Promoting new and non-formal learning

WAWASAN Open University (WOU) has begun to offer Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). This endeavour works in line with the Ministry of Education’s efforts to promote the use of MOOCs to expand formal and non-formal learning in the education sector.
The two entirely online courses are offered under its Centre for Professional Development and Continuing Education (PACE).
They will commence on Feb 9 and will take three months to complete.
The courses titled “Action Research Course” and “Open Educational Resources (OER) in e-Learning” is targeted at educators from schools, teacher training institutions and universities in Malaysia and overseas.
WOU deputy vice-chancellor (Academic-OCL) and acting director of PACE, Prof Mohandas Menon said, “The launch of the two MOOCs reflects the serious intention of the university to provide short courses entirely online, for the benefit of interested learners and professionals at large.”
Menon also remarked that it is an achievement for a relatively young open university like WOU, to develop and offer MOOCs.
Besides their academic expertise and capability in the area of online moderation and facilitation of the courses, Mohandas mentioned that the university has also developed a strong in-house technical capacity to provide fully digitised learning materials, as well as quality learning support services.
“The students of WOU-MOOCs will be supported by online interactive virtual discussion forums, online tutor facilitation, online assignment submission and assessment, through a specially created learning management platform called Wawasan4PACE.”
For those who formally register, the courses will include online tutor support and a Certificate of Achievement from WOU upon completion.
Others who choose to register and follow the courses on a self-learning mode, can access the materials and learner support on the Wawasan4 PACE platform for free.
They will receive a “badge” upon full completion.
The development of the courses is funded separately by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and COL’s regional agency, the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) respectively.
For more information, log on to WOU official website or contact the university.