Flexible Course Delivery and the Potential of Open and Distance Education

Keynote AddressCommittee of Vice Chancellors and Directors (CVCD) Conference 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka

ByIshan Abeywardena, Ph.D.Advisor (Designate): Open Educational Resources (OER)The Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Burnaby, Canada

13th November 2015

The concept of Distance Education (DE) can be defined as:

(i) one-way traffic in the form of pre-produced course materials sent from the supporting organization and involving students in interaction with texts; and

(ii) two-way traffic which is real communication between students and the supporting organization (Holmberg , 2005 )

Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_World,_on_the_globular_projection_with_a_graduation_for_the_measurement_of_distances_especially_adapted_for_the_use_oe_(sic)_schools,_geographical_%26_historical_lectures,_and_missionary_meetings_(5489515269).jpg#/media/File:The_World,_on_the_globular_projection_with_a_graduation_for_the_measurement_of_distances_especially_adapted_for_the_use_oe_(sic)_schools,_geographical_%26_historical_lectures,_and_missionary_meetings_(5489515269).jpg

DE Today…

“ Technology is responsible for distorting the concept of distance between learner and instructor, and enabling learners to access education at any time and from any place”.

Beldarrain (2006, p.139)

Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance education, 27(2), 139-153.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Internet_of_Things.jpg

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kids_Holding_Possible_High_Tech_Mother%27s_Day_Gifts.jpg#/media/File:Kids_Holding_Possible_High_Tech_Mother%27s_Day_Gifts.jpg

Digital Natives

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ghanaian_using_a_tablet.jpg

Redefining the “D” in DE to “Digital”

Source: Computer Literacy Statistics - 2014, Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka; http://www.statistics.gov.lk/ComputerLiterarcy/BuletinComputerLiteracy.pdf

Digital Distance in Sri Lanka

Source: http://nanasala.org/ and http://www.nodes.lk/

Source: http://usercontent2.hubimg.com/5630013_f520.jpg

Source: http://www.eit.edu.au/image/onlinebook/Sage-on-the-Stage-11.jpg

Flipping the Classroom: Conventional to DE

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course#/media/File:MOOC_poster_mathplourde.jpg

Source: https://www.edx.org/sites/default/files/upload/intro-four-example-videos960.jpg

The Flexibility of MOOC

Source: http://image.slidesharecdn.com/mooc-150607151930-lva1-app6892/95/massive-open-online-courses-moocs-6-638.jpg?cb=1434031431

Asian MOOC Initiatives

Source: http://static.betaboston.com/uploads/2015/08/HBX-Live-6.jpg

“teaching, learning and research materials in any medium, digital or otherwise, that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions”

(UNESCO Paris OER Declaration, 2012)

OER

UNESCO. (2012, June 22). 2012 PARIS OER DECLARATION. Retrieved June 13, 2013, from unesco.org: http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/WPFD2009/English_Declaration.html

OER: Just another means of getting there…Source: http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/Feature%20Story/sar/srilanka/lk-edu-computers-

400x264.jpg

four ‘R’s model:

Reuse

Redistribute

Revise

Remix

RetainHilton, J., Wiley, D., Stein, J., & Johnson, A. (2010). The four R‘s of openness and ALMS Analysis: Frameworks for open educational resources. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 25(1), 37-44.

O in O

ER

Openness

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/mackiwg/oeru-overview-2014

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/mackiwg/oeru-overview-2014

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/mackiwg/oeru-overview-2014

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/mackiwg/oeru-overview-2014

Can we do it?

Thank you!

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Maps_of_Sri_Lanka#/media/File:Sri_Lanka_on_the_globe_(Asia_centered).svg