by SMART & COL-CEMCA

A climate literacy curriculum for community media has been developed by SMART and COL-CEMCA to address climate change through community driven initiatives. The curriculum, divided into 10 modules, simplifies climate issues, promotes local solutions, and provides communication strategies for community media to educate and empower communities. It aims to equip content creators with resources, knowledge, and skills to produce impactful content, fostering collective action against climate change, particularly in vulnerable areas like coastal, drought-prone, and tribal regions in India.

by Acharya Narendra Dev College

WikiEducator is a community of educators who are collaborating on the development of teaching materials and learning resources to support their work. Our community comprises teachers, lecturers, trainers, learning designers, editors, educational technologists and researchers.

by Andrew Wong, Joseph Lee, and Carol Wu

Open and distance learning (ODL) institutions face the challenge of managing a wide range of academic and administrative activities with limited resources. To address this, providing student services online has become crucial, offering “anywhere, anytime” convenience. As students increasingly expect online support, institutions must adopt integrated online services, supporting learners, teachers, and administration through fully networked systems.

by Badri N Koul

The evolution of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has led to a shift in quality concerns, from socio-academic credibility to defining ODL-specific criteria. Initially, ODL institutions focused on standards, but later identified key areas to redefine quality: course material development, learner support services, and flexibility in entrance qualifications. As ODL matured, quality assurance protocols were developed, and accreditation bodies were established. Now, ICTs have introduced new quality issues, requiring ODL systems to revisit and revise their quality assurance strategies, impacting planning and management.

by Gajaraj Dhanarajan

The book focuses on planning Open Universities, specifically those using distance education, amidst a rapidly changing environment driven by technological breakthroughs and social developments. The establishment of the UK Open University in 1971 marked a significant milestone, leveraging educational broadcasting to reach the masses. Key factors shaping Open Universities include increased demand for learning, globalisation, and technological advancements. The concept of “Mega Universities” emerged, characterised by large student bodies and technology-driven delivery modes, with the UKOU serving as a model for others.

by Arun Nigavekar

In today’s globalized world, education is a key driver of economic development, enabling individuals to create and process knowledge, generate wealth, and reduce poverty. The WTO’s treatment of education as a tradable service has opened up new opportunities, but also poses challenges for developing nations with poor infrastructure and digital divides. Policymakers must navigate these complexities to harness the benefits of ICTs and Open Distance Learning (ODL), balancing public and private interests to create a globally competitive workforce.

by Tian Belawati

Financial management is crucial in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions, informing decisions on methods and media, while ensuring accountability and addressing social issues like access and equality. ODL is considered cost-effective, with studies showing comparable effectiveness to traditional learning and potential economies of scale. This paper explores financial management in ODL, focusing on funding, cost classification, resource generation, budgeting, and cost-effectiveness analysis, using Universitas Terbuka as a case study.

by Madhulika Kaushik

Open Universities are crucial in higher education, accounting for 25% of enrolment in some Asian countries, promoting equity, access, and quality. They cater to working professionals and leverage ICT to expand scope beyond borders. As knowledge industry leaders, people are their key resource, offering a strategic advantage. Managing human resources is challenging due to large, dynamic, and multilocation systems, requiring innovative strategies for recruitment, retention, and fostering excellence.

by Usha V. Reddi and Sanjaya Mishra, Editors

Bangladesh, a country with rich alluvial plains and a network of rivers, faces challenges of poverty, high population growth, and low adult literacy. To address these issues, Bangladesh has increasingly used mass media and ICTs to expand access to education, both formal and non-formal, particularly in rural areas. Despite political instability, the country has maintained a free environment for education and development, leveraging traditional and new technologies to support its educational agenda.

by Asha S. Kanwar and Margaret Taplin, Editors

The aim of this book of case studies is to inspire and encourage women to participate in open and distance learning. Going through the case studies, potential women learners will see that most of their reservations and fears are unfounded. Other questions in their minds about how to cope with studies after a long gap,
at a mature age or without regular tutorials will be answered as they read about the experiences of other women like themselves.

This section discusses different types of technologies for education and training. It identifies the criteria for selection of appropriate technologies for different purposes, applications, situations and learner groups. The section introduces and defines the technology of teleconferencing, its strengths, and functions. The materials in this unit are introductory, and the topics introduced here are covered in greater detail later.

by Usha V. Reddi & Jagdish Singh 

Educational broadcasting faces questions about effectiveness, audience engagement, and resource allocation. To address these concerns, understanding the audience is crucial. Research is key to creating impactful educational programs, informing content development, production, and delivery. By knowing the audience’s needs, preferences, and context, broadcasters can design programs that resonate with them, increasing engagement and learning outcomes. This manual emphasises the importance of audience research, providing guidelines and tools for project managers, researchers, and producers to conduct effective research and create impactful educational content.

Edited by Usha V. Reddi & Sanjaya Mishra

Though the handbook has an underlying philosophy of “how to” approach, it is not a
manual for developing educational multimedia for any particular software. However,
you will find references to some of the useful software in development of educational
multimedia. The handbook deals mainly with the conceptual clarity, and tells you
what can be done and what can’t be done.

by Som Naidu

This guidebook will help you to systematically approach your engagement with e-learning, irrespective of the educational sector or level within which you may be working. The content of this guidebook has been carefully prepared to enable you to consider all the issues in relation to e-learning.

by Usha Vyasulu Reddi

From print to radio, television, and today’s Web-enabled e-learning, each medium has been seen as a potential solution for the problems, inadequacies and certain ills of education. Invariably, the purpose of inducting media into education has been two-fold: to increase the reach and thereby access; and to enrich the quality of educational content. The birth of a new medium has not however, supplanted the previous one; since each has found its own niche. The growing importance of the print medium in the wake of a wide range of electronic/ digital media is a clear example of this.

by Anita Dighe & Usha Vyasulu Reddi

The paper highlights the importance of addressing women’s illiteracy, exploring ICT-based solutions. It reviews experiences in developing countries, focusing on India, and analyses research on ICTs for women’s empowerment, poverty alleviation, and literacy. Key lessons and strategies are identified for effective ICT-based women’s literacy programs, emphasising accessibility, relevance, and sustainability.

by Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia 

In August 2007, Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia mooted the idea of developing a set of guidelines for Quality Assurance in Multimedia Learning Materials (QAMLM). With encouragement from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India and with the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia as a key partner, CEMCA set in motion a collaborative process to develop the QAMLM guidelines involving academia, practitioners, professionals, industry and institutions engaged in quality audits. The thrust of the guidelines is to provide tools for self assessment both to the developers to establish processes leading to quality products, as well as to the users to help assess the quality of the MLMs that they wish to acquire.

Developed by Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia
Supported by Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India & Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia

Two things emerged very strongly from the discussions. Firstly, without exceptions, users benefited from the guidelines. Developers were particularly appreciative of a set of measure against which they could map their processes and outcomes. However, those not very familiar with instructional design terminology, typically teachers and administrators who often procure ready-to-use or “developed” products expressed some difficulty in interpreting some of the parameters. As did another category of end-users, namely learners. And secondly, It was also felt that the guidelines needed to address some more issues arising in an online learning
environment.

by Jayalakshmi Chittoor

A compilation of Community Radio Stations in India. Each story has been contributed by the respective authors or representatives of the Community Radio Stations and attributed in the stories. On any specific matter, reference should be made to the appropriate advisor. All logos/trademarks used are the copyright of their respective organisations.

by Dr R Sreedher, Ms Supriya Sahu, Ms Jayalakshmi Chittoor 

A compilation of Community Radio Stations in India. Each story has been contributed by the respective authors or representatives of the Community Radio Stations and attributed in the stories. On any specific matter, reference should be made to the appropriate advisor. All logos/trademarks used are the copyright of their respective organisations.

by Paul Kawachi

This report explores the original definition of OER and subsequent versions, and puts forward a current definition
drawing from received feedback, research and practice. The report here including the framework of criteria is offered as a work-in-progress, and hopes to stimulate feedback from users of the guidelines so as to improve them.

 by Zahir Koradia

The manual has been prepared for organizations that have had an exposure to community radio and have explored setting up a community radio station. The manual is particularly relevant for two specific
categories of organizations:
1. Educational institutions where the target audience, usually students, is well connected over a campus network.
2. Organizations whose target audience is well connected to the Internet. Institutions running distance education programs and organizations targeting urban listeners generally fall in this category.

by Jayalakshmi Chittoor Parameswaran

The Ethical Practice Guidelines (EPG) and Self-Assessment Toolkit (SAT) will provide the readers with a bouquet of issues and aspects of ethical exercises to pave
the way for developing a quality assurance framework as the CR sector evolves into a more robust and mature sector. The EPG has been developed as a part of a longterm consultative process of developing a common and collective understanding of problems, while offering possible solutions for issues of ethics and ethical practices.

by UNESCO Chair on Community Media University of Hyderabad

The process of developing the toolkit involved intense discussions over two different
workshops with representatives of community radio stations from across the country, as well as with community radio experts engaged in advocacy, research and capacity-building.

by Jayalakshmi Chittoor Parameswaran

The Self-Assessment Toolkit (SAT) is one of the two good practices toolkits developed by the CEMCA Community Radio Facilitation Centre (CCFC) as part of the project entitled “Enabling Media Access for Community’s Self Expression” supported by Ford
Foundation.

by S.K. Pulist

The study is an attempt to analyse the eLearning scenario in the Commonwealth
Asian countries comprising of Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Malaysia,
Maldives, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka. The report is the outcome of the
support received from many people.

by Vinod Pavarala, Kanchan K. Malik, Vasuki Belavadi, Aditya Deshbandhu and Preeti Raghunath 

Version 2.0 of CR-CIT also includes a substantial new section on the suggested Peer Review process. In the spirit of continuous improvement, this Toolkit is a work in progress, and we also needs preparation of Peer Reviewers to use the CR-CIT. The overall aim is to create an environment that can be used for self-improvement and then peer-review at a later stage by building capacities of the stakeholders to assist peer CR stations.

by Paul Kawachi

The report aims to promote a culture of quality and professional reflection among teachers creating Open Educational Resources (OER). It provides guidelines for teachers, especially in developing regions, to produce and share OER, benefiting themselves and others. The report defines OER as digital educational resources with open licenses, allowing reuse, adaptation, and sharing.

The programme has been developed as part of the institutional capacity building for
OER-based eLearning at Wawasan Open University (WOU), Penang. Faculty members
of WOU and several other institutions in Asia have contributed to the development
of the contents. The modules are learning outcomes of the participants in three
workshops supported by CEMCA.

by Vidya M. S

The attempt is to re-examine technology in teaching-learning, particularly at the
secondary level. In the present scenario of large classes, a technology tool’s acid test is to regain the benefits of the one-to-one approach to teaching and at the same time allow for an increase in the teacher’s productivity. Multiple tools are therefore, needed to address the multiple needs of learners.

by Som Naidu and Sanjaya Mishra

A seismic shift is currently taking place in education, and it is about open educational
practices. The key drivers of this shift are increasing availability, awareness and
use of open educational resources (OER) presence of ubiquitous computing (Ubicomp), realisation of the need for education for all (EFA), and the interdependencies among them.

by Sanjaya Mishra

A compilation of selected papers presented in these eventsfor wider dissemination  with the hope that universities in Commonwealth Asia will take steps to develop strategic plans for ICT use in teaching and learning. The papers in this publication will assist informed leadership in higher education to drive implementation of technology plan and integration of ICTs in teaching and learning.

by Venu Arora, N. Ramakrishnan & Leonea Fernandez

This research shows that the CR stations in the region have evolved and are continuing to evolve strong community engagement practices that are leading them towards social sustainability however more work needs to be done in order to be able to help them become stronger and more independent media institutions. This will require greater capacity building in terms of clarifying the purpose and goals of free and plural community media and lay down principles and practices for transparent and accountable institution building in order to strengthen the overall institutional sustainability of the CR stations.

by Dr. Ankuran Dutta & Dr. Sanjaya Mishra

This research is prepared to document the innovative practices of Indian CRS and to identify further areas of possible innovations in the sector. More than 30 CRS of the country and about 10 experts from India and abroad shared their experiences, best practices and views on the innovations in the sector.

by Som Naidu

This is about creating and orchestrating how productive learning and teaching experiences ought to be. The ideas that are articulated in this chapter will resonate with teachers and teacher educators as they search for ways to integrate ICTs in their teaching and learning activities.

by Professor Saroj Pandey

This article describes the use of teleconferencing and video conferencing models in
professional development of teachers. These modes of in-service education of teachers have successfully been able to overcome the issues of access, quality and transmission loss with which the conventional professional development models suffer. EDUSAT is being used effectively and successfully used for training of teachers under the centrally sponsored of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). It has addressed the challenges of providing quality training to the millions of teachers of the country especially in rural, hilly and remote areas where conventional system could not reach effectively.

by Andrew Moore, Neil Butcher and Sarah Hoosen

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL), the Commonwealth Secretariat (ComSec), and Microsoft recently supported the creation of an ICT Professional Development Strategy for Teachers in Guyana, building on the UNESCO ICT Competence Framework for Teachers1 (CFT). The ICT CFT intends to inform educational policy makers, teacher educators, providers of professional learning and working teachers on the role of ICT in educational reform, as well as to assist countries in developing national ICT competency standards for teachers with an ICT in Education Master
Plan approach.

by Matthew J. Koehler, Punya Mishra, Mete Akcaoglu and Joshua M. Rosenberg

In this paper, we present Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) as a framework for the integration of technology within teaching. Three main bodies of knowledge – technological knowledge, content knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge – inform the design of this theoretical framework. Accordingly, we describe the characteristics of these three bodies of knowledge, along with the bodies of knowledge that emerge from the interactions between and among them.

by Manas Ranjan Panigrahi

In the present digital world, students must be given opportunities to learn with effective and efficient integration of ICTs in the classroom. Integrating Information and Communication Technologies(ICTs) in education is highly challenging, especially in the teacher education sector. While there are several factors for successful integration of ICTs in teaching and learning, professional development of teacher educators, strong leadership support, and institutional commitment play significant
role.

by Dr. Sanjaya Mishra

The research conducted at CEMCA involved teachers of four Indian Universities
and indicates some interesting results. The report highlights the need for a systematic
approach to mainstreaming OER in Indian higher education. The development of a robust quality assurance mechanism for OER in institutions, integration of OER in teaching and learning, and capacity building for OER skills, would lead to improved adoption. In the process of the research, CEMCA has developed a tool to measure attitudes towards OER, and this could be used to measure faculty perceptions so that appropriate strategies for capacity building could be developed.

by Biswajit Das

The study was aimed at surveying various media pedagogies used by the faculty of distance teaching institutions/open universities in the Commonwealth Asian countries, find the gaps and suggest measures to overcome the challenges. Prof Das through a systematic research approach has brought out this report that highlights the present status of technological advances in teaching pedagogies opted by the ODL institutions, their technological preparedness to embrace the change and possibilities offered by the emerging digital platforms.

by Dr. S K Pulist

The work published in the book form will be useful to institutions, planners and policymakers in education system. With wider access to teachers and researchers,
the book will open newer areas of research in the field of OER and ODL system.
We, at CEMCA are looking forward for your feedback and suggestions to improve CEMCA’s interventions in Higher Education. We believe our collective efforts will equalise educational opportunities for all irrespective of their location.

by Prof J P Rao

The E-Learning Centre of University of Hyderabad, took up this project with
support from CEMCA with an aim to enhance capacity of academic & non academic, educational leaders for the development of course materials and its delivery for teaching and learning. The two other significant objectives are to develop strategies for sustainability and employability of learners even while increasing access to learning for marginalised youth and women.

Prof. Anirban Ghosh

The study intends to evaluate the present situation of vocational education and training of Netaji Subhas Open University in the State of West Bengal. The University conducts various types of skill development programmes through its study centres located at different districts specially in the rural areas. The students’ feedback (306 in nos.) has been analysed in respect of various aspects including the teaching-learning method of the vocational courses.

by Marmar Mukhopadhyay, Subhash Chander and Rajesh Kumar

The emphasis of the study was on students’ attitude towards OER. Scope of the study was enlarged to include awareness, access to technology and internet, attitude, accessibility and availability, utilisation and impact on learning outcome. Respondent scope was enlarged to include VC, Nodal
Officers of OER, Teachers, Counselors and Coordinators of study centres. Accordingly, research tools were developed and data collection was planned out.

by Manas Ranjan Panigrahi

This volume shares Open Educational Practices through implementation of institutional OER policy. It emphasises the need for having appropriate policies, and showing best practices and experiences towards the learning for sustainable development. I am sure this will help all higher education institutions and commonwealth governments to adopt OER for development. The sharing of best practices may help in their replication at other institutions
for the overall beneit of the students irrespective of their location. This is in tune with COL’s agenda of reaching a

by Prof. Santosh Panda

CEMCA prepared guidelines for linking the skill programmes with academic programmes to provide additional skills to the students during their formal academic programme of study so as to increase employability and sustainability. The guidelines have been discussed in two Think Tank committee meetings under the Chairmanship of Prof. Nageswar Rao, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi and accordingly finalised in the present shape.

by Karunesh Saxena & Manas Ranjan Panigrahi

The book has been divided into mainly three segments. In the chapter one introduction is given which covers overview of quality management and also different models of quality management which are relevant for education sector. In chapter two the details of quality assurance tool kit have been included. This chapter begins with purpose and scope of the toolkit and goes on to discuss objectives and structure of the quality assurance tool.

by Manas Ranjan Panigrahi

The Handbook: Student Satisfaction with Open Distance Learning: Experiences of Open Universities edited by Dr. Manas Ranjan Panigrahi has eight chapters with 7 case studies of Open Universities viz. Bangladesh Open University (BOU), Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU), Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University (KKHSOU), Netaji Subhas Open University (NSOU), Odisha State Open University (OSOU), Uttarakhand Open University (UOU) and Vardhman Mahaveer Open University (VMOU) and one review chapter by the editor.

By Manas Ranjan Panigrahi and Sundarshan Mishra

This publication contains best practice from six countries Botswana, India, Malaysia, Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa. There are 14 Case Studies classifi ed under four themes. The themes are:
• Administration and Governance (Three)
• Learning Materials and Teaching Learning (Three) Academic Counselling and Learner Support Services (Three)
• Application and Integration of Information and Communication Technology (Five)

The publication provides a glimpse into the working of CR stations in Bangladesh, India and Nepal and goes on to show how they are working towards integrating the underlying themes of the Agenda 2030 into the radios’ everyday programming. This publication has documented various examples where community radio has helped people help themselves, promoted poverty alleviation through inclusion and innovation, shared ideas for creating wealth from waste, made public systems accountable through public hearings on the radio, and many more.

Dr. Panigrahi and Dr. Phalachandra

The Handbook examines the country and institutional policy for online education and assesses online education strategies in the respective countries. The Handbook includes country case studies of Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, and Singapore. The Handbook contains institutional cases of Bangladesh Open University, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Indira Gandhi National University (India); Asia e University (Malaysia);
Wawasan Open University (Malaysia); Mainz International College (Maldives); and the Open University of Sri Lanka. Among the seven institutions, five are ODL institutions following the blended learning approach, and two are conventional institutions.

by Prof. B. Phalachandra 

The purpose of this research study is aimed to understand the experiences of distance learners during Covid-19 and how learners from Open Universities perceived the impact of Covid-19 on their learning. The other purpose of the study is to understand the experiences and the lessons learnt by the distance learning universities during the educational disruption in delivering their educational programmes.

by Prof. Marmar Mukhopadhyay

CEMCA decided to opt for creating national and institutional policy templates and blended programme, course, and unit learning design templates. Countries and higher education institutions in the Asian commonwealth can use the templates to create national and institutional blended learning policies, respectively. Deans of faculties, heads of departments and individual higher education teachers can develop the blended programme, course and unit learning designs adopting the respective templates.