150302 MEB (HE) Shift # 9 GOL Version 3Preliminary and confidential; not for distribution

Malaysia Education Blueprint (Higher Education)Chapter 9: Globalised Online LearningDraft Version 3Discussion Document02 March , 2015For internal Ministry of Education review only. Subject to changes pending comments from stakeholders.

Chapter 9: Globalised Online LearningOnline learning is revolutionising the world of education. It is an instructional delivery system that provides opportunities which are responsive to the needs of different type of students from all over the world [footnoteRef:1]. This is called globalised online learning (GOL) and, it is considered as the true democratisation of knowledge[footnoteRef:2]. Malaysia wishes to expand this technology-enabled mode of education and contribute the local content and expertise to the global community. [1: Edmundson, A. (2007). Globalised e-Learning Cultural Challenges. London: Idea Group. Pp(?)] [2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B-EFayAA5_0]

This chapter discusses the importance of globalised online learning (GOL) and where Malaysia is in the development of GOL. It proposes key initiatives to improve GOL in order to enhance the quality of course delivery, enable lowering the cost of delivery, bringing Malaysian niche areas and expertise to the world, enhancing the branding and visibility of Malaysian HLIs as well as to acculturate the life-long learning among Malaysians. Due to its significance in the national policy on GOL, this chapter focuses on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

Why this matters

The growth of online learning

In 2013, it was reported that the world internet users stand at 2.33 billion, representing an overall of 34.3% internet penetration[footnoteRef:3]. The growth of the use of Internet in education is phenomenal. It is estimated that by 2019, 50% of all classes taught in higher education institutions in the USA will be delivered online and many of these will be available for free to students. Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are already available such as EdX from Harvard and MIT. The growth of this digital natives is similar in Malaysia and the Malaysian higher learning institutions (HLIs) must prepare itself for this generation. [3: Please look for the reference]

Widening access of higher education

GOL provides a vehicle to extend the reach of courses offered by Malaysian HLIs. The implementation of GOLs allows widening access and liberalising education and in support of the lifelong learning, where the education is now freely available beyond the confines of physical and time boundaries, and for the privileged segment of the society only. GOL can reduce costs as the on-campus courses offered by an HLI can now be accessed by students of other HLIs, eliminating the need for multiple offerings of courses. The implementation of GOLs also alleviates the need for extra physical spaces to accommodate higher enrolment. In addition, GOLs can also ease the pressure on over-subscribed courses especially the first year common courses.

Malaysia education through GOL

The usage of GOL enhances the quality of T&L as it indirectly transforms educational delivery towards a more interactive and engaging one thus improving educational outcomes. A meaningful learning environment can also be created through interaction between local and international students, thus creating a community of learners with different perspectives and worldviews. The Malaysian higher education is expected to increase in quality through blended learning, lowering the cost of delivery, bringing Malaysian niche areas and expertise to the world, enhancing the branding and visibility of Malaysian HLIs. The global visibility of and access to Malaysian niche areas and expertise such as in Islamic banking and finance, tropical themes and eastern cultures will help Malaysian HLIs to global prominence.

Where we are

e-Learning among Malaysian HLIs

The National e-Learning Policy (Dasar e-Pembelajaran Negara, DePAN[footnoteRef:4]) was launched under the National Higher Education Strategy Plan or PSPTN. DePAN provides the framework for quality e-learning deployment at Malaysian HLIs it was also intended to support the strategic objectives of the 10th Malaysia Plan and Malaysian Agenda for Innovation. DePAN is made up of five pillars i.e. Infrastructure, Structure of Organisation, Curriculum and Content, Professional Development and Enculturation to enable HLIs to implement their e-learning initiatives. [4: Please find the reference and page.]

A study on the achievement of DePAN implementation shows room for improvement, especially among the polytechnics and community colleges. The findings are summarised in Exhibit 9-1.

Exhibit 9-1Success of DePAN implementation

Where is Malaysia Relative to its Peers in terms of MOOCs initiative?Many of the prominent universities in the region propelled forward in MOOCs initiative by putting their courses in Edx or Coursera and this create the global branding and help in the global positioning of their universities. In South Korea for instance, Seoul National University - the countrys first national university - is one of the prime movers of MOOCs in the nation. In 2014, it offered three courses in edX and a course in the Coursera platform. In Japan, the University of Tokyo offered two MOOCs in 2014 using the Coursera platform while the University of Kyoto offers a MOOC using edX. In Singapore, their MOOCs initiative began in January 2014 when the National University of Singapore joined Coursera by offering three MOOCs. This was followed by NTU, which offered two MOOCs. The success of NUS and NTU are commendable as they managed to attract more than large number of global students to their courses, which in turn help to brand and position their universities globally.MOOCs at Malaysian HLIs

Since the launching of DePAN in 2011, MOOCs have grown worldwide in significance and impact. Thus, while not explicitly included in DePAN, some public and private HLIs have started experimenting in this space. Taylors University launched the first MOOCs in Malaysia in March 2013. They offered a subject entitled Entrepreneurship and used Open Learning platform. This online subject ran in tandem with their conventional course. It was an offering that proved to be incredibly successful, attracting students from more than 110 different countries. At of end of 2014, Taylors University offers 8 MOOCs[footnoteRef:5] utilising the same platform. [5: Find reference to the report and page number please.]

In September 2014, the Ministry launched four 1st year undergraduate common compulsory courses offered by UKM, UPM, UiTM and UniMAS using the MOOCs concept. The first of its kind in the world, this undergraduate course brings together all first year students from twenty Malaysian public universities on a single platform. This launch is significant as it marks the first foray of Malaysian public HLIs into MOOCs.

The way forward for DePAN - GOL

Malaysian HLIs have the opportunity to further harness the potential of GOL and MOOCs. DePAN will be revised accordingly so that GOL agenda will be incorporated so that the focus will include enhancing the quality of teaching and learning, developing Malaysia education brand, position and increase the visibility of Malaysian HLIs in the global platform through their niche areas and expertise. Furthermore, implementation of GOL will also contribute to efficiency in course delivery and subsequently lead to the liberalisation of education. This will also support the national agenda to build a knowledge society and aspiration to be the nation lifelong learners.

Objectives

Malaysia aspires to be a premier educational hub through globalised online learning platforms. This platform will see the increase of access to quality education for Malaysians and global community, provide efficient course delivery, and build Malaysia education brand and prominence for the Malaysian higher learning institutions, especially in niche areas and expertise.

Principles, strategies and key initiatives

In order to achieve the objectives for GOL, several principles, strategies and key initiatives are proposed.

Principles

The principles consists of:

i. Online learning will be and continue to be an important mode for education delivery; ii. The current and technology in the future will make GOL to be effective pedagogy where it can do wonders in interactive and blended learning; andiii. GOL is the most efficient way for the massification of education as access to higher education is widened through better flexibility and choice.

The strategies proposed are in line with the principles and are formulated to achieve the objectives of GOL.

Strategies

Strategy A. Improving support for GOL ecosystem

The Ministry will facilitate the setting up of a comprehensive and sustainable GOL ecosystem. A successful GOL agenda will require high degree of awareness from all stakeholders on the huge potential of online learning, competent workforce who are capable of utilizing and advancing technology and develop course content, and a reliable cyber infrastructure. These three component i.e. awareness, capacity building and cyber infrastructure are part of the GOL ecosystem. The Ministry and the HLIs will address these to enable successful MOOCs initiative deployment, and enhance the quality in teaching, learning, branding, and positioning of Malaysian HLIs.

Strategy B: Establishing GOL administrative structure

The Ministry will facilitate in the establishment of a coordinating body or governing structure for a successful and sustainable GOL agenda. The proposed structure will oversee the policy and the management or implementation of GOL, including proper planning for infrastructures as well of capacity and capability of personnel. It also involves in establishing a national e-Learning platform to spearhead the e-content development, coordination, monitoring as well as establishment of international linkages.

Strategy C:Enabling global prominence through GOL

The HLIs will increase quality course offerings through online learning so that more students can be attracted to register and follow this mode of learning. The Malaysian HLIs will identify and develop the courses in their niche or areas of strength so that the courses they offer can be truly a globlised. The HLIs will also find strategic partners in building the course content to ensure wider course acceptance and students can obtain credit transfer. The HLIs will exercise greater flexibility in recognising and accepting courses offered by other institutions.

Key initiatives

There are key initiatives proposed under these strategies in order to achieve the objective of this Shift.

A1: Upgrade cyber infrastructure

The Ministry will collaborate with the relevant agencies and institutions to improve the following elements:

i. Infrastructure: improve bandwidth to enable video streaming; teleconferencing to be supportedii.Info structure: provide hardware and software for e-content development;iii.Platform: work with a range of platform system from existing open learning platform to a higher range such as Coursera and Edx; andiv.Devices and equipment: support for procurement learning devices

A2: Enhance awareness and recognition

The Malaysian HLIs will collaborate to develop common courses leveraging the expertise available in the respective institutions and establish mutual recognitions of courses. The HLIs will expand the use of MOOCs to be adopted across the for blended learning. The Ministry will facilitate the increase in awareness on the potential and benefits MOOCs through various incentives, especially in the areas where the HLIs are able to achieve global recognitions or prominence through their online course offerings.

A3: Strengthen capacity and capability to deliver new pedagogical methods Courses offered through MOOC will indirectly eliminate outdated pedagogical methods. Lecturers will be required to innovate in teaching and learning practices in order to create a conducive learning environment. As such, there is a need to improve the professional development programs for academic staff provided by AKEPT, as well as those by individual HLIs. The capacity building will focus on expanding blended learning across HLIs, leveraging MOOCs for generic or foundation courses.

B1: Strengthen governance and co-ordination

The appropriate governance needs to be in place for the effective management and implementation of the GOL initiatives. The Ministry will explore the establishment of a co-ordinating body to plan, develop and deploy GOL among Malaysian public and private HLIs. This body will also be responsible for monitoring relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and for building international partnerships and collaborations.

B2: Update the national e-Learning policy

Successful deployment of GOL will be dependent on an implementation framework guided by international best practices. The Ministry will facilitate the updating of the National e-Learning Policy (DePAN) to align with and incorporate MOOCs. The HLIs will keep up with the current best practices and technologies for the deployment of GOL.

C1: Enable credit recognition

The course curriculum at every Malaysian HLIs needs to be revised accordingly to allow for the recognition of courses completed by students via MOOCs. This should be done in consultation with the Malaysian Quality Agency (MQA). HLIs will also be encouraged to undertake international benchmarking with the target of having Malaysian MOOCs become part of international MOOCs consortium.

C2: Support Life Long Learning

The Ministry will develop a common platform to enhance the utilisation of MOOCs for lifelong learning. The Malaysian public can then enrol in low-risk and low-cost courses which will provide them the opportunity to access to high quality credit-bearing courses. These credits could, in turn, be put towards a diploma or even a degree programme.

The MOOCs initiative of Malaysian HLIs can be also extended to the training of Malaysian public servant under Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in collaboration of various governmental training agencies. In this way, the MOOC initiative can become the catalyst the enculturation of the life-long among Malaysians.

Initiative implementation roadmap

The Ministry will monitor the implementation plan for the strategies and initiatives within this shift according the proposed roadmap shown in Exhibit 9-2.

Exhibit 9-2Implementation roadmap to achieve the objective of globalised online learning

Tracking measures

The Ministry has identified a set of key performance indicators that will be measured and tracked to assess progress: # of universities involved in MOOC common course delivery # of Malaysian HLIs in Top 200 Webometric rankings # of students (Malaysian and International) enrolled in Malaysian MOOCs Percentage of blended learning courses that have up to 70% of course content offered online Percentage of common courses delivered through MOOCs

Conclusion

Objective of the shifts Area covered Major strategies and initiatives

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