The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has embarked on a major and new initiative called 'Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds' (SWAYAM), which provides one integrated platform and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) portal for online courses, using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and covering all higher education subjects and skill sector courses. Till date, more than 39 Lakhs learners have been enrolled in more than 1600 MOOCs courses that have been run through SWAYAM. 60,000 persons have completed the courses. Credit transfer facility up to 20% is enabled through the notification issued by UGC/AICTE- ‘Credit Framework for online learning courses through SWAYAM Regulation 2016’. It is the endeavor of MHRD to align the courses on the SWAYAM portal with the curriculum of Universities.
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All the courses are interactive, prepared by the best teachers in the country and are available, free of cost. This is done through an indigenous developed IT platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses, taught in classrooms from 9th class till post-graduation to be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time. More than 1,000 specially chosen faculty and teachers from across the Country have participated in preparing these courses. The courses hosted on SWAYAM website (https://swayam.gov.in) are in 4 quadrants:
(1) video lecture,
(2) specially prepared reading material that can be downloaded/printed
(3) self-assessment tests through tests and quizzes and
(4) an online discussion forum for clearing the doubts.
Steps have been taken to enrich the learning experience by using audio-video and multi-media and state of the art pedagogy / technology. In order to ensure best quality content are produced and delivered, 9 National Coordinators have been appointed: They are, University Grants Commission (UGC) for Post-Graduation Education, Consortium for Education Communication (CEC) for Under-Graduate Education, NPTEL Consortium of 7 Indian Institutes of Technologies & Indian Institute of Science for Engineering, National Council for Education Research & Training (NCERT) & National Institute for Open Schooling (NIOS) for School Education, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)for out of the School Students, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore for Management Studies , National Institute for Technical Teachers’ Training ( NITTTR) for teachers training program and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for ARPIT Courses (Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching), Self-paced & Courses by Foreign Universities.
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The Faculty Development Programmes (FDP) is also being developed through SWAYAM. Fifteen lakh untrained teachers are getting trained under DElEd programme of NIOS delivered through SWAYAM. The Government has launched Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching (ARPIT), a major and unique initiative of online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty using the MOOCsplatform of SWAYAM.
92 Universities have come forward in accepting credit transfer for courses done through SWAYAM Platform. The number of courses offered under SWAYAM during the current academic yearis 1082 courses. The number of users including students, teachers, professionals, sr. citizens, housewives etc. who have registered for various courses under SWAYAM are 25,57,118 and the registrations during the current academic year are 4,36,431.
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The Online Courses delivered on SWAYAM, are going to reduce the digital divide. It shall, turn out to be a disruptive technology and change the present business model of higher education. Since the MOOCs on SWAYAM is integrated with conventional education, it shall bring-in tremendous learning opportunity in coming days and shall prove to be a game changer in the education sector.
This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Satya Pal Singh on December 31, 2018 in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question.
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