Year: 2022 | Month: December | Volume 13 | Issue 3
Hype for MOOCs in India and Necessary Readiness: A Critical Analysis of Higher Education System
Madhuri Hooda
DOI:10.30954/2230-7311.3.2022.7
Abstract:
Expansion of higher education in terms of proliferation of Massive Open Online Courses seems an adequate alternative for higher education specially for those who are aspirant for it and are devoid of higher education due to one or the other reason. In last few years enrollment in MOOCs had a tremendous rise and are on hype specifically in India. After USA, India is at second rank in terms of enrollment in MOOCs. Recently Indian Government has launched many digital initiatives to support online education. The present research paper reflects the necessary readiness of Indian Higher education system by taking into account Teacher’s Readiness, Students Readiness and Institutional readiness or preparedness. Teacher’s readiness was studied from the aspects of awareness, attitude and aptitude for ICT based teaching and MOOCs. Student’s readiness was studied from the aspects of availability of hardware and software, Teacher facilitation etc. Institutional Readiness was studied from the aspects of availability of access devices and connectivity, Policies and internal functionaries for supporting online education. Data was collected from sample comprising of 500 teachers of higher education, 500 students of higher education and from 50 institutes of higher education in India by the use of three different questionnaires sent by google form specifically to study Teacher’s readiness, Student’s readiness and institutional readiness. After data analysis, the findings related to Teachers readiness reflected that more than half of the teachers are having positive attitude towards ICT based pedagogy and MOOCs and considers it advantageous for their professional enhancement and from learning perspective of students. A significant number of teachers mentioned about the need of training programs to enable them to develop MOOCs. Student’s readiness was also on the favorable side in terms of availability of access devices and internet connection. Students also exhibited positive attitude towards ICT based Pedagogy and MOOCs. Institutional readiness reflected that more then half of the institutions have availability in terms of access devices and connectivity. Policies and institutional mechanism is also supportive towards ICT based pedagogy and MOOCs. Although Institutional rewards and incentives are needed for teachers who are using ICT based teaching and MOOCs.
Print This Article Email This Article to Your Friend
