this, on the 25th. By. Having regional, consultations. So we will have six different regional, consultations. Adapted to the time zones. And it will be icd's, executive committee members. Who are placed in, various regions, who will. Lead and moderate, these, sessions.
So It will be a very. Exciting. Event. And. I invite everyone to. To, engage, and contribute, to the. Pre-conference, activities, we will also have. A few. Partner, organizations, hosting. Satellite, engagement. Events, to. Spark the discussions. Prior to the day. So in the pipeline, for 2021. For icde. Um. So what we already know is we are going to start a new, european, project, um. It's called the. Encore, plus. European, network for catalyzing, open resources, in education, so it's about oer. It's about. Innovation, and entrepreneurship. With oer. And we have, partners, both from the academic, sector, higher education sector and the. Corporate sector. And icde, is the coordinator, for, for this project. We will. Host a leadership summit. In new zealand, well by our hosts. Open polytechnic. It will be a virtual, one. Addressing. Leadership. Challenges. Still building on some of the output from the president's, forum, that will take place this year. So we look very much forward to that and, we hope to be able to, also conduct, a global virtual conference, in, october, later in the year which is still to be. Considered. So. Last. Check out our website, join. The community. We welcome, more members. It's the members and partners that make us, stronger, and, you can follow us by subscribing. To, our newsletter. Follow us on the social media. And. Also be sure to read the interesting, contributions. On the icd, blog. Insider. You'll find all the links. In my presentation. And, thank you very much, and please take contact. Should you be interested in learning more about icde. Or talk to me or someone in the secretariat. Thank you very much. You.
2020-12-04