Daffodil International University (DIU) represented Global Access Asia-Online Courseware Platform of AUPF, an e-education network, held in South Korea till August 25. More than 65 university representatives from different Asian countries were present in the event.
Md Sabur Khan, chairman, board of trustees, DIU, led the three members delegation from DIU. Other members from DIU were Md Fouad Hossain Sarker, assistant professor, Department of Natural Sciences and Md Iqbal Bhuyan, lecturer, Department of Business Administration.
DIU held the role of one of the active contributors of this online forum and the students of DIU will avail opportunities to join the other 65 universities from home. Md Sabur Khan presented the future prospects of online education and how DIU has been contributing to ICT and education sector in Bangladesh as well as the GAA. Three faculty members of DIU even developed online-based course contents and contributed to GAA.
The GAA, an outcome of the Asian University Presidents Forum (AUPF), is an international learning and teaching opportunity through both online credit and non-credit based courses. It kicked off its service following an opening ceremony at Dongseo University (DSU) in Busan, South Korea. Jekuk Chang, president of DSU, welcomed university leaders from around the Asia.
An online courseware platform, GAA is similar to the massive open online course service in the US, commonly known as MOOC, which pursues unlimited participation and open access through the web. In many countries, universities, and even governments, have seen MOOC as a way to widely distribute each university’s course load.
In GAA, each participating university offers courses online, which allow students of other schools to take lectures for free and earn academic credit. Courses of credit have a 15-week curriculum, and students may earn two academic credits for each course completed. All lectures are conducted in English.