Online learning – try before you buy

Publish date	2008-01-12
Available Articles	Full articles without membership

Enrolling in a distance learning degree is a big commitment. To succeed, students must accept that studying in this way will have a significant impact on their lives, both financially and in terms of the time they have to devote to it. Perhaps more worrisome is the simple fact that it’s hard to tell if you are cut out for the unique demands of online learning without having tried it before.

Now, potential learners have an opportunity to try out some programmes for nothing before they have enrolled for a single class, paid an application fee or attempted to secure funding for their studies, as the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) offers free access to 25 online programmes.

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. The units, which are provided in China and English, will also be of use to business students interested in working in China.

Content mirrors OUHK programmes and includes units such as The Role of Marketing, Business Communication Basics, Financial Planning, Communication for Social and Persuasive Purposes and Leadership and Crisis Management.

Interested parties can browse the courseware at 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. The units do not lead to credit or award from the University.

Professor John Leong, President of the OUHK, said the initiative was another milestone in the university’s goal of making its educational resources freely available to the public.

He said: “In keeping with the mission of providing ‘Education for All’, we aim to share knowledge and provide 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 realise 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.

“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.”

Professor Leung Chun-ming, Vice-President (Technology & Development), said that the internet has enabled learners to study flexibly according to their own pace and interests.

He said: “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.”

Keywords: Open University Hong Kong, Online Learning, John Leong, Courseware.

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