e-Taalim

Today, I’m writing about someone who has been giving a lot to the e-learning community: Dr. Tony BATES.

Tony Bates is President and CEO of Tony Bates Associates Ltd, a private company based in Canada specializing in consultancy and training in the planning and management of e-learning and distance education. The company was started in 2003, and since then has served over 30 clients in 18 countries.

Currently he is on contract to the Government of Alberta, assisting with the development of strategic directions for information technology management in the post-secondary education system.

In recent years he has been Chair of the International Experts Panel for the Open University of Portugal, advisor to the Universidad de Guadalajara’s Maestría en Tecnologías para el Aprendizaje (Mexico) and to Universidad Tecnologica Metropolitana’s Magíster en Educación a Distancia (Chile). He is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Advisory Council on Technology and Education.

He was part-time Chair of Research in e-Learning at the Open University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain between 2003-2006, and was on the Academic Advisory Board of the Volkswagen AutoUni, based in Germany, 2003 -2007. From May 2004 to September 2005, he was part-time Cisco Systems Chair of e-Learning at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary, where he led a strategic planning process for e-Learning throughout the Institute.

Tony is offering very interesting e-learning resources through his personal blog, together with information about his own publications and he is currently developing a section called: “International Developments”. In this section, Tony has been writing about the use of e-learning and distance education in different countries, based on his personal experiences when visiting those countries. He has already blogged about his experience in South Africa.

Tony has a Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of London, England. He was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Open University of Portugal in 1995, Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa, from Laurentian University, Canada, in 2001, Doctor Honoris Causa from Athabasca University, in June 2004, Doctor of Social Sciences, honoris causa from the Open University of Hong Kong in December 2004, and Doctor Honoris Causa from the Open University of Catalonia, Spain, in June, 2005.

His hobbies include golf, skiing and flying a small plane. He is married, with two sons, three grandsons and a grand-daughter.

Tony has recently posted information about e-Taalim on his blog with a nice picture about a Tunisian “Souk”.

Many thanks Tony for the post!!!