NPTEL Online Certification Courses (NOC)

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1 NPTEL Online Certification Courses (NOC) NPTEL has been offering Open online courses along with certification since March Through this online portal, 10hr, 20hr and 30hr courses of 4, 8, and 12 weeks duration respectively in various engineering disciplines, sciences, humanities and management that includes relevant exposure to tools and technologies are currently being offered by NPTEL. o The enrolment to and learning from these courses is free. o An in-person, proctored certification exam is conducted at the end of every course and a certificate is provided through the participating institutions and industry, when applicable. o The proctored exam provides a viable means of delivering authentic certification following online education. Highlights of NOC Number of exam runs completed as of April 2016: 9 Number of courses completed as of April 2016: 122 Number of candidates enrolled: 6.5+ lakhs Number of candidates registered: 33 K+ Number of candidates certified: 28K+ Scholarships given till date: 12K+ Unique features such as online programming exams and proctored final exam successfully deployed Multiple course durations: 4/-, 8/- or 12/- weeks At nptel.ac.in/noc, one can see statistics of completed courses, distribution of exam score and can also verify the certificate Who will benefit? Participants in the course - by receiving quality instruction and education in select topics and skills can improve their employability and widen their knowledge base, get introduced to new domains. Faculty members teaching the courses in colleges can hone their teaching skills and use this material to supplement their teaching. Course instructors - may utilize this opportunity to connect with a wide spectrum of student community. Industry - Can use the courses to reduce training time, broaden and refresh the skill set of their employees. 1

2 Incidental benefits Enrolling and learning from the course involves no cost. Flexibility for the student as he/she can prioritize his/her time and work at one s own pace. Variety of programs and courses From engineering to humanities to management, students can try pursuing learning in areas other than their expertise. Since there is no restriction to joining any course, students can learn from any course they are interested in. Clarify doubts with course instructors via , discussion forum and other online media. Networking Opportunities The peer group includes a mix of users from across the globe, from colleges across India and professionals from the industry which will enrich the learning experience. Inculcate mode of self-learning Evaluate themselves on how they compare against the pool of students nationwide. How will faculty benefit? A comparison of Short Term Courses offered by certain institutes vs NPTEL Online certification courses is shown below. Taking up NPTEL online certification courses will surely upgrade their knowledge base and help them keep up with today s technological development. (Thanks to an SPOC who compiled this comparison.) Short Term Course at other Institutes NPTEL Online Certification Course Registration Fee Typically between Rs Rs Zero Registration Fee Travel Leave of absence Exposure to Lectures Typically involves travel and Accommodation arrangements Typically involves 8-12 days of Academic Leave All the participants are exposed to lectures only once No Travel/Accommodation required. The entire lecture content is available right at our desktop No Academic Leave required No disturbance of regular duties Learn anytime, anywhere Registered Participants have complete/anytime access to video content and may watch the videos multiple times Evaluation No examination at the end (a) weekly assignments and (b) end of the course examination which helps the faculty apply the learnt skills Interaction with the Instructor Frequency of the Offered Course Involves interaction only during the short term course Very Rare Interaction is available with Course Instructor/Teaching assistants/other participants via an Online Discussion Forum during the entire duration of the course NPTEL re-runs Online Certification Courses that are in great demand 2

3 NPTEL Local Chapter NPTEL has been offering self-study courses across engineering, humanities and science streams for more than a decade. To take this initiative forward and to encourage more students across colleges to participate in this initiative, we now wish to create and engage in a fruitful relationship with colleges by establishing an NPTEL Local Chapter in the college. As of June 2016, there are 500+ colleges having NPTEL Local Chapter, from 23 states and Union Territories, across the length and breadth of India! 12K+ students from local chapters received CSR scholarship for exams! What should a college do to become NPTEL Local Chapter? 1. A letter from the Head of the institution requesting to establish an NPTEL Local Chapter. 2. College should nominate a single point of contact (SPOC) (who could be a faculty member, librarian or any other staff member) to interface between NPTEL and the college. 3. The college is also requested to obtain the contents created under NPTEL by sending 9 TB of external hard disks if the college does not have it already, or hard disks of appropriate sizes for disciplines that are required. NPTEL will copy the contents, free of cost, which can be made available on the college s LAN for the benefit and easy access of the faculty as well as students there. The SPOC will be the brand ambassador of NPTEL in the college and will be kept informed of all the initiatives of NPTEL and can in turn publicize these amongst the students and faculty of the college, facilitate mentors for students taking courses and aid in exam registration process. How does a college benefit by hosting an NPTEL LOCAL CHAPTER? - Each college that has a Local Chapter will have a page on nptel.ac.in/localchapter. - The statistics of their participation in each course run will be displayed. - During certification exam, NPTEL will try to ensure an exam centre, in the same city or the nearest city (as decided by the exam partner, based on availability) if sufficient number of students from the college register for the exams. - NPTEL encourages the SPOC to pay the online exam fee in bulk on behalf of students if they do not have a bank account and cannot avail online payment mode, via a single DD. - Faculty from the college can also be nominated as mentors who can in turn follow progress of students and help them during the course-run. - To encourage the toppers from the college, their photos will be displayed in each course page. 3

4 Credit Transfer for courses taken from NPTEL NPTEL will provide the raw scores obtained by the students in assignments and the exam. Colleges and universities may choose to award credit to students taking the courses, as permitted by their norms. From July 2015 onward, some autonomous colleges and deemed universities have started using NOC courses for credit. Some technical universities and AICTE have also announced their intention to allow transfer of credit from NOC courses. As the graph here shows, students are primarily taking up online certification courses. Hence we urge SPOCs to help us achieve our common goal of increasing student participation. SPOC Roles and Responsibilities SPOC will be the brand ambassador of NPTEL in the college. You have to primarily believe in NPTEL and the benefits to be derived from it. You have to act as the liaison between NPTEL and faculty/students of your college. SPOC Tasks SPOC has to - Ensure that details about your college are updated on the Local chapter portal - Publicize the online certification courses amongst the students and inform them about the courses being offered currently - Encourage students to enroll in NPTEL online courses - Identify faculty members who can act as mentors for the enrolled students and encourage them to be active in the course, submit the assignments on time and register for the exam - Talk to faculty members and students across departments and give suggestions to NPTEL regarding the courses they wish to see offered and in which time frame - Aid the students in registering for the certification exam by assisting with the online exam registration process, if necessary - Ensure that students enrolled in online certification courses have access to the content and computer systems for studying so that can complete their assignments - Identify the objectives of the college - take courses for credit or for students to improve their understanding 4

5 Some suggestions to increase awareness among students/faculty 1. Identify one or two faculty members in every discipline who can reach out to students of that discipline. Make it more of a college wide network. 2. Encourage faculty to enroll for courses and also sign up as Mentors. This way, they will have an idea of the course content that is covered in each subject. 3. Have a group of student ambassadors who can motivate other students in their departments; especially have toppers from previous courses share their experiences. 4. Conduct awareness programs before each course run so that faculty/students can get familiarized with the portal and process. Explain to them about NPTEL, online certification courses, the processes involved, the benefits they accrue by doing it, etc. 5. Display course posters throughout the campus where students gather in large numbers. 6. Tell students the benefits of the NOC certificate how they can showcase this as an add-on qualification/skill on top of their college degree. 7. Invite college alumni to talk about how such skills had helped them at their current work place. 8. Display toppers photos/list on your college website give this link to college placement authorities. Ensure that this page is updated regularly. Criteria for Mentors - Any faculty member of a college can be the mentor for a maximum of 2 courses - one mentor for every 50 to 60 students. - It is mandatory that the mentor be enrolled to the course which he is mentoring. - It is mandatory that the mentor complete all the assignments. - Weekly feedback about the contents/assignment/responsiveness in the course must be submitted on the NPTEL website through the login. - Mentor will be recognized with certificates and recognition on the portal depending on the performance of the students he/she mentored. Mentor Tasks - Select the courses appropriate for the students of that college. - Guide the students on what course to enroll and pursue - based on the academic skill of the student. - Help the student understand the gaps/finer points in lectures. If the course is being rerun, contents will be available ahead and student is at an advantage to begin learning much ahead of the course start. - Ensure that the students watch the lectures and submit the assignments. - Ensure that students work out the assignments themselves - which will give them the confidence and also assess their understanding - Give hints to solve the questions but not the complete solutions to the students. Not understanding how to solve will be detrimental as a part of the final exams is modeled on the assignments. - Ensure that the assignments are submitted well ahead of the due date. - Encourage students to ask questions in the forum - no question is trivial or foolish. The forum is anonymous and gives students direct access to the faculty to clarify all the doubts they may have. Asking questions will also help other students - who are shy of asking - understand the content better. - Help the students with their questions in case of problems with language and communication. - Also keep the NPTEL office updated about the progress of the course and report any irregularities with respect to posting of content or forum questions not being unanswered. 5

6 Good practices for Mentors - Be active in the Discussion forum; encourage students to do so too - Conduct Mock tests - Have group discussions - Watch select video lessons along with the students - Motivate students to take notes while watching videos. This will help while preparing for exam - provided practice problems similar to the course assignment problems - Watch the beginning videos and gave crash course to the students on the topic - Make a repository of all the online lectures, which students could copy and then review them time to time, especially before their Final Exam - Arrange for group studying Recognition for SPOCs/Mentors SPOCs and Mentors will be recognized with certificates and recognition on the portal depending on the performance of the students from the college. Consent of students Students who register and give the exam are being asked for their consent: - to allow NPTEL share their details with potential interested employers - to share their scores with their colleges Use of the certificates - Once companies begin to see the talent pool here with skills specific to their job descriptions, the certification score would come in handy. - Colleges that mention such courses taken in the transcript of the student or transfer equivalent credits will be given access to raw scores. Colleges then can suitably moderate the same for internal use. - These courses and certificates can be quoted while applying to internships at companies. IIT faculty also sometimes invite the toppers to interact with them or learn under them. - The assignment and exam scores will henceforth be printed on the certificates for all categories of certificates. Students who get less than 40% will only have e-certificates generated - hard copies will not be printed and dispatched. Scholarship Limited scholarships are available. The SPOCs can apply for the same and NPTEL will approve based on the amount available. More details will be shared soon. Exam fee payment: - Students with bank accounts Encourage them to pay through the online mode - Students with no bank accounts SPOCs opt for collection of cash and make the payment to NPTEL as a DD. - Cash - We are trying to incorporate pay through cash directly. If so, encourage students to go for this option. Active College The mode of payment or the number of students enrolled to courses or registered to exams does not affect the status of a college being tagged as an Active college. The factors contributing to it will be the performance of the students registered for the exams and not the number of students registered or the mode of payment. So we suggest that you put in efforts into helping students prepare and learn better. 6

7 Request to SPOCs 1. Please report success stories in your college 2. How did students benefit? 3. How did faculty benefit? 4. Did someone get a job/internship because of a course? 5. Report use of NPTEL online courses for credit transfer Sample certificate 7

8 Shown below is a break-down of state-wise Local Chapters for your reference. Together, let us make our collaboration fruitful for the career and advancement of students across colleges in India! Contact us Please contact us by (nptel@iitm.ac.in) or call us at / Our postal address: NPTEL, Web Studio ICSR building, 3 rd floor IIT Madras Chennai Our Programme Coordinators: Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras Prof. Prathap Haridoss, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, IIT Madras 8