Massive Open Online Courses: EdX.org, Coursera.Com and NPTEL, A Comparative Study Based on Usage Statistics and Features with Special Reference to India

Abstract

Internet and communication technologies (ICT) have changed the way we perceive education. ICT has major impact on recent evolving Education Technology field. Internet and smart phone users are growing at rapid pace in the world as well as India. Leveraging technologies to solve India’s higher education problem is the key. A massive open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web. In addition to traditional course materials such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, many MOOCs provide interactive user forums to support community interactions between students, professors, and teaching assistants (TAs).

The present paper is an effort to analyse and compare two of the world’s most widely used MOOCs i.e. EdX.org and coursera.com with MHRD funded India’s own e-learning initiative NPTEL which provides open courseware to engineering students across the globe. This paper compares these three platforms of e-learning based on parameters like the usage statistics available, features, technology platform and other parameters like design approach to content etc. This paper is an effort to derive best practices from world class MOOCs and adapt them for India’s e-learning initiative NPTEL- a portal dedicated to technical e-content