This project is being undertaken jointly with Microsoft Research (India). A significant number of academic institutions around the world face a shortage of well-trained faculty to handle the courses they offer. Thus, courses may be taught by faculty without sufficient knowledge of the subject matter, and it is only the most motivated students who can make up for such deficiencies by seeking better content elsewhere (e.g., by registering for a MOOC). The objective of this project is to empower instructors by (a) giving them access to high-quality video lectures and other course content (e.g., quizzes and projects) to enable them to conduct courses at a suitable baseline in quality, and (b) allowing them to further develop the course content in a manner they see fit (e.g., by tailoring it to the needs of their particular institution’s curriculum). MEC course content currently targets undergraduate courses in Computer Science, and content can be accessed via a web portal or via a mobile device.
The ARTE research domain at PES University is collaborating with the Centre for Education Innovation and Action Research (CEIAR) at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. This partnership links ARTE with the Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx) initiative undertaken in partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The primary role of the ARTE group is to develop serious games that incorporate careful pedagogical design, utilize technology to provide robust, portable educational gaming experiences at scale. The initiative aims to reach a total of approximately 1,000 schools and 150,000 students during 2015–2017, as well as approximately 2,700 teachers.