Browsing by Author "Santally, Mohammad I"

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    Open Access
    A Digital Education Transformation Roadmap to Achieve a Distributed Learning Ecosystem: Case-Study of the University of Mauritius
    (2019-09) Santally, Mohammad I
    The University of Mauritius embarked on the open and distance learning journey in 1993 and engaged in the promotion of distance eLearning and technology - enhanced learning in 2001. The University has moved from a traditional credit system to the learner - centered credit system, inspired by the ECTS model in 2018. Such a model is heavily reliant on improved teach ing and learning infrastructure, including technology - enabled educational practices, as well as on smart and improved services to academics and students. Within the 21st century context, the strategy of the university is to shift the focus from distance ed ucation and dual - mode status, as digital technologies have helped to overcome the distance and real - time barrier through virtualization and two - way communication in real - time. With the pervasiveness of technologies and their influence on higher education i n a global context, the digital transformation of universities can bring a real shift in paradigm the need to achieve dual - mode status to the mode of "distributed learning – friendly" institution. In this paper, we report the journey of the University of M auritius through its different transitions from traditional distance education to eLearning and to finally engage in a holistic digital learning transformation by shifting to a learner - centered, technology - enabled educational model. The key components of t he model are the (i) Policy Environment, (ii) Centre for Innovative & Lifelong Learning, (iii) Digital Learning Infrastructure, (iv) Training & Capacity - Building and (v) Monitoring & Evaluation. // Paper ID 9
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    Open Access
    Scenario-Based Learning Design for Workplace eLearning
    (2019-09) Rajputh, Ravi; Rajabalee, Yousra B; Santally, Mohammad I
    It is obvious that with new education technologie s, massive open and online courses (MOOCs), and the widespread availability of open educational resources , eLearning is occupying a significant share of the workplace learning for both pre - service training such as employee inductions and for the continuous professional development of staff. Proponents of workplace eLearning highlight a number of key advantages of eLearning such as connection to the actual work, responsibilities and engagement of the employee . Others have stressed on characteristics of eLearning such as self - paced instruction, flexibility and adaptability of course content leading to increased satisfaction . Workplace learning is often linked to the acquisition of practical knowledge in the form of skills and competenci es that would in turn be applied in real world settings by the staff concerned. The classic eLearning model that relies extensively on content dissemination and assimilation by the employee may not bring the desired outcomes . On the other hand, scenario - ba sed eLearning can cater for this gap through the use of activity - based learning designs. In this paper we describe the learning design process for scenario - based eLearning using the rapid development methodology in an authentic case - study within the workpl ace. The main phases of scenario - based eLearning lifecycle is based on the following five phases namely (i) select a specific skillset, (ii) identify and describe a contextual relevant scenario, (iii) develop a storyboard (iv) implement the storyboard into interactive scenes, and (v) publish the scenario and implement in eLearning e nvironments // Paper ID 11
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    Open Access
    A Social Partnership Model to promote Educators’ Development in Mauritius through Formal and Informal Capacity-building Initiatives
    (2015) Santally, Mohammad I; Cooshna-Naik, Dorothy; Conruyt, Noel; Wing, Caroline K
    The organization Helping Our People has been setup in 2011 by a team of education professionals working at the Virtual Centre for Innovative Technologies (VCILT) at the University of Mauritius. In 2009, the VCILT embarked on the SIDECAP project, funded by the EU-ACP in a consortium regrouping the Open University of the UK, the University of the West Indies, the University of the South Pacific and the University of the Highlands and Islands. The work of the VCILT in the context of the SIDECAP project was essentially focused on the repurposing of Open Educational Resources to fit in the local Mauritian Context. At the same time, the VCILT received an internal grant to work on the development of interactive learning materials using the integration of text-to-speech technology in instructionally designed PowerPoint presentations. In this paper we report how the research activities of the two projects led to a series of development and applications in the real-world context for the continuous professional development of educators, the establishment of a social entity, an NGO called Helping Our People, a partnership with Microsoft Indian Ocean and French Pacific under the Partners in Learning Program and the Youth Empowerment Program to alleviate the suffering of those living in vulnerable conditions in the country.