Education

1. UNESCO , ICT and the Millennium
Institute
Tapio Varis, professor emeritus
TapioVaris MI March 2014 1

2. MI Mission and Vision
• Millennium Institute’s vision is a world in which
decision makers apply extensive knowledge and a
systemic perspective to bring about a sustainable,
equitable, and peaceful global society. Millennium
Institute strives to realize its vision by enabling decision
makers to use system dynamics thinking and tools to
analyze and understand the interconnectedness between
economic, social, environmental factors, and issues of
peace and security.This will increase their capacity to
implement sustainable policies. MI seeks to play a
catalytic role in creating a global network of system
thinkers to solve critical 21st century challenges.
TapioVaris MI March 2014 2

3. Strategic questions
• Is world development sustainable without formidadble
peace architecture?
• Visibility in global debate?
• Alliance with UNESCO programme & projects?
• The role of ICT in a digital world?
• Concept of new learning culture, digital pedagogy?
• Fragmented vs holistic approach?
• Spirit of new humanism, new renaissance education?
• Transatlantic, Eurocentric approach vsAlliance of
Civilizations (AoC)?
TapioVaris MI March 2014 3

4. ICT and UNESCO: Millennium
Strategy of Learning
• UNESCO and ICT in education:The future school
• Millennium Institute goals and digital pedagogy
• Global University System (GUS) objectives
• Conclusions
TapioVaris MI March 2014 4

5. Varis 2013 5
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(Founded in 1946)
5

6. TapioVaris MI March 2014 6
Archibald MacLeish
(American poet and librarian, Chairman of the Committee which
drafted the Preamble)
"Of course we can educate for world peace. I would be willing, for my
own part, to say that there is no possible way of getting world peace
except through education.Which means education of the peoples of
the world.All you can do by arrangements between governments is to
remove the causes of disagreement which may become, in time,
causes of war. But peace, as we are all beginning to realize, is
something a great deal more than the absence of war. Peace is positive
and not negative. Peace is a way of living together which excludes
war, rather than a period without war in which peoples try to live
together." (The Unesco Courier, October 1985: 27)

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FROM EVOLUTIONARY HUMANISM TO NEW
HUMANISM
• Unesco constitution, ”peace must be founded, if it is
not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity
of mankind”
• Huxley and ”evolutionary humanism”
• Towards New Humanism, Human Rights & Human
Responsibilities, Individuality and responsibility:
Higher Humanity (Sitaram)
• Unesco Chairs/UNITWIN Network

8. TapioVaris MI March 2014 8
Julian Huxley, First DG of UNESCO 1946-48
• The main architect of the new evolutionary
synthesis
• ”Higher humanity”
• Huxley's humanism came from his appreciation that
mankind was in charge of its own destiny, and this
raised the need for a sense of direction and a system
of ethics

9. TapioVaris MI March 2014 9
Mr. Koichiro Matsuura
DG Unesco (1999-2009)
• “It is necessary to build up large movement to
humanize globalization, based on solidarity, on the
spirit of caring for and sharing with others”
• Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative as a
cooperation mechanism for the open, non-
commercial use of educational resources

10. TapioVaris MI March 2014 10
Ms.Irina Bokova
DG Unesco (2009- )
• New Humanism is not only theoretical but also
practical
• New humanism in the global society must prioritise
a new sense of respect for multiplicity and cultural
diversity and must support media development with
the goal of consolidating the new culture of peace

11. The 2013/4 Education for All Global
Monitoring Report
TapioVaris MI March 2014 11

12. The 2013/4 Education for All Global
Monitoring Report shows why
education is pivotal for development
in a rapidly changing world. It
explains how investing wisely in
teachers, and other reforms aimed at
strengthening equitable learning,
transform the long-term prospects of
people and societies.
Equity and quality education will be
pivotal in the post 2015 agendaTapioVaris MI March 2014 12

13. “Global learning crisis is costing
$129 billion a year”
• Report reveals that a global learning crisis is costing
governments $129 billion a year.Ten per cent of
global spending on primary education is being lost
on poor quality education that is failing to ensure
that children learn.
• without attracting and adequately training enough
teachers the learning crisis will last for several
generations and hit the disadvantaged hardest
TapioVaris MI March 2014 13

14. ICTs’
Transforma-ve
Power
for
Educa-on:
Alignment
with
post-­‐2015
educa-on
agenda
! Access:
ICTs
are
expected
to
broaden
access
to
learning
opportuni-es
at
different
levels
and
varied
educa-onal
contexts
! Quality:
ICTs
are
hoped
to
improve
the
quality
of
knowledge
acquisi-on,
knowledge
deepening,
and
knowledge
crea-on,
and
the
development
of
21st
century
skills
! Equity:
ICTs
are
believed
holding
poten-als
to
equalize
learning
opportuni-es
in
favour
of
economically
and/or
demographically
disadvantaged
popula-ons
“Ensure
equitable
quality
educa-on
and
lifelong
learning
for
all
by
2030”

15. 3.4 Mobile Learning: UNESCO’s
Understanding and Actions
Mobile
Learning
is
learning
anywhere,
any-me
through
the
use
of
mobile
technologies,
oNen
empowered
by
wireless
broadband
connec-on.
Scope
of
mobile
devices:
tablets,
mobile
phones,
e-­‐
readers,
etc.
UNESCO’s
main
focus
areas/acBviBes:
• Mobile
learning
policy
• Mobile
technologies
for
teachers
development
• Mobile
literacy
educa-on
for
women
and
girls
• Mobiles
for
reading
• Annual
Mobile
Learning
Week
• Mobile
apps
for
data
collecBon
"
IIEP
TapioVaris MI March 2014 15

16. UNESCO Chair in Global E-Learning
with applications to multiple domains
University of Tampere, Finland
• New proposed area of cooperation with UNESCO:
-mobile literacy education for women and girls
-cooperation with Unesco/IITE
-cooperation with ISPON/Nigeria
-UNITWIN Network
TapioVaris MI March 2014 16

17. UNESCO Institute
for Information Technologies in
Education
• UNESCO IITE invites all UNESCO Chairs,
Universities and other institutions of higher
education and research to join the established
Network of UNESCO IITE and UNITWIN/
UNESCO Chairs to develop international academic
cooperation in the field of ICTs in education and
innovative pedagogy.
TapioVaris MI March 2014 17

18. PEDAGOGIES OF MEDIA AND
INFORMATION LITERACIES
• UNESCO has been actively involved in developing foundations for media
and information literacy to assist Member States in pursuing the
achievement of the objectives of the Grünwald Declaration (1982), the
Alexandria Declaration (2005) and the UNESCO ParisAgenda (2007)
related to MIL.
• The UNESCO Institute for InformationTechnologies in Education
commissioned this Handbook, which is intended to become a useful tool
that would equip teacher training institutions and facilitate teaching media
and information literacy in teacher training, to the Finnish Society on Media
Education.This Handbook should help teachers to enhance their media and
information literacy and encourage them to take up media education in the
classroom.The main target group is teachers of secondary schools who are
either in training or in service.The Handbook provides teachers with basic
knowledge on media and information literacy, and the way these skills can
be taught.
TapioVaris MI March 2014 18

19. Tapio Varis MI March 2014 19
Software Strategies for Retooling the
Workforce
Professor TapioVaris
UNESCO Chair in Global e-Learning
University ofTampere,Finland
Keynote at the National Software Conference Organised by ISPON - 22
October,2013 at theTinapa Knowledge Centre,Calabar,Cross River State,
Federal republic of Nigeria.

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21. TapioVaris MI March 2014 21

22. OUR
SOLUTION
TapioVaris MI March 2014 22

23. Proposed Recommendations of the
ISPON Conference 2013
• strategies
• educational environment
• demystify technology innovation
• future schools models
• national Software Competition
• International e-Learning Centre for for
Domestication of e-LeaningTechnology Research
and Standards
VarisParis2014 23

24. Global University System (GUS)
(Takeshi Utsumi & Tapio Varis)
• GUS is a companion global alliance of major
universities in finding, collecting, model building,
and processing data. GUS brings technology to the
agenda of global education as launching a trans-
cultural, global-wide initiative (using modern
techniques of communication) to promote the kinds
of global education that will advance peace, justice,
understanding, and human wisdom.
Tapio Varis MI March 2014 24

25. Tapio Varis MI March 2014 25
www.globaluniversitysystem.info

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Inspiration of the best traditions of
American thinking
– Extreme freedom of thought,
– An emphasis on independent thinking,
– A steady immigration of new minds,
– A risk-taking culture with no stigma attached to trying
and failing,
– A non-corrupt bureaucracy, and
– Financial markets and a venture capital system that are
unrivaled at taking new ideas and turning them into
global products.

27. TapioVaris MI March 2014 27
Mission Statement
• Identify, test, and facilitate the deployment of broadband
Internet and related technologies that are affordable and
accessible for underdeveloped areas of the world,
• Coordinate the delivery of content and rich educational
experiences leading to a GUS degree,
• Provide a global infrastructure for collaboration among
faculty, students, graduates, and policy makers in
universities, healthcare institutions, corporations, and
governments.

28. TapioVaris MI March 2014 28
The Philosophies and Principles
• Transcultural, Globalwide Initiative
• Education for Moral Leadership
• Priority on Academic Freedom
• Emphasis on Quality Education
• Responsiveness to Student Needs and Aspirations
• Transnational Collaboration on Research
• Commitment to Openness
• Cultural SensitivityWithout Fragmentation or
Homogenization

29. Tapio Varis MI March 2014 29

30. Plans with GUS
• In December 2013, Dr Utsumi submitted our grant application (or inquiry) to;
• (a) NSF,
(b) Carnegie Corporation of NewYork,
(c) Ford Foundation
•
We will soon to have a meeting at the Stevens Institute ofTechnology to discuss;
• (a) Conduct of a videoconference — as similar to the one ofApril 18, 2013 (picture
before),
(b) Encouragement of our African colleagues submitting the Letter Of Inquiry
(LOI) to the USAID/DIV/Stage 1, (Tanzania, Rwanda, Gambia, Sierra Leone,
Ghana, Benin, DR Congo, Nigeria, and Brundi)
(c) How to conduct the planning workshop when we get the NSF fund, etc.
TapioVaris MI March 2014 30

31. The Global Knowledge Center
Network (GKCN)with
The Global University System (GUS)
• The highly interconnected and coupled nature of
energy, healthcare, food security, natural resource
management and sustainable economic growth have in
the past stymied the effectiveness of international
development efforts focused on each of these areas in
isolation.The aim of this combined research and
education initiative is to engage national and
international stakeholders in jointly developing
customized national sustainability simulation models
that can explore the comparative effectiveness of
development interventions from a systems perspective.
TapioVaris MI March 2014 31

32. Educational Purposes of GEWS/GUS
• To promote rational scientific approach for decision-
making with critical thinking for the capacity building
of bureaucrats and young aspiring future leaders, with
the use of simulation models of socio-economic-energy-
environment system which are distributed and
interlinked together around the world,
• To promote paradigm shift in international political
science as combining normative (role-playing) gaming
with quantitative (model-based) simulation,
• To promote globally collaborative creativity --
unleashing abundantly available young fresh brainpower
in Africa and later elsewhere around the world.
TapioVaris MI March 2014 32

33. Conclusions
• Develop the relationship MI-GUS-GKCN-GEWS
• Introduce media literacy and mobile literacy and
T-21 model in GUS-Stevens Institute ofTechnology
Workshop
• Keep these efforts part of the UNESCO Chair in
Global e-Learning and UNESCO programme on
ICT in education
• Keep the work visible in communications media
TapioVaris MI March 2014 33

34. Culture of Peace
• Knowledge is fueled and sustained by Peace.
AndWorld Development may not be
sustainable without a formidable Peace
Architecture at all levels.
Chris Uwaje, President of ISPON, Nigeria
TapioVaris MI March 2014 34

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