Starting from January 2014, National University of Singapore (NUS) will be delivering fourteen modules online.
Three of them will be free for all users of Coursera, a provider of open online courses, which has tie-ups with more than 80 partners around the world.
The other eleven modules are exclusive to NUS students. Three courses have been developed for current students while Singaporean males who are waiting for school to start in August, can choose from the eight online modules.
It is compulsory for Singaporean males to serve National Service at the age of 18 or 19, meaning they fall behind by two years in their education and career track. But for the first time, they can choose to take some modules online soon after they complete national service.
This pilot programme will allow local male students more time to adapt to the academic environment and earn advance academic credits, which may result in an earlier graduation.
Classes for these modules will run from January to June, comprising online learning with lessons on-campus between April and June. The online components include 12-minute lecture videos, discussions, homework, self-practice exercises and pop quizzes.
Lessons on campus will last up to two hours and will be held weekly or fortnightly. They will include interactive discussions, laboratory-based work, tutorials, and teaching assistant-guided activities. Those who sign up will also need to sit for a test at the end of the course.
NUS Provost Professor Tan Eng Chye said the lessons on campus are needed because online learning "is still not perfect" as it "cannot replicate the campus experience, neither can it replace face-to-face interactions with the course instructor or with classmates".