It
is with great pleasure that I welcome the participants to the 22nd
ICDE World Conference in Rio de Janeiro, hosted by the Brazilian
Association for Distance Education (ABED).
The ICDE World Conference, held biennially, is established as one of the leading educational events
worldwide. The event aims at bringing together professionals from all over
the world in order to debate and present current initiatives within the
field of ICT-based education.
ABED is a non-profit scientific society devoted to the development of
Distance Education. We are honored to have the recognized institution of
ABED as the host for this ICDE World Conference.
ICDE is the global membership organization for flexible
learning and teaching, deriving its position from its status within UNESCO
as the NGO with formal consultative relations in distance and online
education, as well as from the unique knowledge and experience of its
members.
An important aim of ICDE is to promote intercultural co-operation and
understanding through flexible learning and teaching throughout the world.
In 1998, ICDE developed the ICDE
Latin America Network with the objective to promote distance education on
this continent and to create a forum for debates, sharing of expertise and
implementation of specific activities relevant for the professionals of the
region. At the moment the following countries are represented: Argentina,
Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Chile, Peru and Puerto
Rico. Among other activities, the network organizes a regional conference
every year and online workshops. They have developed their own website, they
have a comprehensive database about Distance Education activities in Latin
America, they have published two books on Distance Education in the region,
and they have signed a number of agreements with important international
organizations that are present in Latin American in order to implement a
number of activities.
This conference will be an outstanding forum offering opportunities for exploring partnerships and collaboration, but we also believe it will be a unique global platform for sharing and exchanging ideas on perspectives of open and distance teaching in relation to globalization, ICT-based education, as well as the important issue of quality.
ICDE will in the future give high priority to ensure the quality of what is provided to the students in terms of services, support and learning opportunities. We will work on the issue with UNESCO as well as with the universities involved in online and distance education and continue to focus on the quality aspects in our upcoming conferences.
Known as the “Wonderful City”, Rio de Janeiro offers a stunning setting to the 22nd ICDE World Conference. I am sure we all will take wonderful memories with us back home. ICDE is proud to have cooperated closely with ABED for many years, and we look forward to a fruitful and creative conference and to the continued cooperation between ABED and ICDE in the years ahead.
Conference Organizing Committee