ICT and OER-Integrated Teaching and Learning: Supporting Social Change among Teachers in a Post-War Northern Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper examines the contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Open Educational Resources (OER) integrated teaching and learning for supporting social change among teachers in the post war Northern Sri Lanka. It is a case study exploring the experiences and reflections of a cohort of teachers from Northern Sri Lanka who were very recently exposed to use, create and share OER in their teaching-learning process, using ICT. Data was collected from 38 student teachers of Post Graduate Diploma in Education Programme at the Jaffna Regional Centre (JRC) of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) using questionnaire surveys, interviews, concept mapping, classroom observations and self-reflections. Findings revealed that ICT and OER -integrated teaching and learning has supported to change teachers’ thinking patterns and to change their social behaviours in a positive manner as well as to build up social relationships. These indicate the important role of ICT and OER-integrated teaching and learning in bringing about social change in a post-conflict social setting.