Building on the success of the 2023 Commonwealth of Learning (COL) Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Practitioner Research Training and Mentorship programme,  new applications are invited for 2024.

COL received 172 applications from 20 different countries last year. After a careful selection process, mentees were allocated to the 14 experienced mentors. By the end of 2023, 23 mentees successfully completed the programme, and many have already submitted publications for peer review and publication based on this work.

The mentoring programme consists of online training and mentorship over a nine-month period focussed on practitioner research on ODL in higher education. This programme has established a network of mentors to support mentees, promote high-quality research in ODL and encourage the sharing of research findings through online fora and publications.

For this year’s cohort, participants may be any early-career academics from public higher education institutions in the Commonwealth. They should already have obtained a PhD. COL has increased the list of mentors from 14 to 20 experts in the field of ODL to assist successful applicants in 2024.

Applications must be submitted by 8 March 2024 via https://forms.office.com/r/5eiMRPzDct

For more information on the programme, the mentors and the application process, you can download the brochure here: https://www.col.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/24_ED_ODL_PRTraining_rev2.pdf