The Hindu Business Line : Logging into learning

Online learning is part of the broader e-learning sphere, where Internet learning is supplemented by CDs, DVDs, Web-streaming of lectures and other multimedia fora.

Seven years ago, Srikant started his career as HR manager in a textile firm after an MBA in a top Indian B-school. When the company decided to subcontract some of its functions in 2005, Srikant knew that a degree in Business Process Outsourcing would increase his functional efficiency during the transition process, besides adding value to his profile, but he could not take time off to pursue it.

What Srikant didn't know was that his company, in a way, was reading his mind. Globally, the World Wide Web was changing the face of conventional education, with several top-notch universities offering their course streams online. In India, a large number of corporates were providing customised e-learning courses to employees through global and local tie-ups, to better efficiency and bottomlines. And, the industry valued these certifications as much as it did a normal degree.

Last year, the textile company, in a pact with a foreign university, began specialised courses for middle-management employees. "The courseware is user-friendly and interactive. Theories are simplified, and discussions online have given me invaluable insights into the working of the corporate BPO segment. I'm learning at a comfortable pace and am able to apply it to work as well," Srikant says happily.

Life-long learning

Online Learning is a new-age chapter in education worldwide. It is the process of gaining a valid degree, diploma or certificate without having to attend classes in a conventional classroom. The course material is available directly through the Internet and supplemented by demos, flash movies or animations. The lessons are instructor-led, and multiple entry points mean students needn't wait an academic year to start classes.

In India, many men and women are tapping into the vast possibilities to give themselves the benefit of an additional degree or certification. "The emergence of the knowledge worker has intensified focus on life-long learning," says Nagesh Singh, President, American Higher Education India (AHEd India). "In the US, for instance, online education initiatives by universities generated around $5 billion in fees in 2005. In India, dramatic changes in the last few years have resulted in many takers for the online mode," he adds. AHEd India has brought in online programmes in engineering disciplines, skill enhancement programmes for teachers and administrators and corporate training courses from Ivy League education centres such as Harvard, Boston and Columbia Universities. It has one centre in Gurgaon and plans to expand to 12 for which it is currently scouting for partners.

Easy accessibility and time flexibility are definite draws. For instance, companies find it near impossible to get their senior managers under one roof for training programmes. Online learning allows that advantage. There is a possibility that women who were forced to give up career and education view this as a second chance at learning. For graduates without a higher-education degree, it's a gateway to specialisation.

Initiatives aplenty

IITs, IIMs, and private players such as Symbiosis are enabling anyone with minimum qualification to access their material for the same or subsidised fee. They are also tying up with institutes to take their courses to more people. For instance, Macmillan India Ltd, together with IIT Delhi, offers Finance for Non-finance Executives, International Finance and Supply Chain Management, and together with IIM Calcutta, has a Corporate Finance course.

IIT-Mumbai's Centre for Distance Engineering Education Programme (C-DEEP), started in June 2003, started its Web courses in 2005. The centre's 13 online courses are popular with professionals interested in higher learning, teachers, and graduates looking to benefit from an IIT degree. "The crunch today is in knowledge — a niche sector — and we are wanting in good faculty. Student intake is limited and so is infrastructure. Online learning has become very easy and viable to increase the number of participants, especially non-IIT students," says Arvind Patel, IIT Mumbai.

The programmes offered by U21 Global, the Singapore-based purely online university, are reaching a mammoth learner-base. The university is working with Indian corporates through 150 faculties — including 7 from IIMs — and has tie-ups with 19 universities worldwide. "For instance, a steel company employee working in a remote area has no access to study centres. Salesmen, after a tough day's job, have no motivation to attend class. And someone running an SME venture can't go to IIM Bangalore to study. E-learning bridges these gaps," says Girish Rangan, Country Manager, U21 Global.

U21 Global launched a management programme for entrepreneurs and family business at IIM Bangalore last year and introduced a 12-subject Master of Management in International Business this year. It also offers single-subject certificate and diploma programmes.

U21 also offers customised education programmes for corporates. On May 1, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd launched the second batch of 51 executives for its Hybrid Certificate Programme in Project Management. By September this year, the company plans to bring in courseware formulated by the employees themselves, taking the view that in the future, the curriculum wouldn't necessarily have to be designed by professors. Employees can build content with their everyday experiences, and post links to articles and images to build on the existing curriculum.

Open courseware concept

Others, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hope to extend the reach of the `open courseware' (OCW) concept - free publication of the materials used in MIT classrooms. "We currently receive about 1.5 million visits per month to our site plus another 500,000 visits to 450 of our courses in translation on affiliate sites. By November 2007, MIT OCW will have published materials from virtually all of MIT's courses, some 1,800 in total" says Steve Carson, External Relations Director at MIT-OCW, in a mail to Life.

Evolution of the learning paradigm

In the early twentieth century, the option of learning outside the university was restricted to correspondence courses - purely textual, self-instructional material. Then came the first type of blended learning, through television, followed by contact programmes with radio-television-printed materials combined.

The 80s saw computer-aided learning while the 90s brought in the new domain of interactive e-learning. E-learning was initially restricted to teaching school syllabi online and only later began to get broad-based to professional courses.

Online learning is part of the broader E-learning sphere, where Internet learning is supplemented by CDs, DVDs, Web-streaming of lectures and other multi-media fora. What's driving the reach of this new-age industry is the premise that the old education system can never reach out to all.

Educationists feel that the demand for quality education is simply too large to be met through existing universities. Questions of quality infrastructure and teachers continue to plague the system. "Online's biggest advantage in the standardised quality available. It gives the nearest actual experience through multi-channel or blended learning. But India has not fully explored the potential of the Internet," says Marmar Mukhopadhyay, Senior Fellow at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA).

Recognition issues

India is only in the formative stages of harnessing the power of online education. Industry insiders complain that though India is recognised as a global IT power, and cost of technology is decreasing, the Government is yet to draft a policy for Online Education.

"Indian laws are not easy on international universities wanting to set up campuses in the country and therefore, as of now, online education is the only access we have to world-class programmes," says Nagesh Singh.

Pure online players are not legally recognised in India. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is clear that only those who bear its certification can offer technical courses. The UGC has no regulatory framework for the sector.

"A lot of foreign universities are not recognised abroad and hence the need for regulations to prevent them from offering their courses here. The UGC Act has no provisions for it as at that time, nobody visualised that foreign universities would be coming," says Dr R.K. Chauhan, Additional Secretary, UGC.

But that's not stopping institutions in India from offering courses with globally-recognised certification. "If Harvard University comes to India, they don't need a certification from here. But it's extremely important for the Indian Government to form a clear policy framework to differentiate the fly-by-night operators fleecing students," says Girish.

Another issue causing concern is the quality of courseware. "I know many institutes that put out HTML versions of their course books and call it online learning. If people could learn through a book, why do we need big Universities?" asks Rakesh Shukla, Head-Business Development, The Writers Block, a technical writing institute that began offering its course online in March this year.

In the absence of a framework for Online Education, it's the students who tread a fine line between what is credible and what is not, what is now accepted as a `degree' and what is not.

"Online courses in Duke University, for instance, are expensive, going to show that good online degrees are recognised and valued. In India, there is a general hostility towards that idea. There is no proactive legislature which sets certain standards for compliance and accepts online degrees, which, for students, poses the risk of the degree not being valued as valid here," says R.K. Pant, Independent Educator and former Pro Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU.

Online education is a new concept for India and it will take time to make policies, says Dr Chauhan. But attitudes about new education parameters are changing. For instance, the Vice-Chancellor and Prof V.N. Rajashekharan Pillai recently made known that the Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU) will enable online access to all its new courses starting July 2007.

More corporates are logging on, and more individuals are comfortably balancing their personal life and work life with an education they desire. "India is in a unique position, with a booming economy and a globally recognised Information Technology sector. But like in many countries, productivity is its biggest issue: even a 5 per cent increase in productivity will result in a higher GDP. Online Education can unleash that productivity," says Girish.

How they do it

It's Sunday morning and Veena wakes up comfortably late, heads straight to the kitchen and is back in her room with a steaming mug of coffee.

As her cup empties, her mind tunes in to the day ahead. She has to submit a written assignment for the online programme on International Business Management by evening and wrap up some official documentation work as well.

She wonders if she can manage her time well but decides to concentrate on one thing at a time.

She takes out her laptop and logs onto the discussion forum to check what's being said. She then navigates to her courseware and is soon immersed in reading, collating thoughts, understanding ideas and eventually, she starts to work on her assignment topic.

"I take the lessons seriously and make sure I post my assignments on time," says Veena, 30. "Discussions, assignments, carry marks and you have to perform if you want the certificate or degree." Her company is offering the short-term programme through a tie-up with a global online university.

For Veena, and others like her, the ability to do a course while juggling office work requires balancing time. "But time management is another managerial technique that is very important to know and implement, so in a way, this course is helping me in that too!'' she says, laughing.

While online education gives flexibility in time when it comes to learning, it requires timeliness when it comes to actually completing your given work on schedule.

"Unless you discipline yourself, you can't get the full benefit of learning through the Net," says Anushea, 28.

Anushea handles procurement and material requirement planning at a textile auxillary company and wants to learn about supply chain management to augment her everyway work. "Reading books and articles on the Net can give some knowledge but there's nothing like completing a structured course. I don't have time for it now, and I can't quit this job. That's why I'm looking at online options," she says.

Anushea, however, feels that the dynamics of a regular classroom environment can't be replaced.

She plans to enrol online by June this year. "It's a subject I've always wanted to do but couldn't. Now there's a convenient option and I want to make the best use of it," she says.

In mid-January this year, 27-year-old Athar Mulla enrolled in the University of Phoenix's MBA in Marketing as his work as Branch Manager at ICFAI in Pune left him with no time to pursue higher education.

Athar has over six years of experience in marketing, and wanted a degree that would help him at work.

"I have a Master of Management Science degree from Pune University, and have work experience, so for me this 18-month course was not a question of getting a degree but of supplementing knowledge," he says.

On most days, after work, Athar logs on to his system at home and browses through his courseware for a short while. "I have a really hectic schedule so learning when I find the time is a boon," he says.

Athar, however, feels that beginners will benefit from direct interaction with teachers and peers in a conventional learning set-up than in the faceless world online. "It all depends on the individual and his preferences," he says.

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Logging into learning