Pioneer
19 February 2014
Digitisation in education is trending. Many schools are turning towards teaching methods that use the concept of visuals, videos and diagrams to make the lessons more interesting. By using a combination of traditional training with digitisation, one can ensure that future generations become global contributors who can connect across culture, time and geographies, says MANAS KAPOOR
The growth of Information Technology and its introduction in every sector has had a significant impact. With the induction of IT in education, it has completely changed the teaching and learning process. It has induced a lot of ease and has made the entire process stress-free both for students and teachers. Schools are gradually implementing digital teaching solutions to make the learning atmosphere more advanced and participatory.
Even coaching and consulting institutes have adopted the digitised form of education and designed it in ways where a student gets day-wise study plans. They follow the concept that visual understanding is long lasting so the video lectures are enriched with diagrams.
These institutes also have Adaptive Learning System. It is the concept of artificial intelligence under which the gravity of questions changes according to the students’ calibre. Hard questions are given with higher understanding of topics and easy questions are given to the students who have lower understanding. The level of questions increases according to the understanding of the student. Such technology provides end to end solutions to the students including assignments, test series and doubt clearance sessions as a whole.
The information and communication technology in the educational sector has enhanced the understanding capacity of the students. They are conceivably the most open to external teaching and are more receptive when they are in the classroom. Modern-day students live in a world which is constantly connected and therefore the traditional methods of education might not be the apt method to adopt anymore. The evolution of the education system shall only be achieved with its digitisation so that the students can learn at their own speed within or outside the classroom.
The advancement is seen in colleges as well. Whether it’s the engineering or medical stream, technology is been inducted in all segments and terminologies. Online education has been adopted by many universities which makes the system more approachable and has shortened the distance between a student and his dreams. There are various educational companies that are emerging and are working with universities to make the latter’s courses available online. E-learning training includes all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching.
For centuries, the greatest of educational institutions have had three basic missions — to create knowledge, to disseminate knowledge and to preserve knowledge. However, today we tend to focus on the first two. With the arrival of digitisation in education and with the development of the World Wide Web, the authorities are now starting to focus on the third mission as well. The preservation of knowledge does not only mean material like books and journals.
The collection of other objects like photos, paintings, prints, sculptures, sound recordings, scientific data are also the exclusive preserve of libraries and museums. This accumulated knowledge has always served the first two missions. However, access to this knowledge has often been place-dependent and has not been broadly accessible or shareable.
The digitisation of education has changed all that. Suddenly the accumulated knowledge which was impenetrable is now available in digitised form on the Internet. It is only limited by data storage and the data transfer capacity of networks, and of course, the ability to find it via search. The availability of such digital material fulfills the promise of online education.
Besides the digitisation of learning, the other aspect of education is teaching. A majority of teachers are ready to accept this progression but more efforts still need to be exercised when it comes to teacher training. The old-fashioned methods of teaching need to be upgraded to keep up with the 21st teaching and learning trends. One of the most difficult tasks that teachers face is to engage the student in whatever they are studying. Digitisation has the power of involving students through methods that aren’t possible with stationary pages. Applying communicative content through fluid illustrations and text addresses challenges that traditional manuals could never overcome.
If we talk about limitations of the digitisation of education, classrooms nowadays have only one way communication where they have transformed into mere movie halls with audio-visual content and no interaction between the students and the teachers. This digitisation could blur the relationship between students and teachers since there would be no human touch in this form of education. A combination of traditional training instructions with digitised learning is one of the ways we can make our future generations become global contributors who can interconnect across culture, time and geographies.
(The writer is founder and CEO, Kaysons Education)
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