Through OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES · Vancouver, Canada, to promote the meaningful, relevant and appropriate use of ICTs to serve the educational and training needs of Commonwealth

QUALITY HIGHER EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES

Through

OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

EditedbyManasRanjanPanigrahi

CommonwealthEducationalMediaCentreforAsia

NewDelhi

Quality Higher Education Opportunities through

OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Editedby

ManasRanjanPanigrahi

The Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) is an

internationalorganizationestablishedbytheCommonwealthofLearning(COL),

Vancouver,Canada,topromotethemeaningful,relevantandappropriateuseof

ICTstoservetheeducationalandtrainingneedsofCommonwealthmemberstates

of Asia. CEMCA receives diplomatic privileges and immunities in India under

section3oftheUnitedNations(privilegesandimmunities)Act,1947.

Editor:ManasRanjanPanigrahi,Ph.D.

CopyEditing:Mr.B.Natarajan,DeputyRegistrar (Retired),Publications, lGNOU,

NewDelhi

Copyright©CEMCA,2018.

The publication entitled Quality Higher Education

OpportunitiesthroughOpenEducationalResources is

made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-

Share Alike 4.0 License (international): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

by-sa/4.0/byCEMCAwithpermissionoftheauthors.

Fortheavoidanceofdoubt,byapplyingthislicence,CommonwealthofLearning

andCommonwealthEducationalMediaCentreforAsia(CEMCA)donotwaiveany

privilegesorimmunitiesfromclaimsthattheymaybeentitledtoassert,nordo

COL/CEMCAsubmitthemselvestothejurisdiction,courts,legalprocessesorlaws

ofanyjurisdiction.

ISBN:978-81-88770-35-9

WhilealleffortshavebeenmadebytheEditortocheckaccuracyofthecontent,the

representation of facts, principles, descriptions and methods are that of the

author/s.Viewsexpressedinthepublicationarethatoftheauthors,anddonot

necessarilyre�lecttheviewsofCEMCA/COL.Allproductsandservicesmentioned

areownedbytheirrespectivecopyrightsholders,andmerepresentationinthe

publicationdoesnotmeanendorsementbyCEMCA/COL.Everyefforthasbeen

madetoacknowledgeandattributeallsourcesofinformationusedinpreparation

of this learning material. Readers are requested to kindly notify missing

attribution,ifany.

Forfurtherinformation,contact:

CommonwealthEducationalMediaCentreforAsia

7/8,SarvPriyaVihar,NewDelhi-110016

http://www.cemca.org.in

Printedandpublishedonbehalfof Director,CEMCAbyMr.DalipKumarTetri,

Advisor (Administration and Finance), CEMCA, 7/8 Sarv Priya Vihar,

NewDelhi-110016,India.

Contents

Foreword 1

Preface 2

Chapter–1 5

OpenEducationalResourcesforQualityLearning

Chapter–2 21

OpenEducationalResources(OER)ImpactonStudentsat

BangladeshOpenUniversity

Chapter–3 39

OpenEducationalPracticesat

UttarakhandOpenUniversity:FromPoliciesto

Implementation

Chapter–4 51

DevelopmentalInterventionsthrough

OpenEducationalResources(OER):CaseStudyof

OdishaStateOpenUniversity

Chapter–5 65

OpenEducationalResourceRepository:

InitiativeofNetajiSubhasOpenUniversity

Chapter–6 91

AccesstoVocationalEducationthroughOERandICT:

AnEvaluation

BriefPro�ileoftheEditorandAuthors 103

Accesstoeducationalmaterialsisessentialtoimprovethequalityofteaching

andlearningatalllevelsofeducation.Productionandreuseofeducational

materialshavealwaysbeenachallengeduetothecost,time,permissionand

licensing fees to reuse copyrightedmaterials. Realising the importance of

opencourse-ware, theUNESCOorganisedaForumon the ImpactofOpen

Courseware forHigher Education inDeveloping Countries in 2002,which

coined the term open educational resources (OER). In 2012, the

CommonwealthofLearningandUNESCOwithsupportof theWilliamand

FloraHewlettFoundation,organisedtheWorldOERCongressthatresultedin

the2012OERParisDeclarationthaturgedthegovernmentstopromoteOER

byreleasingteaching,learningandresearchmaterialswithanopenlicence.In

this regard, within the mandate of Six Year Plan (2015-21), the

CommonwealthEducationalMediaCentre forAsia(CEMCA), isengaged in

assistingHigherEducationInstitutionstoadoptOpenEducationalResources

(OER) through the development and implementation of institutional OER

policy. During 2015-2018, CEMCA provided continuous support to Open

Universities of Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka for development and

implementationofOERpolicy;capacitybuildingofteachersandacademics;

creationanduseofOER;andprovidingaccessthroughOERrepositoriesto

enhance quality teaching and learning reducing cost. These efforts are

showingencouragingresultsandneedtobeshared.

ThisvolumesharesOpenEducationalPracticesthroughimplementationof

institutional OER policy. It emphasises the need for having appropriate

policies,andshowingbestpracticesandexperiencestowardsthelearningfor

sustainable development. I am sure this will help all higher education

institutionsandcommonwealthgovernmentstoadoptOERfordevelopment.

Thesharingofbestpracticesmayhelpintheirreplicationatotherinstitutions

fortheoverallbene�itofthestudentsirrespectiveoftheirlocation.Thisisin

tunewithCOL'sagendaof reachingallwithquality resources for learning

leadingtosustainabledevelopment.

Dr.ShahidRasoolDirector

CommonwealthEducationalMediacentreforAsia(CEMCA),

NewDelhi

Foreword

1

Theemergenceofopencontentin1998andthereleaseof50highereducation

coursesviaMIT'sOpenCourseWarein2002werefoundationalmomentsin

the sharing of educational content via the web. MIT's innovative course-

sharingmechanismpromptedUNESCOtoorganizea'ForumontheImpactof

OpenCourseWareforHigherEducationinDevelopingCountries'in2002,at

which the term 'Open Educational Resources' (OERs) was coined. The

UNESCOForumhassincebeenconsideredamajorlandmarkinthehistoryof

the OERmovement. Speaking on the occasion, Prof. V S Prasad, the then

Directorof theNationalAssessmentandAccreditationCounciland India's

representativeattheForum,hadobserved:'TheOpenCourseWareconceptis

basedonthephilosophicalviewofknowledgeasacollectivesocialproduct;

andsoitisdesirabletomakeitasocialproperty'.Itisnecessarytounderstand

whatOERare inorder toappreciate theirpotential impactoneducational

systems. An OER is any teaching, learning and research material that is

availableinthepublicdomain,orwithanopenlicence,freeofthecosttoreuse,

remixandredistributethematerialwhileretainingitsrights.Theword'open'

isofcriticalimportancehere–itrefersnotmerelytotheavailabilityofthe

resourcebuttowhatoneisallowedtodowiththematerial.Copyrightlaw

providesforlicensinganynewknowledgegenerated,anditiswithinthese

sameparametersthatauthorsuseaspeci�ictypeofopenlicencetoallowfull

orlimiteduseoftheoriginalmaterialscreatedbythem.Withthisbackground,

theCommonwealthEducationalMediaCentreforAsia(CEMCA)initiateda

programme“ImprovingQualityofTeaching&LearningResourcesusing

OERinHigherEducation”toengagewithHigherEducationInstitutionsin

CommonwealthAsiaoverthethreeyearsduringtheperiod2015–2018.Inthe

processseveraleventswereorganisedinOpenUniversitiesofBangladesh,

India and Sri Lanka for development and implementation of OER policy;

capacitybuildingofteachersandacademics;creationanduseofOER;and

providing access through OER repositories. CEMCA in collaboration with

Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU), Guwahati

conductedapaneldiscussionintheInternationalConferenceduring16-17

December 2017 on “Developmental Interventions and Open Learning for

Empowering and Transforming Society”. In the panel discussion, CEMCA

supportedprojectsanditsoutcomeswerediscussedbroadlybythepartner

institutionsandshowcasedthedevelopmentinlearningthroughOER.This

publication is based on the papers presented by the partners in the

conference.

Preface

2

There are six chapters included in this resource book as practices and

implementationofOERinhighereducationforwiderdisseminationwiththe

hopethathighereducationinstitutionsandorganisationsinCommonwealth

Asiawill takestepstodevelopstrategicplans forOERuse inteachingand

learning.ChapterI:OpenEducationalResourcesforQualityLearningdiscusses

concepts,bene�its,thequalityconcernsandindicators,andconcludeswith

suggestivecontinuumofmodelstomakethequalityofOERtotherequired

levelandmeetthechallenges.ChapterII:OpenEducationalResources(OER)

Impact on Students at Bangladesh Open University focuses on reviews of

existingOERpoliciesof thecountry ingeneralandBOUinparticular.This

chapter reports that thestudentsusingopeneducational resourcesas the

primarycoursematerialintheircoursesofstudies.Themajorityofstudents

reportedthatthecoursereadingswereequaltoorbetterthanprintSLMs,and

responded positively to the variety of learning materials. Most students

agreedtheywouldbewillingtouseresourceinthefuture.ChapterIII:Open

Educational Practices at Uttarakhand Open University: From Policies to

Implementation, the author present a detailed description of the

implementationoftheOERfrompolicyformulationtoimplementationand

Open Educational Practices in the university. Chapter IV: Developmental

Interventions through Open Educational Resources (OER): A Case Study of

Odisha State Open University re�lects that the build-up of a platform for

acceptanceofOpenEducationalResourcespolicyintheeducationalsystemof

OSOU through both course writers and coordinators considering Self

LearningMaterials,videolecturesandaudioclipsisthebaseforqualitative

materials. In this casestudyanattempthasbeenmade tounderstand the

impactofdevelopmentalinterventionsundertakenbytheOdishastateOpen

UniversitythroughOER.ChapterV:OpenEducationalResourceRepository:An

InitiativeofNetajiSubhasOpenUniversitydescribestheissuesrelatingtothe

institutional OER policy development and use of OER repository ofNSOU

Kolkata.Italsore�lectsontheaccesstotheOERforbetterqualitylearning.

ChapterVI:AccesstoVocationalEducationthroughOERandICT:AnEvaluation

focusesonsomeoftherecentinitiativestakenbytheuniversitythatensures

inclusiveandequitablequalityeducationandpromoteslifelonglearning.It

alsohighlightstheimpactoftheCEMCAinterventionforqualityimprovement

ofthecoursecontentanddeliverysystemofthetwovocationalcourses,viz.

Pre-primary Teachers' Education-Montessori (Diploma) and Tailoring and

DressDesigning(AdvancedDiploma).

3

The chapters in this publication will assist informed educational leaders,

higher education teachers and higher education institutions to drive

developmentandimplementationofOpenEducationalResourceinteaching

andlearning.

ItakethisopportunitytothankalltheHigherEducationInstitutionsspecially

theOpenUniversitiesinCommonwealthAsiawhoparticipatedintheevents

organised by CEMCA. I also thank all partners and collaborators, viz.,

Bangladesh Open University, Odisha State Open University, Netaji Subhas

OpenUniversity, UttarakhandOpenUniversity, andOpenUniversity of Sri

Lankaforhostingtheeventsandsupportingsuccessfulimplementationofthe

CEMCAprogramme“ImprovingQualityofTeaching&LearningResources

usingOERinHigherEducation”. Ialsoextendmyheartiestthankstothe

Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU), Guwahati for

collaboration and support to organise the panel discussion in the

Internationalconference.IremainindebtedtoDr.ShahidRasoolDirectorand

TeamCEMCAfortheirsupport,motivationandvaluableadvicetoimproveand

completethiswork.Specialthanksarealsoduetoallthecontributorsfortheir

acceptancetoincludetheirworkinthisresourcebook.Asalways,welook

forwardtoreceivingyourcommentsandsuggestionsforimprovingourwork

atCEMCA.

ManasRanjanPanigrahi(Ph.D)ProgrammeOf�icer(Education)

CommonwealthEducationalMediacentreforAsia(CEMCA),

NewDelhi

4

Open Educational Resources for

Quality LearningManas Ranjan Panigrahi

Abstract

Learningisalifelongprocessforeveryindividualthatcanaccomplishthrough

differenteducationalresources.Traditionallyaccessofdifferenteducational

resourceswastoodif�icultandrecordanddisseminatesoon.Informationand

CommunicationTechnology(ICT) isnowplayingan importantroleforthe

disseminationofsustainablequalitylearningresourcesworldwide(Paland

Panigrahi, 2013). OER currently most often used is “digitized materials

offeredfreelyandopenlyforeducators,studentsandself-learnerstouseand

reuse for teaching, learning and research”. OER includes learning content,

software tools todevelop,useanddistributecontent,and implementation

resourcessuchasopenlicenses.Itisalsoreferstoaccumulateddigitalassets

thatcanbeadjustedandprovidebene�itswithoutrestrictingthepossibilities

forotherstoenjoythem.Camilleri&Tannhauser(2012) alsostatedOERas

“teaching, learning and research materials in any medium, digital or

otherwisethatresideinthepublicdomainorhavebeenreleasedunderan

openlicensethatpermitsno-costaccess,use,adaptationandredistribution

byotherswithnoorlimitedrestrictions”.Thelimitedrestrictionsarefurther

describedbyWiley(2009)ina4R-frameworkoffourrights:i.e.1.Reuse:the

righttoreusethecontentonlyinitsunalteredform;2.Revise:therightto

adapt,adjust,modify,oralterthecontentitself;3.Remix:therighttocombine

theoriginalorrevisedcontentwithothercontenttocreatesomethingnew;4.

Redistribute:therighttomakeandsharewithotherscopiesoftheoriginal

content,yourrevisions,oryourremixes.Allthe4RsgivingrightsofOERopen.

EvidencesshowthatOERisaboontotheteachinglearningworldandbecame

anecessarysocialinfrastructureduetoitsaccesswithoutcost.However,the

prematuredeathofmanyOERinitiativesmandatesourfurtherattentionto

thequalitydimensionsandthesolutiontothechallengesthatgrewalongwith

thismovement.Researchesaroundtheworldareoptimisticaboutthegrowth

ofOER'sef�iciency,relevanceandpotentialtopromotecreativity.Thispaper

exploresthebene�its,thequalityconcernsandindicators,andconcludeswith

suggestivecontinuumofmodelstomakethequalityofOERtotherequired

levelandmeetthechallenges.

5

Ch

ap

ter

- 1

Introduction

Learning is a lifelongprocess for every individual. It canbe accomplished

through different educational resources. Traditionally, access to different

educationalresources,itsrecordinganddisseminationwasdif�icult.However,

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is now playing an

importantroleforthedisseminationofsustainablequalitylearningresources

worldwide (Pal and Panigrahi, 2013). ICT is de�ined as a diverse set of

technologicaltoolsandresourcesusedtocommunicate,create,disseminate,

store, and manage information. These technologies are computers, the

Internet,broadcasting(radioandtelevision),andtelephone(Blurton,2002).

AftertheadventofICT,theteachingandlearningprocesseshavevirtuallygot

revolutionisedglobally.

Althoughlearningresourcesareoftenconsideredaskeyintellectualproperty

intheglobaleducationalworld,moreandmoreinstitutions,academiaand

individualsaresharingdigitallearningresourcesovertheinternetopenlyand

freeofcost,asOpenEducationalResources(OER).OERareoftenpublishedon

the internet within a repository. Repositories may be institutional,

government funded, charitable or commercial, with most repositories

offering a step-by-step guide to release (Hemingway,Angell,Hartwell and

Heller, 2011). Digital teaching, learning, research resources in the public

domain or released under intellectual property licence permit free

use/repurposing by educators, students, self-learners and others (Chaney

andMenn,2013).Currently,mostoftenusedde�initionofOERis“digitized

materialsofferedfreelyandopenlyforeducators,studentsandself-learners

touseandreuseforteaching,learningandresearch”.OERincludeslearning

content, software tools to develop, use and distribute content, and

implementation of resources such as open licences. It also refers to

accumulateddigitalassetsthatcanbeadjustedandprovidesbene�itwithout

restricting the possibilities for others to enjoy them (OECD 2007). As

describedbyWiley(2006),theterm“learningobject”wascoinedin1994by

Wayne Hodgins and quickly entered the vernacular of educators and

instructional designers. As per the history of OER, learning objects

popularisedtheideathatdigitalmaterialscanbedesignedandproducedso

thattheycanbeeasilyreusedinavarietyofpedagogicalsituations.

Camilleri&Tannhauser (2012)alsostatedOERas “teaching, learningand

researchmaterials in anymedium, digital or otherwise, that reside in the

publicdomainorhavebeenreleasedunderanopenlicencethatpermitsno-

6

QualityHigherEducationOpportunitiesThroughOpenEducationalResources

costaccess,use,adaptationandredistributionbyotherswithnoorlimited

restrictions”.ThelimitedrestrictionsarefurtherdescribedbyWiley(2009)in

a4R-frameworkoffourrightsi.e.1.Reuse:therighttoreusethecontentonly

initsunalteredform;2.Revise:therighttoadapt,adjust,modify,oralterthe

contentitself;3.Remix:therighttocombinetheoriginalorrevisedcontent

withothercontenttocreatesomethingnew;4.Redistribute:therighttomake

andsharewithotherscopiesoftheoriginalcontent,yourrevisions,oryour

remixes.Allthese4RsgivingrightsofOERopen.

RoleofOERinTeachingandLearning

Theissueoflearningcontentisopencourseware,i.e.,educationalmaterial

organisedascoursesandtypicallydistributedasPDF�iles,aswellassmaller

chunksof learning, often referred to as learningobjects.The contentmay

involvewebsites, simulations, text �iles, images, soundor videos indigital

format, someonly for use and others open for adaptation and reuse also.

Althoughnode�initestatisticsareavailable,thereisarapidexpansioninthe

numberofOERprojects,aswellasthenumberofpeopleinvolvedandthe

numberofresourcesavailable.

Digitalinformationhasbecomeasocialinfrastructureandwiththeexpansion

oftheinternet,networkinfrastructurehasbecomeanindispensablepartof

social life and industrial activities for mankind. Every day, new internet

applications and more ef�icient ways of doing existing tasks are being

discovered.Althoughmostinternetapplicationsareconcentratedonamore

ef�icient or cheaper way of performing existing tasks, the applications in

educationaremostlyconcernedwiththesharingofscarceresourcesavailable

inonelocation,withmanyotherlocations(PishvaandNishantha,2008).As

societymovesfurtherintothe"KnowledgeAge"everydayworkplacepractices

are being increasingly changed and shaped by new and advancing

technologies(ZuritaandNussbaum,2004).Inthisfastchanginginformation

age,evenaDVDplayerafter5–10yearsinthemarkethasbecomehistory,and

YouTubeandMTvUhavetakenitsplace(Berk,2009).Globallystudentsnow

tend to spend considerable amount of time on socialmedia tools such as

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogging, wikis, Ebay, etc. (Dubose, 2011).

Today's'NetGeneration'ofstudentsissosophisticatedwithtechnologythat

theyhavebeenbrandedasdigitalnatives(Prensky,2001). 'Digital' istheir

native language. They are 'native speakers' of the language of computers,

video games, and the Internet. To match with this fast changing world

7


scenario, the classrooms of the 'Net Generation' students should also be

upgradedtoenabletappingoftheirmultipleintelligencesandlearningstyles.

OER will be playing an important role in the future in dissemination of

learning resources. The advantages of use of OER aremany, viz., i.) Grab

learners'attention;ii.)Focusconcentration;iii.)Generateinterest;iv.)Create

asenseofanticipation;v.)Energiseorrelaxforlearningexercise;vi.)Draw

imagination;vii.)Improveattitudestowardcontentandlearning;viii.)Builda

connection with other scholars, educators and instructors; ix.) Increase

memoryofcontent;x.)Increaseunderstandingofsubject/content;xi.)Foster

creativity;xii.)Stimulatethe�lowofideas;xiii.)Fosterdeeperlearning;xiv.)

Provideanopportunityforfreedomofexpression;xv.)Serveasavehiclefor

collaboration;xvi.)Inspireandmotivate;xvii.)Makelearningfun;xviii.)Setan

appropriatemoodortone;xiv.)Decreaseanxietyandtensiononscarytopics;

andxx.)Creatememorablevisualimages.

OERwillexpandaccesstoeducationalresourcestomorelearners,moreofthe

time.Inparticular,adultlearners,studentswhoworkfulltime,andothernon-

traditionalstudentsstandtobene�itfromopenresourcesbecausetheyare

available for independent, self-directed study (EDUCAUSE, 2010). Open

resourcesareonewaytoaddresstherisingcostsofeducation,andtheyalso

have thepotential to facilitatenew styles of teaching and learning.Giving

facultytheabilitytopickandchoosetheindividualresourcestheywanttouse

and to modify those resources and “assemble” them in unique ways –

promisesgreaterdiversityoflearningenvironments.However,qualitymaybe

aconcernfortheusers.

QualityconcernsandindicatorsinOER

QualityofOERcanbedescribedbythefollowinginterdependentissues:i)

Ef�icienttoachieveeducationalgoalsset,ii)Relevanteducationinaddressing

theneedsofthecommunityandtheenvironment,iii)Promotecreativityand

innovations. However, it can also describe quality in terms of: Technical

ef�iciency(referringtoteachinglearningandpedagogicalissuesthatfocuson

inputs, teaching skills/methodology, organisation of school, (curriculum

content), and OER quality measures to be ful�illed continuously without

interruption (ethical and professionally ef�icient teachers, curriculum

(equitable,studentcentered,addresscountry'sneed,maintaininternational

standards), ef�icient organisation and management system, availability of

relevanteducationalsupport,adequatelearningtime).

8


Advocates of the open movement should consider actions for improving

accesstoandusefulnessofexistingresources.Therapidlygrowingnumberof

learning materials and repositories makes it important to �ind the most

relevant and highest quality resources.Metadata (descriptive information

abouttheresources)mayimprovethefunctionofsearchengines,butadding

goodqualitymetadatatoresourcesisdif�icultandtimeconsuming.

Alternative approaches such as automatically generated metadata and

folksonomies are being tested, but whether these are scaleable solutions

remain to be seen. Quality can be improved in many ways. There is a

troublesomeimbalancebetweentheprovisionofOERanditsutilisation.The

vastmajorityofOERisinEnglishandbasedonWesternculture,andthislimits

theirrelevanceandrisksconsigninglessdevelopedcountriestoplayingthe

roleofconsumers.However,anumberofprojectsnowexist indeveloping

countriestodevelopOERbasedontheirownlanguagesandcultures.

Since the concept of OER builds on the idea of reusing and repurposing

materials, interoperability is a key issue. Learning resources need to be

searchableacrossrepositoriesandpossibletodownload,integrateandadapt

acrossplatforms.Softwareapplicationsdevelopedatdifferentpointsintime

and by different developers should be able to operate together. Open

standardsmakethispossible.

QualityimprovementofOERcancontributealottotheknowledgesocietyas

well as also develop certain standards that can produce many learning

resources.ParticularlyOERqualitydemandsproperuseofthe4Rs–i.e.Reuse,

Revise,RemixandRedistributeprocess.

Thequalityindicatorsarethewayforwardofguidelinestocreateanddevelop

ofthestandardsofOER.Therearethreekindsof'openness'thatcoverarange

ofacademicfunctions,fromproductiontoorganisationtodistribution,and

theirdevelopmentanduseintheacademyoffergreatpotentialforshaping

practices in teaching, research and management. Whether a matter of

structure (Open Sources), protocols for informational organisation (Open

Access)orpurecontent(OpenContent), thecoreprincipleundergirdingall

theseformsof'openness'isthatwehaveabetterinformationenvironment

where the possibility of sharing is maximised (Fisher, 2006). If we will

consider these as the threepillar ofOER then these are also contributing

towards the quality indicators. Open Source is a legal framework for the

licencingoftechnology,whereintherightsofowninganartefact(suchasa

9


softwarepackage)entailrightsnotonlytouseitbutalsotobeabletoknow

andchangetherudimentsofitsdesign.WhiletherearemanyOpenSource

variants, the core notion is that one's created intellectual property has a

structural design that is transparent, such that it can be freely (without

constraint or cost) manipulated or altered, generally towards the goal of

improvedversionsofthedesign.OpenAccessistheorganisingandpresenting

offreely-availablescholarlymaterialsontheInternet(andpresumablyany

successormodeofinformationrepositoryanddelivery),accordingtoasetof

principlesandprotocolsdevelopedininformationscience.Theoriginalfocus

wason'grey'materialssuchaspre-printsande-prints;somenewelectronic

journals now �it under this rubric (Bailey, 2005). Open Content is any

unrestrictedscholarlymaterialsontheInternet,irrespectiveofwhetherthey

followOpenAccessprotocoloreven�ittheformatoftext-basedmedia.Such

materialsincludedissertationarchives,teachingresources,interactivetools,

general and specialised repositories, and materials supplementary to

publishedarticlessuchasillustrationsorvideoandaudiorecordings.

Qualityisadominantissueineducationalliterature.ThosepublishingOER

may be concerned that their output is of a quality that re�lects their

professionalcapabilityandmayfeelthattheirreputationmaybedamagedby

publishingOER,particularlywheretheirresourcesdonot'translate'welltoa

virtual environment. The quality of repurposing and the adaptation of

resourceshavebeennotedbycommentators(Boulos;Marimba;andWheeler,

2006).PractitionersalsoappeartobeconcernedtoensurethattheOERthey

accessonlineanduseinteachingisofgoodquality.Theliteraturenotesthat

few repositories provide quality controlmeasures, and evenwhere these

exist,thisissuemaystillbeofconcern(LittlejohnA).Onesolutionisemployed

byMERLOT(MultimediaResourcesforOnlineLearningandTeaching)where

materialissubjectedtoprofessionalreview.However,thishassloweddown

thereleaseofresourcessomuchthatithasbeendescribedas'acrisisinOER'.

Certainly,delayingaccesstoOERiscontrarytotheinherentphilosophyandin

itselfmaymeanthatresourcesarenotuptodate.Ithasbeensuggestedthat

peerreviewandusercommunitiesmighthavepossiblewaystoresolvesome

concernsregardingquality(LarsenandVincent-Lancrin,2005).However,it

couldalsobearguedthattheperceivedqualityofaresourcedependsonthe

contextinwhichitisbeingused,andusersshouldthereforemaketheirown

judgement regarding its value and appropriateness. An alternative

interpretationofthequalityissueisthatOERwillinfactraisethequalityof

teaching resources. Organisational investment and control, the desire to

maintainprofessionalreputationandongoingupdatingandrepurposingby

10


the OER community could be seen as effective in ensuring high-quality

resources(Hylen,2006).Anumberofideasarecomingoutfromtheseveral

literaturesaboutthequalityofOER.

Paul Kawachi, (2013) discussed in his paper about identi�ication of OER

qualityassuranceindicatorsthatisobservedfromvariousliteratures.More

than30frameworksofqualitydimensionswerediscoveredintheliterature,

and15ofthesewereofsuf�icientmeritandrelevancetobethenexploredin

detailtoextractdimensionsandsub-dimensionsofqualityrelatedtolearning

materials.TheseframeworksarethosereportedbyAchieve(2011),Bakken&

Bridges (2011), Baya'a, Shehade & Baya'a (2009), Binns & Otto (2006),

Camilleri&Tannhauser(2012),CEMCA(2009),Ehlers(2012),Frydenberg

(2002),Merisotis&Phipps (2000),Khan (2001),Khanna&Basak (2013),

Kwak (2009), Latchem (2012), McGill (2012), Quality Matters Program

(2011),andSREB–SouthernRegionalEducationBoard(2001).Afterthisin-

depthstudyoftheseliteraturesanddiscussionwithOERexpertshesuggested

major �ive quality dimensions for OER with reference to educational

objectives, i.e., the Cognitive Domain, Affective Domain, Meta-cognitive

Domain, Environment Domain, and Management Domain. Brie�ly the �ive

DomainsandtheirrespectivecoveragearesummarisedinTable1.Together

theseconstituteafullcomprehensivemodeloflearningtoserveasthebasisof

OERqualityFrameworkhere.

11

Table1:ComprehensiveDescriptionsofFiveDomainsFramework

Sl.No. Domains RespectiveCoverage

1. CognitiveDomain

(Content)

contentknowledge,contentskills,andre�lective

criticalthinkingskillstobelearnt

2. AffectiveDomain

(Studentsmotivation)

motivations,attitudeanddecisiontoinitiate

performance,learnerindependenceandautonomy

3. Meta-cognitiveDomain

(Studentautonomy)

understandinghowthetaskisperformed,andthe

abilitytoself-monitor,evaluateandplanown

futurelearning

4. EnvironmentDomain

(Assess)

localisation,artisticpresentation,language,

multimedia,interactivity,andembeddedlinksto

othercontent

5. ManagementDomain

(Packaging)

discoverability,tagging,includingfortime

management,transmissibility,businessmodels

Source:PaulKawachi,(2013):http://cemca.org.in/ck�inder/user�iles/�iles/OERQ_TIPS_978-81-88770-07-6.pdf


On the basis of the �ive-domain quality framework a shorter framework

entitledTIPSwascreated,wheretheacronymTIPSisusedtoprovidethetop-

levelcategorisationofcriteria,i.e.,(T)TeachingandLearning,(I)Information

andContent,(P)Presentation,and(S)System(Kawachi,2013). Atthesame

time this quality frameworkwas giving proper direction to develop open

educationalresources.Italsohelpedtodevelopaguidelineforpreparationof

quality educational materials for the students, teachers and researchers.

TheseguidelinesbyKawachi(2013)include65criterias.

ChallengesandLimitationsofOER:Focusonissuesof

thedevelopingworld

OERcanbeseenasofferinganaffordableandcrediblesolutiontothegrowing

disparity in education between developing and developed countries.

Althoughtheopenresourcerevolutionisgrowing,therearesomechallenges

thatmay sti�le the further progress of themovement. In this paper, three

challengeswillbedealtwith:thecopyrightissues;howtoassurequalityin

opencontent;andhowtosustainOERinitiativesinthelongerrun.

Copyrightissues

Copyright is the right of the originator to control the publication and

replicationofwork.Academiawasmostlyunawareofthecopyrightlicensing

even though the publication, consumption and distribution are known to

them,whentheywerepublishingintheprintmedia.Internetandotherdigital

mediahavechangedthis.AccordingtoMcCracken(2006),havingaccessto

publishing and production tools, and by licensing access to a digital,

ephemeral product rather than a physical object such as a book or print,

researchersaswellasteachersnowinterrelatewithlicensingasneverbefore.

Andforthemostparttheyseemeitherunpreparedorunwillingtoengage

withcumbersomelicensingprocedures.

Mostlyacademicsarehappytosharetheircreativeworks,butwithoutlosing

thecreditortheirrights.Althoughsomepeoplereleaseworkunderthepublic

domain,itisnotunusualthatauthorswouldliketoretainsomerightsover

theirwork.TheRoMEOprojectinUKmadeasurveyin2002–2003among542

researchersaboutwhatkindofrightstheywantedtoretain(Gadd,2003).A

majority (over 60%), were happy for third parties to display, print, save,

12


excerptfromandgiveawaytheirpapers,butwantedthistobeoncondition

that they were attributed as the authors and that all copies were done

verbatim.55%wantedtolimittheusageoftheirworkstoeducationaland

non-commercial.TheRoMEOreportconcludedthattheprotectionofferedto

researchpapersbycopyright law is inexcessofwhat is requiredbymost

academics.

Openliceningisasolutiontothecopyrightworriesofacademicians.Itoffersa

wayoutforcontrolledsharingwithsomerightscon�inedtoauthors.Thereare

severalopencontentlicencessuchasCreativeCommonsandtheGNUFree

Documentation Licence which introduces a certainty and clarity in the

processofobtainingpermissiontousetheworkofothers.Theyalsooffera

reduced administrative burden of clear rights before use. Hence this is

particularlyuseful intheeducationalcontextwhereusershave littleorno

insideknowledgeofthemechanismsusedbythemediaindustries.Finally,

openlicencesestablishabodyofworkslicensedas“opencontent”thatmaybe

freely shared. While these bene�its are making them attractive, the right

holdersdonothaveacasebycasecontrol.Instead,a'broad-sweep'control

overtheirworks,putsashadowonopenlicensing.Anothershortcomingtobe

mentionedisthewaivingofmoralrightstomakederivativeworks.Evenwith

theseshortcomings,theinternationalopenlicenseisgrowingasevidentfrom

thebulkvolumeofobjectsdeliveredundertheCreativeCommonslicense.A

recent comparison of seven Australian universities underpins previous

internationalresearchshowingthatrelyingsolelyonvoluntarydepositsby

academicsofresearcharticlestoOAarchiveswillresultinapproximately15%

contribution(Sale,2006).Criteriatodeposittheworksofauthorsinanopen

archiveshouldbetiedwithapolicytosupportauthorstofetchmore.Support

to authors can be achieved by professional recognition and pro�ile

enhancementthroughOERcontribution(Downes,2007).Teachersneedto

feelthattheireffortstodevelopOERwillberecognisedandrewardedinthe

samewayasotheracademicoutputsarevalued(Leeetal.,2008).

Qualityassurance

Theinherentproblemwiththeenormousdigitalresourcesavailableinthe

worldisalsoapplicableforOER.Consumersmaybehavinggreataccesstothe

digitalworldofinformationthroughthismode,butstilltheproblemofjudging

their quality and relevance is there. The issue of quality assurance is

13


fundamental and cannot be treated at depth in this paper. Instead a few

differentapproachestodealwiththeissuearelistedas:

Brandingisoneoftheapproaches.Beforereleasingtheresourcesontothe

web,throughinternalchecktheinstitutionsmakesureofthequality.Users

havecon�idenceinthebrand/theinstitution'sprestigethatwillbeatstakeif

qualityisnotthere.However,thisinternalqualitycheckisnotopenandhence

theusersmaynotfollowit.

Yetanotherapproach ispeerreviewof theresources.Asdescribed in the

section on OA, this technique is one of the most used quality assurance

processesinacademia.Beingawell-knownandwellunderstoodroutine,this

maybeanacceptablequalityassurance for theconsumers.Therearealso

otherargumentsforusingpeerreviewschemestoguaranteethequalityof

resources inarepository.Taylor(2002)arguestheprocesscanbeusedto

cometo termswith the lackofarewardsystembygivingrecognitionand

reward to the creator of a learning resource, as well as a dissemination

method. Furthermore, there is a need for making the review decisions

credible, and for that purpose, an open peer review according to agreed

criteriaiswellsuited,Taylorclaims.

Athirdqualitymanagementapproachistoletindividualusersdecideon

whatever ground they likewhether a learning resource is of high quality,

useful,orgoodinanyotherrespect.Userrating/commentontheresourceor

describinghowtheyhaveusedit,orbyshowingthenumberofdownloadsfor

each resource on thewebsitemay generate a trust in the users. This is a

bottom-upapproachoftenusedonInternetbasedmarketplaces,musicsites,

etc.,thevalidityofwhichisnotdependable.However,suchanapproachwould

bejusti�iedinthatqualityisnotaninherentpartofalearningresource,but

rather a contextual phenomenon wherein the learning situation decides

whetheraresourceisusefulornot.Thereforeitistheuserwhoshouldbethejudge.

SustainabilityofOER

TheabundanceofOERattemptshascreatedcompetitionforfunding.Some

projectsarehavingfundingbutthiswillendafterfewyears,becausetheseare

onlystart-upfundsprovidedbytheinstitution.Thereforeitisimperativeto

seriouslyconsiderhowitcanbesustainedinthelongrun.Therearedifferent

kindsofOERprovidersandsustainabilitymodels.Hencethereisaneedto

14


discoverdifferentapproachesthatmightbeusefulinaparticularcontext.Two

differentapproaches–theinstitutionalmodelandthecommunitymodel–are

discussedhereasidealtypesateachendofacontinuum,wherealotofmodels

couldbeinvented.

ThecompetitionamonginstitutionbasedOERisgrowing.Hencetheyneedto

develop a strong brand, user communities, frequent site usability and

augmented quality of the resources offered. Community “marketing” is

importantfortheinstitutionalOERinitiativesforseveralreasons:

n Enablesuserstoformstrongconnectionswiththewebsite;

n Institutioncanlearnfromthecommunityaboutwhatworksandwhat

doesnotworkonthewebsite;

n Givespossibilitiesforrapiddiffusion;

n Strongcommunitiesin�luenceuserbehaviours–userscomebacktothe

repository.

InstitutionslaunchingOERprogrammesmightalsoneedtolookintodifferent

revenuemodelsforlongtermstabilityandviabilityoftheirinitiative.Tothis

end, some alternative models identi�ied by Dholakia; King; and Baraniuk

(2006)mightbeconsidered:

n Replacementmodel,whereOERreplacesotheruseandcanbene�itfrom

thecostsavingswhichisaresultofthereplacement.Itwasnotedthough

thatthismodelhasanatural limitsinceitcanonlygeneratethesame

amountofresourcesasitreplaces.

n Foundation,DonationorEndowmentmodel,wherethefundingforthe

operations isprovidedbyanexternalactor suchasFoundations.This

modelwasprimarilyseenasastart-upmodelthatwillmostprobablynot

be viable in the long run. It might be transferred into a Government

support model that could be a long-term option in some (mostly

European?)countriesbutnotothers.

n Segmentationmodelwheretheprovider,simultaneouslywithresources

for free, also provides “value-added” services to user segments and

chargesthemfortheseservices–suchassalesofpapercopies,training

15


andusersupport,ask-an-expertservices,etc.Thismodel,togetherwith

theconversionmodel,isamongthemostusedintheeducationsector.

n Conversionmodel,where “yougive somethingaway for freeand then

converttheconsumertoapayingcustomer”.

n Voluntarysupportmodel isbasedon fund-raisingcampaigns.Another

version of this model is the Membership model where a coalition of

interestedparties–organisationsorindividuals–isinvitedtocontribute

acertainsumasseedmoneyoronanannualbasis.

n Contributor-Pay model where the contributors pay the cost of

maintainingthecontributionthatismadeavailablefreebytheprovider

makes available for free. This model is used to give OA to scienti�ic

publicationsandmightworkalsoforOER.

The alternative approach to building an OER programme with a strong

institutionalbackingisthecommunitymodel.Thisismoreofagrassroots

activity where individuals contribute with their time, knowledge and

resourcesonavoluntarybasis.Inthismodel,production,useanddistribution

are decentralised, compared to the institutional model where at least

productionanddistributionarecentralised.Fromacommunityperspective,

onemighttakeanalternativeviewontheover-allconceptofsustainability.

From this standpoint, it is not enough to look at the advantages and

disadvantagesofdifferentrevenueorfundingmodels–oneshouldnotonly

lookatwhopaysfortheresourcesbutalsowhocreatesthem,howtheyare

distributedandhowonecanworkwiththem.Someoftheaspectstoconsider

are:

n Technicalconsiderationssuchasdiscoverabilityoftheresources;

n Thekindofopennessandconstraintsonaccessandusethatisgivento

users;

n Differentcontentmodels(thepossibilitytolocalisecontent)andissuesof

licensing;

n Different staf�ing models and incentives for people to contribute

resources;

16


n Alternativework�lowstothetraditionaldesign-use-evaluationmodel,to

models without a clear distinction between production and use or

between the user and the producer. The concept of coproduction is

importanthere.

n Maintenanceandupdatingofresources.

Since the community model builds on voluntary work and enthusiasts,

sustainabilityisnotsomuchamatterof�inancialresourcesasofdismantling

barriersthathinderthecommunityto�lourishandgrow.Tentativeactions

couldbeto�indalternativestotheexistingIPRregimeandchangingthemind

setofdonorsnotonlytoincludefundingtoinstitutionalOERinitiativesbut

alsotolooselycomposedcommunities.Authors(e.g.,Geith&Vignare,2008;

Atwell,2007)suggestthatpubliclyfundedorganisationshavearesponsibility

toshareanddisseminateinformationforthebene�itofall.Itshouldbetheir

ethicstotheknowledgecommunity.Forindividualacademicians,thisistheir

ethics–toparticipateinacommunityofpracticearoundOERinwhichsharing

ofresourcesandexpertiseisexpectedandvalued(Leeetal.,2008).

17

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Open Educational Resources (OER) Impact on

Students at Bangladesh Open UniversityMd. Mizanoor Rahman and Manas Ranjan Panigrahi

Abstract

Thispaperreportson�indingsfromastudyconductedwithstudentsusing

openeducationalresourcesastheprimarycoursematerialintheircoursesof

studies. The study took place at Bangladesh Open University (BOU), only

distanceeducationinstituteinthecountry.StudentswereassignedtheOER

whentheUniversitydevelopeditaspartofaCEMCAfundedprojectinitiative.

Two research instrumentswere employed to collect qualitative data from

students:asurveyandone-on-oneinterviewswithasmallerstudentsample.

Bothsurveyandinterviewitemsaskedstudentshowtheyengagedwiththe

OERastheprimaryself-learningcoursematerials(SLMs).Studentsshared

feedbackabouttheoverallorganizationoftheOER,methodsusedtoaccess

the OER and ease of use, bene�its and challenges, and differences and

similaritiestousingprintSLMs.Resultsindicatethatthemajorityofstudents

wereabletoaccesstheOERwithmoreeasethanprintSLMshandedinthe

Regional Centres (RCs), Sub-Regional Centres (SRCs), and Study Centres

(SCs).Asmallproportionofstudentsencounteredminorusabilityissues,but

themostgainaccesstotheOERviainternet.Themajorityofstudentsreported

that the course readings were equal to or better than print SLMs, and

responded positively to the variety of learning materials. Most students

agreedtheywouldbewillingtouseresourceinthefuture.

Introduction

In Bangladesh, government provides students with free textbooks for all

schoollearners(fromGrade1-10)andsimilarly,BangladeshOpenUniversity

(BOU)usesself-learningcoursematerials(SLMs)forthestudentsofmostof

its educational programmes. But, normally, the print SLMs is not timely

delivered because of maintaining government's purchase procurement

processwhichisassumedtimeconsumingandburcompulsory.In2014,the

Universityauthoritydecidedtocuratealternativedeliveryofcoursematerials

which consisted of openly licensed resources and SD cards to supplant

21

Ch

ap

ter

- 2

traditionaldeliveryoftextbooks.InlinewiththistheUniversitywiththehelp

ofCommonwealthofLearning(COL)cameoutwithanOERPolicy2014and

afteralongspanoftimeitimplementedOERRepositorywithCC-BYlicensein

2017 under the technical and �inancial support from theCommonwealth

EducationalMediaCentreforAsia(CEMCA)–regionalcounterpartoftheCOL.

Before, theUniversityused theopenaccessedmaterials for students.This

paperreportson�indingsfromastudyconductedasapartofprojectworkof

“BOU-CEMCAJoint InitiativeProjectonOERPolicyand Implementationof

BlendedApproachthrougheLearningatBangladeshOpenUniversity”from

July2016toMay2017withstudentswhousedtheBOUOERRepositorysite

fortheircoursesofstudies.

Objectives

TheaimofthispaperistolearnhowOERsareusefulinplaceofprintSLMsfor

BOUstudentsandhasimpactedstudents'academicexperiences.Thisstudy

achievesthefollowingobjectives:

n toassesstheBOUOERsiteinrelationto'views'whichwitnessestherange

ofusesofthematerials;

n toascertainstudents'attitudesandexperienceswithOERsrepresented

inthebroaderscopeofexistingOERRepositoryatBOU;

n to address challengeshaveessentiallyputBOUOERpractitionersand

advocatesatthenexusofOERdiscourse;and

n toidentifythebarriers,ifany,toOERadoptioninBOU;and

LiteratureReview

WhenOpenUniversitycameintoexistencedistanceeducationshiftedinopen

anddistancelearning(ODL)whichnormallyusedprint,radio-TVbroadcasts

andlimitedcontacts(face-to-facetutorialservices).OpenUniversitynormally

are famous for implementing open-door academic policies 'such as 'Open

Admission',say,noagebarrier,cost-effective,need-based,andreliedonprint,

radio-TVandmorerecently,internet.Webtechnologyprovidedopportunity

formakingthematerialsavailableforfreeusewhatistermsas'openasfree'.

These open accessedmaterials are restricted to copyright and then, open

educational resources (OER) is developed to provide "5 Rs of Openness:"

22


Retain,Reuse,Revise,Remix,andRedistribute(Wileyetal.,2014).OERhas

beenverycontent-centeredapproachandCronin (2017) �inds that “Using

OEPforteaching"wasconstructedshowingfourdimensionssharedbyopen

educators: balancing privacy and openness, developing digital literacies,

valuingsociallearning,andchallengingtraditionalteachingroleexpectations.

Thisisillustratedinthe�igure1preparedbasedonCronin(2017).Inthisway,

OERhasbeenpartoflifeoftheopeneducatorsandtheirstudents.

Balancingprivacy&openness,developingdigitalliteracies,valuingsociallearningandchallengingtraditionalteachingroleexpectations

Openlicencing-retain,reuse,revise,remixandredistributeoflearningmaterials

Freedom

YouTubevideos,TEDTalks,khanAcademyscreencasts,MOOCS

OpenasfreeOpenUniversity-radio-TV,recentlyInternet

Figure1:OpennessParadigmShift

OERhasbeennewandstillgrowingbecausesomeoftheinstitutesnotyet

started their OER initiatives. Therefore, much advocacy initiatives are

requiredforOERdevelopmentaroundtheglobeandinBangladesh.Onthe

otherhand,somecountriesareadvancedintheadoptionofOERandhave

beenverysuccessful.Inthisway,OERliteratureiscategorizedintotwo:they

are-OERadvocacyliteratureandOERadoptionliterature.

OERadvocacyliterature

Normally, advocacy initiatives come from the activists. For instance, in

Bangladesh,NGOsanddevelopmentpartnersdidadvocacyinitiativesfornon-

formal education (NFE) and �inally, government, in response, started

ministerial interventionsandmainstreamedtheNFEissues.Likewise,OER

23

OpenEducationalResources(OER)ImpactonStudentsatBangladeshOpenUniversity

advocacyliteraturehasbeenactivelycontributedtosincetheinceptionofthe

OERmovement.Thisissimplytheadvocacyinitiativestakenbytheagencies

suchascommunities,developmentorganizationsandeducationalnetworks.

Inthisregard,itisnecessarytomentionthat UNESCO,WilliamandFlora

Hewlett Foundation, and COL have sponsored OER advocacy initiatives

(seminar,conferencesandworkshops)atvariouslevelsindifferentcountries

and as result, some of countries formulated policy and some already

implemented with the help of their policy recommendations. Initially,

supportersoftheOERtooktheadvocacyinitiativesandcontributedinOER

development.Afterward,OERpractitionersaddedvalueintheOERadvocacy

literature.Africancountriesarechampioninthisrespect.Theyparticularly

focusedonbestpracticesforadoptionandimplementationofOERinitiatives.

They track the conditions of OER adoption, and provide strategy

recommendations to funders and the greater OER community of OER

strategists, advocates, and purveyors of OER programs/initiatives. For

example,OERAfricaisaground-breakinginitiativeestablishedbytheSouth

African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) for supporting higher

education institutions across Africa in the development and use of Open

EducationalResources(OER)toenhanceteachingandlearning(OERAfrica,

2017).Allen&Seaman(2014)statesthatoneofthebarrierstoOERadoption

isfacultyperceptionsaboutthetimerequiredandlevelofdif�iculty�inding

andevaluatingOERs.Inlinewiththis,COLinitiatedcapacitybuildingonOER

issuesforBOUfacultiesandcameoutwiththeBOUOERPolicy2014.Butthe

policy took a long time to implement. McAndrew (2013) �inds that OER

advocacyinitiativeshavebeenhelpfultoprovidestrategiesandcontextfor

OER program implementations, but most of the advocacy reports failed

presentdeepexaminationinthepostadoptionphase.UNESCO(2011)and

Wileyetal.(2013)reportedthatOERadvocacyliteratureshowsthatstudents

aremuchlessrepresented;therefore,students'participationinactivitiesto

supportOERdevelopment.BOU'sOERpolicyhibernatedforlongandthisis

only because of lack of participation by faculties (teachers, tutors) and

studentstosupportOERdevelopmentattheUniversity.Therefore,adoption

ofOERisthenextstageoftheadvocacyinitiatives.Nextsectiondiscussesthe

OERadoptionliterature.ToutilizeOERcouldbeaneconomicallyfeasibleway

foreducationalinstitutionstomeetthechallengesofmoderntechnologyand

increasingdemandsforhighereducation.But,thetransitionfromateacher-

to-student,textbookbasedpedagogy,toa�lexiblelearningenvironmentmust

be supportedby the educators and itmeans thatmost teacherswill need

24


encouragement and support to take the step from conventional

textbook/classroomeducation[Garrote(2012),Garrote-Juradoetal.(2014)

&ValladaresRodriguezetal.(2014)].

OERadoptionliterature

OERadoptionliteraturecameintoexistencefrom2011afterassessmentof

OER implementation programmes in various institutes. Slowly, the OER

getting the integral part of blended approach. Bliss, et al. ( 2013); Young

(2015);&Chae,(2015)�indthatresearchesonOERadoptionarelimitedto

facultymotivations,perceivedbarriers,bene�itsandincentivesencountered

OER-enabledprogrammes,andhowitisevaluated.MostoftheOER-enabled

programmes are cost savings as a bene�it, aswell as easier access to the

materials. Although, Pitt, et al. (2013) �ind very few negative student

responses on using OER-enabled programmes and Affordable Learning,

Georgia(2015)receivednegativefeedbackfromthestudentsastheycited

problemswithusability,organization,andthewritingstyleoftheresources

includedintheOER.Thistechnologymayhavesomeproblem,butnodoubtit

isgrowingfastandmakingtheOERindustrywhereBangladeshhasbeenthe

newmember.Someofthedepartmentsandinstitutesalreadyenteredinthe

OERadoptionwithdifferentoperators,say,dspaceandcreativecommon(CC).

Forinstance,BRACUniversityandDaffodilInternationalUniversityalready

placedtheirallpublicationsintheOERrepositorywiththeoperator–dspace–

and BOU already implemented 'BOU OER Repository' (http://www.

ebookbou.edu.bd/)usingtheopenlicensingundertheattributionoftheCC-

BYoftheoperator–CreativeCommons–whichcontainsthebuttons:onefor

SLM–eBooks–whereallSLMSaredepositedandanotherfor–BOUTube–

whereallvideomaterialsaredeposited.

Methodology

Thisstudy is intended toengagestudentsand fosteramore inclusiveand

equitableplatformonwhichtoconsiderbigpedagogicalinitiativeslikethe

creation/adoption of open educational resources. Objective is to bring

studentsintotheOERconversationisinformedbytheeducationalphilosophy

ofPauloFreire,theforemostadvocateofcriticalpedagogy.Thisstudyusestwo

tools–oneFocusGroupDiscussion(FGD)with20studentsforqualitativedata

usingthechecklistandonesurvey.89studentsintwoStudyCenters

(KalabaganLakeCircusGirls'HighSchoolandDhanmondiBoys'HighSchool)

25


undertheDhakaRegionalCenteroftheBOU.Studyincludesthestudentsof

theSSC(SecondarySchoolCerti�icate)programme(Grade9-10)oftheOpen

School. Atotalof89studentstookpartinthisstudythroughquestionnaire

usedLekertscalestoinvestigateattitudestowardsBOUOERRepositoryand

provided open ended responses for additional comments. Survey

administrator–the�irstauthor–identi�iedthestudentsusingsmartphones

withinternetconnectionandfrequentvisitorsofBOUOERRepository.Data

werecollectedbyaquestionnairewhichwasdesignedbythe�irstresearcher

(�irstauthor)andcheckedbyCEMCArepresentative–thesecondauthor. A

questionnaire with two sections, formed by questions about personal

informationandBOUOERRepositoryprogrammeswaspreparedandused.A

totalof25questionsonattitudeswith the followingdistributionof topics

wereasked:accesstoBOUOERRepository(1),attitudestowardsaccessibility

and thedevices foruseof text (4), attitudes towardsaccessibility and the

devicesforuseofvideo(6),attitudestolinkingoftextcontent(6),attitudes

towards navigation (5), attitudes towards interaction with instructor and

fellowstudents (5), attitudes toeffectivenessofmaterials (6).5questions

wereaboutthepersonalinformationsection(gender,age,grade,studycenter,

livingplace). Inquestionnaire,therewere�ivechoicesas“stronglyagree”,

“agree”,“neutral”,“disagree”and“stronglydisagree”.Thesechoiceshadvalues

from5 to1. In this study, the analytics ofBOUOER reform, as a realmof

University,isconductedthroughsuchaprocessofqualitativeresearch.

BOUOERPolicy-Analyses

Vision 2021 and the promise of establishing a digital Bangladesh drew

immensesupportfromthepeopleandthatcreatedpositivegroundsforthe

realizationofpowerofICTtoachievethesustainabledevelopment.Inline,the

country has been implementing ICT establishment projects such as A2i

(access to information) through the Ministry of ICT which created an

environmenttoimplementtheOERrepositoriesinBangladesh.

FrameworkforOERanalysis

BOUOERPolicy2014washibernatedforlongandwasnotyetimplemented.

Judith&Bull(2016)�indthattheimplementationofOERatthecourselevel

poses numerous challenges to education practitioners. To address these

challenges, Trotter & Cox (2016) develop an analytical framework which

called“OERadoptionpyramid”(Figure2).

26


Figure2:TheOERadoptionpyramid[Source:Trotter&Cox(2016)]

INTE

RNAL

LYDET

ERMIN

EDEX

TERN

ALLY

DET

ERMIN

EDINSTITUTIONSmaybeagentsofOERadoption

Capacityto�ind,use,createand/oruploadOER-

personallyorwithsupport

Accesstoinfrastructure:computers,internet,electricity

AwarenessofOER,theconcept,andhowitdiffersfromother

educationalresources

Permissiontouse/createOER,asdeterminedIPpolicy

INDIVIDUALSmaybeagentsofOERadoption

AvailabilityofrelevantOERofrequisite

quality

VolitiontoadoptOER

InstitutionalSocial

Personal

This �igure illustrates that some external and internal factors that affect

adoptionofOER,theyare:infrastructureaccess,legalpermission,intellectual

awareness, technical capacity, educational resource availability and

individual(or institutional)volition.Thisframeworkhasbeenusedinthis

studytoBOUoperatedinhighlydenselypopulatedandunilingualcountry

withaface-to-faceteachingmodel.Itiscomparativelypoorlyresourcedand

mandated for “underprivileged”. Therefore, this framework has beenwell

described for this study.BOUuses internet for longand ithasa complete

ComputerDepartmenttoprovideallsortsofDBA(DatabaseAdministration)

andPCsupportforadoptionofinternet.But,OERnotyetadoptedanditisfor

lackoflegalpermissionandCOLcameuptodevelopthepolicypaperforBOU.

DevelopmentoftheOERPolicy

HoldingacapacitybuildingworkshoponOERissuesin2014withthehelpof

theCOL,BOUbeginconsideringthe implementationofanOERPolicy.The

workshop�inishedwiththeoutputofdraftof'BOUPolicy2014'.Duringthe

workshop,34participants representing theconcernedschoolsof theBOU

receivedthetrainingandmadeactivecontributionstodevelopingtheOER

27


Policy. Essential knowledge onOER and open licenceswas presented and

discussedbytheparticipatingspecialiststodeepentheirunderstandingand

practicalskills. WaneMakintoshfromNewZealandalsodeliveredalecture

throughonlinefortheparticipantsandhepresentedthelessonslearnedfrom

the implementation of OER initiatives to inform the policy-makers. Prof

KhandakarMokaddemHossain,PVCofBOU–thePolicy-makerandhewas

enlightenedonaframeworkonthedevelopmentofOERpoliciesandstep-by-

stepguidancewereprovidedtofacilitateaneedsanalysisandtocontextualize

OER for BOU. The workshop not only built capacity of policy-makers in

developingsector-wideOERpolicies,butalsoresultedinthe�irstdraftofthe

of�icialOERPolicyforBOU. 30thAcademicCouncilapprovedtheBOUOER

Policy2014approvedandinthisway,legalpermissionforOERadoptioncame

intoexistence.

Policyanalysis

In2014, BOU OER policy came into existence and but, lack of strategies

represent salient responses that impact the practical processes of OER

implementationatthecourselevelinBOU. TheOERPolicydidn'tsetupthe

vision, say, for 2020, 2015, to support the establishment of a sharing

mechanismfortheproduction.Thismaybetheoneofthereasonsnottogive

driveforpreparingtheOERMasterPlantargetistospreadOERcultureand

empowerbothacademicandof�icialsoftheUniversitytoproduceandshare

high-qualityOERonline,furtherenhancingtheaccesstodigitalcontent.The

University already had the Open Accessed materials. But of the policy

formulation,theUniversityfeltintermsofusingOER,majoractivitiesplanned

so far include de�ining, designing and producing interactive e-books and

establishedtheBOUeLearningCenter.Thee-contentstandardsweretobe

�inalized. Through establishment of the eLeaning Center, the University

decidesfordesigninginteractivee-bookstosupportblendedlearninginthe

regulareducationalsystem.Inaddition,GovernmentimplementstheNational

EducationPolicy2010andthispolicystatesthat'BangladeshOpenUniversity

willbebuiltupasatruedigitaluniversityenrichedbyfacilitiesofIT'.Through

theonesentencepolicyhasconferredhugetasksonBOUandinlinewiththis

BOUhasbeendeployingtechnologiesinthedeliveryoftheprogramme.In

addition, the education policy also puts emphasis on operationalizing the

libraries through ICT by phases and thus opens upways to access global

knowledge (SoE,2016).Thepolicyhas cleardirectiononOERandcanbe

exploredfromthefollowingstatementcitedinthePolicy:

28


….enriched libraries will be set up in every college and university. All

research journals will be collected through electronic subscription. All

librariesofthecountrywillbeconnectedthroughnetworkingsothatany

student can have access to the resources of other libraries. By phases,

digitaleditionofbooksandjournalswillbemadeavailable. Recognizing

the importanceof the institutions, thestructural formatof thenational

libraryandarchiveswillbereorganizedandtheywillbebroughtunderthe

digitalsystem(SoE,2016,p,15).

Therefore,OERhasbeenimperativeforBOUandaswellforthenation.But,

OERarenotinplace.TheearlysignsoftheOERPolicy'simplementationshow

that ithashadapositive in�luenceonanumberofeducational issuesand

contexts.Thepolicyhasaprovisionforworkingahighpoweredcommittee

titled “Copyright Policy Standing Committee” to address any issues

concerning the proper interpretation of this Policy consisting of the

followings:

29

Chairman:ViceChancellor

Members:

Pro-ViceChancellor(s)

Treasurer

LegaladvisertoBOU

DeansoftheSchools

Twocopyrightexpert(external)nominatedbytheacademiccouncil

Director,Printing&PublicationsDivision

Registrar,he/shewillbethesecretaryofthecommitteetoo

Thecommitteedidnotworkatalland�inally,aprojectisdevelopedtomeet

thechallengesmentionedinthesuggestedframeworktheyare–intellectual

awareness, technical capacity, educational resource availability and

individual(orinstitutional)volition–toseekCEMCAsupport.Theawareness

of thisphilosophybeganwith theOERproject implementation committee

conductingseveraleventsandactivitiesaftertheOERMasterPlanwasformed

intheProjectPro�ile(PP).Duringtheprojectimplementation,avarietyofOER

activities and events also took place, including workshops for teachers,

administrators,andpolicypeople.PurposeoftheOERPolicystates:


“Thiscopyrightpolicyisintendedtoprovideclari�icationandguidelinesfor

BOUacademics,staffandlearnersregardingtheownership(copyright)of

createdworksandthepracticesforthepublication,use,reuse,remixand

distributionofmaterial.”.

In response, in 2017, the Project with permission of the BOU Authority

createdanOERRepository(http://www.ebookbou.edu.bd/)underlicensing

ofCC-BYoftheCreativeCommons.Policydecisionswereavailablebutlackof

awareness, capacity building, and individual volitionOER implementation

wasslowed.

BOUOERRepository

About 200 e-books have been uploaded in theOERRepository the policy

launching ceremony (March 2014) and in the OER development seminar

(April2017).The �inal tasks in the implementationstageare: releasingof

copyrightthroughCreativeCommonstosecureopenlicensing,gatheringOER

materials,andmakingtheOERavailablethroughaportal.ThroughtheProject

activitiesMBS programme is under process and this is, in fact, fullyOER-

enabledblendedbecauseeverycourseisof10lessonnotes,10PPTsand10

videolecturesand10face-to-facetutorialservices.Bycontinuingtopromote

theOERPolicyanddrawpeople'sinterestinparticipatinginOER,theBOUcan

expecttoseemoretransformationintheeducationsectorinthenearfuture.

DuringtheinitialformingofthetheoreticalstructureoftheOERPolicy,the

OERcommitteeshouldidentifythechallengesinproducingandsharingOER.

Surveywiththestudentsonattitudetowardsoftheexistingtherepositorysite

shalltoidentifythese.Thesurveyresultsarediscussedbelow:

ResultsandDiscussion

BOUprovidesstudentswiththeSLMsforeachcoursemainlyattheSSCand

HSCprogrammes.Mostofthetime,Universitymakesdelayinthedeliveryof

booksintime.Thisistimetheproblemhasbeenveryacute.Thisissituation,

learnershastheoptiontousethee-booksthroughaccessingtheBOUOER

Repository.

30


Learners'attitudetowardsonuseofOERrepositoryfor

SLMs

Table 1 illustrates the attitude scales on the use of e-books as alternative

sourceofrequiredtexts. Inthissection,studentswereaskedtoscaletheir

attitudeonalterativeoptionforaccessingrequiredtexts.Mostofthestudents

positivelyrespondedonaccessingtheBOUOERRepository(Meanvalueis

4.56andSD is0.88).During interviews, students'most immediatelynoted

theirsatisfactionwithcostsavings,andtheadditionalconveniencethatOERs

offered. When students talked about convenience, they often did so by

voluntarilycontrastingtheOERtoaprintedtextbook.

Tabletswere less frequentlyused(mean2.85andSD is0.87).Mostof the

studentsinterviewedrespondedpositivelyofusingacombinationofalaptop

ordesktop,andtheirphone.Studentssharedwhytheyprintedif theyhad

doneso(meanvalue4.01and0.67).Still,readingonasmartphonewasthe

nextmostcommonmethod.

31

Table1:Learners'attitudetowardsonuseofOERrepositoryforSLMs(N=98)

Items SDN Mean

IuseBOUOERRepositoryofe-booksformystudies

Iprinte-booksoutashardcopynothandedintime

Ireade-booksonapersonallaptoporcomputer

Ireade-booksonBOUcomputer

Ireade-booksonatablet

Ireade-booksonasmartphone

78

74

73

67

78

75

4.56

4.01

3.05

2.34

2.85

3.61

0.88

0.67

0.94

0.79

0.87

0.87

Theaccessingviatabletshasbeenlowandnegativeresponsesandtheyused

tabletsrarelytonever.This�indingindicatesthatstudentsownssmartphone

rathertablet.Thefulldistributionofresponsesalsoindicatesthatstudents

useacombinationofmethodstoaccessthecoursereadings,anddespitethe

prevalence of handheld and portable devices such as smart phones,most

students commonly used laptops or desktops to do their reading. During

interviews,studentsalsosharedhowtheyaccessedtheOERonadailybasis.


32

Learners'attitudetowardsonuseofOERrepositoryforBOUTube

BOUusesradio-TVbroadcastsandmakesavailablethesubjectspeci�icvideo

lecturesintherepository.Inordertoknowtheattitudesonthevideolectures

andtheresultisverypositive(meanvalue4.55andtheSDis0.87)although

theyfacedif�icultiesindownloadingtheOERvideoresources.Studentsmost

frequently citeddif�iculties in downloading (mean value is 3.71 and SD is

0.97).

Table2:Learners'attitudetowardsonuseofOERrepositoryforBOUTube(N=98)

Items SDN Mean

IuseBOUOERRepositoryofvideolecturesforstudies

Iexperiencedif�icultiesindownloadingresources

Iwatchvideolecturesonapersonallaptoporcomputer

IwatchvideolecturesonBOUcomputer

Iwatchvideolecturesonatablet

Iwatchvideolecturesonasmartphones

Watchingvideolecturesisnotachallengeforme

77

70

78

77

78

69

81

4.55

3.71

2.6

2.19

2.73

3.62

3.99

0.87

0.95

0.73

0.67

0.78

0.69

0.40

Table2mostofthemhavelookedforvideos.AspecialproblemfortheBOU

participantsislimitedaccesstointernet(mobileinternetmainly)thatmakes

italmostimpossibletodownloadvideo.Itmaybesurprisingtoseehowoften

videohavebeenusedbytheBOUlearners,consideringthebigproblemswith

accesstocomputersandinternet,butthisispossiblebysharingviaintranet

andportablememorydevices.

Learners'attitudetowardsOERcharacteristicsoftexts

Thesurveyalsoaskedstudentswhatitwasliketolocatematerialsfromthe

OER. Students responded positively by reporting that it was very easy to

retrievethecoursematerialsfromtheOErepository.Studentshadaneutral

responseandonestudentfoundnavigatingtheOERtobedif�icult.Students

alsochosefromavarietyofoptionstoreportwhethertheyencounteredany

dif�icultiesassociatedwithaccessingtheOERmaterials.


33

Table3:Learners'attitudetowardsOERcharacteristicsoftexts(N=98)

Items SDN Mean

BOUe-booksarelinkedtootherlearningmaterials

BOUe-booksareformattedinPDFversion

BOUe-booksareeasytoeditintheweb

IcaneasilyremixtheBOUe-books

IcaneasilymodifytheBOUe-books

Icansharethee-bookstomyfriendsthroughsocialmedia

78

77

81

75

77

77

2.15

4.65

2.98

1.93

2.27

3.74

0.61

0.64

0.71

0.45

0.66

0.98

Learners'attitudetowardsOERforlearningexperiences

StudentsalsoreportedthattheOERdidnotimpacttheirclassparticipationor

their interest in the course. Students were most positive about the OER

increasing their satisfaction with the learning experience, and their

engagementwiththecourselessonsincontrasttoatraditionaltextbook.

Table4:Learners'attitudetowardsOERforlearningexperiences(N=98)

Items SDN Mean

Usingthee-booksiteincreasedmyinterestinthesubject

Usingthee-booksiteincreasedmyexposuretodifferentwaysoflearning

Usingthee-booksiteincreasedmysatisfactionwiththelearningexperience

Usingthee-booksiteincreasedmyengagementwiththelessons

Usingthee-booksitebuiltmycon�idence

73

77

77

82

85

4.58

4.19

3.45

3.51

4.52

0.74

0.40

0.90

0.98

0.85

The provision of high-performance digital devices and an effective

communicationnetworkfortheproductionanduploadofdigitalcontent:for

this,upgradesinnetworkcapacityandbetterdevicesareneeded.Motivation

tolearnhighest.This�indingwasnearlyidenticaltotheirratingoftheCourse

Quality.Bothratingsweregreaterthan3.97ona5-pointLikert-typescale.

FongandKwen(2007)examinedstudentmotivationtolearnandfoundthata

positive motivation to learn was associated with higher academic

achievement.


34

Impact

In addition to the structured questionnaire, two focus discussions were

conducted using a checklist. Students have been found that they arewell

informedabouttheBOUOERRepositorythroughtheirtutorsaboutallofthe

coursematerialsareavailableinoneonlinelocation.Theyreferencedthesite

aswellorganized,self-explanatory,andeasytonavigate.Someofthestudents

reportedthattheyusedtolookfortheoldbooksfromtheformerstudentsof

thesameprogramme.StudentsfoundthattheOERmadenodifferencetotheir

learninghabitsbesidesofferingmoreaccessibilityandconvenience.Ofthese

two, onementioned liking the ability to �lip back and forth in a textbook

insteadofscrolling.Acoupleofstudentsfoundthecoursereadingstobefar

less overwhelming than a textbook because they could focus in on the

important components. Another student mentioned her preference for

watching videos, a learning habit she had developed independently by

searchingforBOUTubevideosrelatedtocourses.Positiveattributesofonline

learning materials. The research that has emerged to explore online and

distance education in an effort to understand and improve high rates of

student attrition, can inform the design of OERs. In a qualitative study

conducted with distance education students with special needs, students

offeredseveralsuggestionstoimprovetheonlineeducationexperience.They

sharedtheirprioritiesforinstructorstomakeexpectationsclear,userubrics,

haveadetailedsyllabuswithduedates,createdirectionswithstep-by-step

instructions, and have a tutorial available on how to use technology

functionalities like an online discussion board (Catalano, 2014). These

suggestions are relevant to any learning context, but they offer important

insight intowhatstudents'value inordertoachievesuccesswith learning

materials. These suggestions are also consistent with students' positive

feedbackonthereliabilityandclarityofusingtheOER.Anotherimportant

aspectofthestudywastheopportunitytolearnmoreabouthowdifferent

learning materials impacted students. Based on the different materials

offeredontheOER,studentswereaskedtoratehoweachofthemsupported

their learningprocess, ifatall.Theresponseswereverypositive,withthe

majorityof studentsagreeing that eachmaterial supported their learning,

suggesting that students liked being able to use a variety of educational

materials.Studentsfoundtherequiredassignmentsandrequiredquizzesto

bemostsupportiveoftheirlearningprocess.


FuturePlans

BOUhastoensurethepositiveoutcomesoftheOERPolicythroughtackling

challengesandpreparingfutureplanofactions.Thegovernment'sgoalisto

preparestudentsforthe21stcentury'stechnologicalandscienti�icadvances.

In line with this, school curriculum authority made the ICT courses

compulsory to prepare citizens for dealing with the technology and

knowledgechallengesofthecomingerawithcon�idenceandenthusiasm.To

thisend,variousmoderntechnologieshavebeenintroducedtoschoolsand

societyaspartofimplementationofdigital-Bangladeshagenda.Nowitisfor

OERtomakefurtherimpacts,followingthefootprintofBOU'sdigitalpolicies.

OERfore-booksandvideolecturesarealreadymade.Inadditiontothis,more

OER-enabledblendedprogrammeswillbeincorporatedintheBOUacademic

portfolio. Intermsoflessonplanning,e-lessondesign,digitalteachingaids,

lessonactivities,differentiationresources,higherorderthinkingresources,

lessonstartersandplenaries, assessment for learning tools,behaviour for

learning tools and techniques, etc., collaboration should happen among

teachers,students,andvariouseducationalplayers.Studentsacrossalllevels

especially secondary level andhighereducationareexpected to formrich

networksofknowledgecreationandsharing.Thispracticewillenrichand

deepentheirlearningquality.Cronin(2017)�indsthatthatresearch-informed

policiesandcollaborativeandcriticalapproachestoopennessarerequiredto

support staff, students, and learning in an increasingly complex higher

educationenvironment. StudentsdependontheOERtoservethemjustas

wellasandinthesamecapacityasatextbook.The�indingsofthisresearch

indicatethatlearnersperceivethemselvesashighlymotivatedtolearnand

onlysomewhatpositiveintheirperceptionsrelatedtoOER.Thecurrentstudy

providedanevaluationofattitudestowardsOERandassociatedbehaviors,

and found that although students were unfamiliar with the term 'open

educational resources'. But they got information from the tutors about e-

books and tutors training on OER should ease the promotion of further

training and activities. There is already a culture of localized sharing and

borrowingofhardcopyof thematerial,but forstudent toengage inopen

educationalpractices(OEP)beyondtheinstitution,workneedstobedoneto

explore thewider barriers. OEP is possible in Bangladesh as the learning

materialsfortheformalschoolsarealsoavailableintheinternetforfreeof

use.

35


Conclusion

Alltheactivitiesdescribedinthispaperhavelaidthefoundationforsuccessof

BOUOERPolicy2014.First,becausetheOERPolicycorrespondstotheoverall

goals and aligns with other policies, it is less likely to encounter strong

opposition that could slow down or even halt progress. Second, the OER

CEMCA-BOUprojectismakingeffortstofurtherpromotecollaborationand

transparencyinadjustingthepolicy.Third,theOERPolicy'scommitmentto

providequalitymaterials,includingmonitoringandevaluation,shouldensure

thepolicy'ssuccessinmeetingthenationalgoals.Fourth,theImplementation

Plan is practical. And lastly, the key bene�iciaries in the OER Policy are

becoming more involved through various events that the OER Project

Implementation committee has organized. BOU is getting more mature

throughthreedecadesofpractices,lessonsandinnovationsandsuchmaturity

isbeingwellre�lectedinitsOERPolicy.

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38


Open Educational Practices at Uttarakhand Open University: From Policies to ImplementationC

ha

pte

r -

3

Jeetendra Pande

Abstract

Soonaftertheemergenceoftheopencoursewaremovement,in2002UNESCO

coinedthetermOpenEducationalResources(OERs)inaforumontheimpact

ofopencoursewareonhighereducationindevelopingcountries.Sincethen,

the OERmovement has gainedmuchmomentum and a globalmovement

towards collaboration in the development and sharing of content has

developedworldwide.UttarakhandOpenUniversity(UOU)hasembracedthe

OERapproachandstartedfollowingOpenEducationalPractices(OEP)after

adoptionofOERpolicyby it.UsingOERs, theUniversityhasdeveloped45

coursesandreleasedthemundertheCreativeCommonslicence.Inaddition,

theUniversityhasconductedmanyOERsensitisationworkshops,both for

policymakers and stakeholders, in the last fewyears. This paper presents

UOU's journey of adopting Open Educational Practices, from policy

formulationtoimplementation.

Introduction

UNESCO�irstusedthetermOERintheyear2002ataforumontheimpactof

opencoursewareonhighereducationindevelopingcountries.ThetermOpen

EducationalResources(OERs)referstoanytypeofeducationalmaterialthat

isinthepublicdomainoravailablewithanopenlicence,andthismeansthat

anyonecanlegallyandfreelycopy,use,adaptandre-shareit(UNESCO,2002).

OERswereoriginallyconceivedtosupporteducationbuttheyarealsobeing

seenasanalternativetotraditionaltextbooksinsomecountries.OERsare

availableinavarietyofforms,includingtextbooks,curricula,syllabi,lecture

notes,assignments,tests,projects,audio,video,animation,etc.

OneofthereasonsfortheincreasingpopularityofOERsinawiderangeof

institutionshasbeenthesteadyriseintextbookprices.ThepromiseofOERsis

basedonacultureofsharingandlearning,encouragingteachersandstudents

aliketoadoptexistingeducationalresourcesandadaptingandsharingthem

39

with others to maintain the cycle of collaboration and continuous

improvement.OERsofferequalaccesstoknowledgetoeveryoneandallow

resourcestobeadaptedformeetingaccessibilityneeds,thusmakingthem

equitable.Predominantlydigital,theyarebynatureaccessibleandbeingin

thepublicdomain,theyareaneconomicalteachingandlearningtool.Someof

thebene�itsandadvantagesofOERinclude:

n Improvedaccesstolearningmaterials;

n Increasedaccesstoresourcesinvernacularlanguages;

n Reducedcost;

n Supportforlifelonglearning;

n Curatableandcustomisable,tosuitcurricula;

n Enhanced accessibility to quality peer-reviewedmaterial, resulting in

curriculumenhancement;

n Improveddialoguewithpeersglobally.

ThispaperreviewsthejourneyofOpenEducationalPracticesatUttarakhand

OpenUniversity,frompolicyformulationtoitsimplementation.Thissection

isfollowedbyaliteraturesurveyofOERpracticesfollowedindifferentpartsof

theworld.Section3presentsUOU'sOERinitiatives.Section4discussesUOU's

strategic response to the recommendations made in the 2nd OERWorld

Congress on achieving SustainableDevelopment Goal 4 (SDG4). Section 5

discusses the successes, challenges and lessons learned from adoption of

Open Educational Practices at Uttarakhand Open University. The paper

concludeswithfew�inalremarkspresentedinSection6.

LiteratureSurveyonOERpracticesaroundtheworld

OER is best known as an 'open'movement and the general foundation is

simple:informationshouldbewidelydisseminatedandfreelyaccessible,in

ordertobene�itnotjustthetraditionallearnerbutalsothenon-traditional

andself-learner(Pena,2009).OERareeducationalresourcesthatarefreely

availableonthewebunderanopenlicense.Theopenlicensefacilitatesthe

adaptationandrepurposingofeducationalcontentsinvariedlanguagesand

cultural contexts,without thehurdleof seekingpermissionof the content

owner.Openeducationalresourcesandopeneducationpracticeshave the

40


potential to lower costs and increase participation in higher education

(Murphy,2013).

TheOERjourneystartedwithTheUniversityofTubingeninGermanythat

publishedavideoseriesofitslecturesonlinein1999.Thetimelineofsomeof

theOERinitiativesaroundtheworldissummarisedinTable1.

Table1:TimelineofOERjourney

EventYear

TheUniversityofTubingeninGermanypublisshesavideoseriesofitslecturesonlinein1999.

1999

MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology'sOpenCourseware(OCW)initiativewith32initialcourses.

2002

ChinaintroducedChinaOpenResourcesforEducation(CORE)incollaborationwithMIT'sOCW.

2003

• SalmanKhanlaunchedKhanAcademyprovidesfreeaccesstoK-12leveleducationalresources.

• TheOpenUniversity(OU)ofUKalsolaunchedOpenLearn,whichisanopenlearningplatformofOUandcontainsSelfInstructionalMaterialandothereducationresourcesthroughitswebsiteLearningSpace.

2006

• Apple Inc. also joined the OER movement in 2007 and unveilsITunes U service which is an open and free educational platformconstructed on the basis of iTunes that provides brand-newdevelopmentconditionsandideasfortheco-constructionandsharingofOERs(Lu&Zhang,2011).

• UniversityofMichiganMedicalSchoollaunchedinitiativedScribe,thatprovidesallpre-clinicalcurriculamaterialsasOER.

2007

YouTubelaunchedafreeeducationalchannel,YouTubeEDUthatconsistsofthousandsofeducationalvideos,includingthosefrompartnerslikeKhanAcademy,Stanford,andTED-Ed.

2009

Codecademy,anonlineinteractiveplatformthatoffersfreecodingclassesin9differentprogramminglanguages,waslaunchedtoprovidefreeOERsforlearningcomputerprogramming.

2011

TED(Technology,Entertainment,Design),anon-pro�itmediaorganisation,launchedTEDEdtoprovidefreeaccesstotop-qualityeducationalvideosfromtheworld'stopteacherstothemasses.

2012

StanfordUniversitylaunchedStanfordOpenEdXtoofferfreeonlinecoursesthatdrawmorethan350,000enrollmentsaroundtheworld.

2013

41

OpenEducationalPracticesatUttarakhandOpenUniversity:FromPoliciestoImplementation

OER's penetration in the developing world has been slower than in

industrialisedcountries,withtheexceptionofChina,India, Japan,Vietnam

and Indonesia (Kanwar, 2015). Indian government has supported OER

initiatives in both policy and practice. In 2008, the National Knowledge

Commission(NKC)calledforanationale-contentandcurriculuminitiativeto

stimulatethecreation,adaptationandutilisationofOERbyIndianinstitutions

andtheleveragingofOERproducedoutsideIndia(Perryman&Seal,2016).

The Indian government has started several innovative programmes, like

SHAKSHAT (an academic portal), National Mission on Education through

InformationandCommunicationTechnology(NMEICT),NationalProgramon

TechnologyenhancedLearning (NPTEL),OSCAR(OpenSourceCourseware

AnimationsRepository),E-Grid(aneducationalportalofIIIT,Keralathatis

supportedbyMHRD),etc.,(Dutta,2016).In2014,India's�irstMOOCplatform

–SWAYAM–wasannouncedbyIndia'sPrimeMinisterNarendraModiinhis

IndependenceDayspeech.Openeducationalpractices(OEP)havealsobeen

nurtured, for example , through the Wikimedia India Chapter

(http://wiki.wikimedia. in/) and Creative Commons India (https://wiki.

creativecommons.org/wiki/India), in addition to the Karnataka OER

(http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en) and Subject Teacher Forum

(http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Subject_

Teacher_Forum)TeachereducationprojectsledbyIndianNGOITforChange

(Perryman,2013).SeveralinstitutionsinIndiahaveinitiatedactivitiesinthe

areaofOERandareeitherdevelopingtheirownpoliciesorlookingforwardto

guidelinesfromtheGovernmentofIndia.Apartfromtheopenlicencepolicyof

NMEICT,someinstitutionsthathavesomekindofOERpolicyincludeIndira

Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Vardhaman Mahaveer Open

University,KrishnaKantaHandiquiStateOpenUniversity,UttarakhandOpen

University, Odisha State Open University, Central University of Himachal

PradeshandtheUniversityofHyderabad.

OERinitiativesinUttarakhandOpenUniversity

The OER journey of UOU started in 2011 when the University hosted a

conference, in collaboration with CEMCA, where issues related to ICT

interventions in distance education and open educational resourceswere

presentedandshared.TheOERjourneyofUOUissummarisedinFigure1.

42


43


Figure1:OERJourneyofUOU

2018

44

UOU'sstrategicresponsetoSDG4

Basedon the2ndOERWorldCongress,CommonwealthofLearning (COL,

2017)has identi�iedconcreteactions tomainstreamingOER forachieving

SustainableDevelopmentGoal4 (SDG4):Ensuring inclusive andequitable

qualityeducationandpromotinglifelonglearningopportunitiesforall.UOU's

strategic responses to the recommendations for concrete action by

educationalinstitutionsareasfollows:

1. DevelopedandimplementedInstitutionalOERpolicy:Realisingthe

importanceofOERsandtheadvantagesofferedbyOER,UOUdeveloped

andimplementedinstitutionalOERpoliciesin2014withthesupportof

CEMCA.ThepurposeofthisOERPolicyisto:

a) Make material available under Creative Common licenses: All

materialdevelopedby theUniversity is releasedon theuniversity

OER Repository site under Creative Commons Attribution-

NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Moreover,

material such as University/School blog contents, Lecture notes,

Powerpoint presentations, Acts, Statutes and ordinances of the

University etc. are released under Creative Commons Attribution-

ShareAlike4.0InternationalLicense.

b) Support voluntary participation of Faculty and others in

developing OER content: Faculty members of the University are

actively involved in the development of OER content. The course

materialofCerti�icateofComputerApplications(CCA),DiplomainIT

(DIT),Certi�icate inE-governanceandCyberSecurity(CEGCS)and

MasterofComputerApplications(MCA)aredevelopedandreleased

asOERs.

c) Clarifypublicationrightsandlicensingissues:TheSLMandthe

supplementarystudymaterialownedbytheUniversitycontainfull

licenseinformation.

d) Provideguidance indevelopmentandreviewofOERmaterials,

priortosharingthemonaworldwidescale:Asamatterofpolicy,

onlythematerialthatiseditedandapprovedbytheDirectorofthe

concernedschoolisreleasedasanOER.


e) De�inecollaborationswithinandoutsidetheuniversitywiththe

intenttoallowfreeaccesstothee-contents:UOUhassignedanMOU

withotherUniversities,likeIGNOUandOdishaOpenUniversity,for

freesharingofe-content.

2. Created institutional mechanisms for OER quality assurance:

Assuring the quality of OER helps build institutional reputation. It is

importantthatOERreleasedbyeducationalinstitutionsbeeducationally

effective. To ensure this, Uttarakhand Open University has created

internalmechanismsforqualityassurance.TheUniversity'scurriculum-

basedlearningresources,developedthroughpeerreviewingandstrict

quality assurance mechanism are inbuilt in the course development

process and do not require further reviewing for uploading on the

repository. All other contributions are peer reviewed within the

departmentbeforeuploadingontheOERRepository.

3. CreatedaninstitutionalrepositoryforOER:WhileOERsaredeveloped

ininstitutions,itisnecessarytosharethemeffectivelyforwideruse.This

ispossibleonlythroughtheestablishmentofaninstitutionalrepository

that allows easy discovery ofOERby anyone, anywhere in theworld.

UttarakhandOpenUniversityhasdevelopedanOERrepositorythat is

accessible at elearning.uou.ac.in. This portal has beendevelopedwith

CEMCA's active support and contains SLM, supplementary reading

material,videolectures,etc.,bothinEnglishandHindi.Verysoon,UOU

shallbemigratingtheOERrepositorytothedSpaceplatform.

4. Regularly organising OER capacity-building programmes for

teachers:Buildingthecapacitytounderstand,�indandintegrateOERsin

teachingandlearningisimportantformainstreamingOERs.Thecapacity

to curate anduseOERs is as important as creatingor remixing them.

While most teachers are not involved in creating or remixing OER,

everyoneshouldbeaneffectiveuserofavailableOERs.Therearemany

resourcesavailablefortrainingteachersaboutOER.UttarakhandOpen

Universityhaveconducted5capacitybuildingtrainingprogrammesfor

its teachersonOERoutofwhich4areorganisedwith the supportof

CEMCA.

5. Collaboratewithotherinstitutionstoavoidreinventingthewheel:

ThemainobjectiveofOERsiscostreductionthroughtheuseofopenly

45


available materials. Economies of scale can be achieved through

collaborationincontentdevelopment.UttarakhandOpenUniversityhas

usedmanyOERresourcesofferedbyNPTEL,SaylorAcademy,Wikibooks,

Open Textbook Library, University of Minnesota's OER repository,

individualwebsite ofDavidEvans, Portland StateUniversity,BCOpen

Textbooks, O'Reilly and Free Tech Books. UOU has also indigenously

developed course SLMs for some of the courses, such as discreet

mathematics and cyber security, and released them under creative

common open licence. These courses are available at its repository

elearning.uou.ac.in.Asofnow,�ifty-threecourseshavebeendevelopedby

fullyorpartiallyusingOER.

6. Taken steps to improve the institution's ICT infrastructure: Using

OERinteachingandlearning,aswellasdevelopingOERineducational

institutionsdependsontheavailabilityofanaccessibleICTinfrastructure

andinternetconnectivity.UOUisconnectedtointernetthroughNKNand

theUniversityisplanningtocon�iguredSpaceforitsonlinerepository.

7. DevelopedaccessibleOER:TheUniversityhasdevelopedOERsusing

accessible, editable formats and technologies to enable their use and

reusebypeoplewithdisabilities.TheOpenandDistanceLearningsystem

doesnot require regularclassattendance, therefore it isverypopular

amonglearnerswithdisabilitiesandlearningdif�iculties.Basedonthe

recommendationsofMacCann,1996,thefollowingstepshavebeentaken

to ensure easy availability of learning materials for people with

disabilities:

P The University has ensured that learning material is available

through disk/website/repository. Most blind/visually impaired

students use computer-based synthetic speech output as their

primary means of accessing the learning materials. The learning

materialisavailableineditableformattofacilitatethelearnerswho

requirelargeprints,sothattheycanchangethefontsizeandstyleas

pertheirneeds.

P VideolecturesrecordedinHindiareusedtosupplementthecourse

material. The videos contain subtitles to assist the learners with

hearingdisabilities.

46


P Learners with neurological disabilities often have dif�iculty with

visualpresentationbecausetheirvisualmemorymaybe'scrambled':

theymayhavetroubleextractingmeaning fromtextandgraphics.

However, they have less dif�iculty with aural comprehension.

Therefore,anaudiotapeiseasierforthemtounderstand.UOUmakes

availableaudiotapestoitslearnersthatarealsobroadcastthroughits

communityradiochannel,HelloHaldwani.

P Manylearnerslearnbetterwithcomputers,particularlythosewith

intellectualdisabilities.Computerprogrammesthatprovidemulti-

sensoryinformationareextremelymotivating.Theyalsoprovidea

meansofteachinglearnerswithlimitedornoreadingskills.However,

theinformationislimitedbywhatisvisibleonthescreen.Learners

may feelsaferbecause theycangobackandretrieve information.

Online courses have been launched through its online Moodle

platform,toassistlearners.

Successes,ChallengesandLessonsLearned

Successes

UOUhassuccessfullymanagedtoleveragethepotentialofOERsforenhancing

thespreadofqualityeducation.ThisisimportantsinceUOUwassetupwith

themandateofdisseminatingqualityhighereducationintheIndianstateof

Uttarakhand that has historically been facedwith low levels of economic

growthanddevelopmentandisconstrainedbychallenginggeographicaland

climaticconditions.UOU'svariousachievementsinjustoveradecadeare:

n DevelopmentandimplementationofanInstitutionalOERpolicy.

n Developmentof45coursesusingOERsandreleasingthemundercreative

commonslicence.

n CreationofanOERrepository.

n Con�iguringaMoodleLMSandmobileapp forhostingsupplementary

videolecturesthatarerecordedbytheUniversityfacultymemberand

releasedunderopenlicence.

47


Challenges

Despite UOU's tremendous efforts focused at deploying OERs, thus

simplifyingthetaskofdisseminatingnecessaryknowledgeeconomically,the

University�indsitselfshortofthetargetsthatithassetforitselfinternallydue

toarangeofconstraintspullingdownitsefforts.Themoreprominentofthese

challengesare:

n Sustainability

n Low level of OER acceptance: In general, people are wary of sharing

knowledgeandfearscrutiny.

n Lackofsuf�icientsupportfrompeoplechampioningtheOERroute.

n Lossofeconomicgain

n IdentifyingsuitableOERsfromamongtheplethoraavailableinthepublic

domainglobally.

n Understanding the intricacies and �ineprint accompanying conditions

thatdictatetheuseofOpenLicenses.

LessonsLearned

GiventhatUOUisayoungentity,justoveradecadeold,thespeedwithwhichit

hasembracedanddeployedOERsisremarkable.Movingatafastpacehas

howevermadeitcommittime-consumingandcostlyerrors,fromwhichithas

derivedvariouslearnings,someofwhichare:

n Costsavingisamyth:ItrequiresmoretimeandefforttodevelopSLMas

OERasweneedtobeextracautiousaboutthequalityandrelevanceofthe

material.ButitisahugesavingoncostfortheinstitutionthatadoptsOERs

anddevelopsSLM.

n Alternateopenlicenses:VariousoptionstotheCreativeCommonslicence

areavailable,suchasCrownCopyrightlicence,GUIlicence,etc.

n Most of the available OERs fail tomeet UNESCO's guidelines de�ining

OERs.Mostrepositories'contentisinpdforotheruneditableformats.Use

ofopenformats,suchasMSWord,wouldeaserevisionandremixingof

content.

48


Conclusion

Academics is a primary stakeholder in education and the stakeholders'

positive attitude contributes to the success of any policy implementation.

Therefore, the results of the study indicate that adoption and continued

movementontheOERroutewillkeephavingpositiveandbene�icialeffectson

highereducationinthetimetocome.Thiswouldbeespeciallysatisfyingfor

Uttarakhand that needs to deliver more with less �inancial resources in

variousareaspertainingtoitspeople'sdevelopment,amongtheprimaryones

beingeducation.

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Agbu,J.-f.O.,Mulder,F.,Vries,F.d.,Tenebe,V.,&Caine,A.(2016).TheBestof

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COL. (2017). Open Educational Resources: From Commitment to Action.

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Dutta, I. (2016). Open Educational Resources (OER): Oppourtinities and

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higher-education/

Kanjilal,U.,&Kaul,P.(2016).TheJourneyofSWAYAM:IndiaMOOCsInitiative.

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presentations/open-education-resources-oer-what-why-how

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EducationalResources.AdvancedMaterials Research (pp. 197–200). Trans

TechPublications.

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MacCann,A.(1996).Designingaccessiblelearningmaterialsforlearnerswith

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Mishra, S., Sharma, M., Sharma, R. C., Singh, A., & Thakur, A. (2016).

Development of a Scale to Measure Faculty Attitude towards Open

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Murphy, A. (2013). Open educational practices in higher education:

institutionaladoptionandchallenges.DistanceEducation,34(2),201–217.

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Pena,H.R.(2009).HIGHEREDUCATION:TheSuccessandChallengesinOpen

EducationResources(OER).ResearchinComputing,LibraryandInformation

Science(RCLIS).

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(PCF7),Abuja,Nigeria.

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Thisisapre-printofanarticlepublishedinInternationalJournalofInformationTechnology.The�inalauthenticatedversionisavailableonlineat:https://doi.org/10.1007/s41870-018-0208-y]”.

Ch

ap

ter

- 4

Developmental Interventions through Open Educational Resource: A Case of Odisha State Open UniversityJayanta Kar Sharma

Abstract

Odisha State Open University, Sambalpur in a joint effort with the

Commonwealth EducationalMedia Centre for Asia, NewDelhi has built a

platform for acceptance of Open Educational Resources policy in the

educationalsystemofOSOUthroughbothcoursewritersandcoordinators

consideringSelfLearningMaterials,videolecturesandaudioclipsasthebase

forqualitativematerials.Thiscasestudytriestounderstandthe impactof

developmentalinterventionsundertakenbytheOdishaStateOpenUniversity

throughOER.Traditionallydistanceeducationwaslimitedinthenumberof

peopleservedbecauseofproduction,reproduction,anddistributioncosts.

Thisshifthassigni�icantimplications,andallowsdistanceeducatorstoplay

animportantroleintheful�illmentofthepromiseoftherighttouniversal

education.NewdistanceeducationtechnologiessuchasOpenCourseWares,

actasenablerstoachievingtheuniversalrighttoeducation.Throughatypical

modelofopenlicensing,OERallowsanyonetoaccess,customize,andshare

digitally published educational materials for free, with the end result of

advancingteachingandlearningworldwide.

Introduction

Theroleofdistanceeducation isshifting.Traditionally,distanceeducation

was limited in the number of people served because of production,

reproduction,anddistributioncosts.Today,whileitstillcoststheuniversity

time and money to produce a course, technology has made it such that

reproduction costs are almost non-existent. This shift has signi�icant

implications,andallowsdistanceeducatorstoplayanimportantroleinthe

ful�illmentofthepromiseoftherighttouniversaleducation.Atlittleorno

cost,universitiescanmaketheircontentavailabletomillions.Thiscontenthas

thepotentialtosubstantiallyimprovethequalityoflifeoflearnersaroundthe

world.Newdistanceeducationtechnologies,suchasOpenCourseWares,act

asenablerstoachievingtheuniversalrighttoeducation.Thesetechnologies

51

and the associated changes in the cost of providing access to education,

changedistanceeducation'srolefromoneofclassroomalternativetooneof

socialtransformer(Caswell,Henson,Jensen,&Wiley,2008).

So,theNationalKnowledgeCommission(2007)hasalsohighlightedthe

importanceofOERinwideningtheaccessofhighereducation.Ithasstated

that“NationalEducationalFoundationwithone-timeinfusionofadequate

fundsmustbeestablishedtodevelopaweb-basedrepositoryofhighquality

educationalresources.Openeducationalresources(OER)mustbecreated

onlinethroughacollaborativeprocess,poolingintheeffortsandexpertise

ofallmajor institutionsofhighereducation.TheOERrepositorywould

supplypedagogicalsoftwareforvariousprogramsrunthroughODEandbe

available for utilization by all ODE institutions. An enabling legal

framework thatwouldallowunrestrictedaccesswithoutcompromising

intellectualauthorshipmustbedevisedforthispurpose.”

OdishaStateOpenUniversity(OSOU),Sambalpur,incollaborationwiththe

CommonwealthEducationalMediaCentreforAsia(CEMCA),NewDelhihas

developedaplatformforacceptanceofOpenEducationalResources(OER)

policyintheeducationalsystemofOSOUthroughbothcoursewritersand

coordinatorsconsideringSelfLearningMaterials(SLM),videolecturesand

audioclipsasthebaseforqualitativematerials.Inadditiontoit,incorporation

oflicensingprocessthroughCreativeCommonswillbringanewframeworkin

thepublicationarenaofthehighereducationsystemofIndia.

Therefore,thevisionandmissionoftheOdishaStateOpenUniversityisas

follows:

Vision

n Tostriveforexcellenceinthe�ieldofHigherEducationbyusinglatest

methods&technologies;

n Toprovidebestqualitymaterialssupplementedbytraining,workshop,

hands-on practices, contact programmes, using audio-video resources

availablethroughOER&MOOCS;

n Give emphasis on skill based vocational courses for promoting

employmentopportunities;

52


n CollaboratewiththebestUniversities/Institutes/CentresofExcellence

foradvancementofknowledgeandskills;

n Makefulluseofeducationaltechnologies;

n Adoptthebestpracticesavailableinthe�ield;

n Promoteinnovationinteaching,learning,trainingandresearch;

n Establish Centres of Excellence in different �ields following Open &

DistanceLearning.

Mission

n Providequalityeducationataffordablecosts;

n Reachouttopeopleleavinginrural/remotelocationsintheState;

n Create awareness among the people of the State about their rights &

dutiesandadoptscienti�icmethodsforsocio-economicgrowth;

n Collaborate with all Government Departments/State Resource

Centers/NGOsinallourendeavorstoreachtheunreached.

Conceptual Clari�ication: OER Policy of Odisha State

OpenUniversity

OpenEducationalResourcesarede�inedasteaching,learningandresearch

materialsinanymedium,digitalorotherwise,thatresideinthepublicdomain

orhavebeenreleasedunderanopenlicencethatpermitsno-costaccess,use,

adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restriction.

AdoptionofOERpolicyintheOdishaStateOpenUniversityenablesalearning

environmentforallthestakeholdersofOdishaStateOpenUniversitytocreate

anduseOERintheproductionofeducationalresourcesandenablesthemto

sharetheseunderappropriateopenlicences.

ThepurposeofthisOERPolicyisto:

n MakematerialsavailableundertheCreativeCommonslicences.

n Supportvoluntaryparticipationoffacultyandothersindevelopingthe

OERcontent.

53

DevelopmentalInterventionsthroughOpenEducationalResource:ACaseofOdishaStateOpenUniversity

54

n Clarifypublicationrightsandlicensingissues.

n ProvideguidanceindevelopmentandreviewofOERmaterialspriorto

sharingthemonaworldwidescale.

n De�inecollaborationswithinandwithouttheuniversitywiththeintentto

allowaccesstotheopencontent.

Applicability:

TheOERpolicyisapplicabletoallcontentdeveloperswithintheuniversity

andthoseengagedbytheuniversityforwritingmaterialsonshort-termbasis

assubjectmatterexperts.Alltypesoflearningmaterialsarereleasedinany

physical or electronic format. In caseswhere thematerial is developed in

collaboration/partnershipwithotherinstitutions,theguidelinesgoverning

thatcollaborationasindicatedintheMoU/MoCwillprevail.

TheUniversitysupportsfreeandopenaccesstoalleducationalresourcesand

will make them freely available on OER Repository through Creative

CommonsAttribution–allcontentsitownsorco-ownswiththefollowing

exceptions.AllOERmaterialssharedattheUniversityOERRepositorytothe

world at large will carry a disclaimer indicating that the material is for

educational purposes only and that the university absolves itself of any

practical misuse of the OER materials or their content. OER materials

authoredandpublishedbyfacultyandstaffoftheuniversityandothersdonot

necessarily re�lect the opinionof theuniversity.All learningmaterials are

publishedunderCC licence .Therefore, thechoiceof licencewillbe

decidedbythefacultyconcernedwhohasdevelopedthematerialandshallbe

vettedbytheinternalOERQualityReviewBoard.Orallmaterialsdeveloped

by it and having exclusive rights shall be released on the university OER

RepositorysiteunderCC-BY-SA;ForderivativesandreproductionsofotherCC

licensed materials, the University will respect the CC provisions and the

licensestherein.WhilesharingthematerialsoftheUniversityinappropriate

licenses, it does not permit derivatives to use the University logo for

differentiationfromtheoriginal.

Beinga responsiblehigher educational institutionand tomaintain its

quality,OSOUhasitsownQualityAssuranceandReviewSystemregarding

OERwithfollowingresponsibilities:


55

n TheUniversityOERRepositorystrivestoprovideresourcesofthehighest

quality.Thereviewingprocesswillbecarriedoutatdifferentlevels.

n Universitycurriculumbasedlearningresourcesdevelopedthroughpeer

reviewingandstrictqualityassurancemechanisminbuiltinthecourse

developmentprocesswillnotrequirefurtherreviewingforuploadingon

therepository.Allothercontributionswillbepeerreviewedwithinthe

departmentbeforeuploadingontheOERRepository.

n The OER Board will adopt a set of quality assurance guidelines and

indicatorstohelpteachersfocusonqualityofOER.

n Attheuniversitylevel,anOERBoardwillbecreatedtoreviewpolicyas

wellastheproduction,deliveryandaccessprocessesofOER.

NeedsofOER@OSOU

ThespecialfeaturesofODLandOERarequitesimilarandsupportiveofeach

other.Bothusesmoderncommunicationandinformationtechnologies,Wide

choiceofsubjects,satisfyingindividuallearner'sneeds,interestsandabilities,

noupperagerestrictionsalongwithlongertime-range(1-5yrs.)tocomplete

certain courses of study – with credit accumulation facilities, Continuous

AssessmentSystem through TMA (Tutor MarkedAssignments)orCMA

(Computer-MarkedAssignments),conductingPersonalContactProgramme

(PCP) through multi-channel delivery approach/Printed self-learning

materials/tutors and academic counselors with supports of interactive

periodical magazines, Audio-video Programmes, Telecast-Broadcast, Tele-

conferencing (one way video – two and audio or two way video) and a

dedicated website for providing information to learners. In such an

environment, potential bene�its of using OER can gear up the entire

educational systemasOpenEducationalResources (OER)are free, canbe

used without asking permission from the author; allow the creation of

multiple copies for distribution; are predominantly digital and therefore

accessiblethroughtheInternet,arenotboundgeographically,areadaptable,

allowingotherstorepurposethemfornewuses;cansupportlearningatone's

ownpace;allowaccesstohugeamountsofdataandinformationthroughOER

repositories.

IntermsofdevelopinganOERTextbookplatform,OERprovideacosteffective

setof teachingresourcesand theiropennatureencouragesothers to take

copiesandreworkthemtosuitnewcontexts.Alsobeingdigitalmeansthat


56

theyaredistributedviatheinternetandareaccessiblefromanywhereinthe

world.Beingdigitalalsomeansthatinmanyinstancestheycanbeeditedor

enhancedusingcommonsoftwareeditingtools.WhenOERareorganisedto

achieve a particular curriculum objective inside an OER Textbook, then

learnershavesomecontroloverhowquicklyormethodicallytheypacetheir

learning.Inspiteofforegoingpotentialbene�its,OERhasfewlimitationsbyits

nature. UsersofOERfacevariouschallengeswhenitcomestoharnessing

these resources. Current frustrations for users ofOER include sourcing of

appropriate OER, understanding open licenses adaptation, requires new

skills, traditionalmind-setspredominate,Robust Internetconnectivityand

good ICTavailability are essential to access and adaptOERandabove all,

mindsetsandincentivisationofhigherauthoritytowardsOERcreation.

InitiativestakenbyOSOUtopromoteOER

TopromoteOER,Universityhastakendifferentkindsofinitiativesofwhich

thefollowingareremarkable:

a. TrainingProgrammeonOpenEducationalResources(OER)&Openand

Distance Learning (ODL) organised by CEMCA, New Delhi in

collaborationwithOSOU,Sambalpurfrom11to13February,2016:

b. Workshop on 'Technologies for Open Textbooks' organised by

CommonwealthofLearning(COL)andhostedbyOSOU,Sambalpurfrom

25to27February,2016

c. SensitisationWorkshop on 'Institutional Open Educational Resources'

organizedbyCEMCA,NewDelhiincollaborationwithOSOU,Sambalpur

on5October,2016:

d. Workshopon'CreateandRepurposeofOERforLearning'organisedby

OSOU,SambalpurincollaborationwithCEMCA,NewDelhifrom25to27

October,2016:

TheCommonwealthEducationalMediaCentreforAsia(CEMCA)supported

the Odisha State Open University (OSOU), Sambalpur for the OER policy

�inalisation and implementation as developmental interventions in the

improvement of qualitative Higher Education in the state of Odisha. The

objectiveof the trainingprogramme is to designand develop the OER

material for thestudents of the university.TheSelfLearningMaterials

(SLM)canbeadopted,conceptualisedandtranslatedfromsomeofthebest


57

materials preparedby thebest teachersfrom within thecountry and

abroad. Butwhenthehandsontraining,�ieldwork,practiceteachingand

otherhandsonactivitieswillcome,thelocalresourcepersonswillbetrained

bytheuniversitysothatwiththehelpofthismaterialsavailablethroughOER

thatareofinternationalstandard,theywillbeabletodeliveratthelocallevel.

Objectivesofthisinitiativearetounderstandandidentifythedevelopmental

interventions throughOER in theOdisha StateOpenUniversity. Thebasic

interestistoobservethedevelopmentalactivitiesundertakenbytheHigher

EducationInstitutionintheintegrationandimplementationoftheOERPolicy

and its impact over the HEI. To accomplish this motto, the study was

undertakenprincipallybyasubjectiveapproach,gatheringinsideandoutside

information on the singular practice from a generally modest number of

members. Information or data was assembled through meetings, centre

gatherings, an online overview andworkshops. Furthermore, quantitative

information was gathered from online and of�line resources during the

workshops,andfromapreliminarysurveyofmembers'integrationofITin

generalandaspectsoftheirworkonidentifyingwiththereuseandsharingof

resourcesinspeci�ic.

After conducting such workshops and sensitisation programme users,

creators'participantshavegained:

1. Awarenessaboutthebasictheoreticalconceptsandpracticesrelatedto

OERswithininstitutionalcontext.

2. Competencies associatedwith academic practices related to OER and

openlicences.

3. KnowledgeandskillsinOERrelatedfunctionalareasincludingcreationof

quality assured course materials and search, �ind and reuse of OER

materialstobeintegratedincoursematerials.

4. AwarenessabouttheOSOU–OERpolicyadoptedbytheUniversityandits

expectationsfromtheacademicstaffs,coursedevelopmentteamsandthe

tutorialteams.

PotentialBene�itsofusingOER inOdishaStateOpen

University(OSOU):

TheinclusionofOERintheeducationalsystemofOSOUhasbeenbene�ittedby

varioussegments,suchas:


58

1. Single Repository of Learning and Teaching Resources as 'e-

Gyanagar’

Teacherscomplainthatapartfromthemselves,thestudentstoocaneasilyget

distracted by non-curriculum resources on the Internet especially when

searchingforOER.TheOERTextbookplatformwillallowasinglerepositoryof

quality-vetted resources not requiring access to the wider internet. The

platformalso offers teachers away around the problemof having to �irst

sourcealargepoolofappropriateOER.So,introductionof'e-Gyanagar'asa

singlerepositoryofOdishaStateOpenUniversity(OSOU)hasbeenableto

make necessary solutions to the large pool of problems of teachers and

students.


2. SolutionofCosteffectivenessthroughOpenlicenses

TheOERplatformdealingwithSelfLearningMaterials(SLM),audiolessons

and video lessons are extremely cost effective to develop, and they are

signi�icantlycheaperthanpurchasingtraditionaltextbooks.Thisispartlytrue

becauseoftheOERopenlicencesthatnegatesubscriptionsorpurchasesand

partlybecauseonepersoncandevelopthematerialsforasinglesubjectand

thensharethesewidelywithcolleagues.

59

Figure1:ProgrammewishSLMStatussincelasttwoyears

3. AccessibilityandaffordabilitythroughMobileApp

The gift of OER is the accessibility and affordability of higher education

throughtheMobileAppOSOU.Themobileappisdesignedtoensurethatall

information and activities of the University can be accessed by its

stakeholdersanytime,anywhere.Thishasmadetransformationintherobust

educationalsystemthroughsystematicarrangementandavailabilityofSelf

LearningMaterials(SLM)alongwithaplatformoffeedbackthatistobemore

interactive with the students and the faculty; the students and the study

centres;thefacultyandthestudycentres.


4. Development of opportunity for admission through e-Admission

process

TheintroductionofOnlineAdmissionportaloftheUniversityase-Admission

processhasremarkablyprovedtheconceptof'ReachtotheUnreached'within

thelimitedresourcesoftheinstitution.studycentres;thefacultyandthestudy

centres.

60

Programme-wiseadmissionAcademicsession2017–18

Pro�ileofLearnersAcademicSession2017-18


Recommendations

Recommendations for overcoming challenges to OER in Indian Higher

Education

As a result of the sequential development of the institution, the following

recommendationsmaybetakencareofas:

n AllhighereducationinstitutionsinIndiamayadoptandimplementthe

OERpolicytogetthebene�itofOER;

n Licensingpolicymaydifferintermsofformsandformatsandfromone

coursetoanotherinthesameinstitution;

n CreationofaConsortiumofOpenUniversitiesofIndia(COUI)tocreatea

platformfordiscussionanddeliberationonissuesofmutualinterestand

facilitateacademiccollaborationsfordesign,developmentanddeliveryof

onlinecourses/MOOCs;

n HEInstitutionsmaydeveloptheirownOERRepositoryonanappropriate

platformbyusingFOSSbasedsoftware;

n Organise more interactive and participatory workshops to make

necessaryawarenessofthedevelopmentalconceptofOER;

n DevelopmentofOERinregionallanguagesmaybeencouragedtoenhance

theaccessibilityofthecoursesbythemasses;

n Institutionsmaydeclareaninteroperablemetadataschematoorganise

OER materials in order to share OERs in the inter-university

environment;

n InstitutionalOERrepository'suser interfaceshouldhaveuser-friendly

environmenttoretrieverequireddocument;

n Creation of an LMS under OSOU to set off the process of academic

collaborationformutualbene�it;

n Inclusion of Flow-Charts, video tutorials and screen shots for the

descriptionofprocessesinvolvedintheapplicationofLMSandCMS;

n Provision of more time for hands on training to develop the self-

suf�iciencyoftheparticipantsintheapplicationofICT-enabledacademic

initiatives;

61


n Creation of curriculum-based teams fromamongst the participants to

designanddeveloponlinecourses/OERforthecoursesbeingofferedby

OSOU;

n InclusionofCaseStudiespertainingtoIndiaoranySouth-AsianCountry

tomakeitmorerelevanttotheIndianaudience.

Conclusion

Thus,thepresentworlddemandscreativityandinnovationfromallofus.A

cultureoflearningneedstobedevelopedsoastoequippeopletoprosperina

rapidly evolving, knowledge-based world. A computer-enhanced learning

environmentcanhelpmakethemuchneededtransitionfromjust'knowing'

to'sharing'.ThroughaplatformlikeOER,theHEIscanoutreachthegoalof

Universaleducationacrosstheglobe.

OERisaconceptrooted inthebelief thatunrestrictedaccesstoeducation

shouldbeentitledtoeverybody.Throughacommonmodelofopenlicensing,

OER allows anyone to access, customise, and share digitally published

educationalmaterialsforfree,withtheendresultofadvancingteachingand

learningworldwide.OERhaslimitlesspotentialtoexpandknowledgeamong

lifelonglearnersaroundtheworld.BelievinginthecapacityofOER,thereach

and impact of open coursewareneeds to be extendedby encouraging the

adoptionandadaptationofopeneducationalmaterialsaroundtheworld.In

India,wearestillinthenascentstagesofusingOER.

However,therehavebeenrecommendations,fortheGovernment,atdifferent

platformsfordevelopinganationale-contentandcurriculuminitiative.Both

shouldinitiallyfocusontherapidproductionandacquisitionofcontentin

highneedareaslikeagriculture,teachertraining,basicandappliedsciences

and engineering, technical education, liberal arts and social sciences,

communication skills, ethics andvalues, publichealth, andhigh end skills

includingmanagement.Ourprojectsshouldnotbecopiedormodeledonthe

linesofthosedevelopedinothercountries.Ourmodelshouldbebasedonour

needssuchasmultiplicityoflanguagesandavailableresources.Also,more

efforts would need to be made for 'Building Awareness, Voice, and

Understanding'abouttheissue.

62


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64


Open Educational Resource Repository:

An Initiative of Netaji Subhas Open University

Ch

ap

ter

- 5

Barnali Roy Choudhury

Abstract

Netaji Subhas Open University, Kolkata with supports of Commonwealth

Educational Media Centre for Asia, New Delhi has developed an Open

EducationalResourcesRepositoryasanimplementationofOpenEducational

Resource policy. Open Educational Resources (OER) are the inevitable

componentoftheeducationalsystemspeciallyinODLmode.Withtheadvent

ofwebandhardwarecomponent, it ismucheasier todevelop/collectand

disseminateeducationalmaterialsforwideningupthescopeandcoveragesof

teaching-learningprocess.Thispaperisgoingtoconcentratesontheissues

relatingtoneedofinstitutionalrepository,developmentofinstitutionalOER

repository,InstitutionalOERpolicydevelopmentanduseofOERrepository

forfurtherdevelopmentoftheeducationalsystemworldwide.

Introduction

Lowcostofhardwareandrevolutionofopensourcesoftwaregearedupthe

OpenandDistanceLearning(ODL)environment.Inthepresentscenariowe

have already encountered different types of educational technologies and

toolsintheopendomain.Aboveall,theOpenpractice(s),ingeneral,andOpen

Educational Resources, in particular, play a vital role to achieve equitable

qualityeducation forall.Likewise,other �lavoursofOpenInnovationsand

OpenEducationalResourcesareeconomically,legally,technicallyandsocially

freetoaccess.Hereeconomicallyfreeindicatesavailablefreeofcost;legally

freemeansmaterialsareinthepublicdomainorreleasedwithalicencethat

allowsforReuse,Revise,Remix,RetainandRedistribute(5Rs);technical

issuesmeansusingofopenstandards,opensoftwareandopenformatsatthe

timeofgeneratingOERmaterials;andthetermsocialissuesmeansthatifany

educational material is available, then it has the provision to maintain

academic integrity that is bene�icial for the entire community. Open

Educational Resources include syllabus of a full course, lab notes, study

65

materials,images,illustrations,maps,charts,casestudies,lessonsformatted

fora learningmanagement system, interactiveexercises,practiceproblem

sets, recorded lectures/events, assessment tools, multimedia/interactive

tutorials,software.OERhasitsof�icialrootsinaforumentitled“Forumonthe

ImpactofOpenCoursewareforHigherEducationinDevelopingCountries”in

2002organisedbyUNESCOandsponsoredbytheWilliamandFloraHewlett

Foundation (Hewlett Foundation) where the exact term was coined. But

history begins with the learning environment as the continuation of the

declarationmadebyMITwhentheyreleased50highereducationcoursesas

opencontentjustoneyearbacktoshareknowledgeinanopendomain.Soitis

not anewconceptnowadays. Since2002, theCommonwealthofLearning

(COL)andUNESCOportraytheirfootprintsconsistentlybypromotingOERin

ordertostrengthentheeducationalenvironment.

ThereareseveralprovisionstoaccessOERthroughaggregatorordatabases

orfromrepositoriesgloballylike the WOUOERRepository,OERAsia,OER

Commons, OER Online Archive, Open Educational Resources (OER) Africa,

GLOBE, Creative Commons, Copyright Licenses, OAsis : COL Open Access

InstitutionalRepository, theOrangeGrove, RRUOpenEducationalResource.

AndintheIndianperspective,NROERisthereandisacollaborativeplatform

initiated by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of

Human Resource Development, Government of India and managed by the

Central InstituteofEducationalTechnology,NationalCouncilofEducational

ResearchandTraining.

Abovementioned repositories are continent speci�ic by following general

subjects.Lookingintotheconsideration,educationalmaterialsthatbasically

structured with subject speci�ic syllabus and curriculum offered by

institution(s).Tohandlesuchasituation,theintuitionalrepositorymayjustify

needs of learners in a university system, especially in distance education.

Institutional repository is a system that collects,preserves, organises, and

providesnavigational access to scholarly communicationsof a community

(Hockx,2006).Institutionalscholarlyproductsmayincludestudymaterials,

faculty research outputs, student theses and dissertations, e-journals,

datasets, and so on. Institutional Repositories facilitate a provision for an

institutiontoshowcaseitsscholarlyoutput,introduceitsef�icienciestothe

digitaldocuments,andsoothingcrisisinscholarlycommunication(Gibbons,

2004).

66


NeedsofInstitutionalrepositoryforauniversitysystemareasfollows:

n Collection,preservationanddisseminationofsubjectspeci�iceducational

materials.

n Providingfreeaccesstoeducationalmaterials,lab-basedpracticesand

otherresearchoutputsofuniversitywithinandoutsidetheinstitutionin

24X7mode.

n Increasinge-visibilityofthescholarlyworksproducedattheinstitution

topromotequalityeducation.

n Maximisingtheimpactoftheuniversity'sresearchandteachingactivities.

n Increasedcommunityparticipationinthelearningenvironment.

n Motivateslearners'behavior.

Duetotheemergenttrendtowardsdigitallyborneducationalmaterialsand

lack of appropriate scholarly content, management systems among

universitieshavemadedigitalrepositoriesmoreimportantforthecollection

anddisseminationofscholarlymaterials(Budapest,2002;Chan,2004;Lynch,

2003).

Adigitalrepositoryistobeneededtohandlearichsetofeducationmaterial

providedbytheNSOU,andbykeepinginmindaboutlearners'pointofview,

for ease of access of the educational materials, NSOU developed its

institutional Repository as Institutional Open Educational Resources

RepositorybydeclaringitseducationalmaterialsasOERunderthecreative

commons licence. For right execution of the initiative, CEMCA

(Commonwealth EducationalMedia Centre forAsia), COLhas raised their

handtosupportNSOU.CEMCAtookinitiativestopromoteOERforequitable

qualityeducationforwhichtheytooklotsofinitiativesindividuallyandwith

participationfromUNESCO.

TheCommonwealthofLearning(COL),inpartnershipwithUNESCOandthe

GovernmentofSloveniaandwiththegeneroussupportofTheWilliamand

Flora Hewlett Foundation, conducted follow-up surveys of world

governments and key stakeholders. Regional Consultations on Open

EducationalResourceswerealsoheld.Inannouncingthe2ndOERCongressat

67

OpenEducationalResourceRepository:AnInitiativeofNetajiSubhasOpenUniversity

theUN,thePresidentofSlovenianotedthatthe“globalizationofthedigital

transformationisoccurringsoswiftlythatitwillhavetobeactivelyaddressed

by the UnitedNations and, in order to copewith social and technological

challenges,itisnecessarytostartwiththeeducationofyouth.”

So,withtheproactivesupportsofCEMCA,andCOL,theNetajiSubhasOpen

UniversityalreadybuiltitsinstitutionalOERrepositorytocateritslearners

communitywithSLMs,audio-visualmaterials,andsoon.Tocarryforward

withtheuniversitymotto,“Toreachtheunreached”,theNetajiSubhasOpen

University took the initiative to launch its Open Educational Resource

RepositorywithsupportoftheCommonwealthEducationalMediaCentrefor

Asia (CEMCA), NewDelhi. Advent features of ICT and the introduction of

collaborative,participativeandcommunicativeWeb2.0technologieslearning

environmenthavegonethroughaparadigmshiftfromprintedtodigital.Thus

accessibilityofresourcesisalsoincreasingdrasticallyindifferentformsand

formatsday-by-day.ThatisactuallytheimportantrequirementofanOpen

and Distance learning environment. Apart from this, the learning

environmentofthe21stcenturyisnotsimplyaboutreachingmorepeople,but

about improving the quality, sustainability, granularity and diversity of

educationalopportunities.Thus,duetoitsnaturalcharacteristics,implication

of OER is most comprehensive in open and distance learning (ODL)

educationalsystem.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are built on two convictions: that

“knowledgeisapublicgood”andthat“theinternetisagoodwayofsharing

knowledge.”NSOUgracefullyagreedwithsuchthingsandkeepingviewonthe

presenttechnology-drivenscenario,theUniversitylaunchedtheNSOU-OER

Repository to widen accessibility of educational materials along with the

followingobjectives:

P Providefacilityforlifelonglearning.

P Makeeducationaffordabletothedisadvantagedcommunityincorerural

areas.

P Contributetothesocio-economicdevelopmentofthenation.

BeforedevelopinganinstitionalOERrepository,NSOU,Kolkatahasadopted

institutionalOERpolicyforICTbasedstudentsupportfor29programmes

throughout its academic sessions. Now the University is enriching its

68


institutionalOERrepositorytoopenupgoodpossibilitiestopromotebetter

learning opportunities that are being �it with the local contextual and

cultural needs. Objectives behind framing the OER policy are to ensure

affordableanduniversallyaccessibleteaching-learningresourcesinorderto

enrich learning experiences; make easily sharable materials with the

provisionsofopenlicensingsystemslikecreativecommons;updatematerials

that can be edited, augmented, customised, combined and reformatted by

anyone;amplifyaccessoflearningresources;assistwithbothteachingand

learning freeofcostor in lessexpense;supportvoluntaryparticipationof

facultyandothersindevelopingOERcontent;andprotectintellectualworks

fromplagiarism.OERpolicyofNSOUisframedontheOERpolicytemplate

framedbyCEMCA.Asperthatformat,NSOUhasimplementedpolicyissuesas

follows:

StrategicOutputs To ensure inclusive and equitable quality educationopportunitiesbyrepurposingofhighqualityopeneducationalresources(OER)throughinstitutionalpolicies

OERCreation Content contributors to use, create and publish OERs toenhance the quality of the relevant resources with visibleacknowledgment under prede�ined creative common licence.OERs, name of the copyright owner(s), author(s), date andCreative Commons licence should be declared and publishedproperly.

KnowledgeSociety Domain Expert, Faculty, Staff and student's community mayframeknowledgesociety

ContentDevelopers AnypersonengagedinthedevelopmentofteachingandlearningmaterialsusedbytheUniversity.

Copyrights ©[NSOU][Year].[Nameoftheresource]ismadeavailableunderaCreativeCommonsAttribution-[speci�ic]4.0License[linkofthecclicenseversion]

OpenLicense CreativeCommonLicensetostatetheactualpermissionto5Rs

PolicyDeclaration Speci�icPolicyStatements

• Theremay be different policy issues for different scholarlyoutputsoftheNSOU.

• Researchpapers,UniversityReports-CC-BY-NC-ND

• SLMs-CC-BY-NC-SA

• A/VLectures,Lab-basedhandsonvideomaterials–CC-BY-NC-SA

69


70

Scope/Applicability ThispolicyappliestoallpublicationsofNSOUoncoursematerials,andotheracademicpublicationscreatedbytheUniversitysubjecttoapprovaloftheappropriateAuthorityoftheUniversity.

QualityAssurance

andReviewSystem

TheOERBoardwilladoptasetofqualityassuranceguidelinesandindicatorstohelpteachersfocusonqualityofOER.

Liability • AllOERmaterialsattheNSOUOERRepositorysharedwiththeworld at large will carry a disclaimer indicating that thematerial is for educational purposes only and that theuniversity absolves itself of any practicalmisuse of the OERmaterials or their content. OER materials authored andpublishedbyfacultyandstaffoftheuniversityandothersdonotnecessarilyre�lecttheopinionoftheuniversity

• All learning materials published under CC licence shouldincludethefollowinginformationinthecreditpage

• ©[NSOU][Year].[Nameoftheresource]ismadeavailableunderaCreativeCommonsAttribution-[speci�ic]4.0License[linkofthecclicenseversion]

Roleofthe

Faculty/Teachers/

ContentDevelopers

• The facultymemberresponsible fordevelopmentofacourseshallberesponsibleformanagementandadoptionofOERinthespeci�iccourse.

• Ingeneral,theconcernedfacultyshouldsearchforappropriateOERtoadopt/adaptinacourse,therebyreducingthecostofthecourseproduction,aswellasreducingthetimetoproducesuchmaterial,andimproving.

• e-studentlearning.

• IfnoOERisavailableinatopic,thenthatpartofthecontentshouldbedevelopedeitherbyinternalfacultyorbyengagingan appropriate expert from outside as per the normalprocedure of the University. When an external writer isengaged, the material should be reviewed, and appropriatecopyright assigned to the University with indemnity to theUniversity forPlagiarism, ifany, so that thematerialcanbereleasedbytheUniversityunderCClicence.

Institutional

Arrangements

• Teaching-learningmaterialsproducedbytheuniversityshallbesharedinasuitableonlineplatform.

• CentralITdepartmentshallberesponsibleforprovidingaccesstoallthestakeholders,andmaintenanceoftheplatform.

• FacultyandstaffmembersengagedinOERdevelopmentshallberegularlyprovidedwithcapacitybuildingopportunitybytheIT department to familiarise the stakeholders of theopportunitiesandtechnicalfeasibleoptionsoftheplatform.

• RegularupdateonCopyrights,OERandOpenLicenceshallbeorganisedbytheITdepartmenttopromotetheuseofOER.


AglimpseofNSOUOERRepository

Aninstitutionalrepositoryisaplatformforidentifying,collecting,managing,

disseminating,andpreservingeducationalresourcescreatedindigitalform

(RoyChoudhury,2016).TosearchOERmaterialsforfreeaccesstosustainable

andqualityeducationalmaterialstocatertotheUniversitymotto“Meeting

theUnmet”,asinglepointfederatedsearchmechanismisneeded.Inviewof

this, a dynamic system is prerequisite to build such a repository where

organisationofmaterialscouldassuretheretrievalofrequireddocumentsat

therighttimetotherightperson.Severalsoftwareareavailableintheopen

domain and in the commercial domain for development of a Repository.

Eprint, Greenstone, Dspace, DOKS Software, MYCORE Software, SOPS

SoftwareandFedoraarefewofthem.Amongallofthesesoftware,Dspaceis

the most comprehensive one since this dedicated software is quali�ied

throughtheconceptualisedsocial-andtechnical-orientedquali�iedindicators

(Atenas & Havemann, 2014) like Featured resources, Authorship of the

resources, Keywords of the resources, Inclusion ofmetadata, Multilingual

support,Inclusionofsocialmediatoolsforsharingresources,Speci�icationof

thetypeofCreativeCommonsLicencesperresource,Sourcecodeororiginal

�iles available. Educational materials of NSOU are non-linear by nature

becauseofseveralformsandformatsofdifferentkindsofmaterials.Weneed

�irsttosetthemetadataschema.Dublincoremetadataschemaisincorporated

withDspacetomanagethedescriptivestructure.Descriptivemetadatacan

manageidenti�ication,selection,collection,linkages,usabilityanddiscovery

ofresources.Thiscouldeasilyhelprecognisethereuse,remix,redistribution

of OER, clarity of rights, and resource discovery. Dspace has a strong

controlledvocabularyanditonlyhasthelicencetoredistributetwocontrol

vocabularies – Norwegian Science Index (nsi.xml) and Swedish Research

subjectcategoriesforef�icientinformationretrieval.

Netaji Subhas Open University hosted its institutional OER repository as

NSOU-OERRepository.ThroughthisrepositoryNSOUisintendedtoempower

its4.5lakhlearnerssituatedatWestBengalinablendedapproach.Inorderto

openupgoodpossibilitiestopromotebetterlearningopportunitiesthatbe�it

the local contextual and cultural leads in brief. This repository is mainly

concentratingitsfocusonthestrategicoutputofimplementingOERtoensure

inclusiveandequitablequalityeducationalopportunitiesbyrepurposingof

high quality Open Educational Resources through institutional policies in

71


Identi�icationof

EducationalMaterials

Organizationof

EducationalMaterials

IndexingofKeyterms

Search&Retrieval

order to facilitate innovative, collaborative and interactive learning

environmentwherelearnerssettheirowngoalsorownobjectivesratherthan

beingrestrictedbytheinstitution.

Netaji Subhas Open University is now catering to approximately 4.5 lakh

learnerswith its 142 study centres by fostering �lexible online admission

facility. Six schoolsof studieshave alreadybeen assigned to carryout the

responsibilitytoconductnearabout55courses(UG,PG,Diploma,PGDiploma

&Certi�icatecourses)inablendedapproachtocreatelearner-centricquality

education.Syllabiincludesfullcourses,coursematerials,Modules,Textbooks,

streamingvideos,syllabus,labnotebooks,studyguides,images,illustrations,

casestudies, lessons, interactiveexercises,practiceproblemsets,recorded

lectures/events,assessmenttools,software,etc.Theuniversityrecentlyhas

adopted the Open Educational Resource Policy for its ICT supported

programmes inorder toenrich thecapacitiesof learners, researchersand

professionalsbygeneratingOERbasedonthesyllabiofNSOUbyfollowing

structure:

NSOU-OERUserEnd

NSOU-OERrepositoryisarobustplatformwithFOSS-based(FreeandOpen

Source Software) architecture and federated search mechanism. The

UniversitygenerallyofferstechnologyembeddedfacilitieslikeWebsite,On-

lineadmission,E-mail,SMSalert,instantmessaging,e-SLMe-LectureMobile-

Learning,etc.

NSOU-OERrepositoryisaccessiblefromtheOERRepositorybuttonofNSOU's

home page < http://www.wbnsou.ac.in/index.shtml > or from direct URL

<nsouoer.krc.net.in>.Byclickingonthisbutton,NSOU-OERrepositoryhome

pageisthere.Thisrepositoryconsistsoftwosearchoptions–searchNSOU-

OER repository (centralized search service) and search other OER

72


repositories(Federatedsearchservice)tobroadensearchoutsidetheNSOU

repository. NSOUacknowledgesCEMCA'scontributionbysharingitslogoin

thehomepageoftherepositoryhere.Thispagealsodeclarestheadopted

creativecommonslicenceforeachmaterialavailableunderthisrepository.

NSOUreleasesallitsdocumentundertheCC-BY-SA-NClicence.

Figure1:NSOU-OERHomepage

ServicesofNSOU-OER

NSOU-OER consists of the federated search mechanism for information

retrievalandhencethisplatformismorethantheOERrepository.Ratheritis

anopenplatformthatincludes10reputedOERrepositoriesoftheworldalong

withbrowsingcategoryofopentextbooks,openthesisanddissertation,open

images, open videos, open courses and links of databases like connexion,

Curriki and many more. This service broadly facilitates searching and

browsingforuniversitygeneratedmaterialsandforothermaterialsavailable

outsidetheuniversityrepository.

InstitutionalOERrepositoryofNSOUisaccessiblebyclickingontheSearch

NSOU OER repository option (as shown �igure 2), where Educational

materialsofNSOUareavailablecategorically.

73


Figure2:SearchNSOU-OER

BrowsingofNSOU-OER

NSOU-OER Repository facilitates browsing by Whole community, Author,

Subject(s)anddateof Issue. Figure3shownalloptionsbeingcateredby

NSOU-OER.

BrowsingbyCategory

Figure3:BrowseNSOU-OERbycategory

74


BrowsingbyCommunitiesandCollectionsofNSOU-OER

By clicking on the “Browse” button on the second topmost option of the

repository home page, all sub-communities of Educational materials will

showup.Thestructureofcommunityandsubcommunityisasfollowsfor

eachschoolofstudies(SchoolofProfessionalStudies,SchoolofEducation,

andSchoolofVocationalstudies):

Figure4:Browsebycommunity&subcommunity

ThiscommunityandcollectionofNSOU-OERisbasicallydevelopedonthe

basisofthestructuraldesign(�igure:4)

BrowsingbyAuthor,Subject,andDateofpublication

Alongwiththecommunityandcollection,thisrepositorycanbeaccessibleby

narrowing down its search option with author, subject and year of issue

(�igure:5).

75


Figure5:Browsingbyauthor,subjectanddateofpublication

Evenusermaybrowsebysub-communities.

Figure6:Browsingbysub-communities

76


Browsebyitemtypeisanotherrelativebrowsingoptioninbrowsingoption.

Figure7:Browsingbyitemtypes

Atthetimeofclickingonanycollectionoftherepository,itwillautomatically

retrieverelatedmetadataandthefulltextasshownin�igure8and�igure9

consecutively.

Figure8:Fulltextaccessofanitemandinformationrelatedtometadata

77


The browsing option of NSOU-OER repository facilitates users different

optionstoretrieverequireddocument(s).UsersmaybrowseNSOU-OERwith

thefollowingoptions:

a) ByCommunitiesandSub-communities;

b) Byitemtypelikeprintandnon-printmaterials

c) Bychoosingdifferentkindsofavailableeducationalmaterials.

d) ByindividualcollectionofNSOU-OER.

NownextsectionwillstatethesearchfacilityofOERrepository.

78

Figure9:FullTextaccess


SearchfacilityofNSOU-OERRepository

Searchfacilityofasystemretrievesspeci�icpieceofdataofusers'querywith

thehelpofkeywords/search terms/search criteria.Usersmay �ilter their

searchqueryby choosingoptionswhichare clearly shownby the snapof

NSOU-OERsearchinterface(�igure:10).

Figure10:NSOU-OERsearchinterface

79

Figure11:Searchbykeyterms


SearchResult

Searchresultcontainsspeci�icapproachesofusers'query.Inthisrepository,

theusermayretrieverequireddocumentsbygivingpropersearchtermlike

title,author,subjectetc.Eventheymightbeabletonarrowdowntheirsearch

bychoosingadvancesearchoptionthatbasicallyworksasa�ilteratthetimeof

typingquery.

Figure12:Searchresult

80

By clicking on search button it will automatically retrieve metadata of

documentalongwithfulltextdocumentasshownin�igure13.

Figure13:MetadataofItem Figure14:FullTextsearchresult


ThemostcomprehensivefeatureofthisOERrepositoryisitsmultilingualand

multi-format retrieval. Search result of this repository includes text based

materials, audio/video lectures in English and Bengali language. It has

potentialstosupportdifferentregionallanguages.

Figure15:TextbasedandA/Vlecturesbasedsearchresult

IncaseofAudioVisualMaterials,�ileswillautomaticallystartdownloadingat

thetimeofclicking.

WhatelsedoesNSOU-OERdo?

NSOU-OERisareachplatformwithmaximumopeninitiatives like linksof

Opencourses,Openimages,Openvideos,Opentextbook,Opendatabases,etc.

Theselinksmayhavebroadenedthescopeandcoverageofthispenplatform

beyondtheuniversitypremise.

81

Figure16:OtherlinksofOpeninitiatives


Figure17isfacilitatingsearchofOERmaterialsfromthemostpopularand

useful OER repository. Search queries will be forwarded to the source

repositorythatenablesuserstooptfulltextdocumentsfromthere.

Figure17:SearchotherOERrepository

Aftertypingasearchterm,searchquerieswillbeautomaticallydirectedtothe

source OER repository. The user may opt search results from other than

NSOU-OERrepositories.

82

Figure18:Retrievalofdocumentfromotherrepository

This robust and dynamic platform facilitates student to opt formaximum

number of qualitative educationalmaterials in order to support equitable

education for all. Success of OER depends on its implementation and

implications.Nextsectionwillberepresentingitsusageanalysistomeasure

userimpactsonthebasisofretrievedstatisticaldatadated23rdNovember,

2017.

UsageAnalysisofNSOU-OER

DevelopmentofNSOU-OERisanongoingprocess.AsofMay2018,3318hits

arethere.Morethan58educationalresourceshavebeenuploadedincluding

studymaterialsandaudio/videolectures.Morethan900materialsareyetto


83

bedoneafterconvertinginOERcompatibleformat(workinprogress).Study

revealsmostvisiteddocumentsarevideolectures.

Figure19displaysState-wiseview/accessofNSOU-OERrepository.Hence

among9states,mostvisitedstateisKolkatathenBangaloreinsecondposition

andMumbaiisin3rdposition.

Figure19:Topcountryview

MostoftheusersarefromIndiawith70%views.Andrest30%arefromother

partsoftheworldincludingtheUnitedStatesofAmerica.

Figure20:Topcountryviews


70%viewsweremadebythestudentcommunityofKolkata.

Figure21:Topcityviews

QualityAssurance

ByfollowingtheTIPSframework,threedimensionalqualitycheckisexpected

forNSOUOERmaterials.Theseare:i)FitforPurpose,ii)Costef�iciencyandiii)

Transformative. Keeping this in mind, NSOU has a quality check policy

mentionedinthefollows:

ContentlevelQualityassurance

TheNSOUOERRepositorystrivestoprovideresourcesofthehighestquality.

Thereviewingprocessiscarriedoutatdifferentlevels.Thecurriculumbased

learning resources developed through peer reviewing and strict quality

assurancemechanism inbuilt in the course development process will not

require further reviewing for uploading on the repository. All other

contributionswillbepeerreviewedwithinthedepartmentbeforeuploading

ontheOERRepository.OnthebasisoftheTIPSframework(http://cemca.

org.in/ck�inder/user�iles/�iles/OERQ_TIPS_978-81-88770-07-6.pdf) the

OERBoardwilladoptasetofqualityassuranceguidelinesandindicatorsto

help teachers focusonqualityofOER(inprocess).TIPSqualityassurance

frameworkistheretosupportthedevelopmentanduseofOERthatincludesa

setof38criteria that theboardmight considerat the timeof judging the

qualityofOER.Thesecriteriaaregroupedasfollows:

n T-TeachingandLearningProcesses

n I-InformationandMaterialContent

84


n P-Presentation,ProductandFormat

n S-SystemTechnicalandTechnology.

At theuniversity level, anOERBoard (constitutes the followingmembers:

Vice-chancellor,ChairpersonoftheBoardDirector/Of�icer-in-Chargeofthe

Schools of Studies Two OER experts nominated by the Vice-Chancellor)

alreadyhasbeencreatedtoreviewpolicyaswellastheproduction,delivery

andaccessprocessesofOER. Eachandevery resourcemustmention the

licenceinstipulatedformatasfollows:

©[NSOU][Year]. [Name of the resource] ismade available under a Creative

CommonsAttribution-[speci�ic]4.0License[linkofthecclicenseversion],India

Reference,Propercitation

To maintain academic integrity and avoid plagiarism, each and every

contributorhastoacknowledgesupportedandusedmaterials.Itisbetterto

usematerialsavailableintheopendomainwithopenlicencetocreateOER

materials. Whether it is available in the open domain or one is using

copyrightedmaterials(withpriorpermissiontouse),itisveryimportantto

manageresourcesin a proper and systematicwayatthetimeofcreating

OER.Itismandatorytoacknowledgeactualresponsibleauthor(s)forusing

source(s) of each and every piece of information for a research work.

Dependingonsubjectspeci�icityandpublisher/publication,differenttypesof

citation styles are available in the educational domain. American

Psychological Association (APA), the Chicago Manual of Style, Modern

LanguageAssociation(MLA),etc.,andeventheIEEE,Naturehavetheirown

referencingstyle.NSOUmainlyrecommendstheAPAcitationstyle6thedition

(http://pitt.libguides.com/content.php?pid=101667&sid= 764329) for the

SocialScienceandHumanitiesstreamandforthesciencestreamitistheMLA

8thedition(http://pitt.libguides.com/citationhelp/mla8thedition)ismore

expected.

ProcessofSubmissionforPublishing

Hereisgraphicalrepresentationoftheentirepublishingprocess.However,

before publishing materials it should be con�irmed that documents are

generatedandavailableinopenformatfollowedbyopenstandards.

85


SubmissionInternalPeer

ReviewEditor

TechnicalsectionReview

OERBoard Publish

86

Conclusion

Implementation of OERs to ensure inclusive and equitable quality

education opportunities (“Education - United Nations Sustainable

Development,” 2017). By repurposing of high quality open educational

resources (OER) through institutional policies in order to facilitate an

innovative, interactive and collaborative learning environment where

learner'ssettheirownobjectivesratherthanberestrictedbyinstitutions.

Amodeloflow-costOERplatformusingregionallanguageforapprox.210

millionBengalilearnersworldwide.

Easeofavailabilityofeducationalresourcesfromanywhereatanytimeby

anyone.

Usingtechnologicalinnovationsinthedistancelearningenvironmentto

bridgethegapbetweenlearnersandteachers.

MaketheuniversityamodelforstateuniversitiesofIndiaforlearning

practiceandskilldevelopmenttoenrichthequalityofeducationasper

globalstandard.

Sustainableimprovementofresourcesinordertoachieveexcellencein

theeducationalsector.


Recommendations

ForsustainabledevelopmentofOERmovement,requirementsofthesystem

demandfewrecommendations:

1. Pan-CommonwealthOERConsortiatocreateacrossplatformtomaintain

uniformity and resource sharing for optimal use of cost, time and

manpower.

2. ANationalICTMandateforsmoothrunningofthedevelopedsystem.

3. NationalOERMandatetoenhanceuseofOERmaterialsinordertoreach

democratisationofknowledge.

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Ch

ap

ter

- 6

Access to Vocational Education through

OER and ICT: An EvaluationAnirban Ghosh

Abstract

NetajiSubhasOpenUniversity(NSOU)wasestablishedin1997toofferthe

undergraduate and post graduate degree courses for the purpose of

democratisationofhighereducationataffordablecost.Theobjectiveofthe

settingupofNSOUwastocreateaknowledgesociety.Inthe21stcentury,ifa

personhasknowledgeandskill,she/hewillhaveanedgeoverothersinthejob

market. The University started to offer undergraduate courses and

postgraduatecoursesintheyear1998and2000respectively.Itrealisedthat

onlygeneraleducationcannotful�ilthemissionoftheuniversity.Inorderto

minimisethegapbetweendemandandsupplyofskilledworkforceandalsoto

promoter self-employment, the university introduced vocational courses

withtailoringanddressdesigningtocatertotheneedsofthesocietyin2003.

Subsequently,thenumberofvocationalcoursesincreasedovertheyears.At

presentNSOUoffers19vocationalcourses throughanetworkof34study

centresspreadalloverthestateofWestBengal.Since2014–15,theUniversity

iscloselyworkingwithCOL-CEMCAtopopularisethevocationalcoursesin

the state and also for the qualitative improvement of the course delivery

system like improvement in the content of the coursematerials, capacity

buildingforthetrainers,developmentofe-content,etc.Thepaperfocuseson

someoftherecentinitiativestakenbytheUniversitythatensureinclusiveand

equitablequalityeducationandpromote lifelong learning.Thispaperalso

highlights the impact of the COL-CEMCA intervention for quality

improvementofthecoursecontentanddeliverysystemofthetwovocational

courses, viz., Pre-primary Teachers' Education-Montessori (Diploma) and

TailoringandDressDesigning(AdvancedDiploma).

Introduction

Skills andknowledge are thedriving force of economic growth and social

development for any country. Potentially the target group for skill

developmentcomprisesallthoseintheworkforce,includingthoseentering

91

thejobmarketforthe�irsttime,thoseemployedintheorganisedsectorand

thoseworkingintheunorganisedsector.Indiahassetatargetofskilling500

millionpeopleby2022.OneofthegreatestadvantagesfortheIndianeconomy

isthesustainedgrowthoftheworkforcepopulation.Wehavetoconvertthe

huge young population into demographic dividend. Harnessing the

demographicdividendthroughappropriateskilldevelopmenteffortswould

provide an opportunity to achieve inclusion and productivity within the

country. The skill development initiatives help in employment generation,

economic growth and social development. Skills mean employability and

mobility.Soaskilledpersonwillhavegreateropportunityinthejobmarketas

wellasher/hisverticalorhorizontalmobilitywillbeeasier.

AtpresentskillsbaseoftheIndianeconomyisquitelowascomparedtoother

developedeconomiesoftheworld.Manyofthedevelopedeconomieshave60

to80%asskilledworkersofthetotalworkforce.Koreahasashighas96%

skilledforce.IncaseofIndiaonly2%personsintheagegroupof15–29years

havereceivedformalvocationaltrainingandaround8%arereportedtohave

received non-formal vocational training. 1976–77 saw the beginning of

Vocationalisationofeducation.Littleprogress,however,couldbemadeinthe

next25years.Thetraditionalparadigminwhichthecreamofthestudents

madethemostofgeneraleducationwhilethelesstalentedonesoptedfor

vocationaleducationcontinued.2006onward,vigorousattemptshavebeen

madetointegrategeneralandvocationaleducationinviewoftheincreasingly

emergingnationalimperativethatthechildhasarighttoeducationandskill

developmentgearedtogainfulemploymentwhenshe/hegrowsup.Learners

shouldbeequippedwithtechnicalaswellasbasiccommunicationskillsto

match the expectations of employees in terms of competency and

performance.Hence,theneedforcontinuousengagementwithindustryand

hence, too, theneedtotake intoaccounttheconditions inwhichaperson

/employeeperformsbecauseworkingconditionsnaturallyhaveanimpacton

theemployee'sabilitytodeliver.Allthisleadsustotheintertwinedissueof

standardizationascompetenciesareobservableandmeasurable.Thus,from

ananalysisofallthemajorissuesinvolvedemergestheconvergingpoint–the

need to frame, to structure competencybased curriculum. Sowehave to

enhancetheskilldevelopmentinfrastructureinsuchawaythatallthepersons

who enter the workforce acquire relevant skills before entering the job

market. But in the short run it will not be possible to develop adequate

infrastructure to impart the skilldevelopmentprogramme.Anothermajor

92


problemisthattheoutgoinguniversitygraduatesenteringthejobmarketlack

employability.

The present scarcity of skilled labour can be addressed by the open and

distancelearningsystem(ODL).TheODLsystem,becauseofitsinbuiltlearner

friendlyfeatureand�lexibility,hasthepotentialtoenablethelearnerstodeal

with the challenging and dif�icult task of acquiring skills. Through ODL

methodology and with the help of Information and Communication

Technology(ICT),VirtualLabortory,Virtualworkshop,agreaternumberof

personscanbetrainedwithaspeci�icskill.Apartfromtheelectronicmedium,

different channels like a network of study centres, vocational centres and

NGOscanbeusedforthevocationalcapacitybuildingthatinturncanhelpin

socialdevelopment.PublicPrivatePartnership(PPP)mayalsobeexploredto

impart vocational training. By ODL system through inclusive education, a

larger number of people can be trained. With proper planning, the

employabilityoftheruralyouthcanbeenhancedwithregionspeci�icdemand

andmodularbasedvocationaltraining.Thiswillexpandtheself-employment

opportunity. The migration from rural area to urban area can also be

minimisedbyprovidingpropervocational training through ICTmeditated

ODLsystem.

AbouttheSchoolofVocationalStudies(SVS)NSOU

OpenandDistanceLearningisincreasinglybecomingpopularbecauseofits

�lexibilityandlearnerfriendlyapproach,particularlytothosewhocouldnot

getaccesstotheformaleducationsystem.NetajiSubhasOpenUniversityis

not only imparting education as an alternative to the formal system of

education,i.e.,conventionalcourses,butalsoinareassuchasvocationaland

non-conventionalcourses.Thisistheareawherethedistanceeducationcan

be used extensively to provide education that can prepare the skilled

workforce for society. The University is providing vocational and non-

conventionalcoursessothatthelearnerscanengagethemselvesinincome-

generatinglivelihood.Itisnotpossiblefortheformaleducationsystemalone

toprovidedesirednumberofskilledworkers.Insuchasituation,theSchoolis

givingtheopportunitytoupgradetheskilloftheexistingworkforceaswellas

of the fresh graduates by providing seamless vocational education and a

platterofpioneeringcoursesnon-conventionalinnature.

93

AccesstoVocationalEducationthroughOERandICT:AnEvaluation

The SVS offers 19 vocational courses through 34 study centres located

throughoutthestateofwestBengal.Allthecoursesaredulyrecognisedbythe

UniversityGrantsCommission-DistanceEducationBureau(UGC-DEB).The

annualintakeofthevocationalcoursesisaround2000learners.

ContributionofCOL-CEMCA

VocationalEducationplaysavitalroleinhumanresourcedevelopmentofthe

countrybycreatingskilledmanpower,enhancingindustrialproductivityand

improvingthequalityoflife.Theobjectiveofthevocationaleducationisto

create a workforce empowered with improved skills, knowledge and

internationallyrecognisedquali�icationstogainaccesstodecentemployment

andensureIndia'scompetitivenessinthedynamicgloballabourmarket. It

aimsatincreaseinproductivityofworkforcebothintheorganisedandthe

unorganised sectors, seeking increased participation of youth, women,

disabledandotherdisadvantagedsectionsandtosynergiseeffortsofvarious

sectorsandreformthepresentsystem.Skilldevelopmentinitiativessupport

employmentgeneration,economicgrowthandsocialdevelopmentprocess.

Taking into consideration the importance of vocational education and

training,theCommonwealthofLearning-CommonwealthEducationalMedia

Centre forAsia (COL-CEMCA)has come forward to joinhandswithNetaji

SubhasOpenUniversityforthepurposeofpromotingvocationaleducation

andtrainingintheStateofWestBengal.Lotofjointinitiativeshavebeentaken

by the University to increase the access to vocational education and to

improvetheinstitutionalcapacityforprovidingservicestothestudentsinan

effective manner. The COL-CEMCA has extended �inancial support and

expertisetoundertakethefollowingjointprojectsattheNetajiSubhasOpen

University.

i. Upgradation and alignment of syllabus of all Vocational Courses to

NSQF(2014–2015)

ii. Development of blended course materials for Tailoring and Dress

Designing(vocationalcourse)(2015–16)

iii. DevelopmentofNSOUOERrepository(2015–16),(wwwhttp://nsouoer.

krc.net.in)

94


iv. VocationalEducation&TrainingofferingthroughMobileLearning:An

InnovativeODLApproach(2016-17)

v. Increase Access and Improve Institutional Capacity for Sustainable

DevelopmentthroughVocationalEducationandTraining(2017-–2020)

TheSchooldevelopedtheblendedmaterialsoftwocourses,viz.,i)Tailoring

andDressDesigningandii)Pre-PrimaryTeachers'EducationMontessoriwith

�inancialassistanceofCOL-CEMCA.Thestudentsofthesetwoprogrammes

aregiventheprintedSLMsandA/Vlectures.AlltheSLMsandtheA/Vlectures

arealsoavailableonNSOUOERRepositorywiththeappropriateCClicences

that have been developed with the help of COL-CEMCA. The School of

Education(SOE)hasalsodevelopedtheblendedmaterials(SLMsandA/V

lectures)onInclusiveEducationwiththe�inancialassistanceofCOL-CEMCA.

TheSOEhasrecentlylaunchedacerti�icatecourseonInclusiveEducation.

Allthevocationalcoursescreatenewjobopportunitiesattheurbanandrural

areasoftheState.Aboutseventhousandlearnersweretrainedduring2009to

2016indifferenttradesoutofwhichthetailoringanddressdesigningand

Pre-primary Teachers' Education-Montessori are most popular. The

Universityhasdevelopede-SLMsandisuploadingmaterialincludingvideo

lectures on its web portal/OER repository to facilitate anywhere anytime

learningandreachouttoeventhosewhoarelefttofendforthemselves.Under

the4thproject,initiativesweretakentoreachtheremotestudentswiththem-

learning facility. It helps the students of remote areas without internet

connectivityleadingtoeducationthroughindividualhandsets.

Theon-linelearningaimsatincreasingtheknowledge,skillsandproductive

capabilitiesofthelearnersinaglobalsituation.Onlinelearningisimportant

notonlyforeconomicreasonsbutithassigni�icantsocialbene�itsaswell,by

broadeningaccesstohighqualityeducationandtrainingopportunitiestothe

varioussegmentsofoursociety. Ithasapotential to reduce theeconomic

disparitiescausedbydenialofeducationtotheeconomicallydeprivedsector

offeringthembetterworkopportunitiesandincomegrowthatalllevels.

NowtheUniversitychangesitsdeliverymodefromonlyprintmaterialsto

digital academic content. The students are nowgetting not only the print

materialsbutalsothedigitalformofSLMs(CD-ROM),SDCardfortheof�line

mode and e-SLMs, A/V lectures for online mode of delivery. Since the

95


University is providing e-content through of�line and online, the trainers

shouldknowthetechniquesandprocedurestousetheICTinadditiontotheir

own subject/discipline. The trainers have to take the responsibilities for

deliveryofcoursesthroughtheuseofICT,sothatthestudentscantakefullest

advantage of personalised teaching-learning experiences effectively. The

University conducts anorientationprogramme for the trainerseveryyear

underTrainingofTrainers'(ToTs)programme.

Toreach-outtoadditionallearnerswithmorelearnerfriendlypackages,the

School has taken up a project during the next three year (2017–20) for

successfulimplementationofCOL-CEMCAintegratedhighereducationmodel

withsupportofCEMCA.Followingaretheactivities:

n Conductbaselinesurveyforfeedbackfromtheexistingstudents.

n Createanddevelope-contentforallthevocationalcourses.

n MakeavailablealltheUniversityresourcesonNSOUOERRepositorywith

appropriateCClicence.

n Developwebportal,facilitatingthetraineesandemployerstointeract.

n Organiseoutreachprogrammesinruralareastosensitisethepotential

learners.

n Organisejobfair.

Thepurposeofalltheactivitiesistoincreasetheaccessibilityofthepotential

studentsindifferentvocationalcoursesandalsotoimprovetheinstitutional

capacityforthebettermentofsupportservices.

Vocationaleducationhastobeviewedfromdifferentmulti-layeredpractices.

Oneisofcoursethehandsontraining.Theotherisemploymentgeneration

and sustainability, whether the training programmes can lead to wage

employmentorself-employment.Ifso,therehastobefollowupmeasuresto

seewhatthetraineesinavocationalprogrammehaveachievedandwhether

therehasbeenaprogressintermsofemployabilityandincomegeneration.

Alsowhetheranyindustryhasemployedanytraineewhohascompletedthe

vocationalcourseinaparticulartrade.

96


ImpactofCEMCA'scontribution

TheMobileapplicationenabledtoaccesstheLearningManagementSystem

(LMS). The app is also enabled forOf�line content viewing facility for the

studentsusingamicroSDcard.Itdelivershighqualitytechnologypowered

courses,usingitspowerfulandhybridmobileplatform,therebyremovingthe

needforacomputerandahigh-speedInternetconnectionforthestudents.

Usingtheplatform,studentsfromevenremoteandruralareasofthecountry

willbeable to learnonline for theirdiplomason their smartphones.The

studentsgetaccesstotheirvirtualclassroomthroughtheiruniqueloginID

andPasswordwithin the Student Portal. The entire student portal is also

availableonamobileplatform.Studentsgetaccesstoticketingsystemand

theire-mailsthroughthesame.

Table1clearlyshowsthatsince2013theenrolmentinboththecourseshas

increasedsigni�icantly.Italsoshowsthatboththecoursesaremorepopular

among the females than the male s tudents . S ince , these are

workshop/practicalbasedcourses,theintakecapacitypercentreis�ixed.But

duetointerventionofCOL-CEMCAtowardstheICTadoption,theenrolment

hasincreasedsteadily.During2014–15,lotofinitiativeslikeupgradationof

syllabus,developmentofe-content,anddevelopmentmobileapphadbeen

takenupandthisincreasedtheenrolmentinthesaidtwocourses.Sothejointprojects

withCOL-CEMCAhasin�luencedstudentaccessibilityinvocationalcourses.

97

Table1:EnrolmentontheCEMCAsupportedcourses.

Courses/yearofadmission

2016 2015 2014 2013

M M MMF F F F

DiplomainPre-primaryTeachers'

Education-Montessori

124 456 108 431 142 360 171 390

TailoringandDressDesigning 233 260 101 243 197 266 108 139

M=MaleandF=Female


Mobile learning (M-learning) throughmobile phones canmakeuse of the

learning management system that is already available through internet.

Wheretheinternetaccessibilityislimited,mobilephonescanalsofacilitate

thelearningprocessonof�linemodethroughmicroSDcards.Withoutany

restrictions,thestudentscannowaccessthelearningresourcesanywherein

the world where internet is available. The University launched the

M-learningprojectonapilotbasisforitsvocationalToTprogrammenamely

theDiplomainPre-PrimaryTeachers'Education(DPTTE-M)andAdvanced

DiplomainTailoringanddressdesigningcourses.Since2013theenrolment

hassteadilyincreasedintheabovetwocourses.

Duringthelast4–5years,theUniversityhasbeentakingupalotinnovative

initiatives for the students enrolled in vocational courses. A survey was

conducted among the students to investigate themobile learning bene�its

including ICT support and to analyse the students' perception onmobile

learning. Under the project the structured questionnaire was circulated

amongtheenrolledstudentstoexaminetheirattitudeandself-ef�icacyabout

theM-learningandonlineICTsupport.

Thestudyshowsthatalmostallthestudentsenrolledinthisparticularcourse

use mobile phones and majority of these mobile phone have numerous

features like pictures, video, games, instantmessaging and internet. Even

somelow-endmobilephoneshavethesefeaturesthatenablethemtobeused

ineducation,research,reading,etc.

Table2:AttitudetowardsM-learning

Amobiledevicecanhelpmetoattainmoreideasinlearning

ItemsStronglyDisagree

(%)

Disagree(%)

Neutral(%)

Agree(%)

StronglyAgree(%)

80.0 6.5 5.0 5.0 3.5

Amobilephoneishelpfulformylearning

22.5 70.0 2.5 3.5 1.5

Ifeelboredusingamobiledevice xx 2.5 7.5 2.0 85.0

Ilovetouseamobiledeviceinlearningactivities

15.0 30.0 12.5 25.0 17.5

Icanusemymobiledevicewithoutthehelpofothers

87.5 5.0 7.5 xx xx

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Table3:Learners'self-ef�icacyofM-learning

Icandownloada�igurefromtheinternetusingamobiledevice


(%)

Disagree(%)

Neutral(%)

Agree(%)

StronglyAgree(%)

77.5 15.0 2.5 5.0 xx

Icanlogontothewebsiteonmymobiledevice

78.5 17.00 2.0 2.5 xx

Icancheckahyperlinktoenteranotherwebsiteusingmymobilephone

60.0 25.0 5.0 7.5 2.5

Icanuseamobiledevicetodiscusswithpeersaboutthelearningmaterials

6.5 68.5 12.5 7.5 5.0

Icantakepicturesonmymobiledevicetoshowtherelatedinformation

92.5 5.0 2.5 xx xx

Ithinkmobilesareveryidealforlearning 71.0 11.0 9.0 6.5 2.5

Tables2,3and4exhibithowthestudentsareef�icientinusingtheirmobile

phones.InTableI,itisinterestingtonotethatthemostoftherespondentsare

notboredinusingtheirmobiledevicesbuttheyareleastinterestedtousethe

deviceforlearningpurposethoughtheythoughtthatthemobiledevicescould

beusedforlearningnewideas.

Today's young generation is very technology savvy and use their mobile

phonesforvariouspurposesinday-to-daylife.Theyarenowusingthedevices

todownloadtheuniversitiesA/Vlectureandalsothecontentthatisavailable

onlineintheOERRepository.Speciallyforthestudentswholiveintheremote

places,thisinitiativereallyhelpsthemandthestudentsaremotivatedtoget

theirlecturesandcoursecontentthroughtheonlineandof�linemodes.

Table4:Learners'attitudetowardsA/VlecturesintheSDCard/Repository

A/Vlectureisagooduseoftechnologyforlearningatadistance


(%)

Disagree(%)

Neutral(%)

Agree(%)

StronglyAgree(%)

48.5 28.5 11.0 4.0 8.0

A/Vlecturesmotivatelearnerstolearneffectively

38.5 29.0 19.0 6.0 7.5

Pictures,diagramsandgraphicsintheA/Vlecturesenhancelearning

31.0 57.5 7.5 4.0 xx

VideoanimationmakestheA/Vlectureattractiveandunderstandable

45.0 32.5 10.0 6.0 6.5

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TheUniversitytriedtomotivatethestudentstousetheirmobiledevicesfor

their learning purpose. To facilitate the anywhere any time learning, the

universitydevelopedtheA/Vlecturesanddigitisedcoursematerialsforthe

studentsoftheteachertrainingprogramme.Theuniversityencouragedthe

studentstousethemobilephonestohaveexperiencesofanywhereanytime

learning.TheseA/Vlecturesanddigitisedcoursematerialsweredistributed

inaMicroSDcardamongthestudents.Wheretheinternetconnectivitywas

not available, specially in rural areas, the students took advantage of the

of�linemode,i.e.,theyusedtheMicroSDcard.Thesamecontent(A/Vlecture

andcoursematerials)isalsoavailableontheuniversitywebsite/Repository

and thiscanbeaccessedonlineany timeanywhere.Thestudyshows that

there is positive impact of mobile technology by which the educational

contentcanbedeliveredbothbyonlineandof�linemodes.

ThesurveywasconductedtoexaminetheimpactofCOL-CEMCA'sprojecton

thelearnersofpre-primaryteachers'education-Montessoriandtailoringand

dress designing courses. The result in Table III is very encouraging. The

studentsareveryhappytohavetheexperienceofhearingthelecturesfrom

eminent teachers in the �ield through online and of�line mode. It is not

necessarytoattendtheface-to-facecounsellingtoheartheparticularlecture.

Iftheywish,theycanalsoheartheparticularlecturefornumeroustimesto

understandthesubject.TheA/VlecturesoftheUniversityarebecomingvery

popular among the students as well as the teachers. For the practical

componentsofthevocationalcourses,face-to-facediscussionsarearranged

inthestudycentreswherethetrainersdemonstrate/discussthematterwith

thelearnersattheparticularstudycentre.Ithelpsthelearnerstounderstand

whatthecontentisintheA/Vlectures.

RoleofMultimediaCourseware

The multimedia courseware includes both print and non-print media of

academicresources.AftertheadoptionoftheOERpolicy,boththeprintand

non-print coursematerials of the vocational courses of the university are

released under the CC licence, CC-BY-NC-SA. The multimedia delivery of

coursesalsoinvolvestheF2Fteaching,onlinechatting,etc.Itoffersfreeand

immediate access to digital materials including previous years' question

papers, A/V lectures, lesson plans, e-SLMs, etc., facilitating personalised

learning.Theteacherscanalso track the individual learnerabouthis/her

progressinaparticularcourse.

100


Goal4oftheSustainableDevelopmentGoal(UNDP)istoensureinclusiveand

equitablequalityeducationandpromotelifelonglearningopportunitiesfor

all.COL-CEMCAHigherEducationIntegratedModelhasbeendevelopedto

achieveGoal4oftheSDGs.Thisisanapplicationbasedmodelthatincludes

capacity building of the teachers, development of OER, strengthening the

studentsupportmechanism,reachingthemarginalisedpopulation,linkage

with industry to sustain the skill development programmes, providing

employment, promoting entrepreneurship with the skills to become

�inancially independent.TheOERdevelopedforthevocationalcoursesare

verypopulartothelearnersspeciallytowomenlearnerswhocannotattend

theF2Fclassroomteachingregularly.Sinceboththecoursesunderstudyare

practical based and job-oriented, the multimedia courseware helps the

learnerstoacquiretheskillsandknowledgeinthesubjectdomaintomake

thememployable.

Conclusion

Wecannotignorethepotentialoftechnologiestoimproveaccesstoeducation

and skills training. Learning must lead to sustainable development that

includes economic growth, equity and environmental conservation.Today,

integrationof ICTandOERintotheacademicprogrammeisanecessityto

increaseaccess.Ifwearetomeetthechallengesofbothqualityandquantityin

impartingskills,wemusttakeaninnovativeapproachtoeducation–thebrick

andmortarapproachwillnotbesuf�icient.ThedevelopmentofOERandthe

potentialofMassiveOpenOnlineCourses(MOOCs)inthevocationalcourses

havebeendiscussed.Theimpactofnewtechnologyisbeingfeltanecessity

acrossthecourses.ThedevelopmentofnewICTisalreadyhavingamajor

impactontheteaching-learningprocessofboththeconventionalandODL

modes.TheadvancementofICThasbroughtnewopportunitiestorestructure

theteaching-learningprocesswhetheritistheODLsystemorregularsystem.

Inthepresentcentury,wearelivinginthedigitalage.Thedistanceisnomore

there.TheaccessibilityisbeingfacilitatedbytheICTthroughOER,MOOCs,etc.

Inthe21stCentury,boththesystemsofeducationarebeingconvergedby

integratingtheICTintheteaching-learningprocess.

101


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102


BriefPro�ileofthe

EDITOR AND AUTHORS

ManasRanjanPanigrahi,Ph.D.joinedtheCommonwealthofLearning(COL)

asProgrammeOf�icer(Education)oftheCommonwealthEducationalMedia

Centre for Asia (CEMCA), New Delhi, India on May 2014. Before joining

CEMCA, he served in the Department of Educational Planning and

Management, College of Education and Behavioural Sciences, Haramaya

University, Ethiopia, East Africa as Associate Professor in Education from

2010-2014.Dr.Panigrahihasalsoservedthe IndiraGandhiNationalOpen

University(IGNOU),NationalCouncilforEducationalResearchandTraining

(NCERT), and Manav Rachna International University, amongst others in

differentcapacities.DrPanigrahihasover15yearsofexperienceinresearch,

designanddevelopmentandteachingatunder-graduateandpost-graduate

level of teacher education. With a blend of academic and professional

quali�ications in teacher education, distance education and training and

development,hehasbeenpromotingtheuseofInformationCommunication

Technology(ICT),anduseofOpenEducationalResources(OER)aroundthe

world.Dr.Panigrahihaspublishedanumberofresearcharticles,conceptual

papers,monographsoneducationandeducationaltechnologyandauthored

various reports/policy papers for national and international level

institutions;organisedandattendedvariousacademicworkshops/training

programmes/professional events/expert committee meetings,

teleconferencing, video conferencing, audio and video production and

conferences.Deliveredlecturesatvariousplacesinthecountryandabroad

and presented papers in various national/international conferences. His

areasofinterestareextensiveuseofICTineducation,educationaltechnology

andhighereducationandopenanddistancelearning.Hecanbereachedat

mpanigrahi[at]col[dot]org

Mr. Mizanoor Rahman is the Assistant Professor of the Open School of

Bangladesh Open University. He has been working at the BOU since its

inceptionin1993.HedidhisMasterofCommerce(M.Com.)degreewithFirst

ClassinFinanceandBankingandstartedhiscarrierattheBOU.Duringhis

active service he also did his MBA degree from the Central Queensland

University, Australia. He also did his Bachelor of Education degree from

103

Bangladesh Open University. He is fond of creating and leading the ICT-

enabled teaching projects and also building partnerships in different

international organiations. He had been the Team Leader of the British

Councilfunded'INSPIREprojectonVideomediatedclassroom:BOU-OU,UK

Partnership (ended 2017), Team Member of the European Union funded

projecton'BlendedLearning:BOU-EUpartnership(continued)'andtheTeam

leaderofCEMCAfunded'OERproject:BOU-CEMCApartnership'and�inally,

theCoordinator of the 'OER-basedVocationalEducation&Training (VET)

Project'.Inaddition,hehadbeentheCoordinatoroftheJSCprojectoftheBOU

OpenSchool fundedby theRoyalNetherlandsEmbassy (RNE).Duringhis

activeservicehepublished80+researcharticles indifferent international

journals/conferences.Inaddition,Mr.Rahmandeveloped20+booksinthe

�ieldofbusinessanddistanceeducation.Healsovisited30+countries for

academicpurposes.Hecanbereachedatmizan2006[at]yahoo[dot]com

Jayanta Kar Sharma, Ph.D. did his Masters Degree in 1983 and Ph.D. in

Comparative Literature in the year 1987 from Visva-Bharati University,

Santiniketan.He started his career as lecturer inNorthBengalUniversity,

Siliguri from March 1985 and subsequently joined the Odisha Education

services (OES). Hewas appointed as �irst Registrar of Odisha State Open

University,Sambalpur,Odisha,Indiaandcontinuingassuchtilldate.Heisalso

hasanadditionalchargeofControllerofExaminationsandComptrollerof

FinanceoftheUniversity.His�ieldofspecialisationiscomparativeliterature,

Dalitandminoritystudiesandtranslation. Hehaspublishedthreebooks,

editedtwelvebooksandmanyjournalsindifferentlanguagesandmorethan

sixtyresearchpapersandchaptersinNationalandInternationaljournalsand

books. He is a creative writer as well. He has published three poetry

collectionsinHindiandEnglish.Heisa lifememberofsomeNationaland

Internationalliterary/researchassociations.Hehaspresentedmorethan60

researchpapers,chairedsessionsandwasinvitedaskeynotespeakerinmany

International and National Seminars/ Conferences. He is associated with

many literary and research associations/ organisations as member/life

member.HewasawardedthetitleofSahityashree,andSahityaBhushanby

IICCA, Chandigarh. Also awarded Gyan Bharati Rastriya Shiksha Award,

NationalAwardofExcellence,BestTeacherAwardbyGlobalManagement

Council,Ahmedabad.HehasbeenawardedwithBharatExcellenceAward,

MotherTeresaGlobalAward,BestIndianPersonalitiesAward,BestCitizen

Award, SwamiVivekanandaExcellenceAward,Honoris causa ofDoctor of

104


Humanities(D.Hum)fromDIAM,Nagaland.Passionateaboutmusic,hehas

producedfourdevotionalmusicCDsandfourDVDsparticularlydedicatedto

LordJagannath.Hecanbereachedatjk[dot]sharma[at]osou[dot]ac[dot]in

JeetendraPande,Ph.D.isworkingasanAssistantDirector(Research)and

AssistantProfessorofComputerScienceDepartmentatUttarakhandOpen

University,Haldwani.Hehas tohis creditmore than9 researchpapers in

InternationalJournals,12papersinconferenceproceedingsand3refereed

books.Hiscurrentareaof interestsarecybersecurity,computerforensics,

component based software development, mobile learning and Open

EducationalResources.Dr.PandehasworkedintheareasComponentBased

Software Development and Cyber Security. He has been involved in

development of pliability metric for optimal component selection for

componentbasedsoftwaredevelopment.Hehascarriedoutmanyprojectsas

aPrincipalInvestigatorsanctionedbytheCommonwealthEducationalMedia

Center for Asia, USERC and Government of Uttarakhand. Presently he is

working on an International Project funded by the Commonwealth of

Learning, Canada. Dr. Pande has been reviewer for several archived

international journals: International Journal Of Software Engineering &

KnowledgeEngineering(WorldScienti�ic,Singapore),JournalofInformation

Technology&DecisionMaking (World Scienti�ic, Singapore), International

JournalofComputerSystemsScienceandEngineering(UnitedKingdom)are

tonameafewofthem.Heisamemberofseveralacademicandprofessional

bodies in theareaof computer scienceanddistanceeducation.He canbe

reachedatjpande[at]uou[dot]ac[dot]in

Anirban Ghosh, Ph.D. is currently holding the position of Professor of

CommerceatNetajiSubhasOpenUniversity.Dr.GhoshistheDirectorofthe

School of Professional Studies and School of Vocational Studies of the

University. He hasmore than 14 years of teaching experience at the Post

Graduatelevel.Hisspecialisationisaccountingandtaxation.Hereceivedthe

prestigious AAOU Staff Exchange Fellowship from Korea National Open

University(2010),ShanghaiOpenUniversity(2014)andUniversitasTerbuka,

Indonesia(2017).Hehasspecialinterestinthestudentsupportservicesof

open and distance learning system. He has conducted lot of research on

distanceeducationinIndiaandabroad.Dr.Ghoshhaspublishedfourbookson

commerce and management at National and International levels as sole

authorandpublished�iveeditedvolumesonODLandinhisowndiscipline.He

has authored a good number of research papers in the National and

105

BriefPro�ileoftheEditorandAuthors

Internat ional peer rev iewed journals . He can be reached at

anirban1972[at]gmail[dot]com

Barnali Roy Choudhury is presently working as Assistant Professor of

LibraryandInformationScience,NetajiSubhasOpenUniversity.Sheisalso

formerLibrarianofAcharyaJagadishChandraBoseCollege,Kolkata.Sheis

concentratingonissuesrelatingtodevelopmentandimplementationofOpen

EducationalPractice(OEP)policy,OEP/OERRepositoryanddevelopedOpen

Educational Resource (OER) Repository of Netaji Subhas Open University

undertheProjectsupportedbyCEMCA-COL.Anotherimportantworkofthe

content contributor on OEP is “Resource Optimization” (ISBN 978-92-3-

100076-8).ThispublicationisavailableinOpenAccessundertheAttribution-

ShareAlike3.0 IGO(CC-BY-SA3.0 IGO) licenceandwaspublishedon2015

fromUNESCO.HerareaofinterestsareOpenAccess,OpenSourceSoftware,

Open and Distance Learning, E-Learning, MOOC, Content Management

Software, Library Management Software; Digital Library Software;

CommunityInformationService&Systems,InformationandCommunication

Technology,OpenHarvestingSystem;OpenJournalSystems.Sheisauthorofa

good number of individual research articles, Self-Learning Materials

publishedinNationalandInternationalplatformsandmemberofCurriculum

DevelopmentCommittee.ApartfromthissheisAssistingOpenAccessIndia

CommunityasCo-Convener.Hecanbereachedatbarna[dot]chakrabarti

[at]gmail[dot]com

106
