This is a keynote address delivered at the Committee for Vice Chancellors and Directors (CVCD) conference 2015 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The presentation covers the evolution of Distance Education (DE) from correspondence to modern day online; redefining the “D” in DE to “Digital”; flipping the classroom to teach digital natives in a connected world; using MOOC to increase flexibility and access to Higher Education in Sri Lanka; how to use OER with MOOC; and the OERu model to maximize equity in a country desperate to create a knowledge society.
This is a Guest Lecture delivered to PhD Scholars at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), Pakistan on 7th October 2015. The presentation explores the current global trends in Open Educational Resources (OER). The specific topics covered include a brief introduction to OER; defining the “O” in OER; how licensing works with the new Creative Commons 4.0 International licensing scheme; defining the usefulness of an OER for a particular teaching and learning purpose through the “Desirability” framework; and identifying the objectives of large scale OER projects through the “Focus Triangle”.
This presentation discusses how to deliver a flipped classroom lecture and looks at how this ‘ideal’ concept could be practically implemented in a University setting.
National Online Distance Education Service (NODES) - Proposed Action Plan 2015Ishan Abeywardena, Ph.D.
This is a proposed action plan for the National Online Distance Education Service (NODES) under the new management at the Open University of Sri Lanka. The proposed plan highlights several ICT projects of National scale which can be implemented using the NODES infrastructure.
OERScout Technology Framework: A Novel Approach to Open Educational Resources...Ishan Abeywardena, Ph.D.
This technical seminar explains how OERScout uses text mining techniques to autonomously mine domain specific metadata for search purposes, how it utilises a faceted search approach to zero-in on resources and how it incorporates the desirability framework to recommend useful resources for academic purposes. The seminar also gives a technical overview of OER and explores the current OER search dilemma.
The International Academic Relations Division at The Open University of Sri Lanka was established in October of 2013. At that point, the University had recognized the importance of establishing collaborative relationships to increase its international standing, build its global profile, increase the recognition of its academic offerings and conduct high impact research. This vision also aligns with the Government of Sri Lanka’s position for strengthening the education sector of the country through international collaboration. One of the latest initiatives by the IRD is the “Distinguished Lecture Series” which is designed to foster rich academic discourse among Sri Lankan academics. The lecture series further intends to build capacities among Sri Lankan academics in good academic practices; technology-assisted teaching; sound research methodologies; and high impact publications.
This is a keynote address delivered at the Committee for Vice Chancellors and Directors (CVCD) conference 2015 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The presentation covers the evolution of Distance Education (DE) from correspondence to modern day online; redefining the “D” in DE to “Digital”; flipping the classroom to teach digital natives in a connected world; using MOOC to increase flexibility and access to Higher Education in Sri Lanka; how to use OER with MOOC; and the OERu model to maximize equity in a country desperate to create a knowledge society.
This is a Guest Lecture delivered to PhD Scholars at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), Pakistan on 7th October 2015. The presentation explores the current global trends in Open Educational Resources (OER). The specific topics covered include a brief introduction to OER; defining the “O” in OER; how licensing works with the new Creative Commons 4.0 International licensing scheme; defining the usefulness of an OER for a particular teaching and learning purpose through the “Desirability” framework; and identifying the objectives of large scale OER projects through the “Focus Triangle”.
This presentation discusses how to deliver a flipped classroom lecture and looks at how this ‘ideal’ concept could be practically implemented in a University setting.
National Online Distance Education Service (NODES) - Proposed Action Plan 2015Ishan Abeywardena, Ph.D.
This is a proposed action plan for the National Online Distance Education Service (NODES) under the new management at the Open University of Sri Lanka. The proposed plan highlights several ICT projects of National scale which can be implemented using the NODES infrastructure.
OERScout Technology Framework: A Novel Approach to Open Educational Resources...Ishan Abeywardena, Ph.D.
This technical seminar explains how OERScout uses text mining techniques to autonomously mine domain specific metadata for search purposes, how it utilises a faceted search approach to zero-in on resources and how it incorporates the desirability framework to recommend useful resources for academic purposes. The seminar also gives a technical overview of OER and explores the current OER search dilemma.
The International Academic Relations Division at The Open University of Sri Lanka was established in October of 2013. At that point, the University had recognized the importance of establishing collaborative relationships to increase its international standing, build its global profile, increase the recognition of its academic offerings and conduct high impact research. This vision also aligns with the Government of Sri Lanka’s position for strengthening the education sector of the country through international collaboration. One of the latest initiatives by the IRD is the “Distinguished Lecture Series” which is designed to foster rich academic discourse among Sri Lankan academics. The lecture series further intends to build capacities among Sri Lankan academics in good academic practices; technology-assisted teaching; sound research methodologies; and high impact publications.
Open Educational Resources:Strategies to enhance Networking and Collaborative...Ramesh C. Sharma
what are open educational resources, OER initiatives in Asian countries and in India. How WikiEducator can be used to create OERs, WikiEducator India chapter, WikiEducator UPE winners
The Learning Registry: Social networking for open educational resources?Lorna Campbell
This presentation will reflect on Cetis’ involvement with the Learning Registry and JISC’s Learning Registry Node Experiment at Mimas (The JLeRN Experiment), and their application to UKOER initiatives. Initially funded by the US Departments of Education and Defense, the Learning Registry (LR) is an open source network for storing and distributing metadata and curriculum activity and social usage data about learning resources across diverse educational systems.
Open educational resources: What are they and where do i find them?Amy Castillo
Presented at the Excellence in Teaching 2017 conference on February 10, 2017. Abstract: Have you ever considered using an open textbook in your class? How about open courses, quizzes, lab manuals, or other course materials? Open Educational Resources (OERs) are free and free to reuse resources or course materials that you can repurpose in your classes, including both written and multimedia content. There are OERs available for every subject matter and academic level. Tarleton librarians, Margie Maxfield Huth (Systems Librarian) and Amy Castillo (Periodicals & Electronic Resources Librarian) will discuss what OERs are, and how they can be used in the classroom. They will also show resources for identifying OERs that might be appropriate for use in your classes.
Open Educational Resources (OER) Basicscerttechpro
The purpose of this presentation is to satisfy part of the requirements for the course “How to Use Open Educational Resources (OER)”, offered in 2015 by Washington Online. The hopes are also that it could serve as a beginning resource.
What can Open Access offer me as a teacher?: A guide to Open Access and to ed...Stian Håklev
Presentation given with Clare Brett as part of Master of Teachers Tech Day at OISE, Oct 20 2010.
Abstract: Open Access (OA) and Open Educational Resources (OER's) are terms being increasingly used in educational circles. There are a lot of free, well-designed and interesting curriculum resources out there for the discerning teacher to find and use in their classroom. This workshop will provide a tour of some of the key locations for finding such resources for k-12 teachers, as well as introducing you to the ideas behind Open Access in general, and a discussion of interesting new directions for lifelong professional development, such as the Peer-to-Peer university. The workshop will consist of introducing you to the terms and resources of Open Access as well as small group discussions on strategies and issues about using these resources in your classroom. This will be an interactive session, where your questions are welcome and will guide the kinds of materials we discuss.
This guest lecture focuses on providing a quick introduction on OER to PhD students in the education stream at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU). The topics covered are (i) What are OER?; (ii) What are useful OER?; (iii) OER Search; (iv) Useful OER sources; and (v) OER vs. MOOC.
.
A presentation by Dr. Sanjaya Mishra ,Education Specialist, eLearning, COL,Canada and Principal Investigator, ROER4D Project at the Workshop on OER for Development supported by IDRC, Canada
Educational institutions are attracted towards use of ICT that provides them with more flexibility and options to reach the students in various ways. Judicious mix of different tools and strategies with use of ICT can enhance the learning experiences of the students. ICT has the potential to transform the way teaching and learning happens in the classroom setting. So much is known about use of ICT in education. However, there is no study available in the context of Commonwealth Asian countries on eLearning. How is eLearning doing and whether the institutions, teachers and students are really interested in and beneficiary of eLearning? How are different activities pertaining to eLearning being managed by different institutions? What are the challenges and opportunities faced by institutions for effective implementation of eLearning across disciplines and subjects? To find answers to all such questions, a systematic study was undertaken to track the growth and development of eLearning in Commonwealth Asian countries i.e. Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
Report available at http://cemca.org.in/publicationhome/elearning-commonwealth-asia-2013-sk-pulist
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Open Educational Resources (OER) are fast gaining traction amongst the academic community as a viable means of increasing access and equity in education. The concept of OER is of especial significance to the marginalised communities in the Global South where distance education is prominent due to the inability of conventional brick and mortar institutions to cope with the growing demand. However, the wider adoption of OER by academics in the Global South has been inhibited due to various socio, economic and technological reasons. One of the major technological inhibitors is the current inability to search for OER which are academically useful and are of an acceptable academic standard. Many technological initiatives have been proposed over the recent past to provide potential solutions to this issue. Among these are OER curartion standards such as GLOBE, federated search, social semantic search and search engines such as DiscoverEd, OCW Finder, Pearson’s Project Blue Sky. The research discussed in this paper is carried out in the form of literature review and informal interviews with experts. The objective of the study is to document the extent of the OER search issues contributing to the slow uptake of the concept of OER. This review paper discusses the current OER search dilemma and the impact of some of the key initiatives which propose potential solutions.
Open Educational Resources:Strategies to enhance Networking and Collaborative...Ramesh C. Sharma
what are open educational resources, OER initiatives in Asian countries and in India. How WikiEducator can be used to create OERs, WikiEducator India chapter, WikiEducator UPE winners
The Learning Registry: Social networking for open educational resources?Lorna Campbell
This presentation will reflect on Cetis’ involvement with the Learning Registry and JISC’s Learning Registry Node Experiment at Mimas (The JLeRN Experiment), and their application to UKOER initiatives. Initially funded by the US Departments of Education and Defense, the Learning Registry (LR) is an open source network for storing and distributing metadata and curriculum activity and social usage data about learning resources across diverse educational systems.
Open educational resources: What are they and where do i find them?Amy Castillo
Presented at the Excellence in Teaching 2017 conference on February 10, 2017. Abstract: Have you ever considered using an open textbook in your class? How about open courses, quizzes, lab manuals, or other course materials? Open Educational Resources (OERs) are free and free to reuse resources or course materials that you can repurpose in your classes, including both written and multimedia content. There are OERs available for every subject matter and academic level. Tarleton librarians, Margie Maxfield Huth (Systems Librarian) and Amy Castillo (Periodicals & Electronic Resources Librarian) will discuss what OERs are, and how they can be used in the classroom. They will also show resources for identifying OERs that might be appropriate for use in your classes.
Open Educational Resources (OER) Basicscerttechpro
The purpose of this presentation is to satisfy part of the requirements for the course “How to Use Open Educational Resources (OER)”, offered in 2015 by Washington Online. The hopes are also that it could serve as a beginning resource.
What can Open Access offer me as a teacher?: A guide to Open Access and to ed...Stian Håklev
Presentation given with Clare Brett as part of Master of Teachers Tech Day at OISE, Oct 20 2010.
Abstract: Open Access (OA) and Open Educational Resources (OER's) are terms being increasingly used in educational circles. There are a lot of free, well-designed and interesting curriculum resources out there for the discerning teacher to find and use in their classroom. This workshop will provide a tour of some of the key locations for finding such resources for k-12 teachers, as well as introducing you to the ideas behind Open Access in general, and a discussion of interesting new directions for lifelong professional development, such as the Peer-to-Peer university. The workshop will consist of introducing you to the terms and resources of Open Access as well as small group discussions on strategies and issues about using these resources in your classroom. This will be an interactive session, where your questions are welcome and will guide the kinds of materials we discuss.
This guest lecture focuses on providing a quick introduction on OER to PhD students in the education stream at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU). The topics covered are (i) What are OER?; (ii) What are useful OER?; (iii) OER Search; (iv) Useful OER sources; and (v) OER vs. MOOC.
.
A presentation by Dr. Sanjaya Mishra ,Education Specialist, eLearning, COL,Canada and Principal Investigator, ROER4D Project at the Workshop on OER for Development supported by IDRC, Canada
Educational institutions are attracted towards use of ICT that provides them with more flexibility and options to reach the students in various ways. Judicious mix of different tools and strategies with use of ICT can enhance the learning experiences of the students. ICT has the potential to transform the way teaching and learning happens in the classroom setting. So much is known about use of ICT in education. However, there is no study available in the context of Commonwealth Asian countries on eLearning. How is eLearning doing and whether the institutions, teachers and students are really interested in and beneficiary of eLearning? How are different activities pertaining to eLearning being managed by different institutions? What are the challenges and opportunities faced by institutions for effective implementation of eLearning across disciplines and subjects? To find answers to all such questions, a systematic study was undertaken to track the growth and development of eLearning in Commonwealth Asian countries i.e. Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
Report available at http://cemca.org.in/publicationhome/elearning-commonwealth-asia-2013-sk-pulist
Escape Tours is a professional tour operator based in Toronto Ontario offering tours of Toronto, Kingston, Niagara Falls and Southern Ontario. Customized packages, multi-language guides and unique, affordable accommodations also available. Call us now 416.858.6877 & get free estimation on escapetoursorg@gmail.com
Open Educational Resources (OER) are fast gaining traction amongst the academic community as a viable means of increasing access and equity in education. The concept of OER is of especial significance to the marginalised communities in the Global South where distance education is prominent due to the inability of conventional brick and mortar institutions to cope with the growing demand. However, the wider adoption of OER by academics in the Global South has been inhibited due to various socio, economic and technological reasons. One of the major technological inhibitors is the current inability to search for OER which are academically useful and are of an acceptable academic standard. Many technological initiatives have been proposed over the recent past to provide potential solutions to this issue. Among these are OER curartion standards such as GLOBE, federated search, social semantic search and search engines such as DiscoverEd, OCW Finder, Pearson’s Project Blue Sky. The research discussed in this paper is carried out in the form of literature review and informal interviews with experts. The objective of the study is to document the extent of the OER search issues contributing to the slow uptake of the concept of OER. This review paper discusses the current OER search dilemma and the impact of some of the key initiatives which propose potential solutions.
Optical Character Recognition: the What, Why, and Howmackenziekbrooks
Delivered by Mackenzie Brooks and Alston Cobourn to Washington and Lee University. This presentation explains what OCR is, gives a variety of use cases, and covers the types of tools available.
Print2Screen Mobile App: Embedding Multimedia in Printed ODL Course MaterialsIshan Abeywardena, Ph.D.
The world is rapidly moving towards a digital culture where teaching and learning is migrated to cyberspace from a conventional brick and mortar classroom. Given that eLearning and mobile learning are attractive propositions for countries with robust technological infrastructure, the global south is still struggling to mainstream digital methods of delivering education due to various technological and financial inhibitors. This has spelled a potential slow death for printed material in developing countries where the medium is predominantly used for delivering education in schools, conventional universities, vocational training institutions and open universities. However, with the rise of OER and multimedia such as YouTube videos, many of these academic institutions are becoming mindful of the richness they bring into the teaching and learning process. Given that multimedia resources cannot be directly integrated into printed material, the only available alternative is to print hyperlinks which teachers and learners can manually type into a web browser. This method becomes ridiculously ineffective as the length of the URL increases. To address this limitation with a special focus on print based ODL course materials, the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), which is a regional center of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), developed an innovative solution to seamlessly integrate multimedia into printed material using Quick Response Codes (QR codes) or 2D barcodes and an Android mobile application named “Print2Screen”. This paper highlights the rationale behind Print2Screen, the development process, how the solution is implemented in a real world scenario and the benefits it will bring to the ODL community especially in rural and developing parts of the world where stable access to technology is still a costly commodity.
Discusses the faboodle application which acts as the bridge between moodle learning managements system and facebook. faboodle allows students to interact on moodle 1.8 LMS through facebook. The presentation also discusses the rationale for using facebook over moodle LMS.
This presentation discusses the current dilemma with respect to Open Educational Resources (OER) search. It introduces existing OER search methodologies and highlights their weaknesses. The Desirability framework for parametrically measuring the usefulness of an OER is also discussed. The desirability framework uses the D-index to measure the openness, accessibility and relevance of an OER. OERScout, a text mining based faceted search engine is introduced for improved OER search. It uses autonomously identified domain specific keywords, the D-index and faceted search to allow focused OER search.
ICDE Report: UNESCO Chairs in OER, International Meeting Krakow, Poland April...icdeslides
The UNESCO Open Educational Resources (OER) Chairs Meeting is being held within the framework of the Open Education Global Conference 2016 in Poland.
Participants in this global conference were able to hear from thought leaders in open education and had the opportunity to share ideas, practices and discuss issues important to the future of education worldwide. Sessions cover new developments in open education, research results, innovative technology, policy development and implementation, and practical solutions to challenges facing education around the world.
Presentation on Open Access delivered at the Lesotho College of Education, Maseru, Lesotho on 23 October 2013 during workshop to mark the International Open Access Week and also celebrate LELICO's 10th anniversary
2nd Regional Symposium on Open Educational Resources:
Beyond Advocacy, Research and Policy
24 – 27 June 2014
Sub-theme 5: Quality
Quality Assurance Standards for e-ASEM OER Open and Distance Learning
Tae Rim Lee, Insung Jung
4th International Conference on Psychology, Language and Teaching (ICPLT)Global R & D Services
Conference Name: 4th International Conference on Psychology, Language and Teaching (ICPLT), 20-21 July 2016, Kuala Lumpur
Conference Dates: 20-21 July, 2016
Conference Venue: Rumah Kelab PAUM Clubhouse (Persatuan Alumni Universiti Malaya), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Deadline for Abstract/Paper Submissions: July 17, 2016
Contact E-Mail ID: info@gplra.org
Conference Convener: Dr. Aria D
Languages: English, Chinese, Arabic, Thai, Persian
http://gplra.org/4th-international-conference-on-psychology-language-and-teaching-icplt-20-21-july-2016-kuala-lumpur-about-2
4th International Conference on Psychology, Language and Teaching (ICPLT)Global R & D Services
Conference Name: 4th International Conference on Psychology, Language and Teaching (ICPLT), 20-21 July 2016, Kuala Lumpur
Conference Dates: 20-21 July, 2016
Conference Venue: Rumah Kelab PAUM Clubhouse (Persatuan Alumni Universiti Malaya), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Deadline for Abstract/Paper Submissions: July 17, 2016
Contact E-Mail ID: info@gplra.org
Conference Convener: Dr. Aria D
Languages: English, Chinese, Arabic, Thai, Persian
Open learning in higher education an institutional approachBrian Murphy
The vaue of open learning can be a conflict within higher education instituions. This presentation is the result of an instituional review and research on the open education movement in higher education, given greater impetus by the advent of the MOOC. The journey of exploring MOOCs resulted, ironically, in an enhanced apreciation of OERs and revised strategic thinking of their impact for teaching and research, especially when viewed as a vehicle of co-creation between staff and students. Once value is attached, the principle becimes embedded and accepted rarher than an additional burden of academic endeavour; and the door is opened to the business case for systems, investment and development as well as academic development, support, reward and recognition.
ROER4D Update March 2016 - Presentation to the Hewlett FoundationROER4D
Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) in the Global South:
Update March 2016
Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams with the ROER4D team's presentation to the Hewlett Foundation, UCT, Cape Town
14 March 2016
Similar to Newsletter October - December 2014 (20)
OER and Future Research Questions - Guest Lecture: Allama Iqbal Open Universi...Ishan Abeywardena, Ph.D.
This lecture was delivered to the new cohort of PhD students at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), Pakistan. The focus of the lecture was to inspire them in new directions of research in the field of Open Educational Resources based on the outputs of the 2nd World OER Congress and the Ljubljana OER Action Plan.
This is a guest lecture on the road map of how to move from OER to an Open Culture delivered to the 2016 PhD batch of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), Pakistan
AI Based Search Engine for Locating Desirable Open Educational ResourcesIshan Abeywardena, Ph.D.
Location of Desirable Open Educational Resources in the Commonwealth Connect Portal Directory of Open Educational Resources (DOER) using the OERScout Artificial Intelligence Based Search Engine.
This presentation looks at how to methodically search for OER using the concept of Desirability. The slides highlights how the Relevance, Openness and Accessibility aspects of OER are used to locate material which are useful in course development.
This presentation talks about the fundamental flaw in metadata which is its dependence on the user to competently annotate. It then introduces the OERScout technology framework which provides a way to remove the human from the metadata equation which is the weakest link.
The Open Educational Resources (OER) movement has gained significant momentum recently as a global effort culminating in the 2012 Paris OER declaration. However, the purist definition of OER has blurred since then morphing into Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). Even though OER are a significant part of the MOOC movement, it might not be a defining one. However, this has not yet been fully verified with respect to the opinion of the general public who are the main stakeholders of both the movements. To answer this question, this paper attempts to explore the public opinion and perceptions regarding OER, MOOC and their complementary roles. A text mining approach is used to analyse raw Twitter data in the domains of OER and MOOC within a timespan of 12 months. Sentiment analysis is applied to the data to understand how public perceptions have changed during this time period. The major contribution of my paper is a chronological view of public opinion on OER and MOOC post Paris OER declaration.
This technical workshop focuses on the current issues faced by the academic community, especially in Open and Distance Learning (ODL), with respect to searching for credible, relevant and academically useful open educational resources (OER). The workshop will cover four key aspects: (1) the current OER search dilemma; (2) the concept of metadata; (3) existing search methods; and (4) useful OER search tools. Among the topics covered will be the current problem within the context of OER search, the limitations of Google and native search mechanisms, federated search, semantic search, metadata standards and some large-scale solutions to the OER search dilemma. The last part of the workshop will introduce the OERScout search framework which uses text mining techniques and faceted search to recommend Desirable OER for teaching and learning.
In recent years, the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement has achieved considerable success within the academic community with respect to advocacy of the concept. As a result, many organisations such as the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), UNESCO and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), in partnership with academic institutions, have produced large volumes of OER. However, due to the disconnected nature and the constant expansion of volume, many repositories hosting these resources are less frequented or completely ignored by OER users. i.e. only the more popular OER repositories such as Connexions and WikiEducator are frequent stops in the search for academically useful resources. This limitation, in turn, reduces the access to high quality resources hidden away in isolated repositories hosted by lesser known sources. Furthermore, the time and labour required to trawl these repositories with a view of identifying the most suitable OER is tantamount to creating ones’ own material from scratch. As a solution to these issues, this paper discusses how the OERScout technology framework uses a “faceted search” approach to locate the most desirable OER from sources spread throughout the globe. It also highlights how focused searching can greatly improve access to OER readily useable in teaching and learning.
A crash course on open educational resources which covers the 4 'R's of Openness, access based on ALMS analysis, sustainability models and copyright. It further discusses the current state of OER in Asia. The last part provides a case study for reuse of OER in ODL courses.
Reusable Learning Objects: Designing and Archiving
Newsletter October - December 2014
1. International Academic Relations Division (IRD) Newsletter October – December 2014 1
The International Academic Relations Division (IRD)
The Open University of Sri Lanka
Quarterly Newsletter
October – December 2014
Message from the Director
The International Academic
Relations Division (IRD) acts as
the interface between OUSL
and the global academic
community. The primary
purpose of the IRD is to enrich
the academic, economic and cultural aspects of
OUSL staff and students by establishing
international collaborations with likeminded
individuals and institutions.
The IRD was established in October of 2013. At
that point, the University had recognized the
importance of establishing collaborative
relationships to increase its international
standing, build its global profile, increase the
recognition of its academic offerings and
conduct high impact research. This vision also
aligns with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL)
position for strengthening the education sector
of the country through international
collaboration.
The University aims to ensure that it has
sufficient faculty and institution level agreements
in place to meet the growing needs of Sri
Lanka’s student population and that of the
broader international community. The IRD
provides expert advice and guidance to the
University on the development of international
relations strategies and the establishment of
formal relationships and partnerships with
universities and other entities around the world.
Another recent development of the IRD is its role
in the National Online Distance Education
Service (NODES). NODES is an initiative of the
Ministry of Higher Education and was setup as
an entrepreneurial, self-sustaining, national
agency to coordinate delivery of online distance
education programs. The NODES technology
infrastructure includes the “NODES Network
Operation Center” (NOC) and 23 “NODES
Access Centers” (NAC) distributed island wide
to provide a robust platform for the deployment
of modern e-Learning technologies locally and
internationally.
Further to a directive by the Ministry of Higher
Education, the NODES operation was officially
handed over to OUSL on the 30
th
of September
2014. Since then, OUSL has temporarily placed
the operations of NODES under the IRD;
appointed a dedicated datacenter manager for
NODES; initiated upgrades of the NOC and
NACs to suit the latest eLearning requirements;
2. International Academic Relations Division (IRD) Newsletter October – December 2014 2
and revamp the disaster recovery (DR) site.
Furthermore, the entire NODES operation,
including the NOC, will be relocated early 2015
to the brand new IT building being purpose built
at OUSL.
By fully utilizing the online learning delivery
capabilities of NODES, OUSL intends to
establish some national level eLearning
platforms and services which will benefit all the
key stakeholders in Sri Lanka. The initiatives
planned for 2015 are as follows:
OUSL Distinguished Lecture Series – A
monthly lecture delivered by a renowned foreign
professor to the Sri Lankan community on the
latest research topics. This is streamed live via
the OUSL website to the whole of Sri Lanka and
the world. The inaugural lecture was delivered
on the 19th of December 2014 by Dr Som Naidu
of Australia on the topic “Getting Published in
High Impact Journals”.
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
platform - MOOC has the ability to deliver
education freely to the masses. A national level
MOOC platform will be setup for the offering of
free courses by OUSL to the wider Sri Lankan
community. One of the first courses to be
offered will be ICT Literacy. Students can follow
the free online course from their homes,
computer labs in schools (Mahindodaya labs) or
Nanasala facilities. Ultimately, they can sit for an
OUSL exam to earn a qualification.
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) - A Virtual
Synchronous Classroom platform will be
implemented. This platform will allow the
broadcasting of lectures, seminars and talks in a
real-time manner to a national, regional and
even global level. Users who have access to an
internet connection can participate in these
classrooms from anywhere.
National Research Repository - Federation of
educational and research metadata increases
visibility of an institution within the global
academic community. In this light, a national
research repository will be established to host all
the research publications of Sri Lankan
academics under an open access policy. The
educational metadata from this repository will be
federated and made available to global scholarly
networks such as Google Scholar and GLOBE.
Open Educational Resources (OER)
Repository - An OER repository will be setup
for hosting homegrown open content made
available to a global community under a free
license. Academics from OUSL and other
national institutions can contribute their original
academic works into this repository to be made
available as OER. These resources can be
reused, revised, remixed and redistributed
freely, without any copyright concerns. This will
increase access and equity in education for Sri
Lankan students.
In addition to the activities planned under
NODES, the IRD will continue to establish new
collaborative ties with International partners to
benefit the faculty and students of OUSL.
Among the activities planned are staff exchange
programs, free technical workshops and guest
lectures.
More information on the events and the IRD
events calendar can be accessed using the
following URL:
http://www.ou.ac.lk/home/index.php/international
-academic-relations-division
We look forward to your continued cooperation
and support in serving the best interests of the
OUSL staff and students.
Ishan Abeywardena MSc, MSc (Brunel), BSc
(Bangalore), MIET, MBCS, MIEEE, MCP
Director
International Academic Relations Division
3. International Academic Relations Division (IRD) Newsletter October – December 2014 3
Contents
The OUSL Distinguished Lecture Series: Inaugural
Lecture…………………………………………….. 3
Agreement Signing on the Establishment of the Sri
Lanka – China Open Education Center between
OUSL and Yunnan Open University, China…… 4
OUSL Staff Professional Development Attachment
at Wawasan Open
University…………………………….................... 5
Professional Development Workshop Conducted
for the Staff of Maldives National
University………………………………………….. 6
Android App Development Using Visual
Programming: Hong Kong SAR…………………. 6
High-Level Executive Workshop on MOOCs….. 7
Meeting with Japanese Counterparts on
Establishing a National Research Repository…. 8
Visit by Delegation from Hanbat National
University of Korea……………………………….. 8
Meeting with Microsoft on Providing Free Tablet
Computers to OUSL Students…………………… 8
Visit by the Myanmar Garment Manufacturer
Association to OUSL……………………………… 9
Visit by Delegation from Korea University of Media
Arts………………………………………………….. 9
The OUSL Distinguished Lecture Series:
Inaugural Lecture
One of the latest initiatives by the
International Academic Relations Division
(IRD) is the “Distinguished Lecture Series”
which is designed to foster rich academic
discourse among Sri Lankan academics.
The lecture series further intends to build
capacities among Sri Lankan academics in
good academic practices; technology-
assisted teaching; sound research
methodologies; and high impact
publications.
The inaugural lecture of the series was
delivered on the 19
th
of December from
11am to 12.30pm by Dr Som Naidu who is
affiliated to Monash University, Australia.
The topic of the lecture was “Getting
Published in High Impact Journals” which is
immensely beneficial for early and mid-
career academics. Around 50 academics
representing many Higher Education
Institutions in Sri Lanka participated in the
lecture. The lecture was streamed live to the
global academic community via the OUSL
corporate website.
Among his many portfolios, Dr Naidu is the
executive editor (Since 1997) of the journal
Distance Education which is the oldest
journal in the field; assistant editor (Since
2008) of the journal Interactive Learning
Environments; member of the inaugural
Routledge Education Arena Panel of
Editors; and co-series editor of the Open,
Flexible and Distance Learning book series
published by Routledge of the Taylor and
Francis Group. Dr Som Naidu is also the
recipient of a Doctor of Letters Honoris
Causa from the OUSL in 2014.
4. International Academic Relations Division (IRD) Newsletter October – December 2014 4
During the lecture which was chaired by the
Vice Chancellor of OUSL Dr Vijitha
Nanayakkara, Dr Naidu covered a wide
spectrum of topics related to academic
publishing such as what is high impact, and
how it is determined; what are the critical
factors that influence the determination of a
journal’s impact factor and reputation,
including implications for the inclusion of
journals in citation indexes such as ISI
(Institute for Scientific Information, SCI
(Science Citation Index), SSCI (Social
Sciences Citation Index), and AHCI (Arts
and Humanities Citation Index); what are the
implications for a journal’s impact factor of
the open access movement including
options and implications for authors
for 'green' and 'gold' open access
publishing; and more importantly, how does
one get published in high impact journals. Dr
Naidu further explored how to target and
prepare publications for high impact
publication outlets including issues such as
paying attention to the contribution and
relevance of your research to the field;
clarity of its goals and intentions and
methodological rigor; use of language and
expression/writing style; its technical merit,
and also negotiating the peer-review and
publication process.
Five more Distinguished Lectures are
already scheduled to be delivered monthly
starting from January 2015. The speakers
include eminent research professors from
USA, Japan, India and Canada in diverse
fields ranging from Open Education to
Computer Science. The lecture series will be
conducted in the Center for Educational
Technology and Media (CETMe) at the
OUSL. All the lectures will be professionally
captured in HD format, edited and made
available as OER on the OUSL website and
YouTube. The complete lecture series will
be streamed live via the OUSL website to
the whole world. This is one of the major
contributions by OUSL to the global
community in terms of increasing access
and equity to knowledge. Anyone with an
internet connection can follow the lectures
and discussions live from home, schools,
universities and offices. The Nanasala
facilities can also be used to follow the
lectures. Furthermore, the live stream is
viewable on smart phones, tablets and
mobile devices with an internet connection.
Agreement Signing on the Establishment
of the Sri Lanka – China Open Education
Center between OUSL and Yunnan Open
University, China
Further to the MoU signed between OUSL
and Yunnan Open University (YOU), China,
the two institutions entered in to a formal
agreement to establish a “Sri Lanka – China
Open Education Center”.
A delegation of four representatives
including the Vice President of YOU arrived
in Sri Lanka to attend the agreement signing
ceremony on the 22
nd
of December 2014.
5. International Academic Relations Division (IRD) Newsletter October – December 2014 5
The center will be located at the OUSL main
campus in Nawala and will be jointly
operated by OUSL and YOU staff. The first
initiative of the center is to offer language
courses in Mandarin to OUSL students
starting middle of 2015.
This event marks a historic moment for
OUSL in terms of establishing foreign
collaboration.
OUSL Staff Professional Development
Attachment at Wawasan Open University
As an outcome of the MOU signed in 2013
between the Open University of Sri Lanka
(OUSL) and Wawasan Open University
(WOU) of Penang, Malaysia, a group of
eight senior academics; two from each
faculty returned after an stimulating 10 day
Professional Development Program. The
main aim of the program was to identify the
best practices of WOU in areas relevant to
OUSL and the faculties represented by the
participants.
Some of the key areas examined during the
program focused on the quality assurance
system in operation which has both internal
and external quality assurance procedures
in place to meet the demands of the
Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA).
Other aspects focused on were program and
course development, course delivery
process, academic administration,
evaluation and assessment in ODL, and
cost effective program planning and
budgeting.
One of the striking features observed by the
visiting academics was the standardization
procedures in operation which contributed
greatly to the smooth running of activities
both academically and administratively. The
well-structured mechanisms related to
teaching procedures, examinations, and
assignments built into the system
contributed greatly to ensure quality
programs. The efficient Learning
Management System (LMS) with learning
resources and effective hierarchical
monitoring mechanisms ensure efficient
student support.
The academics had much to learn as well as
share with those at WOU and were enriched
following this development program. Some
of the above mentioned aspects have
potential to be replicated at OUSL and
others can be adapted to enhance the
6. International Academic Relations Division (IRD) Newsletter October – December 2014 6
efficiency of mechanisms presently in place
at OUSL.
Professional Development Workshop
Conducted for the Staff of Maldives
National University
A three day Professional Development
Workshop was conducted for 17 academic
staff from the Maldives National University
(MNU). The workshop was held from 1
st
to
3
rd
December 2014 at the Staff
Development Centre of the Open University
of Sri Lanka. The event was organized by
the International Academic Relations
Division (IRD) in collaboration with the
Faculty of Education and the Consultancy
and External Resource Centre (CERC).
The workshop was tailored to MNU in the
field of Inclusive Education. Among the
topics covered were assessment and
evaluation; concept, philosophy and policies
and instructional processes. The resource
persons for the workshop were Prof Jaufar,
Prof Lekamge, Dr Danapala, Dr Anoma
Alwis and Mr Gonsalkorala.
Android App Development Using Visual
Programming: Second workshop, Hong
Kong SAR
The second workshop on “Android App
Development Using Visual Programming”
was held at the Open University of Hong
Kong (OUHK), Hong Kong SAR on the 31
st
of November and 1
st
December 2014. The
event was organized as a post-conference
workshop of the 28
th
Asian Association of
Open Universities (AAOU) Annual
Conference by the International Academic
Relations Division (IRD) of OUSL and the
University Research Center of OUHK. The
workshop was conducted by Mr. Ishan
Abeywardena, Director of the IRD of OUSL.
The objectives of the workshop were to (i)
familiarize STOU staff with the AI2 platform;
(ii) use the Designer and Blocks Editor; (iii)
implement various components in
applications; (iv) design rich user
experiences (UX); and (v) practice
packaging and distribution of applications.
The participants of the workshop underwent
basic and intermediate training on the AI2
platform. Among the topics covered were
introduction to AI2 platform; device setup;
debugging apps using physical phones and
Android emulator; building apps using
components such as text-to-speech,
7. International Academic Relations Division (IRD) Newsletter October – December 2014 7
accelerometer, speech recognition, canvas,
sprite, camera, camcorder, video player,
audio player etc.; packaging and distributing
apps; and publishing apps on Google Play.
The participants developed approximately
13 apps which provided them a wide range
of skills in user experience (UX) design and
programming logic. The workshop also had
four full length tutorial exercises where
participants built three fully functional apps
which concentrated on (i) designing user
interfaces; (ii) designing user experiences;
and (iii) fundamentals of animation and
game design.
Ishan Abeywardena further demonstrated
how a storyboard is created prior to
designing and developing a functional
Android App. The group consisted of around
20 participants each with varied professional
backgrounds ranging from academic faculty,
instructional designers to software
engineers.
The next workshop will be held on the 13
th
and 14
th
of January 2015 at the OUSL main
campus in Nawala, Nugegoda.
High-Level Executive Workshop on
MOOCs
A high-level workshop on Massive Open
Online Courses (MOOC) was organized by
UNESCO as a pre-conference event of the
28
th
Asian Association of Open Universities
(AAOU) annual conference. The workshop,
held on 27
th
October 2014 at the Open
University of Hong Kong, was aimed at high-
level executives and decision makers of
Open Universities in Asia. Prof Fred Mulder
and Mr Abel Cane were the facilitators of the
event. Prof Mulder is the UNESCO/ICDE
Chair in Open Educational Resources
and former Rector of OUNL. Mr Cane is the
UNESCO Programme Specialist on Open
Educational Resources (OER). Dr Vijitha
Nanayakkara, Vice Chancellor; and Mr
Ishan Abeywardena, Director of International
Academic Relations, were invited to attend
the event representing OUSL.
The facilitators as well as some key guest
speakers shared their experiences under the
topics MOOCs scenarios for OUs in a global
context; OpenupEd MOOCs in Europe:
Characteristics / state of play; Spotlight on
MOOCs Initiatives of Asian OUs; Globalizing
OpenupEd in Asia and a role for AAOU?;
and From workshop to work plan?.
As OUSL is planning to launch the first
MOOC in Sri Lanka, this workshop shed
light on some key concerns with respect to
the practicalities of running a MOOC. OUSL
will be working closely with AAOU and
UNESCO to make its MOOC initiative a
success story in Asia.
8. International Academic Relations Division (IRD) Newsletter October – December 2014 8
Meeting with Japanese Counterparts on
Establishing a National Research
Repository
A high-level meeting was held between
OUSL, The Open University of Japan (OUJ)
and the National Institute of Informatics
(NII), Japan during the 28th Asian
Association of Open Universities (AAOU)
annual conference held in Hong Kong.
OUSL was represented by the Vice
Chancellor Dr Vijitha Nanayakkara; Deputy
Vice Chancellor Dr Janaka Liyanagama; and
the Director of the IRD Mr Ishan
Abeywardena. Prof Tsuneo Yamada
represented OUJ while Prof Kazu Yamaji
represented NII.
The meeting, which took place in October
2014, explored the possibility of establishing
a national research repository for Sri Lanka
funded by NII and OUJ. As a result of the
discussion, a team of Japanese experts will
be arriving in Sri Lanka early February 2015
to setup the repository system, conduct a
two-day capacity building workshop on how
to use the repository and deliver two
Distinguished Lectures on technology.
Visit by Delegation from Hanbat National
University of Korea
A delegation from Hanbat National
University of Korea visited OUSL on the 11
th
of November 2014. The purpose of this visit
was to explore possible areas for
collaboration between the two Institutions.
During the meeting with the top
management of OUSL, it was decided that a
potential area of collaboration would be to
establish a Korean language center at
OUSL. The International Academic
Relations Division (IRD) is now in
communication with Hanbat National
University to see how this idea can be
practically taken forward.
Meeting with Microsoft on Providing Free
Tablet Computers to OUSL Students
A high-level meeting was held on the 18
th
of
November 2014 between Microsoft and
OUSL to explore the possibility of providing
free tablet computers for OUSL students.
Several high profile representatives from
Microsoft USA, Singapore, India and Sri
Lanka were present including the Worldwide
Managing Director for Education Partners.
9. International Academic Relations Division (IRD) Newsletter October – December 2014 9
The delegation met the Vice Chancellor Dr
Vijitha Nanayakkara, Deputy Vice
Chancellor Dr Janaka Liyanagama and
Director of the International Academic
Relations Division Mr Ishan Abeywardena.
Prof Udugama and Dr Madurapperuma
represented the academics in the meeting.
The IRD is currently in communication with
Microsoft to finalize the details of the
devices which will be loaded with OUSL
study material to be given to the students.
Visit by the Myanmar Garment
Manufacturer Association to OUSL
The Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL)
was pleased to welcome a delegation from
the Myanmar Garment Manufacturer
Association (MGMA) on 23
rd
October 2014.
The delegation was comprised of 10
members of MGMA and 1 representative
from the British Council. The visit was
organized by the International Academic
Relations Division (IRD) of OUSL.
The Vice Chancellor Dr. Vijitha
Nanayakkara; Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr
Janaka Liyanagama; Dean of the Faculty of
Engineering Technology Prof. S.A.
Ariadurai; Head Department of Textile &
Apparel Technology Dr. M.E.R. Perera; and
the Director International Academic
Relations Mr. Ishan Abeywardena
participated in this meeting. The aim of the
discussion was to explore research
collaborations between MGMA and OUSL in
the area of best practices in Garment
Manufacturing. The meeting was followed by
a site visit of the OUSL facilities including
the laboratories of the Department of Textile
Engineering.
Visit by Delegation from Korea University
of Media Arts
A delegation from Korea University of Media
Arts visited the Open University of Sri Lanka
on the 5
th
of December 2014. They are a
prestigious University in Broadcasting and
Visual Arts in Korea which is seeking to
open up avenues for collaboration with
OUSL in common academic disciplines.
10. International Academic Relations Division (IRD) Newsletter October – December 2014 10
The initial discussions explored student
exchange programs, reciprocal visits of
faculty, and initiation of joint degree
programs. The International Academic
Relations Division (IRD) is currently in
contact with the Korea University of Media
Arts to explore training opportunities for
CETMe staff.
Contact Details
International Academic Relations Division
Open University of Sri Lanka
PO Box 21, Nawala
Nugegoda
Sri Lanka
10250
Telephone: +94 11 288 1000, Ext: 654
Email: ird@ou.ac.lk
Website:
http://www.ou.ac.lk/home/index.php/internati
onal-academic-relations-division