Students of engineering colleges will have an option to attend lectures of country’s best teachers and even get notes prepared by them anytime from the next academic session with the Centre gearing up to launch India’s massive open online courses (Moocs) platform by April 2016.
The benefits of getting registered for this online education platform, being given a final shape under the guidance of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, would not just end here.
A student, no matterwhich university he or she is enrolled with, can complete his entire degree programme online.
And, at the end of every semester, a student may opt to take a “proctored” examination at one of the nearest centres to be set up under the Moocs, instead of appearing for the examinations conducted by his/her varsity.
Such students will, however, get their score cards along with degree from their parent university as the institutes offering online courses under Moocs, will transfer the credits earned by them in each semester to the varsities in which the students are enrolled with.
The proctored examination, meaning a test under strict physical supervision of an invigilator, will be designed and conducted by the institutes whose faculty’s entire teaching sessions a student attends for any of the subjects in a semester.
These institutes will also be responsible for evaluation of the student’s answer sheets and sending the report card to the respective university for transfer of credits.
“For example, if a registered student from Karnatak University undergoes a course in Mathematics offered by a faculty of IIT Bombay on Moocs platform, the proctored examination will be conducted by the IIT-Bombay only and credits earned by the student will be transferred to Karnatak University. The institute offering online courses will not grant degree,” official sources told Deccan Herald.
The option for taking proctored examination for every semester under Moocs, however, would not exclude a student from compulsory requirement of attending his or her classes regularly and taking class tests.
“Otherwise, they will not get their internal marks,” sources clarified. The Moocs platform also does not bar a student from completing their courses online and appearing for the semester examination conducted by their respective university.
“In both cases, the degree has to be awarded by the parent institute. The only advantage of earning a degree through the Moocs platform is that it will reflect from where a student earned his credits,” sources added.
About 1,300 video lectures by the country’s best teachers in engineering subjects has already been created under a joint initiative of IITs, IISc and National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL). Work is on to complete creating reading materials by the finest minds.
