INTEGRATION OF MOOCS ONLINE COURSES INTO OPEN AND DISTANCE TEACHER EDUCATION IN INDIA

OBJECTIVES

·        To study the infrastructure facilities and human resource available for conducting NIOS D.El.Ed. Blended MOOCs Programme (2017-19) and the perceptions of the students (in-service primary school teachers) towards the role of MOOCs courses run through SWAYAM in conducting NIOS D.EL.Ed. Blended MOOCs Programme.

SUMMARY

The infrastructure facilities and human resource available for conducting NIOS D.El.Ed. Blended MOOCs Programme (2017-19), analysing its mechanism as well as studying the changes in the ODL D.El.Ed. programme due to integration of MOOCs online courses. The data were collected through structured interview with the coordinator of NIOS D.El.Ed. programme (2017-2019) at NIOS headquarter, coordinators of the regional centres and the students (in-service primary school teachers) and counsellors of the regional centres included in the sample. It was found that NIOS D.El.ED. Blended MOOCs Programme (2017-19) was conducted through direct counselling sessions, personal contact programme, school-based activities, and workshops for practical work, SWAYAM MOOCs courses and SWAYAM PRABHA audio-video lessons. Many students of D.El.Ed. programme felt the online courses available on SWAYAM portal as an extra work and waste of time. Some of them opined that the course material on SWAYAM should have also been developed in as many regional languages of India as possible so that it could easily outreach Indian villages. The students, coordinators and counsellors, however, appreciated that SAWAYM is making rapid inroads into the near future in the field of open and distance teacher education. They were also of the view point that SWAYAM platform should be developed as Web 2.0 platform where students/participants would also have the opportunity to contribute to the development of quality course material.