The wave of digital learning reached India in 2016 with the launch of SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) platform by Ministry of Human Resource Development. However, the foundation was already laid down by NPTEL and e-PG Pathshala, a decade ago with the availability of e-contents in the form of audio-video, text etc with free availability for all.
The author remembers attending a workshop on open educational resources (OERs) in Faculty Development Centre (FDC) of HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar, with other faculty participants. Apart from many eye opening sessions, one got the essence of digital /blended/ flipped learning through OERs and SWAYAM Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). During a session, professor Rajat Agarwal from the Department of Business Management, IIT Roorkee had said, “This train is going ahead and those who board early will reach the destination of the digital world earlier; digital education is the future.” Within a few months, I got two MOOC proposals approved by two different national coordinators. With the help of training extended by UGC/ MHRD in IIM Bangalore and NITTTR Chennai, the courses were developed. Both The two MOOCs ‘Academic Writing’ and ‘Industrial Pharmacy’ performed very well. Moreover, Academic Writing MOOC was ranked number one in July 2019 cycle with maximum exam registration. These were the happy moments which refreshed us after tiring journey of developing two MOOCs together. We had the feeling of “mission accomplished” but it was just the first insight of the entire story.
Just developing MOOCs was not serving the actual need of the education system. The awareness level even in urban areas about digital learning initiatives like SWAYAM is very low. Most of the universities and faculty members do not want to change the conventional teaching and learning process. The challenge was not the production but marketing of the same as a thumb rule of management. So, after checking the success and failure story of various platforms, one realised that having good intention without significant results takes even a major project down. It happened with many ICT initiatives of MHRD for the time being. Many of the e-contents were hardly viewed. When the government is spending huge amount of taxpayers’ money, the results must be tangible with fixed accountability. The success model of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, US) and many world leaders of digital learning are just having commercial interest. But SWAYAM is carrying the Vishwaguru legacy forward.
SWAYAM, the digital platform of MHRD has a plethora of courses and contents for the learners of classes IX to PhD and even for the faculty members in the form of ARPIT (Annual Refresher Programme in Teaching). Moreover, 20 per cent of credits of a semester may be earned through SWAYAM MOOCs. The contents are used also for blended and flipped learning.
The challenge is to take SWAYAM to the grassroot level and to address the fear among faculty members that digital education is being disseminated to replace them. This will increase the willingness to accept even from the administrative part of the institutions. The awareness level must be identified in each region of the country and a need-based strategy must be planned to address the problem. In Uttarakhand, where connectivity and speed of the internet is the major challenge in many remote areas and even in an educational hub like Srinagar (Garhwal), a strong strategy must be planned based on the inputs and suggestions of the stakeholders of that area. Recently, the Uttarakhand Government has taken the initiative of establishing an e-learning lab in every government PG college. Now we have the courses, we have the experts, we have the contents, but what we don't have the users of this platform in the tune of our population of young learners. In COVID-19 scenario when the entire country is in lockdown, the importance of SWAYAM and SWAYAMPRABHA and other ICT -initiatives of MHRD, Government of India has been revalidated by the historic boom of its users. Amid the COVID -19 lockdown, the Indian Government has made it mandatory for all the DTH providers to telecast the SWAYAMPRABHA educational channels and this is a great step in increasing the reach of digital education to the larger population of the country. The need of the hour is to bring more and more regular classroom learners to SWAYAM. And the dissemination of this needs the support of every citizen of our country. At this moment one remembers what Rabindranath Tagore said 100 years ago- “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free…”. In continuation of this spirit, can we take up the challenge to make knowledge accessible to all citizens and the next generation through digital learning?
(The author is an assistant professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Garhwal University, Chauras campus)