IIT-K launches online course in agriculture

KANPUR: IIT Kanpur has launched Massive Open Online Courses in agriculture sector (AgMOOCs). Along with other institutions such as Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Indian institute of Management-Calcutta (IIMC) and the University of Agricultral Sciences Raichur (UASR), a consortium has been formed with IITK as lead.

The consortium is supported by National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), a project of the Human Resources Development Ministry. NPTEL is among the largest publishers of open educational resources in the world.

“Massive Open Online Courses enable thousands of aspiring learners to avail a course in a single offering. The scale is a major advantage in MOOCs. They can be developed fast by institutions with advanced expertise,” IITK said.

The consortium will offer MOOCs mainly targeting professionals in agriculture, including students in state agricultural universities, teachers serving there and specialists or any interested and aspiring learner.

The first course of the AgMOOCs consortium will be launched on March 17, 2015, it added.