Online learning is a growing phenomenon in all sectors of education and training, and much of this is due to the growth of the Internet (American Society for Training and Development, 2003). The Internet is a technological development that has the potential to change not only the way we access information and knowledge, but also alter our traditional models of higher education, particularly the models of delivery and interaction with resources (Singh et. al., 2005).

With widening access to the Internet, more and more institutions are using online learning in both face-to-face education and in distance education. For distance education, however, online learning comprises a logical extension of their mostly asynchronous teaching system supported by optional synchronous tutoring at designated times and places. Conventional approaches to distance education and face-to-face education can be further enhanced by the Internet and web technologies.

Even though the use of Internet and web technology in education is increasing, its effective use is lacking as institutions forge ahead to put up static web pages and downloadable zip files as evidence of online learning without considering the role of interaction and interactive learning materials. In India, while there is a wide variety or opportunities for training in the design of online learning, there are very few formal education programmes of high quality in e-Learning. The Post Graduate Diploma in e-Learning (PGDEL) offered online by IGNOU is one of those few. We present a case study of the PGDEL that is predominantly based on Open Educational Resources (OER) and largely based on resource based learning.

The full case study can be downloaded from: https://oerknowledgecloud.org/sites/oerknowledgecloud.org/files/CaseStudies_OER-based_eLearning.pdf

This is an extract from Indira Gandhi National Open University – OER-based Post Graduate Diploma in e-Learning which is licensed under a Creative Commons License 4.0 International license. Adapted from https://oerknowledgecloud.org/sites/oerknowledgecloud.org/files/CaseStudies_OER-based_eLearning.pdf under a CC-BY license.