MOOCs for Development

Format:
The 2-day conference at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia will include a series of thematic panels with invited speakers from academia, industry, practitioners and policy makers. Major plenary sessions will be open to the public upon registration. The discussion and workshops are designed to stimulate critical and in-depth discussions of key issues related to the future of MOOCs in developing countries.

Principal themes and topics (tentative):

1. MOOCs, ODL, OER and ICT for development (ICT4D): divergences vs. convergences in ICT4D; national and global perspectives; the latest trends.

2. MOOCs and inclusion: responding to diverse learners; authorship and ownership of MOOCs for development; digital infrastructure constraints and opportunities.

3. Challenges for international development: training and capacity building, global health, teacher training, social enterprise and digital information access.

Invited Speakers:

Mamadou Adj (École Polytechnique de Dakar), Patrick Aebischer (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne),

Dendev Badarch (IITE, Moscow), V. Balaji (Commonwealth of Learning), Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman (Minister of Education, Pakistan), Adel Ben Taziri (Universite Virtuel de Tunis),Nodumo Dhlamini (Ruforum, Nairobi),Bakary Diallo (African Virtual University), Papa Youga Dieng (Organization Internationale de la Francophonie), Masennya Dikotla (Molteno Institute, Johannesburg), Stephen Downes (National Research Council of Canada), Steven Duggan (Microsoft), Robert Gregoire (University of Moncton, Canada), Alex Hague (Kepler.org, Rwanda), Karen Hauff (GIZ, Germany), Larry Hirschhorn (Center for Applied Research), Eric Johnson (USAID), Abdulwaheed Khan (UNESCO), Vijay Kumar (MIT), Minghua Li (East China Normal University), Mpine Makoe (UNISA, Pretoria), Francisco Marmolejo (World Bank), Abdellatif Miraoui (University Cadi Ayad, Morocco), Barbara Moser-Mercer (University of Geneva), Clara Ng (Coursera), Nguyen Hoi Nghia (Vietnam National University), Candice Reimers (Google), Tarek Shawki (AUC, Cairo), Adel Ben Taziri (Virtual University of Tunis), Gard Titlestad (International Council for Open and Distance Education), Michael Trucano (World Bank), Libing Wang (UNESCO-Bangkok), and others TBA

Registration:
Formal registration can be found at our website:

Moocs4d Conference Program