The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) project agMOOCs received a SKOCH Gold award at the Skoch Summit in New Delhi on December 20-21, 2017
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) project agMOOCs received a SKOCH Gold award at the Skoch Summit in New Delhi on December 20-21, 2017.
The highest award in the `Technologies for Growth’ category, it recognises innovative efforts in social development, business and technology, particularly within start-ups.
Skoch Group is a research institute focusing on socio-economic issues and inclusive growth, involving consulting and media companies and a charitable foundation.
It engages with state-owned enterprises, private companies, government and community organisations across India to provide a number of services, including research reports, impact assessments, consultancy, field interventions, policy briefs, publications and workshops.
Skoch Summits bestow the country’s highest independent civilian honours to outstanding contributors within fields of governance, economics, finance, technology and the social sector.
The awards celebrate individuals, projects and institutions that have significantly contributed to positive socio-economic changes as agents of change in their respective field.
COL partnered with the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) to develop several free massive open online courses (MOOCs) that promote open and distance learning within a framework of sustainable development,.
agMOOCs was developed to help students, professionals and organisations gain and progress their agricultural knowledge and skills.
IITK manages the project using the MooKIT platform, which enables learners to access course content even using extremely limited bandwidth.
Qualification certificates are awarded based on student involvement and performance, with more than 13,000 learners from 90 countries having enrolled on several agMOOCs to date.
Agriculture is critical for the growth of India’s economy, but there is an urgent need for improved skills in the sector.
A consortium of renowned institutions launched agMOOCs in response, which was represented by IITK’s Professor T. V. Prabhakar at the summit and received the SKOCH Gold award.
