Abstract

OpenCourseWare aims to support learning and teaching programme significantly. Learning

material contained in an OCW provides learners an opportunity to gain knowledge beyond
their routine classroom environments. These are in the digital form which can be accessed
online, thus breaking the barriers of time and distance. Indian academics can play a
significant role in creating OCW materials for the students to propagate the teaching and
learning process diluting the limitations of traditional educational setup and begin a new
culture of “Learning Beyond Classroom”. The present study aims to sensitize the teachers
and learners about the potentials of the OCWs. It presents a proposal for creating an “Indian
OCW Consortium” at different levels. Also discusses the challenges and issues in establishing
such an OCW project.

1. OpenCourseware (OCW): An Introduction

 “A free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials, organized
as courses”.
 “An OCW is a university course that is provided to the public without charge via the
Internet.”

OCW concept is a part of the larger movement that promotes free and unrestricted access to
knowledge. An OCW site provides open access to the primary teaching materials for
educational institutions, enabling educators to draw on the materials for teaching purposes,
and students and self-learners to use the materials for the development of their own personal
knowledge.

2. Research Methodology:

2.1 Objectives:

1. To create awareness regarding the benefits of OCW by analyzing the OCW projects of
international repute.
2. To propose a guideline for the establishment of Indian OCW Consortium.

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2.2 Scope:

The present online survey include 19 Universities (including Deemed) of the North-West
India to know the current status of OCW Initiatives. It also covers the major OCW initiatives
at national and international level including MIT OCW.

3. Relevance:

In India, OCWs can prove to be a boon for those learners who are not in the main stream and
can be greatly benefited by using the course content whenever they need. The OCWs can also
greatly contribute in strengthening the educational infrastructure of the institute providing
distance education. Also lots of educational material are being created by the students and
faculty members of the educational institutions. These knowledge gems are lost after certain
period of time. A well organized OCW project can disseminate and preserve information for
future also.

3.1 Benefits

 Unlocking advances knowledge.

 Provides open access to high-quality educational content.
 Institutional benefits.
 Builds global awareness of your institution's unique educational approach and
curriculum.
 Provides resource that supports learning and collaboration.
 Fosters connections with colleagues around the world.
 Preserves a record of teaching innovations and allows others to build upon them.

4. MIT OCW : Opening up the doors of knowledge

MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) is an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology to put all of the educational materials from its undergraduate and graduate level
courses online, free and openly available to anyone, anywhere, by the end of the year 2007.
It offers over 1800 courses.

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5. OCW Consortium:

The OCW Consortium is a collaboration of more than 100 higher education institutions and
associated organizations from around the world creating a broad and deep body of open
educational content using a shared model. It aims to advance education and empower people
worldwide through OCW.

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6. OCW Softwares:

6.1 Moodle:

Moodle is a course management system (CMS). It is a

free, Open Source software package designed using
sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create
effective online learning communities. In India around 250 institutions are using Moodle for
the OCW management.

6.2 Brihaspati:

"Brihaspati" is a user-friendly open source framework that could be effectively used to build
e-education application. It is being used by more than 70 institutions in India.

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7. Indian OCW Initiatives:

7.1 MHRD: Sakshat:

Sakshat, designed and developed by IGNOU for the Ministry of HRD, offers eBooks,
eJournals, Digital Repository, Scholarship, Audio/Video Library having electronic resources
(animations), Reference Material created by NIOS, IGNOU, etc. and Virtual Class. The study
materials are mostly been classified on the basis of class, subject and topics.

7.2 IGNOU: eGyankosh

National Digital Repository is a major initiative of the IGNOU to provide just-in-time access
to learning resources 24×7. It is meant to facilitate sharing of resources amongst educational
institutions in the country. It's objective is long-term preservation of learning materials
available in various formats. It is perceived to be a single stop education portal for addressing
the needs of students, scholars, teachers and life long learners. It is a free portal launched by
the Hon’ble President of India on 30th October 2006.

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7.3 Consortium For Educational communication (CEC)

CEC's Learning Object Repository (LOR) is an OCW initiative having educational resources
in different subjects like Archeology, Biology, Chemistry, Commerce, Computer Science,
Economics, Education, English, etc. Users have the facility to browse the LOR by using
various options such as Topic, Subject, Learning Object, Keywords, etc.

7.4 IITs: National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)

It is a Joint Venture by seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of
Science (IISc).It is funded by the MHRD, Government of India. Six major engineering
disciplines have been covered in this project so far (NPTEL Phase I) at the undergraduate
level. In addition, a number of core curriculum courses common to all engineering
programmes such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, management, electronics, etc. have
also been included.

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7.5 ERNET: VidyaVahini & Shishya:

ERNET OCW initiatives include:

 SHISHYA: It contains the educational resources (CBSE) in Chemistry, Mathematics,

Biology, Botany and Zoology for class IX -XII.

 VIDYA VAHINI: It is a portal which provides opportunity for schools, teachers and
students all across the nation to express and share their creative and academic
potential via the Internet.

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8. Online Survey:

Current OCW Scenario with special reference to North-West Region of India:

SN State Universities OCW

O.
1 Punjab 1. Punjabi University; Patiala X

2. Guru Nanak Dev University; Amritsar X

3. Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana. X

4. Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar. X

5. Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, X

Faridkot

6. Punjab Veternary Sciences University, X

Talwandi Sabo

7. Thapar University, Patiala X

2 Haryana 1. Kurukshetra University; Kurukshetra X

2. Maharishi Dayananad University, Rohtak X

3. Guru Jambheshwar University of Science

and Technology, Hisar X

4. The CCS Haryana Agriculture

University, Hisar (√)

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3 Chandigarh 1. Panjab University X

2. Punjab Engineering College (A Deemed (√)

University)

4 Himachal Pradesh 1. Himachal Pradesh University, Summer Hill, X

Shimla.

2. Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture X

and Forestry, Nauni, Solan

3. C.S.K. Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishva

Vidyalaya, Palampur X

4. Jaypee University of Information

Technology (JUIT), Waknaghat, Solan. X

5 Jammu & Kashmir 1. University of Jammu, Jammu X

(J&K)
2. University of Kasmir, Kasmir X

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Above table clearly shows that the OCW initiatives are very few in number, in fact only 2
such projects exist in the whole NW region of India, described below:

8.1 Punjab Engineering College (PEC):

PEC offers OCW resources through its “Academia Webserver” under different engineering
disciplines. User registration is required for accessing the resources.

8.2 The CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar:

It contains only 23 learning objects related to agriculture and allied disciplines.

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9. Findings:

 OCW initiatives benefits the creators, users and the institutions.

 Very few universities in the NW Region in India have started OCW project.
 Technology support and other infrastructural requirements are already available to
most of the universities.
 Software for creating and maintaining an OCW is available free of cost ,eg. Moodle
 An OCW movement is needed in India to translate the vision of “Learning beyond
Classroom” into a reality.

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10. Recommendations: Proposal for “Indian OCW Consortium”

10.1 Policy Framing:

The present study proposes the establishment of the Indian OCW Consortium spanning all
the educational institutions. For example, in the primary and secondary education sector,
NCERT, CBSE, NOS, NBT, etc. can play a major role in framing guidelines for the primary
and secondary schools. In the area of higher education, MHRD, UGC, NAAC, AICTE, etc.
can do this job. In case of distance education, DEC, IGNOU can frame the guidelines.

10. 2. Content Creation:

The digital content for the Indian OCWs should be the responsibility of the educational
organizations including Universities, Colleges, Technical Institutions. Content may include:
assignments, projects, dissertations, seminar presentations, reports, animations, designs and
models, etc. created by the students and researchers. The institutes may come up with such a
policy (voluntary or mandatory) that encourages the content creators. Teachers also have the
special responsibility in the content creation as they may be creating such resources for
classroom teaching.

Grass-root Creators:

 Students: UG, PG, Research Scholars.

 Teachers : Schools, Colleges, Universities, Technical Institutions.

Provision should be made for

 Campus wide policy framing.

 Infrastructure development.
 IP-clearance: OCW publisher has the right to make the materials available under open
terms and that nothing in the materials infringes the copyrights of others.
 Permits use, reuse, adaptation (derivative works), and redistribution of the materials
by others.

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11. Conclusion:

OCW is still a new and evolving concept immensely beneficial to the learning community
including the benefits for the teachers . The main issue is volunteer contributions to OCW.
However, it needs training and motivation by providing a steady and supportive teaching
environment. An OCW initiative aligns closely with the educational and public service
missions of a non-profit institution of higher learning. More importantly, such an effort
resonates deeply with faculty who have a passion for teaching and who have dedicated their
lives to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge. This is why a key factor for
success of an OCW initiative is to ensure that a core group of faculty stand squarely behind
the effort and can serve as champions of the idea.

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