Search results

Educational leaders in Micronesia have identified the need for well-trained teachers as an essential precursor to the development of effective educational systems. Preservice and in-service teachers living in the rural and geographically dispersed Pacific islands do not have easy access to ongoing educational opportunities. With the growth of satellite-based telecommunication networks throughout the northern Pacific region of Micronesia in the past 10 years, distance learning has been identified as a way to provide Islanders access to further education in the fields of education, health, and government. Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), along with several partner organisations, has been building the distance learning infrastructure in the Pacific since 1997. In partnership with Pan-Pacific Education and Communication Experiments by Satellite (PEACESAT), PREL has been involved in building the technical and human infrastructure necessary for distance learning initiatives. Organisations that have been instrumental in this partnership are the University of Guam and the Sasakawa Pacific Island Nations Fund (SPINF). Together, these organisations have partnered to provide training, organise meetings and workshops that bring together key people on the different islands, and develop the human resources that were necessary to maintain and support the delivery of distance learning initiatives.