Regional Workshop on Institutional Capacity Building for OER-based eLearning-Wawasan Open University, Penang, Malaysia- 29 January – 1 Feb 2013
New Delhi, 4/2/2013: Twenty-seven participants from eight institutions in the Asian Commonwealth region participated in the 1st workshop on OER-based eLearning from 29 January to 1 February 2013 at magnificent 12-storey Albukhary tower building of the Wawasan Open University (WOU), Penang, Malaysia. While inaugurating the workshop, Tan Sri Dato’ Professor Gajaraja Dhanarajan, Chairman, Board of Governors of Wawasan Open University appreciated the support of the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) in strengthening institutional capacities in the region, and specially thanked for choosing WOU as the venue for the workshop. While Open Educational Resources (OER) are increasingly being recognised as having the potential to improve access to education and improve enhancement of learning and teaching quality in open and distance learning (ODL) organizations, very few institutions in Asia are optimizing the power of digital media and OER. WOU is one such institution that has a policy on OER and committed to use OER for developing its learning resources.
The workshop facilitated by Dr. Som Naidu, a leading scholar in learning technology and distance education, enabled participants to discuss issues surrounding OER, open licenses, teaching and learning issues, and finding and selecting OERs. Participants though group work developed a set of five learning outcomes essential to integrate OER in teaching and learning, especially in eLearning scenario. They developed learning scenarios for each of the outcomes that will be further enriched in the next 3-4 months to emerge as modules for lunching of the Online Professional Development Certificate in OER-based eLearning.
This activity is part of three year plan of CEMCA to develop institutional capacities in the region and assist training of 500 teachers in the region to use OER-based eLearning. Besides teachers form WOU, teachers form Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan, Asia eUniversity, Malaysia, Open University of Malaysia, Open University of Sri Lanka, Indira Gandhi National Open University, National Institute of Open Schooling (India) and KK Handique State Open University, India participated in the workshop.
Based on the workshop inputs and activities, the five groups will continue to develop the modules, scenario, activities, assessment, relevant resources, and meet again in June 2013 to revise and refine the materials. During the inaugural session of the workshop, Vice Chancellor Dato’ Professor Ho Chin Chaye (WOU) and Dr. Sanjaya Mishra, Director, CEMCA signed MoU to continue working in this area and release the materials developed as OER. While WOU may develop an online course for OER-based eLearning, CEMCA will also use the material to lunch an open course for capacity building on a regular interval using an appropriate eLearning platform. The activity is being implemented as part of CEMCA’s Three Year Plan (2012-15) to enable higher education institutions use emerging technologies and practices to support ODL policies, systems and quality materials development.
