Letters: E(mpty) learning?

Rafiq Dossani's analysis of Massive Open Online Courses for engineering students in his article "India embraces MOOCs, but what if it is a 'lousy product'?" (January 8) is noteworthy. The effectiveness of learning outcome depends not only on the quality of information (knowledge) provided to the student but equally on the medium chosen to transmit it. Recorded lectures lack the quality of channel richness - the amount of information passed is limited. After all, listening alone is not an effective tool of learning; interaction is also necessary. Virtual learning has this glaring drawback - the lack of opportunity for clarification of students' spontaneous doubts as the recorded lesson is gone through. This makes subsequent understanding of the topic less comprehensible. The problem is accentuated in the case of average students. Since they are large in number, the benefit of effective learning through MOOC+ is lost to them. The associated issue of employability is also pertinent. Currently, just 25 per cent of engineering graduates are estimated to be employable. Will this expensive teaching technology increase this number or reduce it further?

Y G Chouksey Pune

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