ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of information communication technologies (ICT) and open distance learning (ODL) in Nepal during the first three years of the project implementation. It contextualizes the intervention within the sociocultural realities in Nepalese society and links the intervention to HE policies and strategies supporting the nation’s overall objectives to meet the sustainable development goals (SDG). The study has applied a comparative case study (CCS) approach (Bartlett, 2017), using mixed methods constituting the vertical comparison of the intervention from the global to the national and finally implementation level, as well as the horizontal comparison, addressing some of the outcomes from the two main institutions involved indicating changes over time. The study aims at explaining the phenomenon of transformation by utilizing Rogers’ (2003) theory on diffusion of innovation as a conceptual lens. The results of the study indicates a promising avenue to increase women’s and marginalized groups’ access and participation in higher education for teacher professional development. University teachers have applied this new innovative pedagogy using ICT in the ODL courses as well as in the face-to-face course. It has raised new discourses of innovations regarding epistemological and inclusive perspectives and contributed to the expansion of ODL into new areas of higher education in Nepal at the national level.
