A 2 day Online webinar on the “Creating Online courses using OER’ was successfully conducted by GB Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar on 1st and 2nd June,2020. Over 300 people registered for the webinar from all across the country.
Ms Archana Thakran, who is a Biotechnologist by qualification and is currently working with Amity University as Dy Manager Skill Development was invited as the resource person of the webinar. She talked about how world class content be used for creating Online courses. This is more relevant in the current unprecedented times where all faculty have adopted online as the means to deliver their lectures. She mentioned how OER can be a powerful tool for a faculty who is currently thinking of creating courses from the scratch.
The topics covered were ranging from the introduction of OER to how to adopt flipped/blended mode of teaching effectively using OER. She also made the participants to search content from OER and edit those using various free tools.
Open Education Resources (OER) are digitized materials offered freely and openly to use and adapt for teaching, learning and research. The OER movement is part of a global effort to make knowledge available to all. In fact it is the best way to take advantage of widely available digital material on the Internet for teaching and learning. It can dramatically improve the access to education, enhance the quality of education and reduce the cost of education. Teachers can craft rich and engaging learning experiences for their students by using OER, leading to better learning outcomes and reduced drop-out rates.
OER are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.
During the workshop, all participants learnt about step by step instructions on how and where to find, adapt and use OER, various creative commons licenses and how to effectively engage students through a flipped classroom model.
All participants found this webinar very informative and useful. The event was organised by e-governance cell and IDP-NAHEP cell of GBPUA&T Pantnagar, under the guidance of VC Dr Tej Pratap Singh, Dean Dr Shivender Pratap Singh, Dr SK Guru-Nodal officer NAHEP, Dr RS Jadoun Director E-governance cell and Dr Yogita who managed the technical part of the webinar efficiently.