Som Naidu - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Som Naidu
Tenth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning, Sep 1, 2022
Commonwealth of Learning (COL) eBooks, Apr 1, 2021
The Compass, 2007
Does this mean that we can leave learning to chance? In some cases we may, but in most organized ... more Does this mean that we can leave learning to chance? In some cases we may, but in most organized educational settings, I believe that we cannot afford to leave learning to a chance occurrence. Learning is a complex phenomenon, a time consuming and costly activity. In order to produce the best results, with minimal resources and the shortest possible time, we need to carefully design and manage our learning activities.
MOOCs and Open Education in the Global South, Nov 5, 2019
Distance Education, 2016
Joining or starting a new conversation? When speaking about how to get published in high-impact j... more Joining or starting a new conversation? When speaking about how to get published in high-impact journals, I have often suggested that authors ought to see researching and writing as joining or starting a conversation about something. If they are joining a conversation, then the focus needs to be on what their unique contribution is to what is already known. Do they have something new and unique to say on the subject, and if so, then how is it considered new, unique and worthy of attention? And if they are starting a new conversation, why is there a need to do so, and who is likely to be interested in joining that new conversation? Regardless of whether we are joining or starting a new conversation, the first step in the process has to be to carefully study what is already known about the subject. Generally, this comprises a review of the literature and a careful interrogation of what is known and not known on the subject in order to be able to identify what is worth knowing more about, and only then, coming up with researchable questions. It is not uncommon to see so many submissions coming across for publication consideration that fail to meet this basic of all tests, and I have raised this point in an earlier editorial (see Naidu, 2015). Yet it seems inconceivable that authors would spend exorbitant amounts of time, energy and resources into researching and writing about something without adequate study and consideration of what has already been done on the subject of their interest. But it is not so much the loss of anyone's time, energy and resources that I am lamenting, rather the impacts that a misinformed group of people, article, or report, and especially that from influential sources, can have on plans and policy directions of others in relation to critical questions and issues that confront our field, a concern that is shared by many. In drawing our attention to the implications of some of the typical pitfalls of many such initiatives, Jon Baggaley, in his reflection in this issue of the journal titled 'Sandcastle Competitions', examines the derivatives of three recent reports from very influential sources in the United States.
SpringerReference
The future of Naval aviation training is directly linked to our success in converting and/or augm... more The future of Naval aviation training is directly linked to our success in converting and/or augmenting conventional classroom instructor training with advanced distributed learning (ADL). The foreign military sales (FMS) customer should develop familiarity with the concepts and protocols of ADL since it will be in this medium that much of future computer based training will be developed. To achieve the ADL training vision, training must be distributed just-in-time and on demand, be available anytime-anywhere, and be enabled with resource development and exploitation of modern learning technologies. ADL is a strategy developed to harness the power of learning, information, and communication technologies to modernize education and training. The ADL initiative is intended to implement the “anytime-anywhere” learning concept to provide access to the highest quality education and training that can be tailored to individual needs and delivered cost-effectively, whenever and wherever it is required. This concept will apply equally to both NAVAIR and FMS customers.
Finding Your Online Voice, 2007
Open Praxis
Consider for a moment the implications of a solitary existence devoid of openness-an isolated wor... more Consider for a moment the implications of a solitary existence devoid of openness-an isolated world where social relationships, human interaction and communication are anomalies, rather than the norm. Imagining such a bleak, antisocial future illuminates the profound significance of openness, revealing it to be a vital component in our survival toolkit as inherently social beings. While the value of openness in sustaining life is undeniable, its contributions extend far beyond mere survival. Openness serves as an indispensable ingredient in the rich recipe of human learning, development, and progress. It is a truth universally acknowledged that human beings naturally inhabit an open ecosystem, engaging in complex, multifaceted interactions with their environment. Hence, one can make a persuasive argument that openness acts as a potent catalyst, facilitating and invigorating the process of learning. Despite all these benefits of openness and its important role in the learning ecology, it should be noted that institutions create artificial boundaries and insert barriers that oppose and interrupt this openness. However, those of us who wrote this piece resist these artificial barriers and believe in the value of openness. VOICES FROM THE SCHOLARLY LANDSCAPES The chorus of scholarly voices advocating the praxis of Openness in Education continues to grow (Cronin, 2017; Hodgkinson-Williams et al., 2017; Koçdar et al., 2023; Stracke et al., 2023a; Zawacki-Richter et al., 2020), a noble purpose faithfully echoed by the long-established Journal of Open Praxis (Bozkurt & Gil-Jaurena, 2023) and many other journals in the field. Openness in Education is neither a stagnant nor a monolithic concept; it is a fluid, continually evolving ideal, moulded by shifting societal, cultural, geographical, and economic landscapes and, thus, it does not have a precise definition (Bozkurt et al., 2019). Its boundaries are expansive, spanning across myriad dimensions, levels, and layers (
Technology, education and design are at the heart of any educational transaction. For optimum imp... more Technology, education and design are at the heart of any educational transaction. For optimum impact these need to be carefully choreographed and orchestrated. Despite acknowledgement and acceptance of technology, education and design as critical attributes of any successful educational transaction, bringing them together to ensure transformational change, both at the individual and at the institutional level, remains a serious challenge. This includes not only the development of the knowledge and understanding of the subject matter content, but also a rethink and reorientation of the essential value principles of education. This paper reports a case study of the experiences of the Open University of Sri Lanka in bringing about such transformational change in relation to the adoption of open educational practices (OEP) over the past decade. This is captured in the narratives of key participants involved in the projects. These achievements comprise: 1) the professional development of academic staff in the integration of OER; 2) a robust model for the integration of OER; and 3) a rigorous approach to the evaluation of the impacts of OER integration on a range of dependent variables including perceptions and practices of educators towards OEP.
Karunanayaka, S. & Naidu, S. (2009). Developing Professional Competencies of Teacher Educ... more Karunanayaka, S. & Naidu, S. (2009). Developing Professional Competencies of Teacher Educators in the use of Educational Technology, with Scenario-based Learning In Kinuthia & S. Marshall (Eds.) Cases ‘n’ Places: Global Cases in Educational Technology, Information Age Publishing, USA. pp. 123-132
This chapter reports on a research project implemented in the Faculty of Education at the Open Un... more This chapter reports on a research project implemented in the Faculty of Education at the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) which investigated the impact of integrating Open Educational Resources (OER) in the teaching-learning process by secondarylevel student teachers in Sri Lanka. The research questions this study seeks to answer are: What are the impacts of OER integration on the use of instructional materials by teachers? What are the impacts of OER integration on teachers’ pedagogical perspectives? What are the impacts of OER integration on teachers’ pedagogical practices? The study adopted a design-based research approach. An intervention programme was implemented with 230 participants who were student teachers registered in the OUSL Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme in nine OUSL centres across the nine provinces of Sri Lanka. Data were collected at multiple stages through the following quantitative and qualitative strategies: survey questionnaires, analysis of les...
The Open University of Sri Lanka implemented four MOOCs for continuing professional development o... more The Open University of Sri Lanka implemented four MOOCs for continuing professional development of practitioners on the adoption of OER and OEP. These CPDMOOCs adopted a scenario-based approach to learning within the social-constructivist pedagogy. Learners in this context were presented with real life situations that engaged them in three interconnected learning tasks. These were: creation of an artefact as a solution to the challenge they faced in the scenario; sharing of their creations in the discussion forum, and reflecting on the learning process. Engagement in peer-facilitated discussion forum was a key learning activity in each CPDMOOC. This was designed to promote collaborative learning and to facilitate co-construction of knowledge among the learners. This was also an assessment task, where learners were required to share their creations in the discussion forum and provide constructive feedback to each other. This case study investigated how and to what extent, interactions among peers in the discussion forum have supported knowledge construction, in the CPDMOOC on "Understanding OER". Collection and analysis of data in this qualitative study was guided by the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2001). Critical prerequisites for successful online learning are the promotion of cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence. An in-depth examination of the online interactions was conducted via content analysis of a total of 430 messages that were posted by 68 participants in 76 threaded discussions using coding and categorizing. The findings indicated active engagement of learners in the discussion forum in different ways according to the three types of presences, which has promoted knowledge construction through peer learning. The presentation will engage the audience in identifying various patterns of peer interactions supporting knowledge construction, and their implications for the design of peer-facilitated discussion forums in CPDMOOCs.
Distance Education, 2021
ABSTRACT Authentic assessment activities are those that afford learners opportunities to practice... more ABSTRACT Authentic assessment activities are those that afford learners opportunities to practice finding solutions to real-world issues and challenges, so that upon graduation they are able to apply these skills to issues and challenges they will face in their workplaces. When learners are able to do this successfully, they are judged as job ready. However, ascertaining the impacts of authentic assessment activities upon the achievement of learning outcomes and the development of desirable graduate attributes is challenging. How can we know for certain that our assessment activities have had the desired impact? A possible pathway is to examine the impacts of authentic assessment activities on the development of graduate attributes. The study reported in this paper offers insights on how, and in which ways, the design of authentic assessment activities in an online professional development program for practitioners influenced the development of generic graduate attributes.
Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, 2016
Purpose The Open University of Sri Lanka implemented a fully online professional development cour... more Purpose The Open University of Sri Lanka implemented a fully online professional development course on open educational resources-based e-learning (OEReL), which adopted a scenario-based learning (SBL) design within the constructivist pedagogy. It was designed to facilitate knowledge construction in a collaborative manner with the support of open educational resource (OER), mainly through peer-facilitated discussion forum activities. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study on how peer-facilitated discussions affected the OEReL process, what factors supported and hindered peer-facilitated discussions, and what challenges were faced during the process. Design/methodology/approach The OEReL course consisted of five modules with 14 discussion forum activities. Content analysis of the threaded forum discussions was the key data collection and analysis strategy based on the community of inquiry (CoI) framework (Garrison and Arbaugh, 2007). It was supplemented with participant...
Technology-enhanced teaching and learning is an outcome of the integration of technology and peda... more Technology-enhanced teaching and learning is an outcome of the integration of technology and pedagogy. While technology integration can augment the teaching-learning process, teachers’ willingness and their capacity to use technology and pedagogy creatively and meaningfully is crucial to student learning. For effective technology integration, teachers require specific knowledge on three broad knowledge bases - technology, pedagogy, and content, and their complex inter-relationships, as described in the Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Teachers also require competencies in putting into practice this synthesized knowledge, when designing learning experiences for their students. While TPACK offers a good conceptual framework about the interplay of content, technological and pedagogical knowledge, the synergy of technology and pedagogy in the teaching-learning process calls for serious attention to the design of learning experi...
Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, 2012
Tenth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning, Sep 1, 2022
Commonwealth of Learning (COL) eBooks, Apr 1, 2021
The Compass, 2007
Does this mean that we can leave learning to chance? In some cases we may, but in most organized ... more Does this mean that we can leave learning to chance? In some cases we may, but in most organized educational settings, I believe that we cannot afford to leave learning to a chance occurrence. Learning is a complex phenomenon, a time consuming and costly activity. In order to produce the best results, with minimal resources and the shortest possible time, we need to carefully design and manage our learning activities.
MOOCs and Open Education in the Global South, Nov 5, 2019
Distance Education, 2016
Joining or starting a new conversation? When speaking about how to get published in high-impact j... more Joining or starting a new conversation? When speaking about how to get published in high-impact journals, I have often suggested that authors ought to see researching and writing as joining or starting a conversation about something. If they are joining a conversation, then the focus needs to be on what their unique contribution is to what is already known. Do they have something new and unique to say on the subject, and if so, then how is it considered new, unique and worthy of attention? And if they are starting a new conversation, why is there a need to do so, and who is likely to be interested in joining that new conversation? Regardless of whether we are joining or starting a new conversation, the first step in the process has to be to carefully study what is already known about the subject. Generally, this comprises a review of the literature and a careful interrogation of what is known and not known on the subject in order to be able to identify what is worth knowing more about, and only then, coming up with researchable questions. It is not uncommon to see so many submissions coming across for publication consideration that fail to meet this basic of all tests, and I have raised this point in an earlier editorial (see Naidu, 2015). Yet it seems inconceivable that authors would spend exorbitant amounts of time, energy and resources into researching and writing about something without adequate study and consideration of what has already been done on the subject of their interest. But it is not so much the loss of anyone's time, energy and resources that I am lamenting, rather the impacts that a misinformed group of people, article, or report, and especially that from influential sources, can have on plans and policy directions of others in relation to critical questions and issues that confront our field, a concern that is shared by many. In drawing our attention to the implications of some of the typical pitfalls of many such initiatives, Jon Baggaley, in his reflection in this issue of the journal titled 'Sandcastle Competitions', examines the derivatives of three recent reports from very influential sources in the United States.
SpringerReference
The future of Naval aviation training is directly linked to our success in converting and/or augm... more The future of Naval aviation training is directly linked to our success in converting and/or augmenting conventional classroom instructor training with advanced distributed learning (ADL). The foreign military sales (FMS) customer should develop familiarity with the concepts and protocols of ADL since it will be in this medium that much of future computer based training will be developed. To achieve the ADL training vision, training must be distributed just-in-time and on demand, be available anytime-anywhere, and be enabled with resource development and exploitation of modern learning technologies. ADL is a strategy developed to harness the power of learning, information, and communication technologies to modernize education and training. The ADL initiative is intended to implement the “anytime-anywhere” learning concept to provide access to the highest quality education and training that can be tailored to individual needs and delivered cost-effectively, whenever and wherever it is required. This concept will apply equally to both NAVAIR and FMS customers.
Finding Your Online Voice, 2007
Open Praxis
Consider for a moment the implications of a solitary existence devoid of openness-an isolated wor... more Consider for a moment the implications of a solitary existence devoid of openness-an isolated world where social relationships, human interaction and communication are anomalies, rather than the norm. Imagining such a bleak, antisocial future illuminates the profound significance of openness, revealing it to be a vital component in our survival toolkit as inherently social beings. While the value of openness in sustaining life is undeniable, its contributions extend far beyond mere survival. Openness serves as an indispensable ingredient in the rich recipe of human learning, development, and progress. It is a truth universally acknowledged that human beings naturally inhabit an open ecosystem, engaging in complex, multifaceted interactions with their environment. Hence, one can make a persuasive argument that openness acts as a potent catalyst, facilitating and invigorating the process of learning. Despite all these benefits of openness and its important role in the learning ecology, it should be noted that institutions create artificial boundaries and insert barriers that oppose and interrupt this openness. However, those of us who wrote this piece resist these artificial barriers and believe in the value of openness. VOICES FROM THE SCHOLARLY LANDSCAPES The chorus of scholarly voices advocating the praxis of Openness in Education continues to grow (Cronin, 2017; Hodgkinson-Williams et al., 2017; Koçdar et al., 2023; Stracke et al., 2023a; Zawacki-Richter et al., 2020), a noble purpose faithfully echoed by the long-established Journal of Open Praxis (Bozkurt & Gil-Jaurena, 2023) and many other journals in the field. Openness in Education is neither a stagnant nor a monolithic concept; it is a fluid, continually evolving ideal, moulded by shifting societal, cultural, geographical, and economic landscapes and, thus, it does not have a precise definition (Bozkurt et al., 2019). Its boundaries are expansive, spanning across myriad dimensions, levels, and layers (
Technology, education and design are at the heart of any educational transaction. For optimum imp... more Technology, education and design are at the heart of any educational transaction. For optimum impact these need to be carefully choreographed and orchestrated. Despite acknowledgement and acceptance of technology, education and design as critical attributes of any successful educational transaction, bringing them together to ensure transformational change, both at the individual and at the institutional level, remains a serious challenge. This includes not only the development of the knowledge and understanding of the subject matter content, but also a rethink and reorientation of the essential value principles of education. This paper reports a case study of the experiences of the Open University of Sri Lanka in bringing about such transformational change in relation to the adoption of open educational practices (OEP) over the past decade. This is captured in the narratives of key participants involved in the projects. These achievements comprise: 1) the professional development of academic staff in the integration of OER; 2) a robust model for the integration of OER; and 3) a rigorous approach to the evaluation of the impacts of OER integration on a range of dependent variables including perceptions and practices of educators towards OEP.
Karunanayaka, S. & Naidu, S. (2009). Developing Professional Competencies of Teacher Educ... more Karunanayaka, S. & Naidu, S. (2009). Developing Professional Competencies of Teacher Educators in the use of Educational Technology, with Scenario-based Learning In Kinuthia & S. Marshall (Eds.) Cases ‘n’ Places: Global Cases in Educational Technology, Information Age Publishing, USA. pp. 123-132
This chapter reports on a research project implemented in the Faculty of Education at the Open Un... more This chapter reports on a research project implemented in the Faculty of Education at the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) which investigated the impact of integrating Open Educational Resources (OER) in the teaching-learning process by secondarylevel student teachers in Sri Lanka. The research questions this study seeks to answer are: What are the impacts of OER integration on the use of instructional materials by teachers? What are the impacts of OER integration on teachers’ pedagogical perspectives? What are the impacts of OER integration on teachers’ pedagogical practices? The study adopted a design-based research approach. An intervention programme was implemented with 230 participants who were student teachers registered in the OUSL Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme in nine OUSL centres across the nine provinces of Sri Lanka. Data were collected at multiple stages through the following quantitative and qualitative strategies: survey questionnaires, analysis of les...
The Open University of Sri Lanka implemented four MOOCs for continuing professional development o... more The Open University of Sri Lanka implemented four MOOCs for continuing professional development of practitioners on the adoption of OER and OEP. These CPDMOOCs adopted a scenario-based approach to learning within the social-constructivist pedagogy. Learners in this context were presented with real life situations that engaged them in three interconnected learning tasks. These were: creation of an artefact as a solution to the challenge they faced in the scenario; sharing of their creations in the discussion forum, and reflecting on the learning process. Engagement in peer-facilitated discussion forum was a key learning activity in each CPDMOOC. This was designed to promote collaborative learning and to facilitate co-construction of knowledge among the learners. This was also an assessment task, where learners were required to share their creations in the discussion forum and provide constructive feedback to each other. This case study investigated how and to what extent, interactions among peers in the discussion forum have supported knowledge construction, in the CPDMOOC on "Understanding OER". Collection and analysis of data in this qualitative study was guided by the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2001). Critical prerequisites for successful online learning are the promotion of cognitive presence, social presence and teaching presence. An in-depth examination of the online interactions was conducted via content analysis of a total of 430 messages that were posted by 68 participants in 76 threaded discussions using coding and categorizing. The findings indicated active engagement of learners in the discussion forum in different ways according to the three types of presences, which has promoted knowledge construction through peer learning. The presentation will engage the audience in identifying various patterns of peer interactions supporting knowledge construction, and their implications for the design of peer-facilitated discussion forums in CPDMOOCs.
Distance Education, 2021
ABSTRACT Authentic assessment activities are those that afford learners opportunities to practice... more ABSTRACT Authentic assessment activities are those that afford learners opportunities to practice finding solutions to real-world issues and challenges, so that upon graduation they are able to apply these skills to issues and challenges they will face in their workplaces. When learners are able to do this successfully, they are judged as job ready. However, ascertaining the impacts of authentic assessment activities upon the achievement of learning outcomes and the development of desirable graduate attributes is challenging. How can we know for certain that our assessment activities have had the desired impact? A possible pathway is to examine the impacts of authentic assessment activities on the development of graduate attributes. The study reported in this paper offers insights on how, and in which ways, the design of authentic assessment activities in an online professional development program for practitioners influenced the development of generic graduate attributes.
Asian Association of Open Universities Journal, 2016
Purpose The Open University of Sri Lanka implemented a fully online professional development cour... more Purpose The Open University of Sri Lanka implemented a fully online professional development course on open educational resources-based e-learning (OEReL), which adopted a scenario-based learning (SBL) design within the constructivist pedagogy. It was designed to facilitate knowledge construction in a collaborative manner with the support of open educational resource (OER), mainly through peer-facilitated discussion forum activities. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study on how peer-facilitated discussions affected the OEReL process, what factors supported and hindered peer-facilitated discussions, and what challenges were faced during the process. Design/methodology/approach The OEReL course consisted of five modules with 14 discussion forum activities. Content analysis of the threaded forum discussions was the key data collection and analysis strategy based on the community of inquiry (CoI) framework (Garrison and Arbaugh, 2007). It was supplemented with participant...
Technology-enhanced teaching and learning is an outcome of the integration of technology and peda... more Technology-enhanced teaching and learning is an outcome of the integration of technology and pedagogy. While technology integration can augment the teaching-learning process, teachers’ willingness and their capacity to use technology and pedagogy creatively and meaningfully is crucial to student learning. For effective technology integration, teachers require specific knowledge on three broad knowledge bases - technology, pedagogy, and content, and their complex inter-relationships, as described in the Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006). Teachers also require competencies in putting into practice this synthesized knowledge, when designing learning experiences for their students. While TPACK offers a good conceptual framework about the interplay of content, technological and pedagogical knowledge, the synergy of technology and pedagogy in the teaching-learning process calls for serious attention to the design of learning experi...
Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, 2012
Authentic assessment activities are those that afford learners opportunities to practice finding ... more Authentic assessment activities are those that afford learners opportunities to practice finding solutions to real world issues and challenges, so that upon graduation they are able to apply skills developed from these learning experiences to issues and challenges they are likely to face in their workplace. When learners are able to do this successfully, they are judged as "job-ready". However, ascertaining the impacts of authentic assessment activities upon the achievement of learning outcomes and the development of desirable graduate attributes is challenging. How can we know with any certainty that our assessment activities have had the desired impact? A possible pathway is to examine the impacts of authentic assessment activities on the development of generic graduate attributes. Our study offers insights on how and in which ways the design of authentic assessment influences the development of generic graduate attributes in an online professional development programme for practitioners around Open Educational Resources and Open Educational Practices.
Edited Book, 2020
Karunanayaka, S.P., & Naidu, S. (Eds.) (2020). Pathways to Open Educational Practices. The Open U... more Karunanayaka, S.P., & Naidu, S. (Eds.) (2020). Pathways to Open Educational Practices. The Open University of Sri Lanka. (ISBN 978-9-552-31763-7) Retrieved from
http://publicationshare.com/pdfs/Pathways_to_OEP_eBook.pdf