Introduction to Swayam : E-learning Platform Video series-1

Let us begin with SWAYAM

Our prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi launched the Digital India Campaign. Swayam is part of that campaign.

One of the aim of digital India was universal digital literacy. In order to improve Gross EnrollmentRatio  (GER), from 20% at present to 30% by 2020; Government of India has felt that traditional mode of education shall alone not be sufficient to achieve this goal and has decided to utilise ICT in a big way, in education. NMEICT (National Mission of Education Through ICT was launched by Earliar government which also focused on this.

We are 130 crorein which there are 121 Crore Mobile phones, 44.6 crore Smart phones, 56 Crore internet users almost 35% of our population. Why cant we capitalize this digital blast.

It aimed at e-governance, digilocker, UMANG application, online tax filing, e-certificates, Bhim app, E-sampark (Local email service) and swayam was launched in the field of online education.

SWAYAM is a MOOC. So what is MOOC?

Its massive open online course

It’s a name given to any platform or service as we have given the name to electronic mail as e-mail service so in the same way we have given the service on online course/learning as MOOC.

It is open to all.

It have massive material and courses covered and making it possible for many people to collaborate and discuss in groups. And it is in online mode.

There are the examples of famous MOOC platforms such as EDX, Udacity, Coursera, futurelearn, Khanacademy and The Indian Governemt initiative SWAYAM.

Who launched Swayam?

Our then President of India Mr. PranabMukharjee launched it.

When was swayam launched?

9^th July 2017, It was auspicious day of Guru Purnima

The President speaking at the launch said....

‘’Digital technology enables good teachers to directly teach large number of students who are not physically present in classes. ICT (information and communication technology) solutions offer an interactive learning experience through which students in remote parts of the country can benefit from lectures of the top teachers”,

Thus it is an online learning platform.

Look at the logo its tagline says

“Free Online Education’’

“शिक्षित भारत, उन्नत भारत’’

At here is a small mouse so symbolic.

What is full form of Swayam?

Actually swayam means ‘By self’’without any body’s help. It self-learning.

But it has hidden acronym

That is Study Webs of Active–Learning for Young Aspiring Minds

It website providing studies in which you have to be active and this is for whom?

Young Aspiring minds meaning those who want to learn anybody can learn any discipline or subject of his choice.

Three basic principles to be achieved by this platform?

Access: access to all teachers, students or even anyone from the world. Access anytime and anywhere. Yes, any person in the world can register a Course on SWAYAM.

Equity: it is same for all and available to all irrespective of gender, caste, religion, state, language.

Quality: Best teachers providing best material. A step by step.

In short it’s a bridge to cover up the digital divide in India. Students from rural area and disadvantaged group can also get benefited.

Who has developed Swayam?

SWAYAM has been developed cooperatively by MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) and AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) with the help of Microsoft and is equipped for facilitating 2,000 courses. It has also developed the swayam app as well. It uses Microsoft Azure which a cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers.

So the platform is developed but who will prepare courses and who will provide content?

Nine national coordinators are appointed to manage the course content. Each coordinator is assigned a particular area for maintenance and course discipline.

   All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for self-paced and international courses.

   National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) for engineering sector courses.

   University Grants Permission (UGC) for non-technical post-graduate education.

   Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) for undergraduate education.

   National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for school education.

   National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) for school education.

   Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) out-of-school students. Which it was already doing as open university.

   Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB) for management studies.

   National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR) for Teacher training programs.

What is the structure of SWAYAM course?

Four parts, Four Quadrant method

1.      e-Tutorial-direct teaching means not much of extra work by students, it could include teaching video, animation, PowerPoint presentation, Podcast and so on

2.      e-Content-which could include e-books, illustrations, Case studies, Open source content, Reference link, further reading sources and so on

3.      discussion forums: it means students can interact with other students and faculty to clarify their doubts.

4.      Assessment: is self-assessment to check what a student have studied and whether he/she is eligible to get certificate. It could be tests in the form of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs), or quiz or s hort answer questions, long answer questions, etc.

Features of SWAYAM

Free : SWAYAM are available free of cost to the learners, however students wanting certifications shall be registered and offered a certificate on successful completion of the course, with a little fee. At the end of each course, there will be an  assessment of the student through proctored examination (Online live exam) and the marks/grades secured in this exam could be transferred to the academic record of the students. UGC has already issued.

Online: it is online.

Web and Mobile support: it has a web portal, website and mobile application as well.

Multimedia: it is multimedia as we discussed in four quadrant method.

Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere :Anyone from the world can register, You can learn at your convenience and at you place wherever you are.

From School to pg: it has courses from 9^th standard to PG. It covers diverse disciplines such as arts, science, commerce, performing arts, social sciences and humanities subjects, engineering, technology, law, medicine, agriculture. We have annual refresher program on teaching (ARPIT) for professors.

What is swayam?

Four quadrant approach: This is discussed already. I would like add some information about credits. 1 to 4 credit courses can be designed expected to be completed from 4 to 12 weeks. Course of 4 credit may have 20 hours of videos, and 40 reading modules. There are both types of courses credit and non credit courses.

Valid:  All the courses offered by SWAYAM are recognized by the government of India. All the courses are valid in the country and also, UGC has announced a “Credit Framework for Online Learning Courses through SWAYAM” Regulations, 2016 in the Gazette of India on July 19, 2016 where credit transfer for SWAYAM courses is defined.The UGC regulation requires Universities to make changes in their rules and regulation to incorporate provision for credit mobility and MOOC courses under the SWAYAM platform.

It is indeginous: Indian

Biggest: SWAYAM MOOCs platform is World's Largest Online Free E-Learning Platform

Now lets visit swayam portal to see how its works and what it has to offer.


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