Virtual Workshop on Designing and Developing Moodle-enabled MOOCs at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad

The prestigious project undertaken by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University in collaboration with CEMCA on “Reconfiguring Academic Support for Open Distance Learning” has made its beginning with the six-half day (16-17; 27- 30th October 2020, 1.30PM to 5.30PM) virtual workshop. Workshop Objective: The workshop objective is to enable the participants to develop content in all the four quadrants of the MOOCs namely – e-Tutorials; E-Content; Assessment and Discussion. Thirty-one teachers and content developers of the university participated the workshop.

The Virtual workshop on Design and Development of Moodle-enabled MOOCs at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University, began on 16th October at 1.30 PM. Dr. G. Saroja, Principal Investigator of the Project welcomed the participants. Professor E. Sudha Rani, Director Academic & Project Director in her inaugural address remarked that the project is a milestone in the 38 years of journey of the university. The University that made a niche in Open Distance Learning by adopting multimedia teaching-learning has now made its first step into online Learning and MOOCs through the project. The project aims to offer two courses from social science discipline namely – Gender Sensitization and Stress Management. Dr. Manas Ranjan Panigrahi, Senior Programme Officer (Education), CEMCA in his inaugural message reminded the long association between CEMCA and BRAOU and congratulated BRAOU for selecting courses that are very relevant to the present times. He expressed that the courses would attract a wider audience not only from India but also students from around the globe. Dr. G. Laxma Reddy, Registrar of the University assured to extend the project all the administrative support. Dr. G. Saroja, Principal Investigator explained the project structure prepared keeping in view the UGC guidelines to ODL institutions. Dr. Indira Koneru, Trainer of the Workshop explained the workshop objectives. The Inaugural Session is followed by the technical sessions.

Dr. Indira Koneru has prepared the agenda of the workshop along with the preparatory activities which is circulated to the course development team in advance. She introduced the participants to the MOODLE Learning Management System and discussed all its features and discussed its compatibility to the guidelines developed by UGC. The participants are asked to work in the practice site and develop content in the space allocated to them. The Workshop had specific learning outcomes and a set agenda that are presented below.

Participants are trained in the use of Screencast-o-matic software to develop instructional videos and upload them on to Moodle Platform. Participants learnt how to find, attribute and integrate Open Educational Resources in different resources in Moodle. Participants created Multiple Choice Questions and created quiz in their respected courses. Participants are also trained to create interactive videos using H5P. Participants learned to create rubrics, track student progress and give feed back to the learners. There was good interaction by the participants with the workshop Trainer Dr. Indira Koneru. The workshop ended with a vote of thanks by Dr. G. Saroja, Principal Investigator of the Project.