Palau/OER

Overview

Palau, officially the Republic of Palau (Palauan: Beluu er a Belau), is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles (800 km) east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles (3,200 km) south of Tokyo in Japan. Having emerged from United Nations trusteeship (administered by the United States) in 1994, it is one of the world's youngest and smallest sovereign states. In English, the name is sometimes spelled Belau in accordance with the native pronunciation. It was formerly also spelled Pelew. Its population is around 20,000. Its capital is Melekeok but the largest city is Koror. The official languages are English and Palauan. It is a sovereign nation and member of the United Nations but has an association agreement with the United States.

Further information

For further general information see Wikipedia:Palau/OER.

Education in Palau/OER

For a general description of education in Palau/OER see Education:Palau/OER.

e-learning

For a description more focussed to e-learning see E-learning:Palau/OER.

Even by Pacific standards, awareness in Palau of the potential benefit of ICT use in education is extremely low. The country currently lacks any substantial ICT capacity for e-learning. Although computers are common in schools, their use in education is at a basic stage. Internet usage is not widespread beyond urbanised areas. Even there, Internet connections are expensive and speeds are generally low due to congestion. (2)

With respect to ICT use in education, Palau has a very low level of usage and is looking at a very modest development pathway, and again, the policies and practices are appropriate for the context. Distance Education and its use of ICT has benefited from two major initiatives; PRELSTAR and PR*TEC, both of which are Ministry of Education projects undertaken in association with Pacific Resources for Education and Learning. These projects have provided basic technical capability in computer technology and provide a foundation for growth in the area of eLearning. (1)

In comparison to many other Pacific micro-states in the Pacific, Palau has a relatively short history in terms of distance education. There is no local equivalent to the University of the South Pacific. However, distance education has developed to meet the career development needs of professionals in Palau. (2)

The Palau Ministry of Health has as active continuing medical education (CME) program. Not surprisingly, the MOH was keen to make use of the two PEACESAT ground stations in Palau for the delivery of distance education through audio- and video-conferencing. However, Palau falls at the edge of the PEACESAT satellite footprint. As a result the quality of the PEACESAT signal was unclear and the audio quality was poor. This led medical staff in Palau to switch to a phone bridging service provided by Verizon Hawai`i. Unfortunately, the service was suspended in 2004, leading to a temporary end in the delivery of distance education to Palau medical personal through audio- and video-conferencing. (2)

Internet in Palau/OER

Internet hosts (2010) - 3 (2)

OER Initiatives in Palau/OER

The ICDE report on regulatory frameworks for distance education (1) notes that Palau is a signatory to a number of regional agreements which are supportive of the quality of tertiary education and in reality, because of the small population and remoteness, this is likely to be strongly distance-focussed. Although the ICDE report does not mention OERs in Palau directly, it could be suggested that OERs may have a role as part of distance education in Palau. However, the report could not find any legislation or policies in support of OER in Palau.

References

2. ICDE Country Profile for Palau (http://www.icde.org/projects/regulatory_frameworks_for_distance_education/country_profiles/palau/)

Reports

1. ICDE Report: 'Regulatory frameworks for distance education: A pilot study in the Southwest Pacific/South East Asia region - Final report'. December 2011. Prepared by the Project Team (Team leader, Dr. Rosalind James) (accessed at http://www.icde.org/filestore/Regulatory_Framework/RegulatoryFrameworksforDEfinalreport2.pdf on Wednesday 11th July 2012)

---

> Countries
> POERUP

>> Main Page