Guest Post: From an AuthorAID Travel Grant Recipient

[This post is from Geetha Udayangani Kulasekara, a lecturer at the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). Geetha received an AuthorAID grant to take part in a conference in Japan. Thanks very much for this post! —Barbara]

The 26th annual conference of the Asian Association of Open Universities took place in Japan on 16–18 October 2012. There were about 135 paper presentations, from more than 20 countries. Thanks to an AuthorAID grant, I presented 2 research papers: “Cross-cultural e-mentor roles in facilitating inquiry-based online learning” and “Improving the livelihood of a selected rural agricultural community in Sri Lanka by inculcating lifelong learning in farmers (L3F)”.

The conference was a chance

• to learn about trends in using new technologies in open and distance learning (ODL),
• to discuss maintaining quality standards in e-learning, and
• for researchers from various countries to share e-learning experiences.

Almost all the keynote speeches and pre-conference seminars addressed the use of open educational resources (OERs) in lifelong learning and ODL. I learned a lot about OERs (such as what OERs and OER repositories are, how to create OERs, and what Creative Commons licensing is). Moreover, this was the first time I heard about MOOCs (massive open online courses) offered by world-reputed universities. 

My special interest was in research related to m-learning (mobile learning). There were presentations on use of low-tech to high-tech m-learning strategies, ranging from SMS to voice recordings to 3G to 4G. I found the m-learning strategy to educate rural women in Pakistan quite appropriate to use in OUSL’s project on livelihood development of farmers. I also learned of m-learning pedagogies developed by other universities.

I am using the knowledge gained and sharing it with others in Sri Lanka. Thank you, AuthorAID, for this opportunity.