UPDATES SEPT 2016:

SWAYAM is launched. You can find it here: swayam.gov.in

Read the following articles to get the latest information about Swayam

SWAYAM: Inside India’s Massive Bet on MOOC — Class Central
A Complete List of SWAYAM MOOCs — Class Central
SWAYAM, India’s MOOC Platform, Launches In Beta — It’s Off To A Rocky Start — Class Central

As part of his educational initiatives, Narendra Modi, the newly elected prime minister for India, is expected to launch an India-focused MOOC platform. The platform, likely to be christened ‘Swayam’ is expected to go live with three courses.

The Courses

At launch Swayam is expected to have three different courses – two from IIT Bombay and one from UC Berkeley’s Umesh Vazarani’s. Currently all these courses are available on edX, an MIT and Harvard backed MOOC provider. Also, it would not be surprising to see the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore joining Swayam, as IIM Bangalore announced its intention to offer MOOCs by joining edX. The following are the three courses in question from edX:

Introduction to Computer Programming
via IIT Bombay
This is a two part course which providers students with a foundation in Computer Programming

Thermodynamics
via IIT Bombay
This a basic course in thermodynamics, designed for students of mechanical engineering. Students will learn the terms and concepts used in thermodynamics, with precise definitions

Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Computation
via UC Berkeley
This is a basic conceptual introduction to quantum mechanics and quantum computation.

Quantum Mechanics course Intro Video

MOOC Platform

Though nothing has been stated on what platform will be used to host these courses, the obvious candidate is Open edX, the open source version of the edX platform. Since the first batch of courses announced are all hosted on edX, transferring the courses from edX to a self-hosted openEdx platform would be fairly straightforward. Open edX seems to be the platform of choice for institutions to self-host courses, as it has been adopted by George Washington Univerisity, Queen Raina foundation for the Edraak MOOC platform, MongoDb University, French Universities, and others.

With a population of over one billion and the leadership of a new government, there could be a large potential impact from this Swayam initiative.

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