Higher education has experienced phenomenal growth in all parts of Asia over the last two decades — from the Korean peninsula in the east to the western borders of Central Asia. This expansion, coupled with a diversity of delivery and technology options, has meant that more and more young Asians are experiencing tertiary education within their own countries. In South, South East and Far East Asia especially, universities, polytechnics, colleges and training institutes with a variety of forms, structures, academic programmes and funding provisions have been on an almost linear upward progression.
Notwithstanding this massive expansion, equitable access is still a challenge for Asian countries. There is also concern that expansion will erode quality. The use of digital resources is seen as one way of addressing the dual challenges of quality and equity. Open educational resources (OER), free of licensing encumbrances, hold the promise of equitable access to knowledge and learning. However, the full potential of OER is only realisable with greater knowledge about OER, skills to effectively use them and policy provisions to support their establishment in Asian higher education.
This book, the result of an OER Asia research project hosted and implemented by the Wawasan Open University in Malaysia, with support from Canada’s International Development Research Centre, brings together ten country reports and ten case studies on OER in the Asian region that highlight typical situations in each context. China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam all receive extensive treatment, as do the multi-regional initiatives of the Virtual Academy for the Semi-Arid Tropics.
While interest in and the production, distribution and use of OER are still very much in the early stages of development in most parts of Asia, OER’s potential value to improve the quality of curriculum, content and instruction, facilitate academic collaboration and enhance equitable access to knowledge resources cannot be overstated.
The 25 contributors to this book bring an impressive level and breadth of expertise, innovation and dedication to researching, developing and advocating for OER. Through a combination of quantitative studies and qualitative analyses, they provide valuable, instructive information and insights from throughout Asia. Open Educational Resources: An Asian Perspective demonstrates that OER development is thriving in Asia — in different economies, amongst different types of stakeholders and with varied approaches to open licensing.
The diversity and richness of the contexts and approaches make this publication an important advocacy tool for promoting the use of OER.
Contents:
Background
Foreword
Asha Kanwar
Acknowledgements
PART I: Overview
Higher Education and Open Educational Resources in Asia: An Overview
Gajaraj Dhanarajan and Ishan Sudeera Abeywardena
PART II: Country Perspectives
Chapter 1: A Study on the Use of Open Educational Resources in China
Li Yawan and Li Ying
Chapter 2
Open Educational Resources in Hong Kong
Kin-sun Yuen and Alex Jean-wah Wong
Chapter 3: An Assessment of Individual and Institutional Readiness to Embrace Open Educational Resources in India
V. Bharathi Harishankar, Venkataraman Balaji and Sreedhar Ganapuram
Chapter 4: Prospects and Challenges for Introducing Open Educational Resources in Indonesia
Daryono and Tian Belawati
Chapter 5: Open Educational Resources in Japan
Tsuneo Yamada
Chapter 6: Open Educational Resources in Korea
Yong Kim
Chapter 7: Open Educational Resources in Malaysia
Ishan Sudeera Abeywardena, Gajaraj Dhanarajan and Choo-Khai Lim
Chapter 8:The Genesis of OER at the Virtual University of Pakistan
Naveed A. Malik
Chapter 9: OER in Philippine Higher Education: A Preliminary Study
Patricia B. Arinto and Roel Cantada
Chapter 10: Open Educational Resources in Vietnam
Minh Do
PART III: Case Studies
Chapter 11: Development of OER-Based Undergraduate Technology Course Material: “TCC242/05 Web Database Application” Delivered Using ODL at Wawasan Open University
Ishan Sudeera Abeywardena
Chapter 12: Quenching the Thirst: Open Educational Resources in Support of Drought Mitigation at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
William Dar and Venkataraman Balaji
Chapter 13: Open Knowledge Initiatives in the Philippines: The Vibal Foundation
Primo G. Garcia, Alvie Simonette Alip and Joane Serrano
Chapter 14: Establishing OER Practice in India: The University of Madras
V. Bharathi Harishankar
Chapter 15: Digital Repository to Open Educational Resource Repository: IGNOU’s eGyanKosh
Uma Kanjilal
Chapter 16: The Korean Open Courseware System
Yong Kim
Chapter 17: National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL):OER and Beyond
Mangala Sunder Krishnan
Chapter 18: Teachers’ Online Forum: An Online Interactive Forum for Sustaining Teacher Professional Development, by Universitas Terbuka
Udan Kusmawan
Chapter 19: Opening Up Resources for Open Learning: The Open University of Hong Kong
Alex Jean-wah Wong and Kin-sun Yuen
Chapter 20: Chinese OER Joins iTunes U: Beijing Open University
Li Ying and Li Yawan