| Synthesis Paper | Cooperating Agencies | Researchers |
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Scott McLean, Ph. D.
Dr. Scott McLean is Professor and Director of Continuing Education at the University of Calgary. His research interests include the history of university continuing education in Canada, capacity-building among health promotion practitioners, and the relationships between adult educational practice and social change. He has a PhD in Sociology from Carleton University in Ottawa. His doctoral research focused on the historical sociology of adult education in Nunavut. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education, and as a consulting editor to the Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education.
CO-INVESTIGATORS
Alexander Flor, Ph. D.
Dr. Alexander G. Flor is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies of the UP Open University. He served as Vice Chancellor for Research and Development of UPOU from 2002 to 2004 and Professor of Development Communication at the University of the Philippines Los Baños until 2000. He wrote the textbook Broadcast-Based Distance Learning Systems (UP Press, 1995) and Beyond Access and Equity: Distance Learning Models in Asia (Asian Institute of Development Studies, 2002). Prof. Flor has worked in eleven countries in various capacities under ADB, World Bank, JBIC, USAID, AusAID, CIDA, FINIDA and UNDP contracts. He is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Malcolm Hazelman, Ph. D.
Dr. Malcolm Hazelman is the Senior Extension, Education and Communications Officer of the Sustainable Development Department Group, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO/RAP). He obtained his Ph. D. degree in Education from Cornell University, and his Master's Degree in Horticulture from University of Hawaii. Prior to FAO, he was head of the Agriculture Programme of the Secretariat of the Pacific
Community (SPC) based in Fiji and was a faculty member of the University of the South
Pacific School of Agriculture and its Institute for Research, Extension and Training in Agriculture. He has served on various boards including the IPGRI Board and that of the Agricultural Development in the American Pacific (ADAP) Programme.
Country Research Collaborators
INDIA
SHYAMAL MAJUMDAR, Ph.D.
Shyamal Majumdar holds the position of Regional Vice President, Asia & Pacific Region for the International Vocational Education & Training Association, and is currently professor and head of the computer science and engineering department at the National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training & Research, India. He was the Chairman of the Training and Development Division of the Colombo Plan Staff College (CPSC). Dr. Majumdar was involved in various development programs and projects in the education sector, including: ICT for Education and Training, ICT for Rural Education and Poverty Reduction, ICT for Capacity Building of Teachers, Pedagogy-ICT Integration, and multimedia and e-learning applications. Such work has involved 25 countries in Asia and the Pacific on behalf of UNESCO, CPSC, FAO-UN, GTZ, ADB, and the World Bank. Dr. Shyamal Majumdar received the distinguished Quality Award and Achievement Award by the Colombo Plan Staff College.
V.P.SHARMA, Ph.D.
Dr. V.P. Sharma is the Director of Information Technology, Documentation and
Publication (ITDP) at the National Institute of Agricultural Extension
Management (MANAGE) in Hyderabad, India. He is primarily involved in
Building the capacity of Indian Agricultural Extension officers, with a focus on
the more effective deployment and efficient use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). He has served as a National Consultant on computers and communication for a World Bank aided extension project in India for over 6 years, facilitating connectivity and capacity building for over 2000 functionaries at more than 400 locations in India. His Doctoral research focused on the evaluation of participatory dimensions and impact of a large Watershed Management Project in South India.
PACIFIC ISLANDS
AARON KAMA, MPS (Agriculture)
Mr. Aaron Kama comes from Solomon Islands in the South Pacific region. He is currently a lecturer in agricultural extension and education at the School of Agriculture of the University of the South Pacific, which is located at Alafua Campus in Samoa, Apia. He has 22 years of teaching experience in tertiary education (both on-campus and distance and flexible learning teaching modes), and two years teaching experience in secondary education. He has 12 years of research and rural field work experience in agricultural extension and education. He also has some experience in teacher education and curriculum development for secondary school agricultural education. In addition, he has experience in consultancy work with FAO, UNESCO funded projects, and NGOs. Aaron graduated with a Master of Professional Studies degree (Agriculture) from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York in 1992. He holds a Bachelor of Agriculture degree and an Advanced Certificate in Teaching Agriculture (1986 – 1989) from the University of the South Pacific. Some of his qualifications include a Diploma in Teaching Agriculture (1981) from the University of Papua New Guinea and a Certificate in Tropical Agriculture (1979 – 1980) from Popondetta Agricultural College in Papua New Guinea. His research areas include farmer-led approaches to extension, adult learning, distance and flexible learning, and secondary school agricultural education.
PAKISTAN
BENJAMINA GONZALEZ-FLOR, Ph.D.
The Country Research Collaborator for Pakistan is Dr. Benjamina Gonzalez-Flor. Although, a senior faculty member of the University of the Philippines Los Baños - College of Development Communication, Dr. Flor is currently the Team Leader and International HR Specialist of the World Bank Community Infrastructure Services Program of Pakistan’s AJK Autonomous Region. While in Pakistan, she is based in Islamabad, where the Alama Iqbal Open University is headquartered. She has BS, MS and PhD degrees in development communication, her dissertation dealing with the social acceptability of open and distance learning strategies in the Third World setting. Dr. Flor retired from the civil service in 1998 while tenured as Chief, Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Commission on Higher Education under the Office of the President. Thereafter, she served as Project Coordinator of the Philippines Australia Short Term Training Facility, before being absorbed into the faculty of the University of the Philippines. Recently, she was selected to serve as the Team Leader cum Social Scientist of the World Bank Evaluation of Impact of Community-Based Interventions, an assignment that will station her intermittently in Lao PDR for two months every two years until 2010.
PHILIPPINES
ALEXANDER G. FLOR, PH.D.
Dr. Alexander G. Flor is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies of the UP Open University. He served as Vice Chancellor for Research and Development of UPOU from 2002 to 2004 and Professor of Development Communication at the University of the Philippines Los Baños until 2000. He wrote the textbook Broadcast-Based Distance Learning Systems (UP Press, 1995) and Beyond Access and Equity: Distance Learning Models in Asia (Asian Institute of Development Studies, 2002). Prof. Flor has worked in eleven countries in various capacities under ADB, World Bank, JBIC, USAID, AusAID, CIDA, FINIDA and UNDP contracts. He is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
THAILAND
KAMOLRAT INTARATAT, PH.D.
Dr. Kamolrat Intaratat is an Associate Professor with the Faculty of Communication at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University in Bangkok, Thailand. Her interests include Development Communication, and especially community-based communication in agricultural and rural settings. Her expertise in these fields was developed through fifteen years of experience with Kasetsart (Agricultural) University in Thailand. Dr. Intaratat works with ICT media, open and distance learning strategies, and other means of linking the local and the global to promote the betterment of human beings and especially of the poor.
