UNIVERSITY OF TAMPERE
Research Centre for Vocational Education
Tel. +358335513608
Fax. +358335513611
GSM. +358505679833
UNESCO Chair in Global e-Learning with applications to multiple domains
Chairholder: Professor Tapio Varis
ANNUAL
REPORT OF THE UNESCO CHAIR IN GLOBAL E-LEARNING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TAMPERE,
FINLAND 2006
The Agreement between
UNESCO and the University of Tampere was signed by the Director-General of Unesco, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura on the 23rd
November 2001 and by the Rector of the University of Tampere, Mr. Jorma Sipila,
on the 9th January 2002. According to the Agreement Article 1:
ÒThe University shall, in cooperation with UNESCO, establish
a UNESCO Chair in global e-learning with applications to multiple domains
(hereinafter referred to as "the Chair") at its Faculty of
Education.Ó
Article 2 of the
Agreement defines the purpose of the Chair as follows:
ÒThe purpose of the Chair shall be to
promote an integrated system of research, training, information and
documentation in the field of global e-learning with applications to multiple
domains. It will serve as a means of facilitating collaboration between high
level, internationally recognized researchers and teaching staff of the
University and other institutions in Finland and Europe and other regions in
the world.Ó
Article 3 determines
the procedure of appointing the Chairholder as follows:
ÒThe University, in
consultation with UNESCO, shall appoint the Chairholder who will be selected by
means of a procedure to be mutually agreed upon.Ó
Following this
Agreement the University of Tampere in consultation with UNESCO appointed Dr. Tapio
Varis, professor of media
education in the Research Centre for Vocational Education and in the Hypermedia
laboratory as the Chairholder for the period 2002-2006. Full text of the
Agreement and the previous annual reports are available at: http://www.uta.fi/~titava.
In 2006 Professor Varis was appointed as Professor of Vocational Education,
with particular reference to Global Learning Environments.
This Report is divided
into three parts. Part I describes the regular activities of the Chairholder,
Professor Tapio Varis. Part II describes progress in the creation of the Global
University System (GUS). Part III gives information of the financing of the
Chair.
Part
I: Regular activities of the Chairholder, Professor Tapio Varis
Principal
Research Associate of Unesco-Unevoc International Centre for Technical and
Vocational Education and Training
In 2006 Professor
Varis was appointed as the Principal Research Associate of Unesco-Unevoc
International Centre for technical and Vocational Education and Training which
has its Headquarters in Bonn, Germany.
Dr Varis contibuted to UNESCO-UNEVOC
International Conference ÓVocational Content in Mass Higher EducationÓ,
September 2005. Organized UNESCO-UNEVOC workshop on ICT and sustainable
development in vocational education in the Baltic region in January 2006, and a
seminar on multicultural communication in May 2006. Responsible for research
and development on ICT and sustainable development and author of related
documents. Speaker and participant in UNESCO-UNEVOC related conferences in Paris, Ecuador, India,
Turkey, Finland, Russia, and Brazil. UNESCO-UNEVOC representative in the
forthcoming African e-learning conference 2007.
The Research Centre for
Vocational Education in the University of Tampere also became a National UNEVOC
Centre in Finland in 2006. Professor Pekka Ruohotie and Dr. Rupert Maclean
edited a Festschrift honouring the work of Professor Varis on his 60th
birthday ÒCommunication and Learning in the Multicultural WorldÓ, University of
Tampere 2006.
Paper
presentation and Plenary Panel in International Conference on Digital
Libraries, New Delhi, India, 5-8 December 2006
Presentation
in the Second International Colloquium on Research & Higher Education
Education Policy, UNESCO, Paris, 29 November – 1 December 2006
Global University
System, TOBB Economics and Technology University, Ankara, Turkey, 19-20 October
2006
Networking for the
Future – Children, Literature and Media Skills, Electronic Digital Media
Project International Seminar, Helsinki, Finland, 28 September 2006
COMMUNICATION:
a new frontier for social inclusion
Communication:
a new frontier for social inclusion, EU eLearning Conference, Helsinki, Finland 4 July 2006
Third Public Relations
Conference, Brasilia, Brazil 26 June (paper presented in absence)
E-Learning Goes Social
– Policy Becomes e-Inclusive, keynote at the 28th
International Conference ÒInformation Technology InterfacesÓ, University
Computing Centre, University of Zagreb, Croatia, 19-22 June 2006 (Vice-Chair of
ITI 2006 Conference)
Building e-Inclusive
Europe, EU Riga 12-13 June 2006
Panel and Workshop
presentations in the Conference of the Century, Auditoria Democratica Andina,
Ecuador 1-3 June 2006
Media Literacies in
the Digital Age,Ó 3rd Congres on Specialized Journalism,
Guadalajara, Madrid 5 May 2006
Communication and
confidence-building, International conference on multicultural communication,
HŠmeenlinna 22-23 May 2006
Die Globale
UniversitŠt und die Konkurrenz zwischen EU und USA im digitalen Bildungsbereich,
Multimediakontor Hamburg, 25 April 2006
Keynote and Workshop
presentations at Media and Gender Beijing International Forum, Beijing 12-14
January 2006
Associate Editor of International Journal of Mobile Learning and
Organisation (IJMLO)
Building Global Inclusive Knowledge Societies, International Conference
on Digital Libraries, New Delhi, India, 5-8 December 2006
Global
University in the Knowledge Societies, Presentation in the Second International
Colloquium on Research & Higher Education Policy, UNESCO, Paris, 29
November – 1 December 2006
E-Learning Goes Social
– Policy Becomes e-Inclusive, 28th International Conference
ÒInformation Technology InterfacesÓ, University Computing Centre, University of
Zagreb, Croatia, 19-22 June 2006
Course on ÒNew Media,
Communication and Peace in the Global Knowledge Society,Ó Taganrog University
of Radioengineering, Russia, 6 March – 31 May 2006
Doctoral seminar and
lecture course in master programme, University of Tampere, Finland
New
Media, Communication and Peace in the Global Knowledge Society, 5 study points
(3 Finnish credits). University of Helsinki, Finland
Master
seminar in communication studies, University of Helsinki, Finland
Custos (Chair) of a Doctoral Dissertation, University of Tampere 24
February 2006
Scientific examiner (opponent) of a Doctoral Dissertation, Helsinki
University of Technology, 18 December 2006
University of Lapland, expert evaluation for the position of a
professorship in media research
Expert evaluation to
the Swiss National Science Foundation, December 2006
Member of the European
Commission Media Literacy Expert Group 2006
Expert in consultation
of the European Union ICT programme, June 2006
Research planning
meeting with Dr. Margarita Pavlova, St. Petersburg, Russia, and Bonn, Germany
21-26 September 2006
Festschrift Book
international seminar, Helsinki, 1 September 2006
Keynote speeches in
national conferences in Finland
Videoconference speech
to Fukuoka Cultural Event, Japan, 4 November 2006
Active participation
in media related activities and regular contributions to national media
Part
II: Creation of the Global University System (GUS)
As was described in
the Annual Report of 2003 of the Chair, the main activity of the Chair has been
to create the Global University System (GUS) and build the network for this
project. The global activities and
networks of the Chair are presented by Dr. Takeshi Utsumi (full materials are available at the following address):
We
conducted a successful audioconference with parties in Aba and Lagos in Nigeria
and in New Jersey and New York on our Project;
Oji, D. E., T. Utsumi and C. Uwaje,
"International
Centers of Excellence for e-Health in Africa with Global University System in
Nigeria," Paper published in the eHealth International Journal,
International eHealth Association (IeHA), University of Michigan Health System,
September 25, 2005
We
conducted a successful audioconference with parties at the UNDP in Freetown,
Sierra Leone, in Seattle, WA and in New York on our Project;
Establishment of
International Centres of Excellence for e-Health (ICEEH)
in Sierra Leone and Mano River Union countries
See Section V-A-4 of <http://tinyurl.com/b475v>
We conducted a
successful audioconference with parties at the UNDP in New York, parties in
Seattle, WA, Atlanta, GA and in New York on our Project to create GUS/Sierra
Leone mentioned above.
Utsumi, T.
ÒGlobal E-Learning for Global Peace with Global University System,Ó Experiments
in Education, Vol. XXXIV, No.
1, ISSN 0970-7490, January, 2006
http://www.experimentsineducation.150m.com
"Global
University System for Engineering Education in the Age of Globalization";
European Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 31, No.3, June 2006, Pages
339-348
Utsumi, T.
"Globally
Collaborative Innovation Network with Global University System," Paper
for Learning Technology,
IEEE Computer Society, Vol. 8, Issue 3, July, 2006
Utsumi, T. (2005); "Global
E-Learning for Global Peace with Global University System," Paper for
the forthcoming publication "Communication and Learning in the
Multicultural World,"
University of Tampere, Finland, (Edited by Pekka Ruohotie), to celebrate the
60th birthday of the GUS Acting President Tapio Varis in June 2006
a.
January 27, 2006
Columbia University
ÒNew Media in Education 2006: A Progress ReportÓ
b.
February 16, 2006
Columbia University
"Informedia & CareMedia: Automatic Digital Video
Understanding."
c.
April 13, 2006
United Nations University seminar in New York,
ÒChallenging Intellectual
Property: Access to Knowledge Issues in Open Source and MedicineÓ
d.
April 22, 2006
Annual Meeting of the Japanese Medical Society of America in New York.
e.
April 24, 2006
Meeting with Dr. Dorothy Gordon, Director-General of the Advanced Information
Technology Institute (AITI) (Ghana India Kofi Annan Center of Excellence in
ICT) in Ghana, at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey
f.
November 29 to 30, 2006
SATCON 2006, November 29-30 at the
Javits Convention Center in New York.
g.
December 3, 2006
Future Direction of the Greater New York Chapter of the Fulbright Association
h.
December 7, 2006
Polytechnic University in New York
Dr. Bob Metcalfe, Co-inventor of Ethernet
ÒEthernet is the Answer; What is the Question?Ó
i.
December 15, 2006
United Nations University seminar in New York,
ÒTrading on Human TermsÓ
4. Meeting
held
July
6, 2006
Columbia School of Public Health
To
create GUS/New York Chapter for
exporting (later importing) educational, healthcare (and later cultural)
services in tri-state around NYC to (later from) developing countries, and then
construction of a portal for those services and delivery mechanism, etc.
Along this line, there were linkages made for future GUS activities with;
a. Center
for Technology Management in Global Development at Stevens Institute of
Technology in New Jersey
b. United
States/Africa Materials Institute (USAMI) at Princeton University in New Jersey
1. Creation
of GUS/Siberia <http://tinyurl.com/yxzsx9>
During the
fact-finding and assessment trip to Novosibirsk and Altai region in Siberia in
September with the fund from the US Agency for International Development
through the Eurasia Foundation, we were overwhelmed with astonishing interest
in our project at all the levels of governments, municipalities, higher
educational and healthcare institutions — our meeting was even televised
throughout entire Russia by a national TV program from Moscow!!
2. Creation
of GUS/Turkey <http://tinyurl.com/wy5xz>
In
October, we had very fruitful and productive discusi—ns with TOBB Economics and
Technology University in Ankara to initiate the following two projects;
a. Global
E-Learning:
Students of the TOBB university would receive
courses from the Helsinki University of Technology — this is to take the
advantage of same time zone for better student care.
b. Globally
Collaborative Research and Development:
Under the tutelage of
Prof. Tapio Varis, there would be a joint collaborative research on global
e-learning between the TOBB University and the University of Tampere in
Finland.
Part
III: Financial Report
Available
upon request