The International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) is a membership-led global organization in the field of online, open and technology enhanced education. It consists of more than 200 higher education institutions and organizations in some 84 countries.

Founded in 1938, the ICDE has its permanent secretariat in Oslo, Norway. It is currently partly funded by a grant from the Government of Norway and has been hosted in Oslo since 1988, where is a registered not-for-profit organization in Norway and operates under Norwegian law.

Since 1960, ICDE has a partnership with UNESCO.

History

ICDE was founded in 1938 in Canada as the International Council for Correspondence Education (ICCE). The first World Conference was held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada the same year. The idea for holding an international conference came from J. W. Gibson, director of high school correspondence instruction for the province of British Columbia, who attended the National Conference on Supervised Correspondence Study in New York in 1936. Gibson shared with other delegates knowledge he had about correspondence education in several countries and then suggested that an international conference be held. Rex Haight, then chair of the New York conference, supported the idea and later served as president for the first conference.

At the second conference, held in 1948, the delegates voted unanimously to establish a more permanent international council.

The third conference took place in 1953 in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a committee presented a proposed "Constitution and Rules" for the council that was adopted by the delegates. These rules helped the council became more established and conferences began to follow a more regular schedule.

In 1969, the 8th World Conference was held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris to celebrate the affiliation with UNESCO.

In 1982, during the 12th World Conference held in Vancouver, the organization changed its name to "the International Council for Open and Distance Education" (ICDE).

In 1988, during the 14th ICDE World Conference held in Oslo, the King of Norway, King Olav V, and the Norwegian Prime Minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, both attended. This conference led to the establishment of the permanent secretariat in Oslo.

Due to COVID-19 outbreak, in 2021 the conference organized its first-ever Global Virtual Conference Week in 2021.

Membership

ICDE is a membership organization with 10 different types of memberships: Individuals, Students, Associations, Colleges and Universities, Companies, Educational networks, Governmental organizations, Non-Governmental organizations, Secondary Schools.

World Conference Since 2000, the ICDE World Conference has been organized biannually and on a different continent each time. The conference is traditionally organized at the invitation of an ICDE member.

Session Location Year Hosted by from 30th Wellington 2025 Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington 29th Natal 2021 The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte – UFRN 28th Dublin 2019 Dublin City University – DCU 27th Toronto 2017 Contact North 26th Sun City 2015 The University of South Africa – UNISA 25th Tianjin 2013 Tianjin Open University 24th Bali 2011 Indonesia Open University (Universitas Terbuka) 23rd Maastricht 2009 The Open University of the Netherlands 22nd Rio de Janeiro 2006 The Brazilian Distance Education Association – ABED 21st Hong Kong 2004 The Open University of Hong Kong 20th Düsseldorf 2001 FernUniversität 19th Hagen 1999 FernUniversität 18th State College 1997 Pennsylvania State University 17th Milton Keynes 1994 The Open University UK 16th Nonthaburi 1992 Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University 15th Caracas 1990 Universidad Nacional Abierta 14th Oslo 1988 The Norwegian Association for Distance Education 13th Melbourne 1985 La Trobe University 12th Vancouver 1982 Athabasca University 11th New Delhi 1978 Punjabi University 10th Brighton 1975 Rapid Results College 9th Warrenton 1972 8th Paris 1969 UNESCO Headquarters 7th Stockholm 1965 6th Gearhart 1961 5th Banff 1958 Banff School of Fine Arts 4th State College 1953 Penn State 3rd Christchurch 1950 2nd Lincoln 1948 The University of Nebraska 1st Victoria 1938 The Department of Education for British Columbia

Presidents

The first 10 years of the council the presidency was led by Rex Haight in Canada who was also the chair of the first ICCE World Conference held in Victoria in 1938.HANDBOOK OF DISTANCE EDUCATION, Edited by Michael Grahame Moore, The Pennsylvania State University, William G. Anderson, Massey University, LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS, 2003 Mahwah, New Jersey London Since 1948 the presidency of the council has been limited to a maximum of 5 years.

Session from to Name Affiliation from24th2023 -Mark NicholsOpen Polytechnic of New Zealand 23rd 2020 2023 Neil Fassina Okanagan College 22nd 2018 2020 Belinda Tynan RMIT University 21st 2015 2018 Mandla Makhanya The University of South Africa – UNISA 20th 2012 2015 Tian Belawati Indonesia Open University (Universitas Terbuka) 19th 2008 2012 Frits Pannekoek Athabasca University 18th 2004 2008 Helmut Hoyer FernUniversität 17th 1999 2004 Molly Corbett-Broad University of North Carolina 16th 1995 1999 Armando Rocha-Trindade Universidad Nacional Abierta 15th 1992 1995 Marian Croft Laurentian University 14th 1988 1992 David Sewart The Open University UK 13th 1985 1988 Kevin Smith The University of New England 12th 1982 1985 Sir John Daniel Athabasca University 11th 1978 1982 Bakhshish Singh Punjabi University 10th 1975 1978 David Young Rapid Results College 9th 1972 1975 Börje Holmberg Hermods Foundation 8th 1969 1972 Charles Wedemeyer The Open University UK 7th 1965 1969 Rene Erdos University of New South Wales 6th 1961 1965 Donald Cameron 5th 1958 1961 G.J. Buck Banff School of Fine Arts 4th 1954 1958 William R.Young 3rd 1950 1954 A.G. Butcher The New Zealand Correspondence School 2nd 1948 1950 Knute O. Broady University of Nebraska 1st 1938 1948 Rex Haight The High School correspondence instruction for the province of British Columbia

Publications ICDE regularly publishes or contributes to reports, surveys and articles on the following topics: Quality in Education; Online Education; Flexible Education; Elearning; Lifelong Learning; Higher Education; Distance Education; Open Education and OER (Open educational resources); Alternative Digital Credentials; Learning Analytics; Education Policies; Research and Innovation in Education; etc.

ICDE publishes the Open Praxis journal, a peer-reviewed open access scholarly journal focusing on research and innovation in open, distance and flexible education.

References

External links