Massive Open Online Courses in India: A Study of Swayam

1. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in
India: A Study of Swayam
By
Vasantha Raju N.
Librarian
Govt. First Grade College-Talakad-571 122
vasanthrz@gmail.com
Paper Presented at the ICSSR Sponsored Two Days National Conference on “Make in India and Digital India:
Empowerment and Transformation for Inclusive Growth” on 30th August 2018 at the Centre for Study of Social
Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, University of Mysore, Mysore.

2. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)?
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a mechanism of mass
dissemination of information through an internet-based educational course
to potentially very large and (internationally) distributed groups of learners.
MOOCs engage thousands of students without geographic bounds
simultaneously in an internet-based, virtual education and socialization
experience.
- Maxwell, et al (2016)
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a free Web-based
distance learning program that is designed for the participation
of large numbers of geographically dispersed students.

3. Source: https://uctlanguagecentre.com/blog/learning-english-online-moocs/

4. Source: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2013/massive-open-online-courses.pdf

5. MOOCs Modules
• cMOOCs: CMOOCs is also known as connectivist module, which
was originated in 2008 at the University of Manitoba by Stephen Downes
and George Siemens, and in which online communities form around a
subject of mutual interest, typically outside traditional educational
contexts.
- Collaborative Participation in Social Network Sites
• xMOOCs: xMOOCs are based on a more traditional classroom structure:
They are a combination of pre-recorded video lecture with quizzes, tests,
or other assessments. xMOOCs are centered around a professor rather
than around a community of students.
Example: edX, Coursera and Udacity etc.,

6. Major Global MOOCs Providers

7. Comparison of Major MOOCs Providers
Source: Nisha, F. & Senthil, V. (2015). MOOCs: Trends Towards Open Distance Learning With Special Reference to
India. DESIDOC Library & Information Technology. 35(2). 82-89.

8. How MOOCs is Beneficial?
• Free of Cost and Easy Enrolment
• Update once Skill Set by enrolling to the Course of his/her Choice
• Participation of International Academic Community
• Encouraging Collaborative Participations
• It increases institutional visibility and help for student admission
• Encourages interdisciplinary learning
• Financially viable for student community

9. Efforts in Developing OERs/Massive Open
Online Courses (MOOCs) in India
• NPTEL (National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning)
– Joint Initiative of IITs and IISc (2003). NPTEL was started with an objective to provide quality education in the field of
Engineering in India by developing curriculum based videos and web courses.
• National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT)
– Launched in the year 2009 with support of Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India
– NPTEL has developed e-content for 933 Courses in Engineering
– Consortium of Educational Communication (CEC) developed e-content for 67 Undergraduate subjects
– UGC developed interactive e-content in 70 subjects of post graduate level ( e-PG Pathasala)
• IIMBx
– IIMB started offering massive open online courses (MOOCs) in 2014 through its digital learning initiative IIMBx offers
MOOCs in all areas of management, IIMBx, in partnership with edX. IIMBx offers MOOCs in all areas of management.
• ApnaCourse
• Launched in August 2013, ApnaCourse.com is a leading E-Learning Platform providing in-demand video courses
delivered by Top Instructors. The courses are aimed at individuals to enhance their skill set and advance their
career.

10. Swayam-Indian MOOCs Platform
• This is a Digital India Initiative
• SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is an integrated
MOOCs platform for distance education that is aimed at offering all the courses from
school level (Class IX) to post-graduation level
• The platform has been developed collaboratively by MHRD (Ministry of Human
Resource Development) and AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) with the
help of Microsoft and is capable of hosting 2,000 courses.
• The objective of Swayam is to take the best teaching learning resources to all,
including the most disadvantaged.

11. Swayam Web Interface

12. Major Features of Swayam
Course type
and duration
• Credit – At
least of one
Semester
Duration
• Non-credit-
Shorter
Duration
Course
components
• Video lecture
• specially prepared
reading material that
can be
downloaded/printed
• Self-assessment tests
through tests and
quizzes
• An online discussion
forum for clearing the
doubts.
Eligibility
• Accessed by
Anyone
• Anytime
• Anywhere
Course fee
• Free of Cost
• to obtain
certificate for
a particular
course
students need
to pay a
nominal fee
Certification
• certificates
are awarded
to students
only after
successful
completion of
the course.
Credits
Students will be assessed through Proctored Exams at the end of the course and credits will be
transferred to the students academic records/marks sheet by the host institutions
- UGC (Credit Framework for Online Learning Courses through SWAYAM) Regulation, 2016.
- AICTE (Credit Framework for online learning course through SWAYAM) Regulations, 2016

13. Example-Course Announcements in Swayam

14. How Quality Content is Produced and Delivered in Swayam
Platform?

15. Why Swayam is Important in Indian Context?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
PG UG PG Diploma Diploma Certificate
41% 39%
57%
66%
31%
59% 61%
43%
34%
69%
Student Enrolment Comparison Between Regular and Distance Mode in
Universities
Regular Mode Distance Mode
Source: AISHE Report, 2015-16
Distance Education enrolment constitutes about 11.05% of the total enrolment in
higher education in India

16. How Swayam Helps the Indian Higher
Education Sector ?
• MOOCs can be partnered with traditional Universities to offer Degrees
• Helps in improving the GER in Higher Education Sector
• Helps to enhance the skill set required in the job market
• Helps in Bringing new ideas in designing pedagogy for traditional
learning systems
• Cost effective and easy to reach the large populations
• Introduce Novel way of learning by delivering contents in different form
and formats.

17. How Swayam Can be Improved Further
• Need to Enhance Student Digital Literacy Skills
• Steps Should Be Taken to Providing Course Contents in Regional languages
• Need to Increase Internet Penetration Rate in Rural Areas
• There is need to develop technological infrastructure in rural areas to reach
the disadvantage communities
• Look for Sustainable Financial Modules to Continue this Initiative
• Need to take appropriate measures to improve the completion ratio of the
course participants
• Controlling Student Enrolment/Registration
• Data Analytics should be Used to Collect the User Participation Data

18. References:
• Chakrvarty, Rupak., & Kaur, J. (2016) MOOCs in India: Yet to shine. International Journal of Information
Studies & Libraries, 1(1). Retrieved from http://www.publishingindia.com/ijisl/107/moocs-in-india-yet-to-
shine/478/3448/
• English Language Centre, University of Cape Town. (2017). Learning English online: MOOCs. Retrieved from
https://uctlanguagecentre.com/blog/learning-english-online-moocs/
• Massive online open courses: Higher education’s digital moment? (2013). Retrieved from
https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2013/massive-open-online-
courses.pdf
• Maxwella, W.D., Fabela, P.H., Diazb,V., Walkowc, J.C., Kwiekd, N.C., Kanchanaraksae, S., Wamsleyf, M.,
Cheng, A., Bookstavera, P.B. (2016). Open online courses in US healthcare education: Practical considerations
and lesson learned in implementation. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching & Learning, 10(6), 736-743.
• Nisha, F. & Senthil, V. (2015). MOOCs: Trends Towards Open Distance Learning With Special Reference to
India. DESIDOC Library & Information Technology. 35(2). 82-89.
• Shika Anand. (2017). Free MOOCs course at Swayam: Govts online education platform. Retrieved from
https://www.shiksha.com/engineering/articles/free-mooc-courses-at-swayam-govt-s-online-education-
platform-blogId-14716

19. Thank You
?
Courtesy: OCLC