Citation
Menon, M. B. (2014). Wawasan Open University – Developing a Fully OER-based Course. In S. Naidu & S. Mishra (Eds.), Case Studies on OER-based eLearning. Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA). http://hdl.handle.net/11599/561
Abstract
Introduction Wawasan Open University is a relatively young and small university established in 2007, by a charitable foundation, to provide low cost, flexible access to higher education for Malaysian adults. Over the last five years it has embarked on a series of innovative and cost effective approaches to providing educational services to the Malaysian public. It uses flexible modalities to make higher education accessible to all – anytime, anywhere – and to create a lifelong learning community for aspiring individuals regardless of their previous educational, ethnic or socioeconomic background. Through a model of open distance learning, self-paced learning and flexible study pathways, WOU enables adults in the workforce to pursue their educational dreams without much disruption to their professional and personal commitments. WOU is an institution that aims to equip the contemporary workforce with industry-relevant knowledge and skills through its quality, market-driven programmes, while they continue in their jobs (WOU, 2013). Currently, WOU offers over 40 programmes ranging from the sub-degree to postgraduate levels in the fields of business, technology, education and liberal studies, three MBA and Ph.D programmes. WOU produced its first batch of MBA graduates in 2010, and its pioneer batch of Bachelor’s degree students in 2011. All its programmes are fully approved by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA). On top of that, 13 programmes – i.e. CeMBA, CeMPA, as well as 6 business and 5 technology degrees – have received recognition from the Public Service Department (JPA) following the graduation of its inaugural batch of students. This case study shows how a young and innovative university such as WOU has been able to transform its course development processes from a ‘wrap-around textbook based’ model using courses it bought from the Open University of Hong Kong to an Open Educational Resource (OER) based course development model, and as a result achieving three positive outcomes in one stroke. These were substantial cost reduction in course development and delivery, quality enhancement from the use of a variety of multimedia OER and increased internal capacity building for innovative course design and development. The two models for Course Development, namely the ‘wrap-around model’ using OER, and the ‘stand-alone model’ based on copyrighted books nevertheless, exists at the University, side-by-side. This case study describes the experience of developing and delivering one of WOU’s courses based almost entirely on available Open Educational Resources as part of adoption and implementation of an OER policy and Open Educational Practices in the university. This was one of the pioneer courses which sought to adopt a new course development policy eliminating the use of copyrighted material. Schools of Studies were urged to use, reuse or repurpose available OER or create their own OER and the University is now in the process of revising all its copyrighted textbook based courses as well as courses bought from other universities.
Themes: Descriptive, Initiatives, OER