Botswana: The Minister of Education and Skills Development Dr Douglas Letsholathebe officially opened the first international conference on ODL. The conference aimed at promoting the Open and Distance Learning opportunities.
ODL is a modern learning platform which allows the people to pursue their choice of education from the comfort of their own homes. The open learning will also have control over the timeline of the learning hours.
The workshop was hosted over a period of three days under the theme of ‘’Exploring Teaching and Learning in Open and Distance Learning.’’. The three-day event started on May 8 and was hosted by Botswana Open University (BOU).
The Minister of Education and stakeholders from the ministry of education attended the conference with delegates from SADC nations.
The event was centered around the following topics;
Teaching and Learning Strategies Post Covid19,
Assessment in Open and Distance Learning (ODL),
Technology Adoption and Management in ODL,
Research and Innovation in ODL,
Partnership and Collaboration in ODL,
Support Services for Learning as well as Financing of ODL.
The Minister of Education, Douglas Letsholathebe delivered the keynote address at the event and appreciated the organizers for organizing the three day event. He was delighted to note that the event had turned out to be a remarkable success.
He expressed great gratitude to Botswana Open University (BOU) for hosting a conference of this magnitude. He further noted that the theme of this conference resonates deeply with the national vision of an inclusive, knowledge-based economy.
The Minister went to declare that ODL offers a powerful solution, dismantling geographical and social barriers to learning. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Bonolo Khumotaka delivered brief remarks at the conclusion of the event.
Khumotaka encouraged the delegates to translate their powerful ideas into tangible actions. She also assured that the government of Botswana through the Ministry of Education is firmly supporting ODL.
She noted that they will do everything in its power to address challenges identified in the conference and work tirelessly to develop ODL frame works.