Widening Reach of eLearning in India

Representational Image: Screengrab of the Ministry of Human Resource Development 

In India, the eLearning sector is gaining momentum and grabbing the attention of the policymakers. With help from the global players, the private sector players tried to accelerate eLearning space. With an initiative like SWAYAM, the Union Government is trying to garner the potential of eLearning. In this backdrop, the Government has identified 75 institutions to act as National Resource Centres (NRCs) to prepare online training material for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) with focus on latest developments in the discipline, new & emerging trends, pedagogical improvements, and methodologies for transacting revised curriculum. In the first phase, 75 discipline-specific National Resource Centres have been identified, under the Ministry of Human Resource Development ’s Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT) located in Central Universities, IISc, IUCAA, IITs, IISERs, NITs, State Universities; UGC’s Human Resource Development Centres (HRDCs), National Institutes for Technical Teachers Training (NITTTRs), IIITs, Open Universities.

These NRCs cover wide-ranging disciplines of Social Sciences, Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Design & Manufacturing, Humanities, Language Teaching, Commerce, Management, Education Planning and Administration, Public Policy, Leadership & Governance, Library & Information Science, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Assessment and Evaluation, Pedagogy and research methods, cutting-edge areas of Nano-sciences, Internet of Things, etc.

Under this initiative, all in-service teachers, irrespective of their subject and seniority have an enabling opportunity to keep abreast of the latest developments in their disciplines through the technology-based online refresher course, through SWAYAM, India’s own MOOCs platform.

This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Satya Pal Singh in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question.