 Hello everyone. This is Dr. Jayakrishnan from the Designing Learner Centric Growth course. We are now experimenting with various low bandwidth resources that can be used for content creation and books. So, in this resource, you will just hear me and not see me. You may listen to me at any point while doing maybe your cooking, your exercises or at any daily routine that you have, you can just plug in a earphone just like how you do in a podcast. What we are trying to make everyone understand is that just like learning can happen anywhere, anytime, same goes for teaching as well. Anytime, anywhere. So, let's go on. There are many known challenges in massive open online courses, especially the ones related to student completion and student engagement. I think already you have seen a video where educators were talking about the various challenges that they faced during COVID-19 when everything went online. But additionally, something you can observe very carefully, the emergency response teaching mode or as is called as ERP mode, it has also taught us some ways of tackling some of the challenges related to engagement and student interest. One of the major learning from ERP has been that there is a need for learner-centric approach to be embedded while moving a course to online. Specifically, in massive open online courses where the audience is also massive, the learner-centric approach is super important. We have seen views from two different but most important stakeholders or builders of the education system about what happened during COVID-19 in terms of online education. Many points emerged out of this interesting discussion. Now, the first point that I would look at is the fact that each domain had its own challenges and their own positives during the ERP phase. For instance, the challenge of science domain was the lack of lab equipment or activities which led to students having minuscule practical experience. The domains like liberal arts and humanities where open discussions are a vital part of teaching learning, online video conferencing was not as conducive and effective. Subjects like mathematics, accountancy which included demonstrations of calculations were difficult to teach online. One of the main reasons being availability and training for using hardware or software is meant for subjects which were missing. This period made every educator more aware of the digital divide, non-conducesive home atmosphere, screened fatty which was probably did not feature earlier. At the same time, there were also positives such as students helping out teachers with the technology, they trying out new teaching tools, a lot of new tools came up during that time. There were a lot of low-cost makeshift tools and techniques. The diverse perspectives shared by our panelists have shed light on multifaceted nature of the challenges that they faced during the COVID-19 era within online education. Now is a good time to have one small point of reflection. Think of two perspectives of education during the COVID times that you in your own experience most resonate with. Most of us could relate to these views expressed by the panelist. While some viewpoints might seem contradictory, this dialogue has unveiled essential insights. Most challenging times educators across the board demonstrated extraordinary dedication striving to deliver quality education despite the lack of preparedness or altering it. Improvisation was the norm with many experiments yielding unexpected results, both successes and failures. But amidst this tumultuous landscape, two critical realizations emerged prominently. Firstly, online learning cannot afford to be passed. The engagement of learners through active learning strategies became a focal point. Even an evocative lecture provoking critical thinking and discussion is surely an active learning strategy. But what is evocative and how to bring it in an online medium was the question. The training industry was already working on it and we saw a number of technological advancements in virtual conferencing tools during this time. Possibly the need was to connect with teams within the technology providers to keep it running. But these were quickly applied in education sector and the cycle of innovation continued. The trajectory of virtual conferencing tools witnessed a monumental transformation evolving from their initial constraints to expansive feature-rich platforms. Now is a good time to pause and reflect. Think of a specific feature of a video conferencing tool that you normally use and that in your experience has significantly enhanced engagement and accessibility. How did this functionality contribute to a more effective learning or collaborative experience? Let me tell you some of my observations about the video conferencing tools and the features that they brought in. These tools initially were only limited to few participants for short durations and this was a very limiting feature when it comes to a larger lecture hours. But COVID-19 completely changed this paradigm. All the conferencing tools underwent a revolutionary expansion. Their capacity expanded exponentially and even had models where they accommodated up to thousands of participants for unlimited durations. Breakout rooms became a cornerstone feature which enabled seamless division of large groups into smaller and manageable chunks which could also incorporate interactivity. In addition to these expanded functionalities, attendance records were integrated ball string learning analytics. This enhanced data gathering enabled educators to gain deeper insights into student engagement, education and attendance patterns. The evolution further introduced various session types catering to diverse needs including webinars and meetings. Different roles and subsequent features were aligned offering tailored experiences for hosts, presenters and participants. These innovations aligned with the diverse educational needs fostering interactive engaging and purpose driven learning environments and yet something was amiss. Implementing active learning isn't just about features or incorporating activities. It's about a deliberate, thoughtful approach to engage learners actively within the media by fostering an environment that encourages participation, collaboration and problem solving. Educators can create immersive learning experiences that resonate with diverse learners. Secondly, a notable gap existed, the one between theory and practice. Educators lacked accessible models of teaching through technology which is applicable to their specific teaching domains. This was even more glaring at the secondary or tertiary education levels but each are generally do not get a preserver strain. As an educator you would look at a roadmap that can seamlessly integrate into your teaching methodologies, a model that isn't just theoretical but more practical, adaptable and applicable across various disciplines and contexts. So this absence actually hindered seamless adaptation of effective teaching methodologies within online learning, leaving many educators grappling with the challenge of implementation. Why was this happening? There were very good teaching learning processes, very good technologies available, very good pedagogical practices. But what the pandemic really helped us realize was the digital divide, the real digital divide making it difficult for teachers to quickly adapt themselves. And this meant there is a necessity of a model which is both flexible and adaptable. A model that has learner centricity as the core but has modular elements that can be mixed and matched and tailored for specific cases. A model that can be applied irrespective of the device, the bandwidth that the learner or the teacher has access to. A model that allows learner autonomy and guided study. This model should also be modular so that teachers can use only certain elements of the model in absence of limited or technological support. And yet be able to deliver a wholesome learning experience for the learners. Introducing the learner centric MOOC model or LCM which takes care of these factors. If you notice, we have kept the learner as the main focus of the learning experience. It is modular and contains four elements. In order to ensure active learning, there should be an opportunity for the learners to actively participate in the cognition while watching a video or while reading or listening to the content. This is what learning dialogue is. The adage, you learn best when you do things or discuss things is the most tricky in online mode of learning. The power of LBD or learning by doing is pivotal role of activities, whether online or offline that ensure learner centricity by promoting hands-on learning experience. It is commonly observed that each classroom has students who have different goals for pursuing a course. Also, they come from diverse backgrounds and may have different ways of learning. This diversity increases manifold or becomes more profound in a MOOC thus making one-size-fits-all kind of learning less meaningful to learners. The component LXT addresses this challenge. There is no doubt that education becomes wholesome only with peer interaction. The absence of such interaction is a blame that MOOCs face. In order to refute this, the LCM model has an integral part LXI that enables peer interaction with the MOOC. It is found that these interactions lead to better learning outcomes and a wholesome learning experience. In the following modules, we are going to see each of these elements in more detail. These elements meticulously woven into a fabric of learner centric MOOC model promise to revolutionize the way we perceive and engage in online education. Through these modules, we aim to equip educators and learners with tools, strategies and insights needed to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of online education. Get ready to embark on a journey of discovery and innovation in education. Welcome to the learner centric MOOC model.