Page 41 - Open and Distance Education In Asia : Good Practice From AAOU Members

Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) 21

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As a pioneer ODL institution, OUM is recognized for its
experience in blended learning mode, instructional design,
pedagogical approaches in teaching and learning, as well

as in formative and summative assessment

(conventional and dual mode universities) Sciences (FTAS), and Faculty of Business
were given the permission by the Ministry of Management (FBM). In total these faculties
Higher Education to offer ODL programmes. offer 53 fully-accredited programmes via
All who offer ODL programmes must adhere online platform and 35 strategically located
to the Code of Practice for Programme learning centres throughout the country.
Accreditation: ODL (COPPA:ODL) developed At any one semester, the number of active
by the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) students exceeds 25,000 at present from
(MQA, 2019). various background. The shift has an impact
on the curriculum design. In the industry, soft
At the onset of its establishment, its focus skills are usually emphasised by employers
was centred around education programmes (Sungsri, 2017). Apart from the shift in work
where most students were government background, a slight shift towards younger
school teachers under a loan scheme that age was also observed over the years. The
can be turned into scholarships based on largest age group has shifted from 41 to 50
their academic performance. OUM was years old, to 31 to 40 years old learners.
identified as strategic host to achieve the Observing changes in the student profile
national target of having 100% secondary helps the university to understand and serve
school graduate teachers and at 50% the learners better.
of primary school teachers with tertiary
education, without having the teachers As a pioneer ODL institution, OUM is
leave school (MOE, 2003). Today the student recognised for its experience in blended
population are well-distributed among learning mode, instructional design,
four faculties: Faculty of Education (FOE), pedagogical approaches in teaching
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities and learning, formative and summative
(FSSH), Faculty of Technology and Applied assessment. An important strength of the

Open University Malaysia (OUM)