3.

Proposed Activities for NPTEL

Phase II
The following activities are proposed to
be carried out in NPTEL Phase II starting
from April 1, 2007 for a period of three
years. Converting the video courses
developed in Phase I to MPEG4 format
and setting up streaming of video
courses through a distributed and
networked website management. (All
IITs and IISc Bangalore will host the
streaming content for the video
courses). The DVDROM distribution of
the courses to users may be taken up at
a much later stage when a large number
of video courses are complete. Assisting
in the effective use of all the courseware
developed in phase I through constant
interactions with user institutions and
registered users. Feedback forms and
web forums / discussion boards will be
created for each course. Creating
DVDROM versions of video courses for

distribution to colleges and individuals

for a fee to ensure widest possible reach
of the NPTEL content. The fee 8 cannot
and should not be handled by any
bookseller in my opinion but IITs must
find their own way of distributing.
Creating 500 new courses in a number of
disciplines not covered in Phase I and
widening the intellectual, open access
resource base of the IITs to ensure the
role as global players in the knowledge
dissemination process. The course base
will cover at least 10 disciplines for
which an undergraduate degree
programme is offered by the IITs and
which are accredited by the AICTE as
well in Institutions in India. Creating 100
additional courses on elective subjects in
the five disciplines covered under phase
I (Civil, Computer Science, Electrical,
Electronics and Communication,
Mechanical) to ensure that content
repository in these five disciplines is
complete. Encouraging faculty to design

question banks, add more case studies

and illustrations and update course
contents. Setting up physical
infrastructure in each IIT, creating a
permanent team in each IIT for ensuring
quality of content as per internet
standards. The storage requirement for
video files (raw is about 75-100
terabytes for a total of about 600
terabytes. The raw files are of broadcast
quality and enable us to prepare files for
the Internet in different bandwidths to
cater to the variations in broadband
connectivity worldwide. It is important
to make the video files accessible in
different formats in order to ensure wide
reach and availability. Hence the storage
requirement is a must. Providing a range
of web enabled services to the courses
developed under NPTEL with associate
partners such as the Indian Institute of
Information Technology and
Management Kerala (IIITMK) and
enabling development of IT tools for

online dissemination of contents.

Conducting 240 course specific
workshops for all courses developed in
NPTEL Phase I with teachers throughout
the country and using the feedback for
building courses of Phase II. Research in
online education, open resources and
open standards for design of educational
processes through the Internet are very
important in the immediate future. It 9 is
desirable to create a team of at least
one full time faculty member who is a
specialist in instructional course design
and cognitive learning, two full time
technical managers who are IT
specialists and office staff in each IIT.
However separate additional funding will
be required.