During the COVID-19 outbreak, eLearning platforms have proven to be one of the most effective ways to assist students in continuing their studies
Students were the first to be sent home as the world learned more about the existence of a new coronavirus strain. With each passing day, an unusual increase in the use of eLearning platforms has been recorded in India. The Indian government responded appropriately by supporting and launching excellent digital initiatives and tools, just as education ministries around the world responded to this problem in their individual capacities by launching online education portals and programmes. Students can not only access all study materials through these portals, but they can also engage and communicate with teachers online, much as they would in a traditional classroom environment.
SWAYAM
SWAYAM is a government of India initiative that aims to provide students pursuing education from Class 9 to post-graduation with the best-of-the-best learning opportunities. SWAYAM seeks to bridge the digital divide for students who have yet to enter the mainstream student force, with a particular emphasis on the marginalised parts of society. All of the courses are available for free on the portal (created by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and NPTEL, IIT Madras). If a student requires a SWAYAM certificate, he or she must enrol, pay a small fee for the final exams, and attend face-to-face sessions at designated locations on specific dates. Each course’s certificate has certain eligibility requirements, and students can only receive certificates if the requirements are met. The marks/certificate earned in these courses may be taken into account by universities and colleges accepting credit transfer for these courses.
The SWAYAM platform’s courses are divided into four sections:
Lecture on video
Downloadable or printable reading materials (Prepared by more than 1,000 specially chosen teachers and faculty from across the country.)
National Open Educational Resources Repository (NROER)
There are 16,000 registered users and 14,527 services on the NROER website. This Ministry of HRD initiative has gained popularity among students who use the NROER portal/website to access a variety of e-libraries, e-books, and eLearning. Students will have many opportunities to engage in online training activities and theme-based education.
Other notable features of this platform include:
- The NROER website is available in both Hindi and English for students.
- Scholars must first register on the website in order to begin learning classroom lessons.
- Students can access a repository of 14,527 files in various languages, including approximately 3,000 documents, 1,300+ interactive sessions, 1,600+ audios, 2,586 images, and 6,100+ videos.
DIKSHA
It is an eLearning portal that is open to students in grades 1 through 12 as well as their teachers. Teachers and students can easily access learning materials, which include over 80,000 ebooks produced specifically for Class 12 (by CBSE, NCERT, and States or Union Territories) and available in multiple languages. This goal is to ensure that students in their final and most critical year of school do not miss out on their education due to a lack of access to a physical classroom. Students and teachers are required to search the QR code found on textbooks in order to gain access to the learning materials.
