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Online Courses (MOOC) in computer programming, thermodynamics, and
signals and systems from the institute's IITBombayX platform developed in
collaboration with edX, a not-for-profit initiative by MIT and Harvard. Describing the
initiative as "pathbreaking'', Prof. Khakhar credited Prof.
Deepak Phatak of the Computer Science and Engineering Department for
bringing it to IIT Bombay. "The rapid evolution of technology makes it imperative for
students and teachers to incorporate the various offerings of technology in their learning
process," he said, launching the first three courses. The Introduction to Computer
Programming will be 16-week course in two parts aimed at computer programming
students.
The course on Thermodynamics, designed for mechanical engineering students,
will last 12 weeks. Signals and Systems will be a 16-week course in two parts designed
for electrical engineering students. The students will get an honour certificate of
achievement certifying successful completion of the course after they have qualified in
the tests. Simultaneously, IIT Bombay will also offer training workshops for invited
teachers on effective teaching and mentoring students in online courses for each of these
three subjects under the Train 10,000 Teachers or T10KT programme of the institute.
Mass Open Online Courses or MOOCs have emerged as the most inexpensive
mechanism for offering quality education online to a very large number of learners and
in addition to traditional course materials like videos, readings and problem sets, it
incorporates aspects of active learning, collaborative discussions on forum, online
quizzes etc.
Global educational institutions are increasingly adopting MOOCs and given
India's need for reaching out to largest possible number of learners, MOOCs are seen as
the best way forward to ensure quality in education and vocational training. "We have
about 3500 colleges", but the academic infrastructure is not up to the expected levels and
quality of education suffers 2005.