| Summary: | Well into the new millennium, open and distance learning (ODL) today continues to push
forward in the domain of higher education. More often than not, it owes this advancement
to information and communication technology (ICT). ICTs have provided the necessary
technical capacity for ODL institutions and open universities to continuously improve
their services to socially diverse and geographically distributed students. Open University
Malaysia (OUM), the country’s premier ODL institution, has operated for seven years
under a blended pedagogy consisting of online learning, face-to-face tutorials and selfmanaged
learning. The fulcrum for the implementation of this pedagogy is the
University’s ICT infrastructure; one that is constantly undergoing enhancement and
improvement to correspond to current trends and ideas. This paper will explore several
areas of ICT-related innovations at OUM, i.e. development of e-content; establishment of
an institutional question bank; online forum data mining and analysis; iRadio OUM;
development of the University’s management information and document management
systems; and provision of an e-library. Such endeavours are geared towards the overall
betterment of OUM’s educational services and hope to provide learners with the most
enriching and rewarding learning experience. (Author's abstract)
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