NEW PUSH TO EDUCATION – SWAYAM
SWAYAM or Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds is an instrument for self-actualization providing opportunities for a lifelong learning through Massive Open Online Courses(MOOCs).Learners can choose from hundreds of courses on SWAYAM from high school to PG level including vocational and skill based training.The SWAYAM program offers digital classrooms with the help of internet and satellite connectivity to the remotest corners in the country. SWAYAM is essentially a portal which has been formulated as a solution to the problem of difficult access to physical educational infrastructure and teachers along with study material and textbooks at free of cost.
In News: The country faces a huge demand-and-supply mismatch when it comes to higher education. With the advent of technology, e-learning is rapidly gaining importance and momentum. With the government aiming at digitalizing India with its ‘Digital India’ initiative, educational institutes are also working in tandem to help fulfill the goal. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are fast gaining popularity among students and working professionals as they help them study at their convenience and time.
Programme of: Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Aim: Bridge the digital divide for students who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy.
Objective: Take high quality education (technology-enabled learning) to the doorstep of everyone including the most disadvantaged.
Designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy that are
- Access
- Equity
- Quality
What is SWAYAM: SWAYAM is an instrument for self-actualization providing opportunities for a life-long learning
On SWAYAM Portal: Professors and faculties of centrally funded institutions like IITs,IIMs, central universities will offer online courses to citizens of India.
SWAYAM Platform: Indigenously developed by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) with the help of Microsoft.
SWAYAM is trying to achieve a scenario in which –
- Investments and resources should be directed towards development of content in various subjects and languages, repository of professional moderators, qualification framework, assessment and certification with active private sector participation.
- Faculty from across colleges in the country could upload content for students living in geographically disadvantaged regions.
- To promote critical thinking, colleges or universities could think of choice based courses where students of one discipline could opt for courses in other disciplines.
Features:
Cost: Swayam courses are available free of cost to the learners.
Certification: Students wanting Swayam certifications need to register.They would be offered a certificate on successful completion of the course and charged a little fee.
Transferable marks/grades: At the end of each course, students would also be assessed through proctored examination and the marks/grades secured in this exam could be transferred to the academic record of the students.For this,UGC has issued UGC (Credit Framework for online learning courses through Swayam) Regulation 2016, advising the universities to identify courses where credits can be transferred to the academic record of the students for courses done on Swayam.
SwayamPrabha DTH channels: A total of 32 SwayamPrabha DTH channels launched along SWAYAM portal seek to help students living in remote areas.
Easy Access:The program will make available quality teachers to pupils and multi-language study material including in regional languages to get them started quickly.
Way Forward
Address Poor learning outcome: The learning progress and understanding of concepts are hardly assessed in terms of real world applications and synthesizing the learning.
Structured assessment and personalized feedback needs to be incorporated.
Facilitation of mandatory peer-to-peer interaction as it is inevitable to attain professional, interpersonal, negotiation and leadership skills.
Conclusion:The program takes digital education and satellite technology to a new paradigm in the country. Swayam seeks to provide the best teachers for students across the country with ICT solutions to bridge the gap between urban and rural education.