Main Theme

Opening a New Path to Open Universities: Responding to Global issues
Openly accessible higher education has been crucial to equal society and inclusive economic growth. Recently, open universities should make students have the ability to adapt to the rapid development of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robotic technology, and other technological advances. Also, we should resolve issues which the COVID-19 pandemic raises. 

In the 35th AAOU Annual Conference, we will focus on the six areas: the roles in the society, assessment, human resources developments, student support services, and the relationship with the SDGs. By sharing experiences and research with member universities, we hope to find innovative ways to confront the 21st century's challenges.

Sub-themes

• Repositioning Open Universities in the Post COVID-19 Era

  The COVID-19 outbreak has brought unprecedented changes to higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide in all aspects of university operations. Amid the pandemic, HEIs had to move swiftly toward online provision, transforming the way teaching and learning are delivered and accelerating distance learning in all forms. These global transitions acted as both challenges and opportunities to open universities. It is time for open universities to rethink their roles, reflecting on how they serve as catalysts to inclusive and quality education. How may open universities remain active and competitive following the increase in number of new non-formal providers? Also, in order to prepare for the “new normal,” how can open universities be equipped to provide quality education? It is essential to unlock possible strategies and innovative ways to meet the needs for future development of open universities in response to the post COVID-19 era.

• Innovative EduTech in Distance Education

  EduTech is becoming an indispensable part of distance education. Moodle, LMS, Google Classroom are no longer something new. In a situation where more technologies are being employed in education, and educational technologies and solutions keep advancing, it is important to be updated on development of EduTech and explore its potential.

• Assessment in Open Universities: Old vs. New

  Evaluating academic achievement of students is one of major learning processes. Open universities taking full advantage of ICT are now providing not only text based assessment system but also such a new assessment system as question bank etc. Responding to various demands from students it is time to look back and compare old and new assessment system.

• Human Resource Development(HRD) in Open Universities

  With a firm belief that the best and brightest can complete higher education remotely, open universities are endeavoring to equip school members for a fast-changing environment by introducing various programs and policies for capacity-building. As Human Resource Development(HRD) is the process of increasing the knowledge, skills, and capacities of all the people in a society, it is worthwhile to share knowledge and experiences and work together to develop the most effective programs for human development.

• Best Practices in Providing Students Service in Open Universities

  In distance learning or online open education, improving retention rates, increasing graduation rates, encouraging communication, and overcoming the differences in learning abilities between students have been challenging issues. Moreover, with the COVID-19 pandemic, we face more students’ mental health problems. Many open universities have tried to support their students in innovative ways. Sharing best practices in own universities will be effective and informative guides to the other member universities and also to the other higher education institutions.

• Contribution to Society as an Open University and Its Implication

  Open universities serve the common good. By delivering online courses, we contribute to achieving SDG 4.  The 35th AAOU Annual Conference aims to share insights and experiences on what kind of contribution open universities have been making to society and will be able to make, and take a closer look at their implications.