Introduction to Course and Expected outcomes of the Course

 Open Course is a free course of study that may be accessed by a wide number of people over the internet. Some courses are paid courses. The pandemic has disrupted the traditional teaching-learning paradigm. The educational institutions are now focusing on several MOOCs, which offer value, knowledge, skills, and education that is continuous (https://www.igi-global.com/). Therefore we have also focused on building an effective open course which will focus on filling the gap between school leaders and policies made by Nepal Government regarding inclusive education and equitable practices mentioned in the previous blog.

According to Northeastern University, the benefit of following an open course module, faculty have more freedom to alter their course materials because they are not locked into using a single textbook. In return, learners receive a more in-depth, tailored education that has been proved to increase access and their performance. We have also chosen open courses as a medium to fill the gap because it is easy to access(school leaders can access from wherever and whenever they please) and school leaders will enhance their knowledge and capability of using ICT tools. We have developed a course (https://mooc.ku.edu.np/nic/) to guide our school leaders in increasing their awareness and understanding in inclusive education and equitable practices which will influence action planning, documentation, decision making and problem solving.

The expected outcome of our open course include identifying a variety of inclusion issues that are common in schools and articulating to coworkers and the school community how these issues are affecting student learning, describing relevant inclusion policies in their context, gathering, analyzing, and using inclusion data, locating sources of guidance and support for inclusion and equity, assessing the value of actions taken to improve inclusion in their school, and using technology. 

School Leaders in our open course can choose from a range of activities to support inclusive education and equitable procedures in their schools. These initiatives include planning a knowledge-sharing session on equity and inclusion in the school and also for parents and stakeholders of school, creating and using data storing tools for analyzing the academic performance of students from underrepresented groups, and creating and sharing a success story from their school's equity and inclusion initiatives.

These results are being attained through a variety of initiatives, including small surveys, policy reviews, knowledge-sharing gatherings, the creation of data storing tools, and the creation of success stories. To aid in their learning, participants have also taken part in conversations, assignments, and use the MOODLE platform.

Our open course can come handy for long term solutions of problems. School Leaders can actively watch and examine the school setting to spot difficulties with caste, gender, and disability inclusion.  School leaders will become familiar with the rules and regulations pertaining to equity and inclusion in their particular setting. Examining local government laws, school improvement plans, and other pertinent papers might help with this. School Leaders can use a variety of techniques, including surveys, interviews, and observations, to gather information about inclusion in their schools. They can examine the data to look for trends, patterns, and areas that could want improvement.  They can have advice and assistance for inclusion and equity should be active on the part of participants by reaching out to educators, facilitators, or groups engaged in inclusive education is one way to do this. 

Overall,School leaders can work towards reaching the targeted results of this project by actively participating in the course activities, participating in discussions, using the resources accessible to them, and implementing the knowledge they have learned.