The Digital Transformation in Education:
INTRODUCTION:
The world has experienced a major Digital revolution lately. This covid era indeed played a pivotal role in a large-scale expansion of digitalization, but it wasn’t the beginning of it. The credit for the augmentation of the digital world can be given to the inventions and advancements in the fields of computer programming and the internet. A remarkable change has been observed in the education sector as well, especially after the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Digital transformation in education simply means metamorphosis of the teaching process from old, orthodox means to digital. It refers to the combined processes involved in the reconstruction and modification of the education system and teaching undertakings.
The change began at higher-education institutes like universities and colleges as more students progressed towards computer studies, the change then hit schools somewhere around the 2010-ish year, and private schools started using smart classes and stuff. Then the imposition of lockdown due to the pandemic and the shut-down of educational institutes worldwide forced authorities to think of a solution. For obvious reasons, schools couldn’t be kept shut and studies kept at a halt for longer times. The situation, therefore, called for a quick fix, and it turned out to just be the digitalization of the education system.
Now, the only problem with that is the inability of people, especially the older generations, to cope with the digital world. They tend to not understand the mechanics of digital gadgets and products and are incapable of learning their workings and proper utility.
Digital transformation is aimed at the overall enhancement of the learning environment, be it for teachers, students, or anyone else involved in the process.
The most remarkable achievements of the digital transformation of the education system can be summed up into the following:
- Generation and availability of numerous online courses in almost every field of study.
- Bringing down study costs.
- Allowing online classes.
- Simplifying the admin process of educational institutes.
- Streamline students’ growth and progress.
TECHNOLOGIES RESULTING IN THE CHANGE:
The most renowned and important technologies facilitating the transformation are artificial intelligence AI and virtual reality.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI is the ability of any computer application or computer-controlled technology to be able to perform intellectual tasks that only an intelligent species would be able to do. AI is very much capable of untangling the workload of both the staff and the students. It helps to cut down the heavy burden on the teacher’s part and helps the students with their day-to-day tasks.
Some examples of AI are:
- Voice to text search – very much in use and is used by most of the search engines across the globe. It converts voice input to text output and saves time and effort.
- Text to voice search – it helps the students with neurological disorders or mental retardation. It was used by the late prof. Dr. Stefan Hawking, since his ability to speak, was taken away by his motor neuron disease.
- Virtual Reality/ Augmented Reality: Since the imposition of lockdown, no practicals can be performed. To solve this issue, AR/VR comes into play. Students can have interactive sessions and classes and can immerse themselves into a whole different virtual world where they can experience the happening of things. The best use of this is for science and mathematics students.
- Video conferencing: video conferencing apps played a pivotal role in getting the classes going. If not for zoom or google meet, no classes would have been conducted, and it would have been a big challenge to carry out studies.
SOME CHANGES THAT OCCURRED DUE TO DIGITALIZATION:
- Biometric and No-contact attendance: Both biometric and contactless attendance are digital masterpieces. Gone are the days when teachers spent the first 15 minutes of the class just taking attendance. The two methods are highly precise and give no room for any mistakes and troubles with the records.
- Thermal screening: Everyone entering the school/college premises have to undergo thermal screening to ensure if they are okay or not. In this way, many accidents that can cause the spread of the virus can be avoided.
- Smart classes: smart class is an interactive way of teaching. It can be said that students taught via smart classes are quick to grasp concepts than when they are taught on an ordinary green board. Smart classes tend to hook the students’ attention and thus help them in learning things faster.
- AI-driven assessments: Earlier it was a headache for teachers to prepare question papers for class tests and examinations, but now it has become effortless. AI-driven apps make it happen in a snap.
CONCLUSION:
It can be concluded without any doubt that the digitalization of the education system has done wonders for everyone around the globe and has made things wonderfully easier for both students and teachers.