The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus had said that “the only thing that is constant is change. Change is the only reality in nature. It is the only constant we can be sure will happen”. So, the fact remains that there is hardly anything around us that is not changing. Some of them are even changing so fast that we are not able to keep pace with them. The most significant amongst them happens to be the human knowledge. Buckminster Fuller, who devised the knowledge doubling curve in 1982, had estimated that the human knowledge was doubling approximately every century until 1900 and thereafter every 25 years by the end of world war II. A little later it was estimated to be doubling every thirteen months. And, now it is presumed that with the power of internet, the doubling rate of human knowledge has come down to twelve hours. Even if it is an overestimation, one thing is clear that in this fast-changing world humans have to be far more adaptive than ever before. Every person now has to consider learning as a life-long process. It means that each one of us will have to look up for such alternate means of learning which can persistently update our knowledge and skills. One such means which is fast emerging at the global level is the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
MOOCs have undoubtedly launched an era of global access to education to anyone with an internet connection. Online education, in the style of MOOCs, has the potential to greatly reduce barriers to education. It provides a wonderful opportunity to all the institutions of higher learning to increase the scope of their programmes and effectively cater to larger number of regular as well as part-time students. MOOCs can also be the most effective means of lifelong education especially for those who cannot afford to join the regular programs but are keen to upgrade their knowledge and skills. Some of the international experiences reveal that many pioneering MOOCs offered by some faculty have reached more students with a single MOOC than in all of their previous courses combined. MOOCs thus become new and powerful means to make learning a lifelong endeavour and it stands to reason that this development is laying the foundation of strategic role of online education.
The greatest advantage of MOOCs is that it allows any learner to enroll in any program and learn at her own pace. It provides for a structured course that can be undertaken by any number of learners from anywhere using a web platform. MOOCs can be successfully used to offer programmes leading to different types of awards. They have proven to be as successful in delivering short term skilling programs as in full-fledged degree or diploma programmes. Internationally, MOOCs are being offered by various organisations at varying costs. It provides flexibility to the extent that individual members of a faculty can also design and offer MOOCs as a part of their other defined responsibilities.
The university system in the country has not yet fully explored the potential of MOOCs. Though plenty of material is available in the form e-courseware both at undergraduate and post-graduate levels across different domains of knowledge. This material has been painstakingly developed over the years by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC), an Inter-University Centre of the UGC. Sometime ago, there were about twenty thousand modules available at the post-graduate level covering as many as seventy subjects and around twenty-five thousand modules covering eighty-seven subjects at the under-graduate level. These modules were developed for the students with a view to supplementing their classroom teaching as also a standalone method of learning for them. The entire material, which had been developed using four quadrant approach, could be successfully repurposed into MOOCs as the format of the e-content modules is MOOC compliant.
The repurposing of e-content will, however, require authentication by experts to fine tune them to the up-to-date developments in the subject. This will be necessary before the acceptability of MOOCs for earning credits from the universities. An exercise may, therefore, be undertaken to ensure institutionalization of MOOCs which would require creating well established support systems including the delivery of MOOCs. The entire exercise will include vetting of the existing teaching learning materials which are MOOC compliant to be converted into the format of MOOCs, setting up administrative machinery for successful delivery of education through MOOCs, designing appropriate evaluation instruments for assessing achievements of learners, designing certification modalities and award of credits and acceptability of the credits for award of degrees in conformity with the norms and standards laid down in the ordinances of the universities. Once it is done then it can be straightforwardly used online to offer programs leading to various types of awards.
In order to make MOOCs as a part of blended approach for teaching-learning, the university system may have to organise special orientation programs for their teachers wherein they may be given training of transforming static contents into multimedia enriched contents supported with quizzes, graphics, images, animations, simulations and proper recording of lectures. Universities should encourage their teachers to develop their own MOOCs. They will also have to amend their statutes and ordinances to provide for earning course credits by students who may simultaneously enroll for MOOCs as a part of their course offerings. It may also be important for individual faculty members to develop MOOCs in some subjects so that the modules are of the required standard, acceptable to the university for their accreditation. MOOCs may be made available free of charge to all those who wish to upgrade their skills and competencies without any certification. This would be a great incentive for life-long learners. A nominal fee may, however, be charged from those who wish to have certification.
Since MOOCs follow the basic philosophy of anytime, anywhere, anyone and any number of times, it will provide a greater amount of flexibility and freedom to the learners to learn at their own pace. A large number of students may join for completing the course work through MOOCs but not all would present themselves to be awarded credits after their completion especially those who would be interested only in improving their knowledge and skills. They may choose courses from across institutions at their sweet will. This obviously will encourage institutions to seek partnerships and collaborations, facilitating a network of relationships between students and multiple colleges and universities. Perhaps the most important contribution of MOOCs would be to raise important questions and initiate dialogue about curriculum design, accreditation, what constitutes a valid learning experience and who has access to higher education.
MOOCs can be a valuable workspace or lab for innovation, helping uncover new best practices for lifelong learning which can also be used in other online, blended or face-to-face settings. It is to be understood that technology-mediated teaching and learning is the need of the day. It is not that we need to engage with technology, it is so whether we can afford to postpone utilisation of technology in our day-to-day classrooms. It can be profitable to learn from the e-learning and virtual classroom initiatives from leading universities of the world so that a similar movement is examined for initiation in our country on a wider scale. This can take care of the presently experienced shortage of faculty and introduce a much-needed culture of interactivity in teaching and learning.
Universities need to realise the significance of the MOOCs and develop strategies for their development, and more so when the UGC has brought out the regulations whereby universities can now offer up to 40% of the total courses in a semester through online mode. They should set the directions and establish priorities keeping in view the requirements of different kinds of learners, including those who wish to return to them for advancement of knowledge and skills to stay relevant, in a constantly changing world.
Some people have developed great fondness for MOOCs as they believe that it is going to be the future of higher education. Contrarily, there are others who believe that it is going to be a complete flop. Surely, either of the two perhaps would be an exaggeration to say. Nevertheless, one cannot deny the fact that there will be a trade-off between MOOCs and face-to-face mode of delivery. Much would depend how teachers are going to strike a balance between the two. MOOCs may prove to be useful only if teachers are able to design appropriate strategies to handle large scale enrolment, promote guided as well as inter-learner learning and ensure correct and timely assessment of tens of thousands of candidates.
It must, however, be understood that no delivery system will be without its implications which may not gel with the educational thought and practice as currently practiced. The bottom line is that the new initiatives need to be integrated into the conventional system to enrich it with new possibilities which can constantly improve individuals’ knowledge and skills and ensure their relevance in the fast-changing world.
The writer is former chairman, UGC. The views expressed are personal.