Bengaluru : In a historic first when it comes to management education, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) will provide the opportunity to all deserving talent in India to access its free Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Hindi. “The courseware and videos will be in English, which means the professors will teach in English but Hindi transcripts will be made available for all the videos,” announced Dr. Sushil Vachani, Director, IIM Bangalore. “We plan to introduce transcripts in other Indian languages to reach learners across India over a period of time,” he added.
‘Statistics for Business’, taught by Professor Shankar Venkatagiri, is the first MOOC to roll off the blocks on July 7 and has over 10,000 registrations already. Hindi transcripts are available for the videos in this MOOC. Courses on Innovation and IT Management (Professor Rahul De) and Introduction to Operations Management (Professor B. Mahadevan) follow later this month and in August. Registrations for all the IIMBx courses are open to everyone at http://www.edx.org/school/iimbx.
Emphasizing that online education will play a critical role in the delivery of education in future, and that the vast Indian talent pool has traditionally been handicapped by physical capacity constraints of premier educational institutions, Dr. Vachani said: “IIMBx aims to provide world-class education in management and related areas to every interested learner in India and across the world. Our first promise is that of massive reach. Associated with that promise of massive reach is an enormous opportunity for social impact. We want to leverage technology to reach out to the masses and make the power of education accessible to everyone.”
“We have received an overwhelming response from participants, with about 25,000 people registered from 173 countries within a short span of announcing our courses. IIMBx will launch around eight to ten courses in the first year. The response to these courses will be carefully monitored and analyzed so that we not only improve the design of future MOOCs, but also use our learning from MOOCs to enhance the educational experience of our students enrolled in on-campus programs,” explained Dr. Vachani.
“If we have to achieve our prime minister’s vision of ‘Make in India’ we have to upgrade the skill of the vast majority of workers and we have to provide support to all those people who are struggling to find high-quality and affordable educational opportunities”, he added.
Speaking about edX and its partnership with IIM Bangalore, Professor Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX, said: “Today we already have about four and half million students from across the globe on our platform and over five lakh students are from India. We are honored to welcome IIM Bangalore to edX. IIM Bangalore is one of the top business schools in the world. It will deliver high quality courses and new perspectives to the edX learning community and reach learners around the world.”
MOOCs are a powerful force in online education and have opened doors to quality education in every corner of the world. As the potential impact of this program is very broad, IIMBx will reach a much wider and diverse spectrum of learners across India and around the world, ranging from students who want to broaden their horizons, to teachers looking to enhance their pedagogy.
The IIMBx MOOCs embrace the “active learning” methodology by giving the learner the opportunity to employ various learning modalities – listening, watching, reading and acting on the knowledge gained. Each concept is explained using a carefully designed learning sequence that intersperses bite-sized videos with quizzes, readings and assignments. Discussion forums with thought-provoking questions add to the peer learning experience.
About IIMB
Established in 1973, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) is widely acknowledged as one of the premier management institutes in India with an international reputation for its programs, alumni and faculty. IIMB’s faculty have studied and taught at some of the best universities in India and abroad. They bring vast industry, consulting and academic experience to IIMB, making it a hub of vibrant academic activity. They are actively engaged in policy formulation, research, case writing and consulting. Their research papers and analysis are published in leading academic and practitioner journals and create a huge impact in the business world. IIMB’s research centres include the Nadathur S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, the Centre for Public Policy, the Centre for Financial Markets and Risk Management, the Centre for Corporate Governance and Citizenship and the Centre for Supply Chain Management. IIMB collaborates with over a hundred leading management schools across the world for various research initiatives and student and faculty exchange programs.
About edX
EdX offers interactive online classes and MOOCs from the world’s best universities, colleges and organizations. Most topics are related to subjects such as science, engineering, arts, philosophy, literature, business and economics. Through institutional partners and other leading global members, edX presents the best of higher education online, offering opportunity to anyone who wants to achieve, thrive and grow. Founded in 2012, edX is a non-profit online initiative created by its founding partners Harvard and MIT. EdX today has over four and a half million users taking over 500 courses onlineoffered by institutions like Stanford University, UC Berkeley, University of Queensland, Harvard University, MIT, IIT Bombay and IIM Bangalore.
