Perspective Chapter: MOOCs in India: Evolution, Innovation, Impact, and Roadmap

TL;DR

This chapter reviews the evolution, innovations, and impact of MOOCs in India, highlighting government initiatives, digital learning projects, and future opportunities including AI-powered MOOCs to enhance education access.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of India's MOOC development, policies, and future roadmap, emphasizing innovations and strategic directions for the next decade.

Findings

India's MOOCs are supported by government programs like NMEICT and SWAYAM.

Digital learning initiatives have expanded access to higher education.

AI-powered MOOCs present new opportunities for India to lead globally.

Abstract

With the largest population of the world and one of the highest enrolments in higher education, India needs efficient and effective means to educate its learners. India started focusing on open and digital education in 1980's and its efforts were escalated in 2009 through the NMEICT program of the Government of India. A study by the Government and FICCI in 2014 noted that India cannot meet its educational needs just by capacity building in brick and mortar institutions. It was decided that ongoing MOOCs projects under the umbrella of NMEICT will be further strengthened over its second (2017-21) and third (2021-26) phases. NMEICT now steers NPTEL or SWAYAM (India's MOOCs) and several digital learning projects including Virtual Labs, e-Yantra, Spoken Tutorial, FOSSEE, and National Digital Library on India - the largest digital education library in the world. Further, India embraced its new National Education Policy in 2020 to strongly foster online education. In this chapter, we take a deep look into the evolution of MOOCs in India, its innovations, its current status and impact, and the roadmap for the next decade to address its challenges and grow. AI-powered MOOCs is an emerging opportunity for India to lead MOOCs worldwide.