Joy Basdeo A Product of Distance-Education
Joy Basdeo
When Joy Basdeo extols the virtues of distance-educationshe is not simply discussing what research has proven, or whatother people have reported, but something she has learned overthe past two years first-hand.
Last month Mrs Basdeo with several familymembers and friends travelled to the United Kingdom where on 7thDecember, in the Great Hall of Durham Castle, and under the watchfuleye of Chancellor Sir Peter Ustinoff she graduated with a Mastersof Arts Degree in Strategic Human Resource Management from DurhamUniversity's Business School.
In an interview with Cayman Net News MrsBasdeo, who is a senior civil servant now in her 14th year asa Permanent Secretary, most recently in the Ministry of Education,Human Resources and Culture, working with the Honourable Roy Boddenexplains what led her to the City of the Prince Bishops in theNortheast region of England, and the prestigious university whichis the third oldest in Britain.
At her graduationJoy Basdeo stands among relatives with mother, Francine Jacksonat her left. Others in photo from left are Joy's brother, AndreJackson; sister, Jennifer Jackson-Dilbert; Jennifer's daughter,Rita; Joy's daughter Samantha and Harris McCoy.
Cayman Net News: First of all, whatis Distance Learning?
Joy Basdeo: Distance Learning is an alternative means of gettinginformation which does not necessarily take place in the classroom.We have a Distance Learning Centre here in the Cayman Islandswhich operates through the telephone. It is not a video conferencingcentre like many other Distance Learning Centres. The traditionalmeaning of Distance Learning is learning through correspondencerather than in a classroom. The options for Distance Learnersare almost endless now because of the technology available. Withtechnology there are hundreds of different varieties that utilizethe Internet, tutorials, and various media and communications.
CNN: Whygo back to the classroom at this stage of your life?
JB:Getting a Masters degree was something I had promised myself Iwould do, because despite several stints at post-graduate studyin various aspects of Education, it was something I had neverfound the time to do. It was not something I had to do for myjob or anything; it was something I wanted to do, completely formyself, and my own development.
It really is about the importance of lifelong education. It isa way of getting a second chance at education that will suit yourown circumstances and needs. The Hon. Roy Bodden has a strongcommitment to lifelong education because it is so valuable andessential for the growth and development of an individual anda nation.
CNN: This was somewhatdifferent as it combined tutorials and the Internet. Did thismake it easier?
JB:I suppose it did, in some respects. I knew that work and familyobligations would make it impossible for me to devote 10 hoursper week to distance study alone. After being out of the classroomfor more than 25 years, I had to re-learn the discipline of study.I thought the tutorials where there was a class of my peers, anddifferent lecturers would provide the interaction and the stimulusI needed to get the work done. However that meant travelling tothe UK every three or four months, or ten trips over the two years.
CNN: Isthis the type of continuing education you would recommend formost people thinking of going back to their studies?
JB:Not necessarily. You have to go for what works for you, knowingthat it might not be the perfect solution, but one that you andyour employer and your family will be able to work with. Somepeople need the concentration of full-time study away from otherdemands on their time and many people study on their own throughcorrespondence. It is just a matter of what suits your personalcircumstances so that you can get through it.
This wasn't something I did on a whim; I had researched it andthought about it for some years before I found a course of studythat met my criteria. An added bonus was that Dr Judith Gateswas doing the course at the same time so we could support eachother.
CNN: What are the obviousdrawbacks to this type of study?
JB:One was access to appropriate research, and the other was lackof useable data. To a certain extent I also lacked the technologyskills to be able to access what information was available, easily.I hope that the Ministry of Education through its various departmentscan make it easier on students coming behind with respect to researchand data collection and retrieval.
CNN: So what has thisnew degree done for you?
JB:Well, first of all it has given me a great deal of personal satisfaction,because it was one of those things I consider a "life goal".It also gave me the opportunity to learn a new subject that isrelevant to my work. Apart from that I had the pleasure of meetingnew people and making friends with people I would otherwise nothave met.
CNN: The Cayman IslandsGovernment supported your study on a cost-sharing basis, how willyour Ministry, or the country benefit.
JB:Government paid the cost of my tuition and gave me a stipend forbooks, and gave me 20 study days off each year. Other expenseswere my responsibility; however even so the cost of doing thedegree was fractional compared to the cost of doing a full-timepost-graduate degree at a university abroad. I had actually startedthe degree before the Ministry was reorganised to include HumanResources, but after that happened I decided to concentrate onEmployment Relations and policy development. My dissertation wason reframing the labour policy in a small, multi-cultural society.
Any work on human resource development will be relevant to theCayman of the future because as a service economy we are dependenton people to deliver the programmes and services set out in thepolicy.
CNN: So what next?
JB:The government's policy proposal for the revision of the employmentlaws will be before the public shortly. The Ministry has to collatethese responses so that the Hon. Roy Bodden can present the finalproposals to the Executive Council and the Legislative Assembly.On the Education front, in order to fuel our service economy wehave to be producing graduates from our high schools and collegeswho are capable and ready to take up employment in a dynamic economy.This means looking closely at the relevance of the curriculumbut also at attitudes to work. We need to look critically at literacyand numeracy, and at computer literacy at all levels of our schools.
We are fortunate that as a country we havethe tools and the resources to continue to educate ourselves andto make ourselves more knowledgeable about the subjects whichinterest us, or that we need to make us more efficient on thejob. For instance, reports from the Community College show usthat enrolment is rising; more Caymanians are going back to schooland the majority of these students are women. It is much easiernow than it used to be for people to go back to school and toget a second chance at education.