PDP: Support Staff Programme

Introduction

Welcome back to the Transformation by Innovation in Distance Education (TIDE) project, which aims to improve the quality of distance education in Myanmar through collaboration with universities and colleges across the country. We are delighted to see you again and hope you are staying well.

As you are probably already aware, the current situation means we are unable to work with you face-to-face or synchronously online, as previously planned. However, we have designed a short programme of activities for ICT, librarian and support staff which you can study on your own and at a time that suits you.

The programme aims to:

• introduce you to good practice in online learning design
• give you the opportunity to experience online learning from both the learner and creator perspective
• give you practical skills to both develop and support the creation of online courses using a Moodle based Platform (OpenLearn Create).

Why should I participate?

Myanmar Higher Education is undergoing rapid transformation, both in terms of recent government initiatives such as 1 campus: 2 systems but also as we all adapt to the impact of COVID-19. The need for many universities and colleges to move to online teaching means that all staff should have an awareness of good online learning design practices and how to use platforms which host online learning content. Being able to find and reuse learning resources legally is also a key skill for librarians and other ICT and support staff, particularly with the enactment of Myanmar’s new Copyright Act. This programme aims to give you invaluable skills to support you and your university in successfully navigating this terrain.

Learning outcomes

As a result of studying this programme you should be able to:

• better support the development of online learning at your university or college
• understand what constitutes good practice for online learning design
• recognise resources that can be repurposed and reused legally (Open Educational Resources – or OERs) and be able to reuse this type of resource
• be able to set-up an online course on a Moodle based platform (OpenLearn Create)
• be able to put together a small piece of learning for your colleagues and make this available for others to use online.

In order to achieve these learning outcomes, and apply your skills, you will participate in a number of activities throughout the programme to develop an online course and produce a small piece of learning for your colleagues. You will make this available for others to use on OpenLearn Create. This piece of learning will comprise:

• reuse of existing openly licensed resources on topics of your choice
• creation of learning outcomes
• a short instruction on how to use the piece of learning you create
• an assessment piece (quiz) for the new course
• other features of OpenLearn Create, as appropriate (e.g. course completion tracking)
• uploading online courses on OpenLearn Create.

How the programme works

The materials that constitute this programme are presented as a series of ‘Steps’ which indicate what material you should read over a set period. There are also a series of activities that you will need to complete at certain points. The programme has been designed so that you can study the material individually and work through the material at a time that works best for you. At certain points in the programme, you may have the opportunity to work with academic colleagues at your University on courses they are creating.

The programme consists of pre-recorded online webinars and narrated PowerPoint presentations. We will provide the resources you need online via this OpenLearn Create website and in other formats. As you work through the materials, you may find it useful to use a notepad to write down what you have learnt or any questions you may have.

At the end of each Step you will have the opportunity to participate in a short quiz. These quizzes will help you assess your understanding of different aspects of the course material.

The programme requires 36 hours of self-study time that you can study at your own pace.

These materials have been designed to give insights into the broader TIDE programme and to support any further interest you may have in different topics. To that end we have included some additional resources that are not compulsory to review, but which might be interesting and useful to consolidate your understanding.