Journal of Information and Knowledge (Formerly SRELS Journal of Information Management)

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A Study on Design, Development and Implementation of MOOCs by Faculty Members in Central Universities of India: Problems and Prospects


Affiliations
1 A K Chanda Law College, Silchar, Assam – 788003, India
2 Department of Library and Information Science and Dean, Swami Vivekananda School of Library Sciences, Assam University (A Central University), Silchar – 788011, Assam, India
     

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Technology is a promising development in education, allowing learning materials to be accessed anytime and anywhere, providing a global learning environment. MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses, are designed to support unlimited participation of teacher/instructor and learner. Thousands of people can access knowledge disseminated across the globe through MOOCs, which can offer a solution to those who might have a problem limiting or compromising access to the traditional way of formal learning. Purpose: With the new education policy of having a virtual university, the creation of e-content and making them available on digital platforms, the Government of India has taken a step to modernize the education system of India. The creation of MOOCs platform Swayam is a very new initiative taken by the Government of India to promote online learning and offer quality education to people’s doorstep. UGC has urged all the universities to adopt online courses available on the Swayam platform and to motivate faculties to design and deliver MOOCs. The present study investigated the growth of MOOCs at the Swayam platform, and the involvement of Central University (CU) faculty in the design, development and implementation of MOOCs. Methodology: A census survey is conducted among the faculty of Central University, particularly those offering a MOOCs on the Swayam platform. The researchers used the Google Form platform to disseminate the questionnaires and collect responses. Findings: The findings of the study showed the existence of a total of 26 Central University faculty members offering MOOCs on the Swayam platform. Institutional Reputation, Creating National Identity and personal Interest are the factors motivating the design and delivery of MOOCs. The study also revealed the key factors required for designing MOOCs including support from the Institution, Hardware/Software Resources, Time for Designing MOOCs, Availability of Contents (OERs), Learning Contents for the Course, Instructor’s Role, Duration of the Course, Objectives of the Course and Pedagogical Approaches. Lack of Infrastructure is the most common problem faced by the faculty while designing MOOCs. Originality: The study is an original research work conducted using an online questionnaire, and the results drawn are based on the data received from the respondents.

Keywords

Central Universities (CUs), Higher Education, India, Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs), Open Education Resources (OERs), Swayam, UGC.
User
About The Authors

Nilanjana Purkayastha
A K Chanda Law College, Silchar, Assam – 788003
India

Manoj Kumar Sinha
Department of Library and Information Science and Dean, Swami Vivekananda School of Library Sciences, Assam University (A Central University), Silchar – 788011, Assam
India


Notifications

  • Atiaja, L. N. A., and Proenza, R. S. G. (2016). The MOOCs: Origin, characterization, principal problems and challenges in Higher Education. Journal of E-Learning and Knowledge Society, 12: 65-76.

  • Chatterjee, P., and Nath, A. (2014). Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in education - A case study in Indian context and vision to ubiquitous learning. 2014 IEEE International Conference on MOOC, Innovation and Technology in Education (MITE). https://doi.org/10.1109/ MITE.2014.7020237

  • Chauhan, J. and Goel, A. (2017). An Overview of MOOC in India. International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology, 49, 111-120. https://doi.org/10.14445/22312803/IJCTTV49P117

  • Class Central. (n.d.). Universities. Available at: https://www. classcentral.com/universities

  • Haumin, L., and Madhusudhan, M. (2019). An Indian based MOOC: An overview. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-Journal). Available at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ libphilprac/2382.

  • Jagetiya, A., Challa, R., and Prashanthi, G. (2018). MOOCs: Education for all- on going development in India. 2018 IEEE 6th International Conference on MOOCs, Innovation and Technology in Education (MITE). https://doi.org/10.1109/ MITE.2018.8747144

  • Ministry of Education Government of India. (2020). Available at: https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/ files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf

  • Ministry of Human Resource Management. (2016). SWAYAM. Available at: https://swayam.gov.in/

  • Nagasampige, M., and Nagasampige, K. (2017). A qualitative study on usage and effectiveness of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Indian university education system. European Journal of Open Education and E-Learning Studies, 2(1).

  • The Gazette of India. (2016). UGC (Credit Framework for Online Learning Courses through SWAYAM) Regulation, 2016. New Delhi: Government of India. Available at: https://www.ugc.gov.in/pdfnews/4064990_UGC-(Credit- Framework-for-Online-Learning-Courses-through- SWAYAM)-Regulation,-2016.pdf


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  • A Study on Design, Development and Implementation of MOOCs by Faculty Members in Central Universities of India: Problems and Prospects

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Authors

Nilanjana Purkayastha
A K Chanda Law College, Silchar, Assam – 788003, India
Manoj Kumar Sinha
Department of Library and Information Science and Dean, Swami Vivekananda School of Library Sciences, Assam University (A Central University), Silchar – 788011, Assam, India

Abstract


Technology is a promising development in education, allowing learning materials to be accessed anytime and anywhere, providing a global learning environment. MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses, are designed to support unlimited participation of teacher/instructor and learner. Thousands of people can access knowledge disseminated across the globe through MOOCs, which can offer a solution to those who might have a problem limiting or compromising access to the traditional way of formal learning. Purpose: With the new education policy of having a virtual university, the creation of e-content and making them available on digital platforms, the Government of India has taken a step to modernize the education system of India. The creation of MOOCs platform Swayam is a very new initiative taken by the Government of India to promote online learning and offer quality education to people’s doorstep. UGC has urged all the universities to adopt online courses available on the Swayam platform and to motivate faculties to design and deliver MOOCs. The present study investigated the growth of MOOCs at the Swayam platform, and the involvement of Central University (CU) faculty in the design, development and implementation of MOOCs. Methodology: A census survey is conducted among the faculty of Central University, particularly those offering a MOOCs on the Swayam platform. The researchers used the Google Form platform to disseminate the questionnaires and collect responses. Findings: The findings of the study showed the existence of a total of 26 Central University faculty members offering MOOCs on the Swayam platform. Institutional Reputation, Creating National Identity and personal Interest are the factors motivating the design and delivery of MOOCs. The study also revealed the key factors required for designing MOOCs including support from the Institution, Hardware/Software Resources, Time for Designing MOOCs, Availability of Contents (OERs), Learning Contents for the Course, Instructor’s Role, Duration of the Course, Objectives of the Course and Pedagogical Approaches. Lack of Infrastructure is the most common problem faced by the faculty while designing MOOCs. Originality: The study is an original research work conducted using an online questionnaire, and the results drawn are based on the data received from the respondents.

Keywords


Central Universities (CUs), Higher Education, India, Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs), Open Education Resources (OERs), Swayam, UGC.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.17821/srels%2F2023%2Fv60i5%2F170945