Project Approach for Capacity Building of ODL Practitioners

Abstract

Open Distance Learning (ODL) is serving as an effective mode of delivery of education to unreached aspirants of education. This mode is now widely accepted and recognised as valuable asset for the dissemination of knowledge and increasing literacy in the state in efficient way. ODL is expanding faster in the developing world. The Governments in these countries have laid significant thrust on ODL, linking this to national development priorities. Within ODL, Open Basic Education assumes considerable significance in the context of: millions of students being outside the purview of schooling; high dropout rate especially at the primary and elementary levels; and linkage of basic education to functionality and skill development. // With expansion and wider use of ODL delivery mechanisms, a continuous need is felt for capacity building of the practitioners and the developers. It is envisaged that these groups shall need faster and sustainable inputs through training and retraining in the curriculum designing and development. The impact of short orientation programmes without much measurable outcomes found not to be lasting long. Thus a Project based approach is devised by introducing workshop series for the practitioners of ODL by a mix of online support, face-to-face workshop, online follow-up support, and repeat of the cycle in the next phase(s). // This approach is being tested for capacity building of ODL material designers and developers of Bangladesh Open University (BOU) with support provided by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and expertise provided by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). This paper will share the experiences earned in development of strategies, strengths, expected outcomes and bottlenecks for the benefit of trainers in the field. // Paper ID 561