Leadership in Open and Distance Learning University A

Leadership in Open and Distance Learning University – A Sri Lankan Experience Prof. S. A. Ariadurai Vice Chancellor Open University of Sri Lanka

What is Leadership?

Distance Education Leadership Different from other service or academic institutions, due to – responsibilities for innovative course design and delivery processes; – the use of appropriate technology for the delivery of instruction; – preparation of faculty in their new roles as facilitators; – monitoring the shift in the role of students to interact and collaborate as they take a more active role in their learning Holmberg, 2005; Moore & Kearsley, 2005

We Live in a Changing World

Changes in DE over the years Source: edudemic. com

Changes in DE in recent times • A highly competitive global environment in which students can easily switch from one university to another • Increasing student demands for higher quality of education at reduced costs • Redefining the mission beyond the geographical proximity • Shifting the organizational structure from traditional academic setting to a global virtual environment • Training, motivating and directing an ever expanding adjunct faculty population • Constantly changing technologies Tipple, R. (2010) - Effective leadership of online adjunct faculty, Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 13(1)

Recent happenings in ODL • Emergence of ICT • Growing student enrollments • Reaching the unreached • Changing learner profiles • Globalization • Increased student mobility • Shifting demography • Open Education Movement

Why Respond to Change?

Challenge to Leadership How do we respond to the changing scenario?

Challenge to Leadership - a response The case of the Open University of Sri Lanka

OUSL at a Glance • Only ODL university in Sri Lanka • Established in 1980 under an act of Parliament • Functions under the University Grants Commission (UGC) as one of the 15 state universities in Sri Lanka • Same legal and academic status as of any other conventional university in Sri Lanka

OUSL at a Glance • Similar administrative set-up as of conventional universities, with necessary variations to cater ODL • Regulations and quality accreditation policies to academic programmes apply as in conventional universities • Financial autonomy to certain extent

OUSL at a Glance Twenty-four Academic Departments belonging to Five Faculties – Education – Engineering Technology – Health Sciences – Humanities & Social Sciences – Natural Sciences

OUSL at a Glance 67 study programmes and 1603 courses from Foundation to Masters level In addition, MPhil and Ph. D degree too are offered

OUSL at a Glance Teaching staff - 330 Administrative staff - 70 Non-academic staff - 600 Visiting Academics - 1000 s

Emergence of ICT • Decision made despite the existing (in 2013) unfavourable local environment to start exploring online teaching • Identified three types of online courses – Supplementary [optional] – Online plus [minimum 20% compulsory] – Fully online • Decided on the LMS - Moodle (3. 2) • Target 2018: to make all courses available online For a university that has been traditionally dependent on print based material for 35 years - this is not an easy task

Emergence of ICT • Formulated quality standards for online materials and developed checklists for every content developer to meet (2014) • All online courses checked before releasing to life server from test server thus ensuring materials put online meet the minimum standards (2014)

Emergence of ICT • All academics given training on the use of Moodle LMS and how to develop contents for this platform • Just a week ago (2017) the Senate of the university approved the establishment of Committee on Advancing Online Learning (CAOL)

Growing numbers & reaching the unreached • Student population of 40, 858 learners of which 21, 073 are at UG level 7, 411 are at PG level • At this year’s General Convocation 4, 454 degrees including M. Phil, Masters, Postgraduate Diplomas and Bachelor Degrees were awarded • Award Ceremonies at Regional Centres 2, 484 Diplomas and Certificates were awarded

Growing numbers & reaching the unreached • A network of 09 Regional centres and 18 Study centres Target • at least one Regional Centre in every province (target achieved in 2017) and • at least one Study Centre in every district (expected to achieve target by end 2017)

Growing numbers & reaching the unreached • National Online Distance Education Services (NODES) [formerly under Mo. HE and non-performing] handed over to the OUSL in March 2016 • Connectivity to the centres mostly established • Currently upgrading infrastructure and software • Fully operational by December 2017 – thus providing virtual video link between the central campus and centres

Changing Learner Profiles Open universities have traditionally built their reputations on the quality of their content. This was the family silver which was well-crafted and well-protected ………. . (In future) ODL institutions will have to focus on learner support as their USP rather than their courseware Professor Asha Kanwar, (with Dr Sanjaya Mishra), New Paradigm for Open Universities, 29 th AAOU Annual Conference Kuala Lumpur, 1 December 2015

Changing Learner Profiles At the OUSL, • learner support provided by individual faculties • no institutional policy or mechanism to identify learner needs and provide appropriate support [unlike the robust mechanism available for course content development]

Changing Learner Profiles Few months ago (2017), decided to develop an institutional mechanism to strengthen learner support – Conducted a workshop with an international expert (2017) – Currently individual Faculties are discussing the issue of learner support – Expected by 2018 a suitable mechanism of learner support to meet the need of changing learner profiles to evolve

Globalization & Increased Student Mobility Globalization of education is inevitable To meet this challenge at the OUSL – an Internal Relations Unit (IRU) established in 2014 – links with overseas institutions for mutual benefits – in the last 3 years university has partly supported students to undertake exchange programmes • currently developing guidelines to formalize this programme

Globalization & Increased Student Mobility Guidelines and procedures formulated (in 2017) – to enroll foreign students for regular programmes – placements of overseas students at OUSL for short term study, research activities, etc.

Globalization & Increased Student Mobility • Financial support for academics to undertake research studies / Ph. D programmes with overseas partner institutes (in 2017) • All academic staff and certain categories of administrative and technical staff, provided with funds to present papers in international conferences (introduced for AAOU conference in 2014 & expanded to include other conferences from 2015)

Globalization & Increased Student Mobility • AAOU fellowship for overseas scholars established in 2017 • Plans to extend it to scholars from outside the AAOU from 2018 • Guidelines are being formulated for short-term staff exchanges with overseas partner institutes

Globalization & Increased Student Mobility • Joint academic programmes by sharing of courses – CEMBA / CEMPA (2003 onwards) – Degree in Youth Development Work (2018) • Facilitating overseas institutes to offer programmes locally in Sri Lanka – MSc in Sustainable Energy Engineering from KTH, Sweden (2010) – SELECT programme of Inno-Energy, Europe (2017)

Globalization & Increased Student Mobility First time in 35 years • University is devising mechanisms for credit transfers (though exemptions were available before) • Possibility of taking credits from overseas partner institutes – MSc in Energy Management credits from KTH, Sweden

Open Education Movement • OER policy of the OUSL developed in 2014 • Training programmes on OER conducted • University library has developed a OER repository • Academics are encouraged to develop OER • OER and OEP training programmes conducted for other stakeholders

Open Education Movement • At the OUSL, writing from scratch using the course team concept, the model developed by the OUUK has been the only model used to develop self instructional materials for the last 35 years • Recently (in 2017) other models including use of OER materials in course development has been approved by the University Senate

Thank you very much