In a rare initiative, the Odisha State Open University (OSOU) in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada, organised a three-day workshop on “Quality Assurance in Open Educational Resources (OER) held at its campus here recently.
The workshop addressed the need for creating quality self-learning materials for the benefit of learners enrolled in various open and distant learning courses. Workshop facilitator Andrew Moore, an internationally acclaimed e-learning specialist, during his interaction with participants, dealt with several pertinent issues such as the open licensing system, tracking the right Opening Educational Resources (OER) curriculum resources and building a culture of quality at home institution.
Attended by participants from several open universities of the country, the workshop too emphasised the need for designing of course materials keeping the learners in mind. Self-learning materials, otherwise known as ‘Teachers in print’ have a distinct role to play in open and distance learning. Such materials are available in the OSOU’s website for public use.
“Knowledge is free and care has to be taken to ensure that the last person in the queue gets an equal opportunity to learn,” contended OSOU VC Prof Srikant Mohapatra.
