Page 55 - Reimagining Higher Education : Case Studies On Designing For Inclusion, Equity, And Access In The Buka Project

P. V. Arumugam & J. S. Emmanuel · Course learning re-design, capacity building and

learner engagement - Wawasan Open University (WOU), Malaysia

their mobile phones, audio feedback will help quickly disseminate areas of
improvement to the learners before they read the written comments.

Challenges

As cliche as it may sound, the main culprit impacting on the timely progression of
the project was the COVID-19 pandemic. With the lockdown imposed by the

Malaysian government on 18 March 2020, which took almost a year to lift,
face-to-face engagement meetings with sta could not be held. This prevented

higher-level, hands-on discussion from taking place, which was essential to the

success of this project.
The second, devastating challenge was the loss of key members of the

project team. Ultimately, the project lead was the only remaining member from the

original WOU BUKA project team. During the life of the project, new members were
added who also then left the institutions at various points, creating voids that need

to be filled. The team also su ered from a lack of administrative support as sta
who have left posts in recent years have not been replaced.

The disruptive influence of the pandemic and the sta retention/hiring
issues also prevented equipment purchasing on required timelines, pushing the

team to be more creative in actioning the desired initiatives around learning

material development and provision of assessment feedback. The sta ng issues
reported here speaks to the importance of appropriate sta ng, and stability

in/resourcing of project teams, to the e cient and successful completion of project
work.

Findings

Here, the findings relating to the needs analysis carried out, and related
capacity-building activities, are presented.

Capacity Building

As explained in the methodology above, a survey was conducted to gauge academic
sta needs in terms of the skill sets necessary for their growth as academics of the

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