Welcome to the Commonwealth of Learning's course on Supporting Distance Education through Policy Development. During this course, we will introduce you to ways in which national educational policies can support distance education practices. We hope to provide you an in-depth introduction to distance education concepts –as well as the related concept of open learning. We will also explore some of the issues you will need to consider in implementation of distance education programmes. We will situate this introduction within a context of national policy-making, in order to help you understand better the relationship between good quality distance education practices and enabling national policy frameworks and mechanisms.

In preparing this course, we developed a range of learning outcomes, goals which we hope to be able to help you to achieve over the four months during which this course will run. You can read more about these learning outcomes if you are interested. We will also draw on content from a range of subject areas as you progress through the course. Click here to read more about the content we will cover during the course.

The course will be made up of three parts. During the first, you will use this CD and your e-mail to work through some preparatory activities that will introduce you to policy development and distance education. Via e-mail, we will give you an opportunity to share your thoughts and ideas with people from other countries in Southern Africa who are also involved in policy-making. We will then gather in Maputo, Mozambique to spend five days working through various workshop activities. We will then spend a further two months together online, working through various activities and continuing discussions via e-mail. You can read more about the course structure here.

If you do not feel familiar with using a CD, then try reading through some special help files we have put together for you. You can also read these to learn about some conventions that we use throughout the CD. To access the help files, simply click on this link with your mouse.

For most of you, learning in this way is a new way of learning, and you may be experiencing anxiety - and excitement - about whether you'll cope. Just follow the instructions, and when you get stuck there is always your mentor or a fellow learner to contact for support. Soon you'll find that this is an exciting way of learning, an you'll wonder why you were worried about it in the first place. 

We hope that you will find this process both enjoyable and rewarding. If, though, at any time, you have problems with any aspect of the course, please e-mail the course coordinator - Shelley Nicholas. To send her an e-mail, simply click on her name. She will be able to help you with any problem you may have. If you are uncomfortable sending her an e-mail, you can also contact her by telephone (+27 83 601-8717) or fax (+27 11 403-2814).

At this point, we would like to suggest that you proceed immediately to the introductory activity of the course.