NPTEL - SSTC Local Chapter

About Swayam

SWAYAM is a programme initiated by Government of India and designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy viz., access, equity and quality. The objective of this effort is to take the best teaching learning resources to all, including the most disadvantaged. SWAYAM seeks to bridge the digital divide for students who have hitherto remained untouched by the digital revolution and have not been able to join the mainstream of the knowledge economy.

The courses hosted on SWAYAM will be in 4 quadrants-

1. Video lecture
2. Specially prepared reading material that can be downloaded/printed
3. Self-assessment tests through tests and quizzes and
4. An online discussion forum for clearing the doubts.

Steps have been taken to enrich the learning experience by using audio-video and multi-media and state of the art pedagogy / technology. In order to ensure best quality content are produced and delivered, seven National Coordinators have been appointed: They are NPTEL for engineering, UGC for post-graduation education, CEC for under-graduate education, NCERT & NIOS for school education, IGNOU for out of the school students and IIMB for management studies.

About NPTEL

The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), a project funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), provides e-learning through online Web and Video courses in Engineering, Sciences, Technology, Management and Humanities. This is a joint initiative by seven IITs and IISc Bangalore. Other selected premier institutions also act as Associate Partner Institutions. NPTEL has been offering self-study courses across engineering, humanities and science streams for more than a decade. These are available at: http://nptel.ac.in.From March 2014 NPTEL has been offering online certification for its courses, the highlight being the certification exam through which the student gets an opportunity to earn a certificate form the IITs! These are available at: https://onlinecourses.nptel.ac.in

Benefits of NPTEL online certification courses

• Enables the student to directly engage and learn from the best faculty in the country in that particular subject. This strengthens the fundamentals of the student in the course
• Gives the students the opportunities to explore new areas of interest – which are not possible in a regular college environment.
• Faculty can use these for career progression.
• The audience in a MOOC includes students spanning the length and breadth of India and a small fraction of foreign students. This mix of peer groups gives the students a chance to assess where they stand with respect to this group of learners.
• These courses also bring out the self-learning initiative of the students – where their own motivation is what drives them to complete the course and not external compulsions. This fosters the habit of keeping oneself updated always by means of self-study.
• The certificates issued bear the stamp of the institute offering the course and hence are valuable additions when the students apply for jobs.
• Companies can also recruit from this pool of candidates with specialized skills.