Awareness and Use of Open Courseware (E-Pg Pathshala) among the Students of Periyar University, Salem

Abstract

Open Courseware is a term applied to course materials created by universities and shared freely with the world via the internet. Open Courseware is primarily the repository of study and learning materials in digital form on the web, which is open to every user, i.e., Open Access. These repositories are envisaged to store, index, preserve, distribute, and share digital learning resources with any time access, offering interoperability. On the other hand, e-learning covers a myriad of applications and processes, such as computer-based learning, webbased learning, virtual classrooms, etc. The present study investigates the awareness and use of open courseware (e-PG-Pathshala) among the Post Graduate (PG) students of Periyar University, Salem. This is a survey-based study in which a structured questionnaire was prepared and distributed randomly among 110 PG students of Periyar University, Salem, for the collection of primary data, out of which 96 (87%) questionnaires were received and analyzed for data interpretation. The study revealed that 67% of the respondents were aware of e-PG Pathshala, while 33 % were not aware. 12.5% of the students were most satisfied, 64.6% of the students were satisfied, 20.8% were moderately satisfied, and only 0.2% of the students were not satisfied with the PG-Pathshala. The majority of the students felt that e-PG Pathshala had an easy browsing and searching facility, and they benefited from it. It is recommended that universities should conduct awareness programs for students to make them more aware of e-PG Pathshala, and teachers should also be involved in this awareness program.