Converging Online and Class-Room Methods: A Promising Mode of Knowledge Sharing in the Digital Age?
| Author | Arul George Scaria |
| DOI | 10.1177/2277401720150107 |
| Date | 01 August 2015 |
| Published date | 01 August 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CONVERGING ONLINE AND CLASS-ROOM
METHODS: A PROMISING MODE OF
KNOWLEDGE SHARING IN THE DIGITAL
AGE?
Arul George Scaria*
The emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs) is
considered as one of the most disruptive changes that happened
in the field of education in the last deca de. They are playing an
important role in democratising access to knowledge across the
globe and many countries, inclu ding India, are contemplating
the use of such courses for addressing their mass educational
requirements. In this context, it is importan t to explore how certain
components of MOOCs like onli ne videos and online discussion
forums could be converged with traditional classroom methods
for giving broader access to education, without compromising the
quality of learning and instr uction. This article is a ca se study
in this direction in the background of a pedagogical experiment
done at the National L aw University, Delhi, in collaboration
with the CopyrightX program of the Harvard Law School. The
article describes how a dynamic comparative copyright law
course was developed by merging online and offline teaching
methods. The article not o nly analyses the learning implications
from this pedagogical experiment for evolving other comparative
law courses, but also analyses the broader lessons for designing
similar courses in other subjects.
I. Introduction
One of the most significant changes that have happened in the field
of education in the last decade is the emergence of Massive Open Online
Courses (“MOOCs”). Than ks to digital technologies and increasing access
to the internet, many courses offered by leading institutions across the world
are now at least partly accessible to people across the globe.
* Assistant Professor, National Law University, Delhi and Affiliate Faculty, CopyrightX.
I would like to thank Pr of. William Fisher (Harvard Law School) for his comments on the
draft version of this ar ticle and Ms Rishika Srivastava (National Law University, Delhi)
for reading the draft ca refully.
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