Dr Manoj Kumar Dash

Sr. Regional Director

Dr Manoj Kumar Dash a senior academic & regional head grown from the system of teacher education and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system. Two decades of PAN India experience in instructional design, development and implementation for continuous professional development of teachers and teacher educators through ODL system, technology enhanced learning (TEL) blended learning practices (BLP) and open education resources (OER).Commitment to strengthen academic system and academic operations to use ODL, OER, TEL, and BLP for scaling teacher development to ensure learning enhancement of learners a means of sustainable development. Strong expertise and willingness to make innovations in academic institutions for supporting systems development. Contributed significantly as Regional Head at various Regional Centers (Delhi, Rajasthan and Odisha) and Regional Evaluation Center (Bhubaneswar) of IGNOU with high commitment and dedication with a proven track record of timely completion of assigned work achieved set target of the institution.

Created success in increasing access, equity and quality in providing cost effective education to deprived and marginalized sections of the society (women, persons with disabilities, jail inmates, and economically backward) in the context of EDUCATION FOR ALL. Strong ability to develop network with organizations and collaborations with institutions to address the demand of NEW SKILLS: Skilling, up-skilling Re-skilling of youth.

Developed collaboration and partnership with Govt of India (Skill Development Institute, Bhubaneswar); Govt of Rajasthan (Commissionerate of College Education); Govt of Odisha [Dept of Higher Education, Dept of Heath & Family Welfare, National Health Mission, Odisha State Open University for skilling the youth, enhancing their employability and entrepreneurship skills. Created model integrating education & skill development for youth in Rajasthan and Odisha. Excellence in education modeling and capacity creation and learner engagement process through MOOCs.

Provided consistent support and advocacy for policy adoption and implementation in various state Govts in terms of technical advice, building capacity and proposing innovative solutions for increasing access to equitable quality education and training. Conceptualized and lead change processes and innovative practices for capacity building of institutions to transition to online and blended learning. Focused on result oriented management of institutions to make it flexible and responsive to the need of the society with continuous monitoring and evaluation for systemic improvement.

Dr Dash designed, developed and implemented content based you tube channels in 7 different regional languages (Odia, Hindi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Punjabi, Urdu and Tamil) for UG courses of Ignou in the line of NEP 2020 and also MBA courses in English & BLIS in ODIA. Recently designed and developed a channel exclusively for DECE (Dip in Early Childhood Care and Education) for catering the academic needs and requirements of huge number of students at their door steps enrolled in this programme under various RCs of Ignou.

Designed, Developed and Implemented a MOOC on Introduction to Statistical Analysis (https://www.mooc4dev.org/statanalysis) in collaboration with CEMCA, COL. Completed 08 MOOCS, 05 NLINE Courses and 05 ON CAMPUS short term professional courses (Refresher & Orientation Courses) for professional enhancement. Published 04 books, 32 research articles, 12 full papers in seminar & conference proceedings, 25 units in SLMs and 10 chapters in edited books. He is actively engaged and associated with designed, development and production of 30 training modules (print) and 33 electronic modules at national and state level for training of teachers and teacher educators for the cause of recurrent training of and professional development. He completed 04 research projects at national level and also associated with providing consultancy to CEMCA COL in 03 different projects and different state Govt in 04 projects, guided 01 Ph. D, 01 M.Phil and 06 Masters projects under different Universities.

Dr Dash awarded Gold Medal in PG Diploma in Distance Education (2008), Award of Appreciation: Best Services to Regional Center Jaipur (2015-16, Gold Medal: Best Services to Regional Center Jaipur (2016-17); Gold Medal: Best Services to Regional Center Bhubaneswar (2019-20), and Best Innovation Practices@Ignou2024.

Dr Manoj Kumar Dash
Sr Regional Director
Ignou, Regional Center &
Regional Evaluation Center
Bhubaneswar, Odisha