NPTEL (National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning)



This article is written specially for all the engineering students and professionals. NPTEL (National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning) is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) platform run jointly by 7 of the highly reputed IITs and the IISc. The mission of NPTEL is to aid the learning process with the help of technology. A huge problem faced by the country at this point is the shortage of Teacher and Professors. With the increase in the number of technical institutes, it has become very difficult to maintain the quality of education throughout. It is practically impossible to offer quality education to all the students studying Engineering. There are several reasons for that, which is not our main concern in this post. We are here to discuss solutions. The solutions which have a potential to improve the degrading quality of education being provided to the students. NPTEL is one such platform which offers hundreds and thousands of courses related to engineering disciplines which can be taken up by students free of cost. The courses offered under this program are related to all the major and specialized domains of engineering.

NPTEL Courses: Why join NPTEL courses?

The courses are in form of video lectures which are released weekly followed by an assignment. Students must first enrol for a course to receive notifications via email. The videos are basically lecture series prepared by highly qualified and learned Professors of IITs and the IISc. This enables students studying in Private, self-financed, rural or state government colleges who are not fortunate enough to have the best infrastructure available with them to interact and study with some of the best professors from the premier institutes of India. The courses are 4 week, 6 week, 8 week or 12 week long and cover a variety of subjects ranging from basic subjects like Joy of Computing for first year students to super specialized courses like Advanced Power Electronics, which can be taken up by students pursuing Masters or Ph.D. Some popular and basic courses are rerun every semester and new courses are added regularly.

NPTEL certification exam and fees

The final certification exam is optional, and you have to pay Rs. 1100 if you wish to attempt the exam. The exam is conducted through the nearest digital exam centers to your location. The final score is calculated as 25% of assignment score and the remaining depending upon the exam score. The questions asked are mostly MCQs and there is not negative marking.
The NPTEL certificate is recognized by major recruiters and adds a value to your resume. The NPTEL certificates signify candidate's interest in specialized subjects which is what most of the recruiters look out for. Some of the NPTEL FDP (Faculty Development Program) courses can be taken up by faculties to update themselves with the recent trends in technology.

My experience with NPTEL

I have completed a handful of NPTEL courses from IIT Madras and IIT Kharagpur. During my first year, I partially attended the video lectures of two or three NPTEL courses and attempted one certification exam. Once I understood how the system works, in subsequent semesters, I could study two courses and appear for two exams in the end. I have completed certification in IoT, Embedded System Design, Power System Engineering etc. which are not directly a part of my Undergraduate studies but because I just wanted to learn more about them and I did.

Why NPTEL is the best MOOC platform ever made in India?

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NPTEL transforms the very way we look at classroom education. Availability of high quality educational content at our convenience makes it truly amazing. NPTEL program satisfied my thirst for the kind of education and environment I have always longed for. The archives of NPTEL courses are available on nptel.ac.in and the live courses can be accessed from onlinecourses.nptel.ac.in.

Ravi Rao, Digitrovert