8 Dec 2007, 0303 hrs IST.Hemali Chhapia.TNN
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/IIT-B_to_beam_classes_live_nationwide/articleshow/2605937.cms
MUMBAI: For lakhs of aspirants who don’t make it to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), here’s something to cheer about. After earlier putting the IIT open courseware online, IIT-Bombay is going one step further and opening its classrooms to the world. Starting January 2008 it will broadcast its lectures live through Edusat, the satellite which caters exclusively to the educational sector.
Students of any engineering institute will now not only have real-time access to IIT-B tutoring, but can also interact with resident faculty at Powai.
IIT-B and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have signed a memorandum of understanding to transmit the lectures to any of the 1,500 engineering colleges across India which are keen to avail of the service. In fact, even institutions in Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and parts of Pakistan which are covered by the Edusat footprint can view the lectures by tuning in to the same frequency.
The concept of long-distance technical education has been in the making for a while. Under a special HRD ministry programme, the seven IITs and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, have already prepared open courseware and uploaded it online. Globally, too, developing and maintaining free open courseware is a popular concept among universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology OpenCourseware offers 1,800 courses to reach out to students beyond the campus classrooms.
However, the IIT-B and ISRO programme offers live lectures and will be the first in the field involving an elite technical institution.