Initially, the National Online Distance Education Service (NODES) was established as a part of the Distance Education Modernization Project (DEMP), in 2003 under the Ministry of Higher Education, with the aim of boosting enrollment, quality and relevance of learning through online distance education. In 2015, NODES ownership and management was transferred to Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). One outcome of NODES is the means to develop Online Distance Learning (ODL) institutions and a means for delivering ODL throughout the country, and provides expertise and facilities for e-Leaning platform. NODES services provide through public and private institutions can deliver online education and training courses to their recipients and outside clients across Sri Lanka and overseas.
Objectives of C-NODES of OUSL
Function as a facilitator between the outside parties and the university in order to:
- To provide facilities to develop new online materials or transform the conventional course materials into online mode, material hosting and maintenance.
- To provide facilities to communicate with the masses at a distance using the state of art technology for e-Learning in a manner that is demanded by the organizations and other users.
- To organize, develop and conduct the various online learner assessment and evaluation criteria on market oriented setting.
- To arrange and conduct the training sessions or workshops on online distance education methodologies and tools used today.
C- NODES services
NODES in the OUSL has the facilities to support to online education in following ways.
- Online material development, material hosting and maintenance
- Video conferencing facilities
- Facilities for online examinations and online quizzes and other online service facilities on demand
- Workshops and training programs on contemporary distance education methodologies or e-learning techniques used today