National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) is a project of MHRD initiated by seven Indian Institutes of Technology (Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras, Guwahati and Roorkee) along with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, to provide quality education to anyone interested in learning from the IITs. The main goal was to create web and video courses in all major branches of engineering and physical sciences at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels and management courses at the postgraduate level. Largest online repository in the world of courses in all the subjects. Youtube channel for NPTEL – most subscribed educational channel, 1.5 million+ channel subscribers, 819 million+ views, 50000+ Video Hours. More than 54000+ hours of video content, transcribed with subtitles and most accessed library of peer-reviewed educational content in the world.
Through an online portal, 4-, 8-, or 12-week online courses, typically on topics relevant to students in all years of higher education along with basic core courses in sciences and humanities with exposure to relevant tools and technologies, are being offered. The enrolment to and learning from these courses involves no cost. Universities/colleges approving credit transfer for these courses can use the marks/certificate obtained in these courses for the same. The objective of this effort is to take the best teaching learning resources to all, including the most disadvantaged. The courses hosted on SWAYAM are 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. Students and faculty members are encouraged to do atleast one MOOC-SWAYAM course per semester.