Outreach Programme for use of OER through NSOU-OER Repository
Kolkata, December 03, 2018: The School of Vocational Studies, Netaji Subhas Open University (NSOU), Kolkata has undertaken a three-year joint project with Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) entitled “Increase Access and Improve Institutional Capacity for Sustainable Development through Vocational Education and Training”. The objective of this three year project is to increase enrolment in different vocational courses of the university so that the disadvantaged rural people can get access to skill development programmes of this university. The students are able to take the advantages of skill enhancement programme by which they can increase their skills and competencies in a particular trade. In the second year of the project NSOU-SVS has already conducted one outreach programme at Nari Sikhsa Samiti, Kolkata on July 28, 2018 in association with CEMCA. The School conducted the second outreach programme on December 02, 2018 at Pranvananda Institute of Management and Technology (PIMT), Kolkata. 110 learners attended this program out of which 40 were women. All the 7 Counsellors attached to the centre attended the programme.
On behalf of the Project Team Professor Anirban Ghosh, Director, NSOU, Smt. Barnali Roy Choudhury, Asst. Prof, NSOU and Shri Sudarshan Roy, Asst. Prof., NSOU were present in the programme. The Team members interacted with the Academic Counsellors, Coordinators and the students of the study centre. The Team members met with the Counsellors, Coordinator of the study centre and discussed various issues on the Vocational courses like teaching-learning system, availability of academic resources, experiences on hands on- training etc.
The Director, PIMT initiated the discussion and elaborated the role of NSOU and PIMT in expanding the scope of vocational training in the state of West Bengal. He also told that NSOU is conducting various skill development programs under SVS & CLL through its centres located at different districts viz. Kolkata, Bardhaman, 24Parganas (N), 24Parganas (S), Dakshin Dinajpur.
The learners enrolled at the study centre were invited to attend the programme. Professor Anirban Ghosh, Project Director elucidated the vision of vocational courses as a whole and acquainted the learners on different types of courses being offered by NSOU and the different services being provided for the NSOU learners. He also elaborated various scope and coverages of different courses relevant for present context. In his lecture, Professor Ghosh tried to motivate the learners to take the full advantages of the vocational courses available at the centre and to learn the skill and acquire the competency attached to the trade Mrs. Barnali Roy Choudhury, Co-Project Investigator in her deliberations elucidated educational resources available in on-line mode and offline mode. She also highlighted NSOU OER repository. In this program NSOU team met all the participants individually to make them understand the accessibility of ICT and NSOU-OER repository.
A well-structured questionnaire was used to get the feedback on various issues like ICT support, teaching learning methods, practical sessions, etc. from the learners and Counsellors. The programme ended with vote of thanks proposed by Sri Prabir De, Coordinator of the Study Centre.
