UMS take lead in global education inclusivity with iOER virtual showcase

6 February 2024

By Wartawan Nabalu News

KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) together with Department of Higher Learning (JPT) Ministry of Higher Education (KPT), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Malaysian Council for Public higher Learning Institutions (MEIPTA) successfully organized Malaysian Inclusive Open Educational Resources (iOER) Virtual Showcase 2023 recently. 

The event is a follow up to the National iOER Policy launched in December 2021, brought together distinguished guests, educators, and international representatives, underscored UMS leadership in promoting accessible education for all.

The Vice Chancellor UMS, Professor Datuk Dr. Kasim Haji Mansor said UMS is honoured to be one of the key parties involved in the project called ‘Design and Development of iOER’.

“This project is conducted fully online in three phases over a period of six months. The activities were made possible with the generous financial support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, USA.

“UMS is committed to implement the Malaysian National iOER Policy and Action Plans as outlined in the UNESCO OER Recommendation 2019. This project focuses on Action Plan No.3 namely, to support the creation, access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution of inclusive and equitable quality OER for all stakeholders,” he said.

The showcase was officiated by the Director of JPT, Professor Dr. Azlinda Azman, involving 80 academicians from 20 Malaysian public universities.

Furthermore, Kasim said UMS is also responsible in establishing the website ioercop.ums.edu.my to archive all activities and deliverables from this project under creative Commons licenses and can be accessed globally.

He also informed that the iOER project was initiated by Director for eLearning UMS, Professor Dr. Fong Soon Fook who is also the UNESCO iOER Consultant and his dedicated team.