Workshop on eContent Development Using OER for Quality Learning at CUHP Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh


New Delhi, 24 April, 2017: Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) and Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) organised a workshop for teachers on eContent Development using OER from 19th to 21st April, 2017, at CUHP Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh. The workshop started with an introduction and the participants engaged in a 3-day hands on training to develop and manage eContents to deliver content digitally to their learners. The purpose of this workshop was to provide hands-on training to the faculty members of the University in order to expedite the process of e-content generation using Moodle platform as a part of the University’s OER policy. A total of 36 participants actively participated in the workshop where 25 were university teachers from 10 departments and 11 were from IT support group.  With the help of this workshop 25 teachers will develop 25 courses of 10 PG programmes and will offer them through online platforms in next academic semester i.e. July – December 2017. Dr. Manas Ranjan Panigrahi, Program Officer Education, CEMCA, New Delhi and Dr. Indira Koneru, OER content development expert based in Hyderabad facilitated the three-day training programme.

The workshop was inaugurated by the honourable Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Kuldeep Chand Agnihotri. During his inaugural address, he praised CEMCA for extending support for establishing OER Cell at the University and also appreciated CEMCA for this new initiative on OER implementation at University. He also appreciated OER Cell for organizing this capacity building programme and expressed hope that the University may establish an OER Centre upgrading OER Cell in the coming future. Following a brief introductory session, the workshop started with a presentation by Dr. Indira Koneru on eLearning and emerging educational technologies. Dr. Indira Koneru then continued to project the features of Moodle as a Learning Management System (LMS). In the afternoon session, the participants were engaged in browsing a demo Moodle-based online course. Dr. Koneru provided opportunity to all participants to develop their respective courses demonstrating the following –

  1. Editing & updating profile;
  2. Understanding course page & editing controls;
  3. Editing course settings;
  4. Recording video (PPT);
  5. Publishing on YouTube and embedding the same in Moodle;
  6. Creating and grading assignment;
  7. Creating forum and enabling peer rating;
  8. Administering Quiz;
  9. Communicating with students;
  10. Managing gradebook;
  11. Course backup and restore.

The participants started to practice the various features of Moodle required to develop their eContents using learning by doing approach.

Dr. Manas Ranjan Panigrahi facilitated two sessions on using and development of OER. After a detailed discussion on the concepts relating to OER and various open licenses, the participants were engaged in development of an OER in OER Commons. Towards the end of the session, a strong commitment of CUHP towards OER development emerged. The participants worked intensively along with the resource person to dig deeper into Moodle and thereby, upload their eContents into Moodle. Participants were later apprised regarding use and re-use of OER e-content. They were also trained to add resources and embed OER. After the workshop the participants are expected to develop e- learning courses under the aegis of OER Cell of the University and CEMCA.

The workshop concluded on 21st April, 2017 at the Conference room of CUHP with an encouraging valedictory address by the Chief Guest of the session, Professor Y.S. Verma, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University. Professor Verma lauded the efforts of the OER Cell of the University and remarked that CUHP aims to be a pioneer in making the dream of Digital India come true. He said that such novel initiatives have been a part of the University activities since its inception and are in consonance with the university’s vision of providing inclusive access to higher education to each and every student of the country and the world.