Abstract:
The Government of Sri Lanka funded a six-year Distance Education
Modernization Project (DEMP) implemented by the Ministry of Higher
Education through a loan obtained from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to
develop a National Online Distance Education Sendee (NODES) for the country
(DEMP, 2003-2009). One type of training conducted by DEMP was the
professional development of tutors and mentors who would be responsible for
facilitating online courses offered through NODES. In the first four rounds ol
this training alone, 103 Sri Lankan academics and professionals in 21 institutions
were trained to tutor and mentor online using a learner centered, inquiry based,
community of practice framework. Subsequently, there have been 7 other rounds
of this training, with the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) continuing this
training even today. The authors of this paper served either as instructors, ementors,
and/or proteges in this professional development experience online, and
now members of a cross-cultural research team comprised of eleven
researchers at the University of New Mexico in the U.S., the Open University of
Sri Lanka, and the University of Moratuwa.
