Development of OER Policy of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), Dharamshala

Development of OER Policy of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), Dharamshala

New Delhi, September 04, 2015: Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), New Delhi assisted the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), Dharamshala towards developing an OER Policy of CUHP University. To this purpose a meeting was held on 1^st September 2015 at the University. The School of Education of Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) facilitated the meeting to chalk out the mechanism for the implementation of Open Educational Resource Policy (OERP).

Convenor of the meeting and Dean of Education, Dr. Manoj Kumar Saxena said all the delegates were divided into four groups. “In the long brainstorming session every member gave their opinion and then this draft policy document is prepared,” said Dr. Saxena.

Inaugurating the workshop the Vice Chancellor of CUHP Prof. (Dr.) Kuldip Chand Agnihotri said, “it’s a platform through which we can create an open repository of knowledge to the learners of all sections of the society.” Lauding the efforts of CEMCA Prof.  Agnihotri said, the OERs will act as a viaduct among all commonwealth countries and help to share the treasure of knowledge with each other. He further said that this platform can help the conventional education teaching by taking classroom lecture to all needy people with the help of information technology tools. “Moreover as it is using tool of visualisation and graphics which will help to understand and retain the lesson for long term. These can act as a valuable tool for providing quality education to the people living in every nook and corner of the country,” he added.   

Programme Officer (Education) of CEMCA Dr. Manas Ranjan Panigrahi complimented the CUHP for showing interest in OERs and assured CEMCA’s full support/expertise to develop OER policy for the university. “It will help to increase the reach of this University to the heterogeneous masses,” said Dr. Panigrahi.

Pro Vice Chancellor of CUHP, Prof. Yoginder Singh Verma lauded the initiative of the Department of Education particularly for adopting new methods of teaching and learning. “With the advent of mass communication tools particularly the World Wide Web, there is no monopoly of anyone on knowledge. Now with a click one can access any document and can excel in their life. In the same manner the OERs will give a new edge in disseminating knowledge. ”

Deans, Heads, faculty members from different schools of CUHP and resource person Dr. Manas Ranjan Panigrahi, Programme Officer (Education) CEMCA discussed  various aspects of OER policy development. At the end of meeting the group finalised a ‘draft policy’ document for the proper and efficient implementation of Open Education Resources (OER) in CUHP.

The meeting was also attended by Prof. Arvind Aggarwal, Prof. I.V. Malhan, Prof. H.R. Sharma, Prof. Ambrish Mahajan, and heads of different departments and faculty members and Registrar (retd.) Brig. Jagdish Chand Rangra. The meeting concluded by Dr. Navneet Sharma of Department of Teachers Education, proposing the vote of thanks.