With the advent of technology, e-learning is rapidly gaining importance and momentum. With the government aiming at digitising India with its ‘Digital India’ initiative, educational institutes are also working in tandem to help fulfil the goal.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are fast gaining popularity among students and working professionals as they help them study at their convenience and time.
Websites such as edX and Coursera enlist free online courses from various institutes across the world.
Such is the popularity of MOOCs that last year Prime Minister Modi launched ‘SWAYAM’, a MOOC platform in India, which will have two courses from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and one from Princeton University, U.S. The courses can be accessed free of cost. Today, several other Indian institutes have collaborated with SWAYAM and many more courses are on offer.
Talking about MOOCs in India, Ajit Chauhan, vice chairperson of Amity Online Education, says the biggest advantage of MOOCs is accessing study content taught by the best faculty at any given time.
“The biggest advantage of MOOCs is the convenience of learning. It helps deliver quality education to students, irrespective of their geographical location. MOOCs allow students sitting in the most remote corner of the world get access to the best of educational content at very practical and economical prices. Apart from study materials, students get to participate in live discussions which help them get their doubts clarified and interact with professors from top universities and colleges,” Mr. Chauhan said.
Elaborating on the MOOCs offered by Amity University, Mr. Chauhan said about one lakh students are already accessing them.
“For all our MOOCs, tuition is free. Students only need to pay a nominal fee for the examination charges every semester. Currently, all our certificate courses, which last for two-three months, are on offer on the MOOC platform. We are also the first in the country to launch a bachelor’s degree on the MOOC platform,” Mr. Chauhan added.
Amity University’s bachelor’s of arts degree, available on the MOOC platform, is spread across six semesters and allows students to specialise in any one field during the last two semesters.
Since its launch in 2015, about one thousand students have enrolled for the online course.
“We have 15 MOOCs on offer and we are in talks with top universities from abroad to launch their MOOC degrees through the Amity platform,” Mr. Chauhan said.
