Jan Visser
President & Senior Researcher at Learning Development Institute- Claim this Profile
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English Native or bilingual proficiency
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Portuguese Full professional proficiency
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French Professional working proficiency
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Spanish Professional working proficiency
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German Limited working proficiency
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Dutch Native or bilingual proficiency
Topline Score
Bio
LinkedIn User
I had the opportunity to work with Jan while he was Director of UNESCO's Learning Without Frontiers (LWF) program. In that connection, I sat on the UNESCO Director-General's advisory committee (1996-98) for this program and was able to see how the program was shaped and implemented. The LWF was notable both for its vision—its outlook was years ahead of its time—and for its practicality—I have seen few programs do as much with limited resources. Jan was responsible for both or these achievements. It was obvious to all that the Director-General chose wisely in selecting Jan to head up this flagship effort. Jan's accomplishment with LWF shows, I think, a unique ability to understand both the scientific and the engineering principles behind the learning process. He can clearly articulate these principles and advocate forcefully for them. It is one thing to understand what makes something work. It is something else to make it work. Jan showed himself to be a skilled program developer and manager—able to guide programmatic development and integrity across multiple sites. More than anyone else I have worked with, Jan exemplifies the kind of international civil servant that Dag Hammarskjold envisioned at the time the United Nations system was being created. He is a thinker and a doer.
Sonia Arias
It is an honor and pleasure to endorse Jan Visser. Jan Visser lead an extremely challenging Needs Assessment in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thanks to that needs assessment the project was able to develop a unique and innovative program to help teachers incorporate more active, student-centered teaching strategies into their classroom work. Jan's vision and insight into the learning mind were invaluable to the project and seminal for me as a development practitioner.
LinkedIn User
I had the opportunity to work with Jan while he was Director of UNESCO's Learning Without Frontiers (LWF) program. In that connection, I sat on the UNESCO Director-General's advisory committee (1996-98) for this program and was able to see how the program was shaped and implemented. The LWF was notable both for its vision—its outlook was years ahead of its time—and for its practicality—I have seen few programs do as much with limited resources. Jan was responsible for both or these achievements. It was obvious to all that the Director-General chose wisely in selecting Jan to head up this flagship effort. Jan's accomplishment with LWF shows, I think, a unique ability to understand both the scientific and the engineering principles behind the learning process. He can clearly articulate these principles and advocate forcefully for them. It is one thing to understand what makes something work. It is something else to make it work. Jan showed himself to be a skilled program developer and manager—able to guide programmatic development and integrity across multiple sites. More than anyone else I have worked with, Jan exemplifies the kind of international civil servant that Dag Hammarskjold envisioned at the time the United Nations system was being created. He is a thinker and a doer.
Sonia Arias
It is an honor and pleasure to endorse Jan Visser. Jan Visser lead an extremely challenging Needs Assessment in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thanks to that needs assessment the project was able to develop a unique and innovative program to help teachers incorporate more active, student-centered teaching strategies into their classroom work. Jan's vision and insight into the learning mind were invaluable to the project and seminal for me as a development practitioner.
LinkedIn User
I had the opportunity to work with Jan while he was Director of UNESCO's Learning Without Frontiers (LWF) program. In that connection, I sat on the UNESCO Director-General's advisory committee (1996-98) for this program and was able to see how the program was shaped and implemented. The LWF was notable both for its vision—its outlook was years ahead of its time—and for its practicality—I have seen few programs do as much with limited resources. Jan was responsible for both or these achievements. It was obvious to all that the Director-General chose wisely in selecting Jan to head up this flagship effort. Jan's accomplishment with LWF shows, I think, a unique ability to understand both the scientific and the engineering principles behind the learning process. He can clearly articulate these principles and advocate forcefully for them. It is one thing to understand what makes something work. It is something else to make it work. Jan showed himself to be a skilled program developer and manager—able to guide programmatic development and integrity across multiple sites. More than anyone else I have worked with, Jan exemplifies the kind of international civil servant that Dag Hammarskjold envisioned at the time the United Nations system was being created. He is a thinker and a doer.
Sonia Arias
It is an honor and pleasure to endorse Jan Visser. Jan Visser lead an extremely challenging Needs Assessment in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thanks to that needs assessment the project was able to develop a unique and innovative program to help teachers incorporate more active, student-centered teaching strategies into their classroom work. Jan's vision and insight into the learning mind were invaluable to the project and seminal for me as a development practitioner.
LinkedIn User
I had the opportunity to work with Jan while he was Director of UNESCO's Learning Without Frontiers (LWF) program. In that connection, I sat on the UNESCO Director-General's advisory committee (1996-98) for this program and was able to see how the program was shaped and implemented. The LWF was notable both for its vision—its outlook was years ahead of its time—and for its practicality—I have seen few programs do as much with limited resources. Jan was responsible for both or these achievements. It was obvious to all that the Director-General chose wisely in selecting Jan to head up this flagship effort. Jan's accomplishment with LWF shows, I think, a unique ability to understand both the scientific and the engineering principles behind the learning process. He can clearly articulate these principles and advocate forcefully for them. It is one thing to understand what makes something work. It is something else to make it work. Jan showed himself to be a skilled program developer and manager—able to guide programmatic development and integrity across multiple sites. More than anyone else I have worked with, Jan exemplifies the kind of international civil servant that Dag Hammarskjold envisioned at the time the United Nations system was being created. He is a thinker and a doer.
Sonia Arias
It is an honor and pleasure to endorse Jan Visser. Jan Visser lead an extremely challenging Needs Assessment in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thanks to that needs assessment the project was able to develop a unique and innovative program to help teachers incorporate more active, student-centered teaching strategies into their classroom work. Jan's vision and insight into the learning mind were invaluable to the project and seminal for me as a development practitioner.
Experience
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Learning Development Institute
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United States
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Research Services
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1 - 100 Employee
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President & Senior Researcher
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Apr 2000 - Present
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President & Sr Researcher
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1999 - Present
The Learning Development Institute (www.learndev.org) is a non-profit network of researchers, practitioners, thinkers, and policy and decision makers. The organization is the successor to UNESCO's Learning Without Frontiers programme, of which I used to be the director. Within the network learning communities form and evolve around significant questions related to the development of human learning. I am the founding president and chairman of the board. At a more mundane level I am a researcher; engage in the conceptualization of the organization's focus areas of research and development; and organize and facilitate research networks. In addition, I carry out advisory tasks under contract with or at the request of like minded organizations. Show less
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Public speaker, and moderator & organizer of debate, regarding issues of human learning.
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Jan 2000 - Present
My interests in this area focus specifically on issues related to LDI's programs on the Meaning of Learning (MOL); Building the Scientific Mind (BtSM); and Human Learning in the Anthropocene (HLA).
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Consultant
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1976 - Apr 2000
Since 1976: provision of ad hoc consultancy, training and advisory services in diverse contexts, such as World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, Commonwealth of Learning; European Commission; (Dutch) DGIS; Ecorys; Education Development Center (EDC); Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher Education (NUFFIC); Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR); Asociación Nacional de Universidades e Instituciones de Educación Superior (ANUIES), Mexico, and multiple universities around the world. Since 2000: provision of these services as a regular part of my work for the Learning Development Institute.A major focus over the past ten years has been on the evaluative study of societal impact and sustainability of international development programs and projects; needs assessment, context analysis, and project identification; the appraisal of (competitive) technical and research proposals; and review of work in progress. Africa, Asia and Latin America have figured prominently in the above work.Content wise, main interests served concern the development of human learning in the broad sense of the word, i.e. learning in both formal and informal contexts, serving diverse societal goals and individual pursuits. The facilitation of learning—which naturally includes the preparation of and support to teachers; the development of innovative pedagogies; and the effective use of technologies—is part of these concerns, at levels that range from basic to higher education.Most reports produced in connection with the above work are of a proprietary nature. However, a number of them, listed in the links below, are publicly available.http://www.learndev.org/dl/DRC-LearningNeedsAssessment.pdf;http://www.learndev.org/dl/DRC-ProgressRpt2004.pdf;http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADD971.pdf;http://www.minbuza.nl/dsresource?objectid=buzabeheer:28738&type=pdf;http://www.vliruos.be/downloads/Country_evaluation_Vietnam_VLIR_UOS_2011.pdf. Show less
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University of Stellenbosch
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South Africa
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Business Consulting and Services
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1 - 100 Employee
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Professor Extraordinary
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Jan 2011 - Dec 2016
The University of Stellenbosch is among the top research universities in South Africa. It is home to, among other important programs, the 'Transdisciplinary Doctoral Programme in Sustainability.' The program is being coordinated by the Transdisciplinary Sustainability Analysis, Modelling and Assessment Hub (TsamaHub), which is an academic and research centre with a number of key external research partners, including the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the Sustainability Institute (SI). The centre is situated within the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences. Show less
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International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction (ibstpi)
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Information Services
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1 - 100 Employee
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Director - Membership Chair
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Jan 2002 - Dec 2007
Ibstpi (www.ibstpi.org) is a 15-member international board devoted to making key contributions to the fields of instructional design and human performance improvement by setting appropriate standards. The board selects its directors among professionals from around the world of the highest repute in their respective fields. Directors contribute on a voluntary basis to the vision and mission of ibstpi. I was one of them for six years. I participated in the research project on online learner competencies and was responsible for membership issues. After resigning from the board at the end of 2007 I was named 'Fellow of the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction.' Fellows are selected from among the professional communities active in areas relevant to ibstpi to provide recognition to individuals who have a reputation and visibility in the field and who have contributed a long term commitment to advancing the vision and mission of ibstpi. Show less
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Director
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Oct 1993 - Apr 2000
UNESCO (www.unesco.org) is a specialized agency within the United Nations system. Within the organization I was the director of the global program 'Learning Without Frontiers,' being responsible for the conceptualization and development of the program; for providing leadership and oversight regarding the implementation of its various actions; and for quality assurance.
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UNESCO Representative to Southern Africa & Head, UNESCO Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa
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Jan 1990 - Oct 1993
UNESCO (www.unesco.org) is a specialized agency within the United Nations system. Within the organization I was responsible from January 1990 to the end of 1993 for overseeing and facilitating the development and implementation of UNESCO's programs and projects in some ten Southern African countries in all of UNESCO's sectors of interest (education, science, culture, communication and information). In addition, I served as UNESCO's diplomatic representative to the governments of five of the countries in question. Show less
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Universidade Eduardo Mondlane
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Education Administration Programs
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700 & Above Employee
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General Coordinator Interuniversity Cooperation Netherlands-Mozambique
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Jan 1977 - Dec 1989
Architect of a comprehensive multidisciplinary interuniversity cooperation program, involving Mozambique's Eduardo Mondlane University and five universities in The Netherlands. The program was financed by the Netherlands Government. In this context, I had overall responsibility for the smooth running of the program as a whole, ensuring that all parties concerned remained effectively informed about progress on a continual basis, while overseeing the work of my colleagues from diverse disciplinary areas who coordinated specific projects and the team of 25 experts associated with these projects. Show less
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Education
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1959 - 1965
Delft University of Technology
Ir, Theoretical Physics -
1985 - 1989
Florida State University
Dr & MSc, Instructional Systems Design
Community
