The workshop in Mocambique is an integral part of the course and is probably the one learning method that you are all familiar with. The workshop programme is a bridge between what you have done in phase 1 and what you will be doing in phase 3. It gives you the opportunity of taking stock and sharing with your fellow students and mentors your online experiences. The workshop also enables you to work in teams and you will no doubt benefit from the synergy that will take place. We have identified three main themes:

• Building vision and understanding its importance in policy making and strategic planning.

• Developing a framework for programmes using distance education methods.

• The financial implications of different educational choices.

 The task 

All education policy should be driven by clear vision. This is the first theme that we will be exploring in the workshop. Creating vision is an activity that is not just confined to people in management positions. All of us use the power of vision to make quite ordinary events happen. For example, a family celebration often starts with an idea in someone’s mind. The idea of this future event is then shared with other family members who contribute new ideas or refinements of the original idea. In this visioning or imagining process, the future event starts to take shape and people become excited about planning for it to happen. The idea carries people along and helps to unify them in creating the celebration that was envisaged. 

In this activity, you are encouraged to look at vision in a new way and sharpen your understanding of the powerful influence of mental pictures. This should prepare you to participate more fully in the vision activities that are designed for the workshop. 

The activity has two parts. Part 1 consists of responding to a number of questions and its aim is to prepare you to do a creative activity in part 2. In part 2, you will draw a picture of how you see education in your country and a picture of how you would like to see it. We would like you to bring the two pictures to the workshop. You will get an opportunity to share these pictures with other participants during the introductory session on day one of the workshop.

The documents you need to read for this activity are contained in a format called Portable Document Format (or PDF). In order to view these files, you need to have installed a piece of software called Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this software on your computer, we have placed it on the CD for you to be able to install. You can read more about how to do this by viewing our Help Files on Adobe Acrobat Reader. 

Part 1
Read an article called Picture Power (PDF), and answer the following questions.

1. What did you like most about the ideas presented in this chapter? Why? 
2. What did you like least about the ideas presented in this chapter? Why?
3. ‘Visual imaging can produce powerful results.’ Do you agree? Explain 
4. Do you think any of this is useful for you in your current job? Explain.

The following three questions should help to prepare you directly to do the drawing activity in part 2.

5. Reflect on the current situation of education in your country. How do you think each of the following people ‘see’ education in your country?
- Learners
- Educators
- Minister of Education
6. How do you ‘see’ education in your country?
7. Write down some ideas of what you would like education to be in your country.

Part 2

This is the creative part of the activity. Use the approach you have read about in the chapter, and try to visualize a present and future situation of education in your country. The picture you choose should help you to think about the most important aspects of education in your country. You need two different pictures – one that illustrates the present situation and one that you imagine the future of education to be in your country. 

 What you should read 

To complete the above activity you need to read an article called Picture Power (PDF), from a book called Imaginization by Gareth Morgan, 1997.

 What you need to do 

	Open a workshop file in which you can file all your workshop-related activities.
	Read Picture Power (PDF). It is quite a long chapter and you might find it useful to make some notes as you go along.
	Respond to the questions in part 1 and file your responses in your workshop file. Your responses to questions 5, 6, and 7 can be useful when you think of pictures to illustrate education in your country in part 2.
	Think of education in your country and come up with a picture that shows what you think education is like in your country at present.
	Then select a picture of what you believe education should be in future. This picture should offer a vision of education in your country. You can either draw the pictures or cut them out of a magazine or newspaper.

 Estimated time 

We expect that this activity should take between 2-4 hours. 

 On completion 

This brings you to the end of formal online activities before the workshop.  We look forward to meeting you all soon in Mozambique!!

Please take the following items to the workshop:

	One picture that illustrates the present situation of education in your country.
	One picture that shows your vision of education in your country.
	A few postcards to share the beauty of your country with other participants.
	One or two artefacts (objects) that are made in your country.