MOOCs are the “online phenomenon collecting momentum over the past two years or so; a MOOC integrates the connectivity of social networking, the facilitation of an acknowledged expert in a field of taking a look at, and a collection of freely available online assets. Perhaps most importantly, however, a MOOC builds at the active engagement of several hundred to numerous thousand “college students” who self-organize their participation consistent with studying dreams, earlier knowledge and abilities, and common hobbies. Although it may share in a number of the conventions of a regular direction, together with a predefined timeline and weekly subjects for attention, a MOOC usually carries no prices, no stipulations other than Internet get admission to and hobby, no predefined expectancies for participation, and no formal accreditation” (McAuley et al., 2010).
If we see at their capabilities, early MOOCs often emphasized open-access functions, such as open licensing of content material, shaping and mastering goals, and selling the reuse and remixing of resources. Some later MOOCs use closed licenses for their path substances while retaining unfastened get entry to for students.
Some different crucial features of MOOCs are
• They are generally defined via signature characteristics that consist of; unfastened guides lectures formatted as brief movies blended with formative quizzes that might be reachable via generation gadgets with internet connectivity (Danbiel, 2012).
• In the maximum of the instances, MOOCs are both loose or available at a meager value for customers. They also can be utilized by the customers on clever cellular telephones.
• They offer the ability of peer and self-exams to contribute to a significant studying revel in besides, the automated assessment (Duderstadt, 2012)
• They are more dependable as they’re advanced, employing eminent professors, educators, and difficulty specialists.
MOOC platforms – Indian state of affairs
In India government has taken many tasks to introduce e-records offerings like the National Knowledge Network (NKN), a nation of the artwork multi-gigabit pan-India community for offering a high pace community, a returned domestic for all expertise associated institutions in the country. Initially, the goals have been to provide open assets in phrases of repositories and depositories, which had been made available to the general public. Some of the efforts in the course started as National Digital Repository of IGNOU, Sakshat presenting e-content, Shishya for 11th and 12th requirements by CBSE board. The idea behind those initiatives was to make education on hand to many first-year students. Some of the names that fall in the course are Education and Research Network (ERNET), connecting diverse schooling institutions by providing network connectivity. Education Satellite (EDUSAT), a satellite released for schooling in India. Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) uses the energy of television to behave as means of instructional know-how dissemination, Information and Library Network Centre (INFLIBNET) self-sufficient Inter-University Centre for connecting college libraries, additionally it has begun several different applications. These all are the tasks closer to open training and schooling with Information technology still MOOC become out of their reach.
There are diverse tremendous establishments, each non-profit and industrial, that offer the courses in India with the assist of MOOC providers. Few are cited under;
• NPTEL :
National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning. It is venture-funded using MHRD, initiated in 2003.
• MooKIT :
MooKIT is a lightweight MOOC management device constructed using open-supply technologies completely by using the Indian Institute of Kanpur (IITK) in 2004.
• IIT Bombay X:
IIT Bombay X is a non-income MOOC platform developed using IIT Bombay to use the open-supply Platform Open edX in 2014.
• SWAYAM:
SWAYAM stands for ‘Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds’ released via Human Resource Development (MHRD).
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are witnessing a massive call for many college students, with the majority of Indian students enrolling in overseas universities. MOOC can provide Indian college students aside required to compete in the international market. It can be a highly fruitful association for the learner, university, and industry, contributing to remodeling the face of the young people of our state. However, this isn’t always a stop, simply the beginning of the discussion for the possibilities of MOOC in India.