Melody Chin is currently, Research Librarian, Economics & Coordinator, Faculty Teaching Support. The latter additional role she developed and evolved rapidly over the last 5 years. Melody has made significant contributions to OER and Open Education, both at Singapore Management University (SMU) as well as internationally as Founder and Co-Chair of the ASEAN University Network Inter-Library Online (AUNILO) OER Special Interest Group for the region.
Melody has successfully led the OER initiative and strategy at SMU Libraries. This included developing an OER Stakeholder Engagement & Action Plan for the institution, comprising of staff competency-building, forming local partnerships, and enhancing the discoverability of open resources. Through her advocacy efforts, Melody has successfully raised awareness on open practices at SMU and has since grown the OER initiative at SMU from a single-librarian initiative to OER now being part of the Libraries’ broader strategic plan and goals.
Internally, Melody aligns her work through collaborating with the Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) and conducts orientation for new Faculty and PhD students in the Graduate Instructor Foundations in Teaching (GIFT) Programme on topics such as OER and Open Resources. Furthermore, she advocates for open resources as an alternative for students purchasing textbooks with exorbitant costs in our annual call for course readings for the academic terms.
Internationally, Melody’s most notable contribution in Open Education has been the launch OER-SIG: ‘Open Educational Regional – Special Interest Group.’ The OER-SIG Proposal was launched at the 17th AUNILO Meeting in July 2022, and has now successfully gained association support of AUNILO. Melody’s accomplishment in launching the ASEAN group is demonstrated in the growing cross-national group membership, and in the overwhelming attendance of the SIG’s open events for the wider community.
A webinar organized as part of the group’s activities held in September 2023 attracted strong participation regionally, having welcomed over 80 attendees from across institutions in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Singapore.
Around Southeast Asia, Melody has generously given her time to teach and speak, including as invited Instructor for the ‘ASEAN University Network’s AUNILO Train-the-Trainer OER workshop’ at the Universitas Gadjah Mada (Indonesia), as invited OER speaker for Universiti Malaya (Malaysia), and instructor at the ‘ASEAN Summer School for Emerging Library Leaders 2023’ (Singapore). Melody’s widespread impact and influence on Open Education in Southeast Asia is evident in the growing momentum and discussions that have been ignited on Open Education issues and trends in the region, inspiring others to move towards open practices.
As part of staff development, Melody created the ‘Librarian OER Workshop and Bootcamp,’ and in October 2023 collaborated with the University’s Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) in developing and teaching the inaugural OER workshop for Faculty instructors at SMU, with promising feedback. Melody keeps up to date by understanding trends and developments in teaching and learning from industry reports such as EDUCAUSE and Gartner when she regularly shares insights as part of professional development. More recently, Melody has secured SMU Libraries membership in UNESCO’s OER Dynamic Coalition.
Melody’s work is befitting of a catalyst as evidenced above. She has amplified SMU Libraries role in leading initiatives in OER and Open Textbooks, and particularly her work in the Asia-Pacific where this area is on the agenda for librarians as part of the digital transformation of libraries. She has established networks with other special interest groups as part of her leadership and advocacy role. Melody has shown interest in wanting to pursue a certification course in Open Resources and will focus on that after she completes her PhD.
Award Nominator
After reading the motivation for this nomination and exploring some of the resources provided, it is clear to me that Melody’s work is a continuous effort to make OE and OER more visible and understandable to stakeholders at all levels.
Award Reviewer
Explore more about this awardee…
- Meet the Winners of the 2024 Open Education Awards for Excellence (Nov 14, 2024 at OEGlobal24 in Brisbane, Australia)
Podcasts from Open Education Global
Into this last month of 2025 we continue catching up with winners of the 2024 Open Education Awards for Excellence (that’s how much excellence is out there). In this episode recorded August 11, 2025 we hear the voice and open education perspectives of Melody Chin, Senior Librarian at Singapore Management University (SMU).
Recognized with an Individual OEAward as a Catalyst, Melody shares the state of open education resources and practices at SMU and it’s impact in Singapore and beyond, through her activities and fostering of openness regionally with the ASEAN University Network. Listen in to learn more about Melody’s interests and motivations for being an open catalyst.
at Descript.com
In This Episode
FYI: For the sake of experimentation and the spirit of transparency, this set of show notes alone was generated by the AI “Underlord” in the Descript editor we use to produce OEGlobal Voices.
Exploring Open Education and Librarianship with Melody Chin
Join us on OE Global Voices as we dive into a fascinating conversation with Melody Chin from the Singapore Management University. Recognized with an Open Education Award for Excellence as a Catalyst in 2024, Melody shares her journey from her early educational experiences in Singapore and Sydney to her pivotal role in advocating Open Educational Resources (OER). Discover how Melody’s passion for education and libraries has driven her efforts to make OER more accessible and impactful, both at SMU and across Southeast Asia. Melody also discusses the evolving role of librarians in the digital age, challenges in promoting OER, and the importance of building communities of practice across the region.
- 00:00 Intro Music and Highlight Quote
- 01:10 Welcome to OE Global Voices Podcast
- 01:23 Meet Melody Chin: Award-Winning Open Educator
- 02:31 Melody’s Background and Journey
- 06:52 Discovering Open Educational Resources (OER)
- 08:30 Challenges and Strategies in OER Adoption
- 13:14 The Role of Libraries in OER
- 16:40 Melody’s Involvement in ASEAN University Network
- 21:18 Current Challenges and Future Prospects
- 25:12 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
(end of AI generated show notes)
Additional Links and Quotes for Episode 92
- 2024 Open Education for Excellent award as a Catalyst (OEGlobal)
- Why I Enjoy Working at the SMU Libraries as a Senior Librarian in Instruction & Learning (Singapore Management University blog)
- Singapore Management University (SMU)
- Growth in Asia (SMU Research area)
- SMU Library
- Open Educational Resources (Research Guide)
- Centre for Teaching Excellence
- SMU Open Courses
- ASEAN University Network (AUN)
- Libraries of ASEAN University Network (AUNILO)
- MERLOT: How ASEAN Universities Can Scale Up Faculty Development Faster, More Effectively, and More Affordably (AUN-TEPL Workplan Seminar 2023)
- Overview of Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) (Singapore Ministry of Education)
…especially [for] some of the classes that’ are based on local context, because one of the university priorities is Growth in Asia. Some courses have been based very much on Asian topics, Asian economies. For those sort of local based courses, it’s been a little bit more difficult to find relevant OER.
But at the same time, I’ve constantly been reminding instructors that’s the beautiful thing about OER. You can customize the case studies, customize the examples that you have for our local context.
Melody Chin on making OER relevant
Listen to more from our episodes recorded with Open Education Awards for Excellence winners.
Our open licensed music for this episode is a track called Catalystby Anemoia that is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.Like most of our podcast music, it was found at the Free Music Archive (see our full FMA playlist).
