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Botswana College of Distance and Open LearningFrom Researching Virtual Initiatives in EducationThe Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning (BOCODOL) is a private provider located in Gaborone, Botswana that offers e-learning through Internet, CD-rom and Moodle, for secondary and further education.
BOCODOL was created by an Act of Parliament in December 1998. Its creation marked a milestone in the development of Education for Botswana and a significant step towards realising Botswanas Vision 2016, which emphasises the elimination of poverty through the provision of knowledge and skills. The case for establishing a semi-autonomous distance teaching college was made by the National Commission on Education in 1993 (Recommendation number 87). The learners learn from specially designed study materials, which use a combination of different types of media, methods and communication technologies. The college is also faced with the task of broadening types of courses it offers to include vocational, professional management and other programmes. Through collaboration with other regional open and distance learning institutions, BOCODOL has ventured into higher education: it has started offering two diploma level programmes. BOCODOL has been formed to improve access to learning opportunities on a nation wide scale for the out of school young adults. Its mission is to provide quality, innovative, open and distance learning programmes and services to empower our clients with knowledge and skills for global competitiveness. The College has, in addition to its Headquarters in Gaborone, five Regional offices in Gaborone, Francistown, Palapye, Maun and Kang that operate through study centres country-wide. It has a sister institution in Namibia: Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL)
More DetailsAbout 5,800 students were enrolled in 2009.
Source: Perspectives on Distance Education: Open Schooling in the 21st Century, Dominique A.M.X. Abrioux and Frances Ferreira, Vancouver: Commonwealth of Learning, 2009, http://www.col.org/PublicationDocuments/pub_PS_OpenSchooling_web.pdf, August 2011.
Source: http://www.bocodol.ac.bw/PGContent.php?UID=608
A typical learning centre at school equivalency level runs tutorials weekly from Monday to Thursday at 1800 -2000 i.e. evening. For the certificate and Diploma level programmes, the tutorials are conducted during the weekends; both Saturday and Sunday at specified intervals commensurate with the course/programme. Source: http://www.bocodol.ac.bw/PGContent.php?UID=644
References
and Frances Ferreira, Vancouver: Commonwealth of Learning, 2009, http://www.col.org/PublicationDocuments/pub_PS_OpenSchooling_web.pdf, August 2011.
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