DEOSNEWS Vol. 2  No. 7.
Copyright 1992 DEOS - The Distance Education Online Symposium
   
Editor: Morten Flate Paulsen, MFP101@PSUVM.PSU.EDU
Review: Margaret Koble
   
DEOS was established with a grant from the Annenberg/CPB Project.
   
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                      THE 16TH ICDE WORLD CONFERENCE:
              DISTANCE EDUCATION FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
   
                            8-13 November 1992
   
             Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, Thailand
   
   
Editorial
   
In the May 1991 issue of the International Council for Distance Education
(ICDE) Bulletin, it was stated that the secretariat would "shortly be
connected online internationally via EARN/BITNET". This editor looks
forward to receiving online messages from the secretariat and offers to
distribute relevant ICDE information via DEOS. As an example of such
information, this issue of DEOSNEWS is dedicated to the ICDE's 16th World
Conference. It includes an interview with Bruce Scriven, the Conference
Program Chair, as well as information extracted from the conference's
Second Announcement.
   
   
Information Extracted from the Second Announcement
   
     Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU) is situated approximate-
ly 10 kilometres from Bangkok International Airport. It covers an area of
5.6 hectares, with excellent academic facilities and comfortable surround-
ings. The functions of the conference will take place in and around the
Lecture Theatre, the Training Center, and the Seminar I and Seminar II
buildings.
     The following procedures apply to those wishing to present a paper,
conduct a workshop or lead a discussion group during one of the parallel
session:
   
     1. Abstracts only are to be submitted.
     2. Abstracts must not exceed 500 words and will not be accepted after
        30 March 1992.
     3. Each abstract must be accompanied by a biography of the author(s)
        not exceeding 80 words and a black and white passport size photo.
        In the case of joint authors, unfortunately we can only accept one
        photo which should be that of the person whose name appears first
        in the list of authors.
     4. When giving consideration to the selection of papers for presenta-
        tion at the Conference, priority will be given to those that are
        relevant to the Conference theme.
     5. As soon as possible after 30 March 1992, the writers of all papers
        selected for presentation will be provided with further information
        including dates, times and rooms for their presentations.
   
Abstracts must be sent to Program Chair:
   
     Assoc. Prof. Bruce Scriven
     Queensland University of Technology
     Locked Bag No. 2
     Post Office, Red Hill
     Qld  Australia   4059
     Tel:   (617) 864-3484
     Fax:   (617) 864-3395
     Email: B.Scriven@QUT.EDU.AU.
   
Important Deadlines:
   
     Abstract Submissions: 30 March
     Advance Registration: 30 June
     Accommodation Booking: 31 July
     Cancellation with Refund: 30 September
   
Conference Manager:
     Assoc. Prof. Dr. Makha Khittasangka
     Conference Manager
     16th ICDE World Conference
     Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University
     Nonthaburi 11120
     Thailand
     Tel: (662) 573-5849
     Fax: (662) 573-5890
     Tlx: 72353 UNISUKHO TH.
   
   
SPEAKING PERSONALLY--WITH BRUCE SCRIVEN, PROGRAM CHAIR
   
This interview with Bruce Scriven, program chair of the 16th ICDE World
Conference, was conducted via e-mail. The first set of questions was posted
in January. In February, a second round of questions was posted to clarify
and elaborate on the questions and answers. Finally, after the additional
information from the second announcement flier was included, the interview
was dispatched to Bruce Scriven for approval. Except for some technical
problems with lost messages, this was an interesting experience using an
interview technique that can be recommended.
     Bruce Scriven has been involved in distance education at University
level for more than 18 years. During this period he has been a member of
the Australian and South Pacific Studies Association and served on its
executive board as Secretary and as President. He has also been a member of
ICDE during this period and attended World Conferences in New Delhi,
Vancouver, Melbourne, Oslo, and Caracas. He is currently Associate Pro-
fessor of Education at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane
Australia.
   
Morten Flate Paulsen: Can you give us a brief history of the ICDE World
Conferences?
   
Bruce Scriven: The first ICDE conference was held in Victoria, BC, Canada
in 1938. Later,  World Conferences have been held approximately every four
years since the second conference held in Nebraska, USA in 1948. However
there were only two years between the 14th Conference in Oslo, Norway
(1988) and the 15th Conference in Caracas, Venezuela (1990). Again there
will be only two years between the Caracas and Bangkok Conferences. The
17th conference will be held in Birmingham, England in 1995. World confer-
ences provide opportunities for those interested in distance education to
discuss issues of mutual concern and relevance, to present research
findings and to learn from each other.
   
MFP: I have been in contact with Armando Villaroel, Conference Manager for
the Caracas conference. He pointed out to me that the conference was
important to increase the awareness of and activity in distance education
in Latin America. Just one example was the establishment of CREAD (Consor-
tium Distance Education Network). In what way do you believe that this
conference may be important for distance education in Asia?
   
BS: The conference is important for Asia because it is the first one to be
held there since the one in India in 1978, and it comes at a time of
increasing expansion and acceptance of distance education through open
universities. Also Bangkok is a central location for travel and hence will
be cheaper for many Asian delegates to get to than other countries.
   
MFP: What did you learn from the two latest conferences, in Oslo and
Caracas, and in what ways will the Bangkok conference be different?
   
BS: The major findings from both the Oslo and Caracas conferences were that
(a) delegates wanted more time to meet informally or in small groups--hence
there will be fewer plenary sessions in Bangkok and one or two cracker-
barrel sessions; (b) delegates generally wanted better quality presenta-
tions--hence efforts are being made to try to ensure this by close monitor-
ing of the abstracts submitted; (c) ICDE should try to improve the quality
of its publications and hence, while delegates at Bangkok will be able to
read abstracts of papers selected for presentation only the best papers
will become available after the conference; and (d) delegates consider
efficient administration of conferences and "value for money" to be
important and efforts will be made by the Thai management to ensure this.
   
MFP: Speaking about "value for money", will it be expensive to participate?
What about prices in Thailand? Must presenters pay the conference fee? Is
there a reduced fee for students? Are there any funds to cover travelling
costs or conference fees for any of the participants?
   
BS: Registration fee will be about $470 US with a 10% reduction [$425 US]
for ICDE members. Costs of travel, food and clothing in Thailand are cheap
by western standards although accommodation at the better class hotels is
on a par with Australia and Canada.
     Presenters will be required to pay the conference fee as will all the
ICDE Executive! More than 250 people have indicated they want to present
papers.
     All known donor agencies have been asked for financial support,
particularly to fund delegates from developing countries. All persons
seeking support should contact the ICDE Secretariat at Gjerdrums vei 12,
N-0486 Oslo 4, Norway.
   
MFP: What is the program status now, in January 1992? How many papers have
been submitted, what about keynote speakers, main attractions? When can we
expect that the program will be available?
   
BS: As of 20 January the Program outline has been finalised but some
details still have to be worked out. Obviously many actual details of a
conference cannot be readily finalised until the number of delegates is
known--eg. papers per session--and hence time that can be delegated to each
presentation. Also the nature and scope of evening activities. Main
attractions will depend on the eye of the beholder. The official reception
on the Monday night should certainly be a key event not to be missed. The
Broady Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Anastasio Christodoulou, Secretary
General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the four
keynote speakers will be Mrs. Simone Testa, Minister of Education, Republic
of Seychelles, Ms. Lucille Pacey, Vice President of Knowledge Network,
Canada, Dr. Chaiyong Brahmawong, Professor of Education at STOU, and Dr.
David Sewart, President of ICDE.
   
[the 16th ICDE World Conference Second Announcement lists these proposed
subthemes:
   
     1. Distance Education and Development
     2. Distance Education in the Developing World
     3. Distance Education, Literacy and Basic Education
     4. Research and Development
     5. Development of Distance Education Materials
     6. Student Needs and Support Systems
     7. Applications of Technology
     8. Distance Education and Open Learning
     9. Planning and the future]
   
MFP: What activities will be conducted adjunct to the conference? I am
thinking of preconferences, postconferences, etc.
   
BS: There are currently three preconference workshops planned and a variety
of postconference tours will be available. ICDE itself is not responsible
for running preconference workshops but assists and advises potential
presenters eg. by providing mailing lists.
   
[The 16th ICDE World Conference Second Announcement lists these pre-
conference workshops:
   
     3-5 November, 1992 in Hong Kong.
     Sponsored by the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong and the Common-
     wealth of Learning.
     Contact: The AD (Academic)'s Office, OLIHK
     12/F Trade Department Tower
     700 Nathan Road, Mongkok, Hong Kong
   
     5-8 November, 1992 in Colombo, Sri Lanka
     Organized by the Department of Education, Lund University
     Contact: Department of Education
     Lund University
     Box 199
     S-221 00 Lund
     Sweden
     Tel: 46 46 10 70 00
     Fax: 46 46 10 45 38
   
     6-8 November, 1992 at STOU, Thailand
     Organized by the Monash University Distance Education Center
     Contact: Centre for Distance Learning
     Monash Distance Education Centre
     Churchill, Victoria Australia 3842
     Tel: (051) 226-277
     Fax: (051) 226-578]
   
MFP: Terry Anderson has been working to establish some computer conferen-
cing activities adjunct to the conference. The following is a note he
mailed me:
   
     In order to expand the dialogue and information sharing associ-
     ated with the ICDE XVI Congress, an innovative use of computer
     mediated communications is being planned. The project will port
     discussions and interactions relevant to the Congress themes on a
     variety of Internet, UseNet, K12net and Bitnet computer networks.
     The project will commence one month prior to the Congress and
     include interactions with the delegates in Bangkok. Softwords has
     donated a CoSy conferencing system to be used by delegates in
     Bangkok. Distance educators from around the globe can participate
     by accessing established or new distance education discussion
     lists carried on the various international networks. For more
     information or if you wished to be involved in this project
     contact:
   
          Terry Anderson, ANDERSON@ACS.UCALGARY.CA or
          Robin Mason, RD_MASON@VAX.ACS.OPEN.AC.UK
   
MFP: In what way do you support this project?
   
BS: I gave initial approval to Terry Anderson to proceed with his idea of
setting up computer conferencing activities and have provided some initial
contact and advice. Unfortunately ICDE funds are not available to support
this initiative but, should it be successful, then funds could be sought
for subsequent conferences.
   
MFP: How many participants do you expect? From how many countries? How many
participants do you need to break even?
   
BS: We will be limiting delegate numbers to 1500 with approximately 1200
being non Thai. It is anticipated that at least 60 countries will be
represented. The budget is the responsibility of the Conference Manager not
the Program Chair, but I guess the break even number will be about 700.
   
------------------- End of DEOSNEWS Vol. 2  No. 7 ------------------------
   

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