VISITING PROFESSOR FROM INDIA PRESENTS LECTURE AT COE ON DISTANT EDUCATION'S IMPACT ON HIGHER EDUCATION

June 9, 2003

VISITING PROFESSOR FROM INDIA PRESENTS LECTURE AT COE ON DISTANT EDUCATION'S IMPACT ON HIGHER EDUCATION

Professor Santosh Panda of Indira Ghandi National Open University, New Delhi, India, will present a lecture, "Mass Higher Education and Quality - The Case of Indira Gandhi National Open University" at the University of New Mexico College of Education (COE) on Thursday, July 17, from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Technology Center, Room 201.

A question and answer session and reception will follow.

The college and its Organizational Learning & Instructional Technologies (OLIT) program are hosting the visit by Panda, a Fulbright fellow.

Panda will complete his year of study and research in collaboration with COE Professor Lani Gunawardena at OLIT. Panda is interested in developing "a distance learning online model for professional development of special educators," he said.

The idea and reality of the large open universities emerging in the late 20th century with strong distance education components encompassing thousands of students, thousands of kilometers, and thousands of cultural/linguistic communities are changing ways that the academy functions internationally, Panda said.

He will reflect on changing times in the academy and local and regional work in professional education outreach.

"We hope this period at UNM has been memorable for him and we thank him for sharing with us these experiences and thoughts in international higher education," COE Associate Dean Richard van Dongen said.

Gunawardena's work in cross-cultural education in distance education continues to attract visiting scholars to the college. In August, a Fulbright fellow from Turkey will be hosted and later a doctoral student from Brazil.

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