As part of its ongoing effort to offer an effective blend of learning modes, the Open University Malaysia (OUM) recently incorporated mobile learning into its blended learning model. Having enrolled more than 86,000 learners over the last eight years, OUM strives to continually improve its delivery mode for the benefit of its learners. Mobile learning is seen to be the next wave of learning given the fact that almost all OUM learners have mobile phones. A study conducted in late 2008 to determine the readiness of its learners for mobile learning indicates that about 99% of OUM respondents have a mobile phone. The readiness survey also found that majority of respondents would be ready for mobile learning within six months of the study. The chapter will highlight, among others, the introduction of mobile learning at OUM, the initial finding with the pilot implementation and recommendations for the way forward.
Open University Malaysia (OUM) is progressively moving towards implementing assessment on demand and online assessment. This move is deemed necessary for OUM to continue to be the leading provider of flexible learning. OUM serves a very large number of students each semester and these students are vastly distributed throughout the country. As the number of learners keeps growing, the task of managing and administering examinations every semester has become increasingly laborious, time consuming and costly. In trying to deal with this situation and improve the assessment processes, OUM has embarked on the development and employment of a test management system. This test management system is named OUM QBank. The initial objectives of QBank development were aimed at enabling the systematic classification and storage of test items, as well as the auto-generation of test papers based on the required criteria. However, it was later agreed that the QBank should be a more comprehensive test management system that manages not just all assessment items but also includes the features to facilitate quality control and flexibility of use. These include the functionality to perform item analyses and also online examination. This paper identifies the key elements and the important theoretical basis in ensuring the design and development of an effective and efficient system.
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