1. Attachment 2B; For agenda 1.2.1
Sonam Penjor
Manager, Educational Technology
Office of the Vice Chancellor
The Royal University of Bhutan
Page x of y

2. Remembering Robin Mason ALT-C 2011

3. Bhutan Bordering with China and India Constitutional monarchy
Population of 700,000
Development philosophy of GNH

4. Royal University of Bhutan
Established in June 2003 through the Royal Charter
Distributed University
A central coordinating office and 10 constituent colleges
6000 students
939 staff

5. Members of the University5
Members of the University

6. Robin & Bhutan
2005 to 2006
Asia-Link project on Development and Management of Sustainable Systems for Distributed Higher Education in Nepal and Bhutan:
Distributed learning: experiences of UHI and OU
Systems development: expert advice on technologies suitable for distributed campuses
Institutional systems: staff development workshops, conferences and exchange visits on the subject of institutional models for distributed education: pedagogy, online teaching, appropriate technology
Sustainable systems: capacity building and exchange of good practice in the area sustainable rural education.

7. Robin & Bhutan 2007 to 2008 EU Asia-Link project EduShare
OU, Lewis Castle College and Asian university partners
Quality assurance workshops
Development of course resources
staff development (MPhil programme)
Educational technology workshops –OU’s OpenLearn, etc
Robin Mason & Frank Rennie published a book on Bhutan: Bhutan Ways
of Knowing

8. Educational Technology at RUB
Teaching/learning is predominantly book/lecture based
Use of educational technology is just being understood
Staff capability is very limited
Telecommunication network is good across the country
Internet connectivity & bandwidth is poor
Moodle as university-wide VLE (2011), but challenged by lack of capability in instructional design
Teaching/learning lacks use of educational technology and other educational resources

9. Networking & Partnerships
Support and expertise in:
Developing systems & capability in educational technology use
Distributed education delivery
Open educational resources
Innovative programme development & delivery

10. Thank You