LangLit

IMPACT FACTOR – 5.61 ISSN 2349-5189

An International Peer-Reviewed Open Access Journal

MOOC: A BRIEF HISTORY, RELEVANCE AND IMPLICATIONS
FOR INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

MS. AMITA PRABHIN, DR. ANIL VARSAT,

Research Scholar, Assistant Professor,
H. M. Patel Institute of H. M. Patel Institute of
English Training & Research, English Training & Research,
Vallabh Vidyanagar, Vallabh Vidyanagar,
Anand, Gujarat. Anand, Gujarat

ABSTRACT

Technology is shaping every facet of human life. Similarly, educational

technology has been evolving keeping in view the educational requirements of
the age. A recent development in the field of education is Massive Open
Online Course i.e. MOOC. MOOC has taken distance education to a new
level. Moreover, MOOC has made education accessible and affordable.
Higher education in India is still inaccessible to a large population and
consequent is the dearth of skilled and productive work force. Those who can
afford it are yet found to be unemployable. Looking into the present scenario,
MOOC could be put to good use making higher education not only accessible
to the majority but also making it more relevant. The author in this paper has
made an attempt to present a brief history, features and significance of MOOC
and also to project the relevance and implications of MOOC for higher
education in India in order to put it to the best use.

Keywords: Higher Education, Educational technology, MOOC, Employability

Higher Education

Higher education is meant to enhance capabilities of the population in order to meet with the
demands of society. It plays a significant role in boosting the economy of any country.
Higher education plays an equally important role in improving the standard of living of the
community.

Garga (2019) mentioned, “Higher education defines the growth and direction a nation takes
while competing in the global economy.” Reinforcing the need to invest in higher education,
Garga (2019) says, “Wealthier nations have higher participation in tertiary education than
emerging nations. This is no coincidence - education creates human capital which drives
economic growth. And consequently, economic growth leads to greater investment in areas
such as education.”

With the largest population of young people, it becomes really important for India to chalk
out appropriate strategies to tap the human resource for economic growth. Like China, India
should focus on providing quality higher education to its young population. On the same lines

Vol. 6 Issue 3 106 February, 2020

Website: www.langlit.org Contact No.: +91-9890290602

Indexed: ICI, Google Scholar, Research Gate, Academia.edu, IBI, IIFC, DRJI
 LangLit
IMPACT FACTOR – 5.61 ISSN 2349-5189

An International Peer-Reviewed Open Access Journal

Garga (2019) claimed, “With the largest university-age population in the world, the
government and policymakers in India have a unique opportunity to make the country a truly
global economic powerhouse. The role they play in providing quality and affordable access to
higher education will define the direction India takes over the next few decades.”

Massive Open Online Courses

Technology is shaping every facet of human life. Similarly, educational technology has been
evolving keeping in view the educational requirements of the age. A recent development in
the field of education is Massive Open Online Course i.e. MOOC. It was in 2012 that the
world was first introduced to the concept of MOOC and since then it is gaining attention as a
new age pedagogical practice. Coursera and Udacity by Stanford University; edX by The
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, established in 2012, are the
most widely known MOOC platforms. In a short duration of time, these platforms were
received very well by the students. Trajkovic, Cvetkovic and Popovic (2016) stated,
“MOOCS organized by these platforms (Coursera, Udacity, edX) are attended by more than
14 million participants.”

As its common features, MOOC usually have video lectures, assignments or tests, a space for
discussion or raising queries, peer assessment, performance analysis of individual learners
and certification or badge. MOOC offers all these in alignment with a subject or a course and
this very fact draws it different from other open resources for education.

Soon after MOOC was introduced, claiming its popularity Friedman (2013) forecast, “I can
see a day soon where you’ll create your own college degree by taking the best online courses
from the best professors from around the world ….paying only the nominal fee for the
certificates of completion. It will change teaching, learning and the pathway to employment.”

Probably no development in teaching in recent years has been as controversial as the

development of MOOC. As all innovations, MOOC too have been subjected to criticism.
Sandeen (2013) claimed, “Beginning in 2012, the US higher education community became
aware of an emerging educational innovation called massive open online courses, or MOOCs.
As more and more elite institutions offered MOOCs, some achieving course enrollments in
the six figures and with an aggregate student enrollment beyond the 1 million mark, they
were simultaneously extolled as the ‘silver bullet’ for solving the attainment and affordability
challenges in US higher education and vilified as a highly disruptive force that could damage
the higher education enterprise. But now, more than a year later, we understand that the
reality of MOOCs is far more nuanced than these extreme views would suggest.”

MOOC platforms claim to be instrumental in developing 21st century skills. This too is
questioned by researchers around the world. Bates (2015) I shall be arguing that MOOCs are
a significant development, but they have severe limitations for developing the knowledge and
skills needed in a digital age.

Relevance of MOOCs in Higher Education Space

Vol. 6 Issue 3 107 February, 2020

Website: www.langlit.org Contact No.: +91-9890290602

Indexed: ICI, Google Scholar, Research Gate, Academia.edu, IBI, IIFC, DRJI
 LangLit
IMPACT FACTOR – 5.61 ISSN 2349-5189

An International Peer-Reviewed Open Access Journal

MOOCs are considered a means for democratizing education. When higher education seemed
to be a privilege that a very few could access, MOOC came as a harbinger of change.
MOOCs have made higher education freely accessible to aspirants and are becoming more
and more popular for its easy accessibility and affordability.

Dillahunt, T. R., Wang, B. Z., & Teasley, S. (2014) stated, “Massive open online courses
provide free access to higher education for anyone with Internet access. MOOCs could be
adapted to better address the needs of learners who feel financially unable to pursue a more
traditional path to a post-secondary education.”

Looking into what MOOC could do, SWAYAM was launched in 2015 by Ministry of Human
Resource Development (MHRD), India with the objective to provide the country with the
best educational resources. Like all MOOCs, SWAYAM too follows the four quadrant
approach i.e. e-tutorial, e-content, web resources and self-assessment. MHRD has suggested
some guidelines for developing courses, assessment and certification.

Implications of MOOC for Indian Higher Education

Quality in higher education has always been a concern. Questions on employability of

students of higher education has been rampant in the recent times. Making education more
relevant should be the priority of all higher education institutions as it is the only way to
generate a reasonable return on educational investment. One of the key reasons that could be
pointed out for lack of quality is the dearth of time required for quality education. All higher
education institutes in India have ushered in semester system and consequent is the time
crunch that every student, faculty member, department and institute faces. MOOCs could be
of help in dealing with the problem of time constraints. With many courses being available on
MOOC, students could be encouraged to take relevant courses and the contact hours in higher
education institutions could be utilised effectively for hands on experience and problem
solving, thus putting blended learning and flipped learning into practice.

Similar perspective was presented by Collins (2013) when he mentioned how MOOC could
be used effectively by higher education institutions. He said, “For instance at San Jose State
University, on-campus students used MOOC materials from Udacity courses, including
lectures, readings and quizzes, and then instructors spent classroom time on small-group
activities, projects and quizzes to check progress.” On the same lines, Bates (2015) claimed,
“MOOCs are offered at least initially wholly online, but increasingly institutions are
negotiating with the rights holders to use MOOC materials in a blended format for use on
campus. In other words, the institution provides learner support for the MOOC materials
through the use of campus-based instructors.”

SWAYAM is a brilliant initiative by MHRD, India. Professors from renowned institutions in

India are involved in developing the course materials and making the platform effective.
Higher education institutions should promote this platform and put it into effective use.

At the same time, it is imperative that there is a body formed by the Government to regulate
quality of MOOCs. Garga (2019) emphasised, “Without regulatory recognition, online
degrees will continue to be the poor cousins, under-priced and under-invested in.”

Vol. 6 Issue 3 108 February, 2020

Website: www.langlit.org Contact No.: +91-9890290602

Indexed: ICI, Google Scholar, Research Gate, Academia.edu, IBI, IIFC, DRJI
 LangLit
IMPACT FACTOR – 5.61 ISSN 2349-5189

An International Peer-Reviewed Open Access Journal

REFERENCES

1. Bates, A. W. (2015). Teaching in a Digital Age Guidelines for designing teaching and
learning https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/section-7-1/ (accessed on
15 September 2019)
2. Collins, E. (2013) SJSU Plus Augmented Online Learning Environment Pilot Project
Report San Jose CA: San Jose State University (accessed on 21 September 2019)
3. Dillahunt, T. R., Wang, B. Z., & Teasley, S. (2014). Democratizing higher education:
Exploring MOOC use among those who cannot afford a formal education. The
International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 15(5).
https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v15i5.1841
4. Friedman, T. (2013) Revolution Hits the Universities New York Times, January 26
2013https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/opinion/sunday/friedman-revolution-hits-
the-universities.html (accessed on 25 September 2019)
5. Garga, A. (2019) Role Of Policymakers In Increasing Access To Higher Education
http://www.businessworld.in/article/Role-Of-Policymakers-In-Increasing-Access-To-
Higher-Education-/08-10-2019-177208/ (accessed on 25 September 2019)
6. Sandeen, C. (2013) Integrating MOOCS into Traditional Higher Education: The
Emerging “MOOC 3.0” Era
7. https://naspa.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00091383.2013.842103?journalCode=
vchn20#.XZIByEYzbIU (accessed on 26 September 2019)
8. Trajkovic, S., Cvetkovic , R. P. & Popovic, O. (2016) Massive Open Online Courses
(MOOC) and Its Possibilities as Instrument of Formal, Nonformal, Informal and
Lifelong Learning https://www.intechopen.com/books/virtual-learning/massive-open-
online-courses-mooc-and-its-possibilities-as-instrument-of-formal-nonformal-
informal-an (accessed on 29 September 2019)

Vol. 6 Issue 3 109 February, 2020

Website: www.langlit.org Contact No.: +91-9890290602

Indexed: ICI, Google Scholar, Research Gate, Academia.edu, IBI, IIFC, DRJI