August 23, 2007 -- People around the world can now enjoy free access to 25 online courses offered by the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) via the Internet from this week (20 August). Prof. John C. Y. Leong, President of the OUHK, said the initiative was another milestone of the University in making its educational resources freely available to the public. 'In keeping with the mission of providing "Education for All", we aim to share knowledge, and provide intended learners, in particularly those who wish to acquire new knowledge despite their busy schedules, with a taste of online distance learning. They may then find out their own interests, and negotiate the medley of study opportunities to match personal needs. On the other hand, we hope to help more people realize the practicality of web-based lifelong learning that could help them seek self-improvement efficiently to catch up with the fast-developing knowledge society of the 21st century,' he said. 'All along the OUHK has dedicated itself to broadening public access to our learning resources. Our course materials and set books have been made available at the public libraries since our establishment. Currently we also provide three sample courses units on our website to let interested learners get to know what distance learning is like. For more than a decade we have been broadcasting the "Open for Learning" educational programme every Sunday morning on a free TV channel, while online videos of talks and seminars conducted by famous scholars and experts are also a regular feature of the OUHK webpage. With this new courseware, we wish to reach out to and benefit a much wider population, especially those aspiring learners who cannot afford the time to visit a library or watch TV programmes on time,' he added. Prof. Leung Chun-ming, Vice-President (Technology & Development), commented that the Internet has enabled learners to study flexibly according to their own pace and interests. 'With Hong Kong's state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure and high broadband and mobile phone penetration rates, e-learning promises great potential and indeed has been getting popular worldwide. This year, thanks to the funding support by government, the OUHK has embarked on a string of innovative projects in this area,' he said. The free courseware is made up of learning materials taken from a broad range of the OUHK's distance learning courses, covering various subject areas such as arts and history, business and management, education, languages, IT, social sciences, translation and interpretation. Provided in either English or Chinese and at ordinary to degree level, the content is closely related to the Hong Kong context, including units like "The Role of Marketing", "Business Communication Basics", "Financial Planning", "Communication for Social and Persuasive Purposes", "Web Design Basics and Process", "Leadership and Crisis Management", which are highly relevant to the local and Chinese business environments. Interested parties can browse the courseware by logging on to http://freecourseware.ouhk.edu.hk. Learners can also participate in the interactive learning activities, self-tests and quizzes after a simple registration procedure. Each courseware unit takes 7 to 28 hours to finish and leads to no credit nor award from the University. Dr. Yuen Kin-sun, Head of Educational Technology and Publishing said, 'We invite everyone to try out and make use of the courseware for personal enrichment. We also welcome organizations to link up with our website or promote it to their staff or members for non-commercial purposes. Enquiries about copyright issues can be made by calling (852) 2711 2100. We look forward to public feedback and suggestions to guide our improvement and further development. |
