Workshop on Massive Open Online Courses for Faculty

The Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) of Loreto College, Kolkata organised a workshop on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) for faculty members on November 25 and 26, 2024. The workshop was conducted by Fr. Julian S Das, a distinguished expert from the Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMRC), St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata. EMRC Kolkata is one of 21 media centres in India funded and operated by the University Grants Commission (UGC), and it serves as a nodal centre for the production and running of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on the SWAYAM portal.

Fr. Julian began by highlighting the centrality of digital learning in the National Education Policy (NEP) of 2020. He noted how the NEP marks a paradigm shift in India’s educational landscape with its emphasis on holistic, flexible, technology-enabled, and accessible learning. He further elaborated on how the SWAYAM platform, which hosts a wide array of MOOCs across various disciplines, serves as a crucial tool for bridging the digital divide and achieving the three fundamental principles of the NEP: access, equity, and quality. Fr. Julian stressed that proficiency in technology-enabled education is no longer an option but an obligation for all those involved in higher education.

The session then focused on the MOOC creation cycle, with Fr. Julian detailing the difference between credit and non-credit courses, the eligibility criteria and role of the Course Coordinator, the process of submitting a proposal on the SWAYAM platform, the stages of content development, the four-quadrant structure that each module in a MOOC should follow, and the modalities of assessment and credit transfer. Additionally, Fr. Julian discussed the role of national coordinators, particularly the Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC), which is responsible for overseeing non-technology undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Throughout the workshop, faculty members were encouraged to adapt to the changing educational landscape by exploring the potential of developing MOOCs in partnership with EMRC. By tying up with EMRC, Loreto College aims to bring quality educational resources to a wider audience and thereby contribute to the national initiative for accessible online education.