One week workshop on ‘Design, Develop And Deliver MOOC Course As a tool for Blended Learning, was inaugurated here today under Centre of Pre-Service Teacher Education, School of Education, under Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT) Scheme, MHRD, at Department of Education, Guru Nanak Dev University.The programme was inaugurated at Department of Education by Honorable Vice Chancellor, Prof (Dr) Jaspal Singh Sandhu. In his inaugural address, he congratulated the team of School of Education and Department of Education for the innovative initiative to train the faculty of Guru Nanak Dev University and participants from other universities in the development of MOOC courses which would be instrumental in strengthening student learning and design outreach programmes to be introduced in the near future. He also acquainted the faculty members regarding the fast growing significance of two languages i.e. Chinese and Japanese. So, Guru Nanak Dev University has launched ID course in Chinese language.The inaugural session began with the Welcome of the guests and participants by Prof. (Dr.) Amit Kauts, Project Coordinator; School Of Education where he highlighted that the basic objective of the workshop is to acquaint teachers with various web tools for development of Massive Open Online Courses( MOOC )and use of MOODLE as learning management system. He further highlighted that MOOCs are gaining attraction all over the world to provide unlimited participation and open access to quality education via web. Prof. Kauts further highlighted that the workshop will address various issues relating to planning, developing, delivering and managing online courses in the context of higher education institutions. The workshop will help the delegates to understand the role and application of MOOCs to bring the effectiveness in the delivery of education.
In the key address, Prof. K. Srinivas, Head of ICT & Project Management Unit of National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), New Delhi. He reiterated the importance of e-Learning, blended learning, MOOCs, ICT enabled Pedagogy, Computer Applications in Project Management, e-governance for the universities to be globally competent. He also highlighted the importance of developing and utilizing Open Source ICT Tools and Technologies in Teaching, Learning and Student Evaluation for the millennium teaching and learning process. He also stressed upon four quadrant approach for developing MOOC courses. He also encouraged the faculty members to be a part of discussion forums in MOOC courses.Dr. Deepa Sikand Kauts, Organizing Secretary, emphasized that for the upcoming digital generation to create a digital teaching learning environment, Master in ICT skills and utilizing ICT is of utmost importance in every educator’s profession. She further highlighted that visitors to the top three MOOCs platforms (Udemy, FutureLearnCoursera and edX) are from the United States, followed by visitors from India. This shows the tangible interest in MOOCs in India with their cost effectiveness and potential to reach a large number of learners. MOOCs provide us the opportunity to broaden the access to quality education at all levels.There were total 41 participants from mainly GNDU and other universities of North India in the workshop. The workshop will help the delegates to understand the role and application of MOOCs to bring the effectiveness in the delivery of education. The workshop will also look at the platforms available for launching online/MOOCs and the problems/challenges involved in the course delivery. Furthermore, the workshop will attempt to develop skills for designing courses and its delivery through network of individuals and institutions. Dr. Deepa Sikand Kauts proposed a vote of thanks to the chief guest for gracing the occasion and at the same time setting the tone for the workshop.