Coronavirus: Coursera and MOOCs courses tackling university shutdown

On account of the fear of coronavirus spread out, universities across the globe are facing closure which will affect the normal academic time table. A number of eminent universities such as Cornell, Harvard, and MIT stopped their classroom-based instruction. To compensate for the loss, the online education company Coursera has come forward. The online education company Coursera has come forward to compensate for the loss. Coursera has decided to offer access to 100 American varsities to its 3800 online courses free of cost.

In India, the University of Delhi has urged its faculty to send the pertinent e-resources to its students to reduce the impact of lockdown. According to Dr. Durgesh Tripathi, Coordinator, MOOCs, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU), New Delhi holds that MOOCs courses were commenced with the objective of democratisation of higher education. However, as of now, it is serving as a feasible substitute to deal with geopolitical and geo-climatic situations such as COVID 19. There is a pressing need for universities as well as students to implement and assimilate such courses in the curriculum. These courses have the capacity to escalate the engagement between academia, students and educational institutions to a much wider level.

Similarly, on the Swayam portal, there is a very popular interdisciplinary MOOCs course ‘Society and Media’ run by Dr. Tripathi. According to him, the assimilation of technology with education can be transformational for society. Apart from this, SWAYAM and E-PG Pathshala are other vital initiatives of the Ministry of HRD (Human Resource Development), Government of India to offer quality free of cost e-resources to students at the higher education level.

Read More: