Cambodia/OER

Overview

Cambodia (Khmer: Kampuchea, IPA: [kɑmˈpuˈciə]), officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia and once known as the Khmer Empire, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Its total landmass is 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 sq mi), bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. Its capital city is Phnom Penh and the population is 14,952,665.

Further information

For further general information see Wikipedia:Cambodia/OER.

Education in Cambodia/OER

For a general description of education in Cambodia/OER see Education:Cambodia/OER.

e-learning

For a description more focussed to e-learning see E-learning:Cambodia/OER.

OER Initiatives in Cambodia/OER

Though some initiatives exist, UNESCO reports that "Poor knowledge of English impedes scientific communication with international communities. Developing content in Khmer language is a big challenge. Since the policies, programmes, and initiatives are yet to take off, especially in higher education sector, the challenges for developing open content are immense. Technological barriers in terms of infrastructure and capacity persist." (1)

National OER initiatives

The Open Institute, Cambodia, (http://www.open.org.kh/en) runs two programs:

The Open Schools program, which "is committed to ensure the development of all the necessary tools required to improve the quality of education through the use of ICT, including the necessary plans, computer programs in Khmer language, curricula, distance learning methodology, training materials, and technology for sustainability. The Program will also making certain that teachers receives the necessary training and support." It aims to "create the necessary know-how on ICT-based Open and Distance Learning (ODL), including supporting tools, curricula, training materials and trained content developers; all of it aiming at the development of high-quality content for the chosen teaching-learning methodology", and also "create a network of teaching-learning ODL content developers in Khmer language that will share experiences and materials, creating a culture of sharing between teachers, students and scholars that will accelerate development."(2)

The Khmer Software Initiative, which "is a project of the Open Institute to help the economic development of Cambodia by providing computer tools in Khmer (Cambodian) language that can be used by everybody. It translates to Khmer Free and Open Source applications (such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentation tools, e-mail, Internet, graphic manipulation, etc.) for their use by private users and in government offices. It also produces large amounts of documentation in Khmer." (3)

Dionys reported in 2012 that the Teacher Training Department of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MoEYS) of Cambodia and VVOB (Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and Technical Assistance) collaborated to improve ICT integration in pre-service teacher training. In doing so, they made use of existing OERs: "Over 200 interactive multimedia applications for science were selected, translated to Khmer and otherwise localised. For example, 200 science experiment video clips were produced, explaining the setup, theoretical understanding and pedagogical use of low cost science experiments. For life skills, over 100 video clips were selected from existing resources, and over 30 model lessons were filmed. All materials have been submitted to quality control by stakeholders. Support materials were made available in the form of manuals and activity sheets. Activity sheets for interactive multimedia contain references to the curriculum, information on target audience and duration, which establish clear learning objectives and student outcomes in terms of students' knowledge, skills and attitude. Furthermore, they contain an extensive description of examples on how to use the interactive multimedia applications, linked to the Cambodian lesson plan format and providing possible integration of student centred approaches into the lesson. Both digital and printed materials are made available in an off-line version (as a box set including DVDs) and online through the clearing house website http://www.krou.org/ ("krou" meaning teacher in the Khmer language). The website will be upgraded thoroughly by the end of March 2012 through the improvement of user experience and an extended availability of learning materials. Users can download materials freely from the website and are encouraged to upload their own contributions." (4)

References

1. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/portals-and-platforms/goap/access-by-region/asia-and-the-pacific/cambodia/

2. http://www.open.org.kh/en/open-schools

3. http://www.open.org.kh/en/khmer-os

Reports

4. Dionys, David. Introduction of ICT and multimedia into Cambodia's teacher training centres. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2012, 28(6), 1068-1073. (http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet28/dionys.html)

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