Free MOOC courses at SWAYAM – Govt’s online education platform

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are free online courses that provide an affordable and flexible way to learn new skills. Read details to know more.

SWAYAM - Government's MOOC platform - MOOC platforms have gained fast popularity in India. Many Indian students and working professionals have now started embracing MOOC platforms to develop deeper knowledge in their respective subjects. Considering the popularity and relevance of MOOCs, Government of India has also launched an indigenous platform, SWAYAM.

SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is basically an integrated MOOCs platform for distance education that is aimed at offering all the courses from school (Class 9) to post-graduation level. The platform has been developed collaboratively by MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) and AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) with the help of Microsoft and is capable of hosting 2,000 courses.

It may be noted that MHRD has also launched 32 DTH (Direct-To-Home) educational TV channels called SWAYAM Prabha. The DTH channels would broadcast education content (created on the MOOC platform, SWAYAM) to students 24X7.

The MOOC platform was launched by the government with the objective of taking “the best teaching learning resources to all, including the most disadvantaged,” informs the official website. SWAYAM has helped students to virtually attend the courses taught by the best faculty; access high quality reading resources, participate in discussion forums; take tests and earn academic grades.”

Major Features of SWAYAM include:

• Course type and duration: There are two types of courses offered through SWAYAM – Credit and Non-Credit. Credit course is a course taught for at least one semester as part of a subject. Non-credit courses include courses such as awareness programme and specific skill-set training, which are not part of any set curriculum. Such courses can be of shorter duration, usually ranging from two to four months.
• Course components: Courses hosted on SWAYAM are available for students in four components: video lectures, downloadable/printable reading material, self-assessment tests through quizzes and tests, and an online discussion forum for clearing doubts.
• Eligibility: Online education courses offered through the portal of SWAYAM (swayam.gov.in) can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, any time.
• Course fee: Courses offered via SWAYAM are free of cost for residents of India. However, in order to obtain certificate for a particular course students need to pay a nominal fee.
• Certification: Students who wish to obtain certificates for their courses need to get themselves registered on SWAYAM portal. Also, certificates are awarded to students only after successful completion of the course.
• Credits: At the end of each course, students will be assessed through a proctored exam. Marks/grades secured by students in the exam can be transferred to their academic records. To implement the same, UGC has issued UGC (Credit Framework for online learning courses through SWAYAM) Regulation 2016 recommending universities to identify courses in which credits can be transferred to students’ academic records.

SWAYAM Courses Offered at UG Level

As already mentioned above, via SWAYAM different courses (from Class 9 to post-graduation) are offered to students in a wide range of disciplines. These courses are offered by the faculties of leading colleges and universities in India. Given below are stream-wise subjects in which a variety of online education courses are being/ scheduled to be offered to students via SWAYAM at undergraduate level.

National Coordinators for SWAYAM

In order to ensure delivery of quality content, seven NCs (National Coordinators) have been appointed by the government and assigned a specific sector for preparation of online courses for SWAYAM.

The seven NCs along with their designated sectors are as mentioned below:

Finally, considering all the advantages associated with the government’s new MOOC platform, going forward it would be interesting to see if SWAYAM is able to bring in a significant change in India’s higher education system.

Important FAQs Regarding Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

Q. How can I enroll for a MOOC course?

A. Students who wish to obtain certificates for their courses need to get themselves registered on SWAYAM portal.

Q. How can I start a MOOC course?

A. In the first step, candidates can design and structure the course content. In a MOOC, or for any other eLearning content, he/she must consider and develop the course structure in advance for an easy learning process.

Q. Are MOOC or Massive Open Online Course courses free to study?

A. There are some of the free MOOC online courses available for anyone to enroll.

Q. What is the meaning of massive open online courses?

A. Massive open online course (MOOC) is defined as a model for delivering e-learning content online to any person who wants to take a course, with no limit on attendance.

Q. Do MOOC courses have any value?

A. Yes, there are benefits for those who pay to enroll, experts say. Both Coursera and edX have verified certificate options in a vast majority of MOOCs.

Q. How can I get my MOOC course completion certificate?

A. For this, candidates can visit https://tmc.mooc.fi/ and sign in and click the MOOC Certificates link. This opens the certificates page where you should see a form and now select the course for which you want to generate a certificate.

Q. What is MOOC certification?

A. MOOC is known as Massive Open Online Courses that are free online courses available for anyone to enroll. MOOCs provide an affordable and flexible way to learn new skills and advance your career.

Q. What is the purpose of MOOC online courses?

A. MOOC is known as Massive Open Online Courses offer high-schools the opportunity to provide programming courses for their students.

Q. How many MOOCs are there?

A. By the end of 2018, more than 900 universities around the world had announced or launched 11,400 MOOCs, with around 2,000 new courses added to the list this year (down from 2,500 courses added in 2017).

Q. What is MOOC Swayam?

A. SWAYAM MOOCs platform is World's Largest Online Free E-Learning Platform Portal designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz., Access, Equity and Quality by covering School/Vocational, Under-Graduate, Post Graduate, Engineering and Other Professional Courses.

Read More:

• MOOCs: Are they the way forward for higher education?
• UGC Approved Distance Education Courses & Universities
• Student Enrollment in Universities: Regular Vs Distance Education