OU OERfest-2024: Enhancing Educational Access and Innovation through Open Educational Resources
The Open University Open Educational Resources Festival 2024 (OU OERfest-2024), organised by the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University (Dr BRAOU) in Hyderabad, Telangana, India, was held from 18-20 April 2024. This event followed up on the commitments made at the first State Open Universities’ Vice Chancellors’ Forum held in August 2023 (https://www.cemca.org/news/open-university-vice-chancellors%E2%80%99-forum- national-education-policy-2020-opportunities-and-challe). The forum, organized by CEMCA and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University (BAOU) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, focused on encouraging the use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) in course development. Vice Chancellors agreed to collaborate on sharing OERs and incorporating up to 40 percent OER content in their course materials.
As a follow-up event, the OU OERfest-2024 was held at Dr BRAOU's campus in Hyderabad to help open universities develop strategies for effectively using OERs. The event aimed to enhance institutional capacity to use OER for course development, and micro-credential creation, and highlight its benefits, such as cost savings, quality improvements, academic freedom, autonomy, and student engagement. Over three days, there were ten technical sessions that delved into various aspects of OER, including its current status, policies, and capacity development, as well as its role in skill-based programmes, course development, and micro-credentials. Discussions also addressed language diversity, repository establishment plans, and presentations from individual open universities.
The OERfest-2024 was inaugurated on 18 April 2024 in the presence of distinguished guests and participants. Dr. B. Shadrach, Director of CEMCA, while introducing the OU OERfest, provided an overview of the Ahmedabad Declaration tabled by OU VCs in the first Forum mentioned above. He called upon the OUs to move beyond conventional education to promote skill development and preparing students to tackle challenges effectively. He encouraged them to consider resource sharing, both human and material resources, and credit transfer framework within the OU system. This would require a paradigm shift from their present role.
In his address as the Chief Guest, Dr. Nirmal Jeet Singh Kalsi, Chairman of the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), New Delhi, India, emphasised that open universities should share best practices to enhance the implementation of open and distance e-learning programmes. This would enable them to equip and empower those who lack resources. He highlighted that it is relatively easier to develop and offer courses that can be tailored on demand to meet the current needs of the learners.
Prof. K. Seetharama Rao, Vice-Chancellor of Dr. BRAOU and president of the inaugural session, discussed the challenges in meeting the objectives of sustainable development goals and the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020). He highlighted the crucial role of open universities in gross enrolment ratio (GER), noting that BRAOU's contribution surpassed 17 percent GER in higher education in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Prof. V. S. Prasad, former Vice-Chancellor of Dr. BRAOU and former Director of NAAC, delivered the keynote address. He emphasised the need for open universities and the Commonwealth of Learning to promote OER for public benefit and warned against the commercialization of education. Prof. Prasad highlighted the importance of effective learning, engaging teaching, continuous assessment, and student support, as outlined in the OER Policy and NEP 2020.
The inaugural session concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by Prof. G. Pushpa Chakrapani, Director, Academic at Dr. BRAOU.
