Friday, January 4, 2008

Online Education in India

What exactly is online education? As per definition on the web, it is basically credit-granting courses or education training delivered primarily via the Internet to students at remote locations, including their homes. The Online courses may or may not be delivered synchronously. An online course may need that students and teachers meet once or periodically in a physical setting for lectures, labs, or exams, so long as the time spent in the physical setting does not exceed 25 percent of the total course time.

Online education encompasses various degrees and courses. Through online education, one can opt for many online degrees or online courses from various online universities that provide this facility.

On this page, we have tried to list those institutes and universities providing online learning. We have infact decided to have two sections- online education in India and online education abroad.

Though online education in India is still on its way in gaining popularity, we have listed those few online degree courses and online universities in India that provide online education.

While online education in India is still in its infancy, online education abroad is quite a hit among the people. The main attraction of online education is the flexibility through which education is imparted – through the Net. And more appealing is the fact that a person can pursue an online course within the comfort of his home or any other place that he chooses.

E-Learning in India:-
E-learning or electronic learning in India is gaining prominence slowly, but indeed steadily. This is due to the fact that more than half the population of India today is below 25 years of age and the number of Internet users are growing continuously. The tremendous growth of the economy in the recent past has also helped in the growth of online education in India. E-learning in India is specially popular with the young professionals who have joined the work force quite early but still would like to continue their education that may help them move up their career ladder quickly and safely. They find online education in India very convenient, as the nature of the course work does not require them to attend regular classes. Moreover reputed institutes like Indian Institute of Management, Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade are today offering e-learning courses.

Thus e-learning in India makes it possible for the learners to pursue their education from reputed institutes without much hassle.

Scope of online education in India: The scope of online education in India is actually much wider. Apart from proper course works, some E-learning portals in India are also conducting mock tests for various competitive examinations like engineering, medical, management etc. For example, the Indiatimes group has introduced the Mindscape test center where one can appear for mock IIT-JEE exams online for making self-assessment. GOIIT.com apart from providing various engineering entrance online assistance, they also provide various engineering entrance mock tests, which provides career enriching courses via eLearning. They also offer Virtual Classroom connectivity. Some E-learning portals in India are also providing tutorials for school students. Thus the reach of E-learning in India has expanded from adults to teenagers.

The future of E-learning industry seems to be very bright in India as number of Internet users is growing in the country at quite a satisfactory pace and more and more reputed players are showing their interest in the e-learning business. In fact, if prices of computers become affordable and Internet speed becomes tolerable, e- learning can work wonders for the country. Therefore, on this page, we would be providing information about all the online courses in India and the key players that are providing e-learning solutions in India.

1 comment:

Beagle said...

Good article! I happened to find new entrants like Easygyan.com and a few others doing real well in this sector. Keep posting!