IIT Madras to provide content for course, which is first-of-its-kind to be offered as a MOOCs in an open learning mode in India

Chennai: The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)has tied up with the glass Industry to reach out to budding architects and civil engineers with the objective of creating awareness on efficient use of glass in construction sector. Judicious and appropriate usage of glass is crucial to achieve energy efficiency in any building.

Being taken up with the involvement of Indian Institute of Technology Madras, NPTEL aims to take this course to 1,600 colleges and educational institutions in the country. The initiative will provide the industry perspective and practical use of glass in the market. The course taps into a niche area, uncommon in academic circles as in spite of advancements in ‘glass’ space, there are few, if any, formal academic courses that educate budding civil engineers and architects on efficient use of glass.

NPTEL, IIT Madras, entered into an MoU with Glass Academy Foundation on 20th February 2018. The MoU was signed by Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, and Padma Shree Awardee C. N. Raghavendran, Chairman of Glass Academy Advisory Board, in the presence of Prof R. Nagarajan, Dean (International and Alumni Relations), IIT Madras.

Along with other IITs, IIT Madras will provide content for this course, which will be first of its kind to be offered as a MOOCs in an open learning mode in India.

Speaking about the MoU, Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, NPTEL coordinator at IIT Madras, said, “Collaborating with the industry is the next step for NPTEL to bridge the gap between academia and industry and make college graduates more job ready.”

The first joint activity would be to co-offer an online certification courses in the July-Dec 2018 Semester, targeted towards Architecture and Civil Engineering students. The possibility of offering internships and job opportunities to top performers of the course(s) are also being actively explored.

Highlighting the importance of the tie-up, Mr. Raghavendran said, “Traditional materials have been the subject of study and training for decades. However, modern day glass as a material in construction is yet to become a subject of study and training in academic institutions. Our association with NPTEL will strengthen further by co-offering and co-certifying our courses as an elective to Architecture and Civil Engineering students.”

NPTEL (nptel.ac.in) is one of the most successful inter-institute collaborative educational efforts in India today. Funded by the MHRD, it has been offering Online Certification Courses (onlinecourses.nptel.ac.in) since 2014. The current semester has 227 courses on offer with a learner enrolment base of over 9.8 lakh.

Glass Academy Foundation, a not-for-profit company, works to be an industry-professional-academia-interface to impart knowledge and skills amongst the various stakeholders in the glass eco-system.

NPTEL is trying to widen the breadth and variety of courses offered, where this will be the first step towards including industrial perspective and inputs along with academic content from faculty in the IITs.