How to incorporate open educational resources (OER) into the infrastructure and pedagogy for promoting ubiquitous learning
Kamalika Banerjee
Indira Gandhi National Open University
Delhi, India
Ubiquitous learning can be promoted with the proper usage of open educational resources (OER). Of course, OERs are made in such a way that, with the help of audiovisual effects, they can support learning anytime and anywhere. In this paper, the author has tried to list the various ways in which OERs can be incorporated into the infrastructure and pedagogy for promoting ubiquitous learning. Steps have to be taken so that the different boundaries of education are removed. To involve the teachers for this development is a challenge, which can be met by providing them with the required technical know-how and also training them professionally for the newer paradigms in instructional design and pedagogy which are required for ubiquitous learning. As a result of this change in instructional design, learners shift from being knowledge-receivers to knowledge-actors. Research has to be carried out with varied learner profiles and their proactive participation in using various media and teaching-learning tools. Thereby, the assessment tools have to be made in such a way that they provide useful and relevant formative and summative evaluative information for learners, parents and educators. Also, social platforms have to be used to build a collaborative knowledge culture. To achieve all this, we also need to provide the requisite technical support to the learners. The Internet connectivity is another challenge that has to be tackled and provided to all. The digital divide has to be removed and OERs provided for all. In a nutshell, we should all realize that investment in OERs is the key to improvement in the teaching-learning environment — so OERs and u-learning are the order of the day.