The International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) has awarded Innogen member, Professor Andy Lane, its 2021 Prize for Lifelong Contribution to the field of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning.
For nearly 40 years, Prof. Lane has led, contributed to and written about a distinctive set of mutually supportive international, national and institutional projects and activities that cover or combine teaching, research and external engagement in open and distance education. These projects and activities have enabled many millions of people around the world to learn at their own pace in their own time and inspired hundreds of open and distance education practitioners and researchers to think more deeply about their practices.
Prof. Lane has made vital contributions to international distance education activities at The Open University and was pivotal in the creation of OpenLearn and OpenLearn Create, which have enabled over 80 million people worldwide to study over 1,000 free courses since 2006.
More recently he has been working on the UK Aid funded Transformation by Innovation in Distance Education (TIDE) project. TIDE aimed to reform a national distance education system involving nearly 40 universities in Myanmar. The project supported professional and institutional development of over 300 staff in these universities and set out a roadmap for the establishment of a Myanmar Open University.
“This very well-deserved award recognises Andy’s outstanding and very influential record of achievement in open and distance education, that has provided learning opportunities to so many people,” says Theo Papaioannou, Director of Innogen & Professor of Politics, Innovation and Development at The Open University.
Watch Andy Lane's award win speech here