SWAYAM- Indian MOOCs: An Insider’s Perspective

Abstract

MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses were called disruptive technology in 2012. MOOC has proved to be game changer for educational practices. Study Webs of Active –Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) is an Indian MOOC initiative and is fast catching up in the MOOC world. SWAYAM is designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz., access, equity and quality. The SWAYAM course delivery follows 4 quadrant approach. SWAYAM aims to make anytime anywhere learning and uses pedagogical approach of ODL and Online learning. The Course Coordinators (CCs) have to develop MOOCs as per SWAYAM guidelines. A Questionnaire was designed on Google forms which were used to collect the data. The data received was analyzed and it was observed that most of the CCs were satisfied with the learning platform of SWAYAM. CCs did not find all features useful and thus, did not use features they were not comfortable with, like the features of insight; assessment was not being used effectively by CCs. Many suggestions were given by CCs like making learner complete profile mandatory, a short training for the CCs, options of Virtual classes, etc.