Role of digital platforms in the education sector_An essay by Chaini Saikia

We are presenting the series of essays submitted for the 1st Annual Pharma Literati Essay contest. The opinions in the essay are by the authors and need to be endorsed by Pharma Literati team. 

INTRODUCTION:  In today’s speedy world as the succession of human beings in the education system is continuing, simultaneously the digital platforms are acting as fuel to necessitate the demands of learners and experts in the education field. Looking at the society now being educated in one or more aspects is a requirement of a profitable survival. Globally education is the one of the specific sectors to observe the evolutionary changes in recent times.

       The digital platforms refers to the software or hardware of a site.Examples of digital platforms are Google, You Tube, Facebook,Whatsapp,various blogging sites,Google forms,Quizlet and many more.They are the one which provides us world of  possibilities,scope and opportunities when we utilize them in the right manner.Digital platforms which plays important role in education field comes in all forms whether  it be sharing of course materials via computer and tablet devices or the setting up of online forums where experts and learners can share their ideas on a particular subject or topic.The Indian IT sector holds enough capacity  and character to provide excellent digital content and supporting technical platform.So they are everywhere and anytime and are bringing  infinite opportunities for the today’s generation of learners.

INTERNET CONNECTIVITY:   we all aware about the fact that we must have the internet connection to enjoy the digital platforms.The increased use of internet in the field of education is increasing day by day.According to research 93% of students in India have access to the internet.91% of students uses the internet to research courses. Among them  some consider internet as their main source of college/course related information and some feel as a complete source of information for their searches regarding studies. So affordable internet access ,data enabled device and appropriate  internet plans can help in getting into the digital platforms.

VARIOUS DIGITAL PLATFORMS: In earlier days the education system was totally different as compared to present system of teaching and learning.The greatest entry of the digital platforms has changed the entire system of education. Sharing of information with global audience in the form of videos,photos,speech,lectures has brought  the change in education field.

     1)  GOOGLE : The omnipresent digital plateform is Google.we all use Google.The main motive of Google is to organize the world’s  information and make it universally accessible and useful.The Google apps are very useful to improve the education system.Powerful browsing tools let educators quickly discover apps ,videos and other content .we are thankful to Google for providing Google apps to academic fields.The study related searches are very helpful to us.It provides us the accurate information of any topic we search whether it is medicinal chemistry, pharmacology  or pharmaceutics, whether it is English literature or economics, whether it is geography or politics.so the Goggle provides all the details whether it is arts,science or commerce. Some topics and informations are not always  available in books but  Google is there to solve it out.Another importance is that e –books can be easily found in Google.Some books which are not always available in our library ,they are found as the e books in Google.

             Google apps for education includes Gmail as our email service provider and things like Google Docs,Spreadsheets and Presentations for content creation.

              Chromebooks are web based computers that are great for schools as they are easy to use ,easy to manage ,easy to customize and easy to scale.Google has designed Chromebooks to be practically invisible in the classroom and to enable learning and connecting.

             Google plus is another Google app that can’t be neglected.It has strong potential applications on formal learning environment. Here we can follow various websites or pages.Updates,links and other media from people we follow will show up here. The educational websites are numerous here. Various educational websites are pharmatutor,pharmaliterati,pharmatimes,various government job websites,research sites,National geographic channel,Discovery channel ,carrier related websites, teaching and learning websites,subject websites like biology, physics, chemistry,arts, commerce,pharmaceutical science can be easily followed.As a result we remain updated about the new things and ideas.It gives us the platform to share. The Google+ Hangout  allows us to have an audio only or audio and video conversation with other users.It allows 10 users in a single room. So this is very useful for the students and teachers for sharing. In Google+ learners can collaboratively brainstorm a problem, writers can support one another through stages of writing process,groups can compete against one another through said “circles” in a public forum etc.

        Classroom integration: Google classroom integrations provides teachers easier ways to assign and manage third party content such as links, videos and images.

        Classroom chrome extension enables teachers to send WebPages  to Google classroom ,so they open instantly on student’s computers.

            Cast for education : Here students and teachers can wirelessly project their screens to the front of the room.

           G Suite integration: G Suite for education support numerous connection points helping teachers to access third party add-ons at point of use.

            Chrome web store has a wealth of chrome apps and extensions for Chrome books in the classroom.

            Google play for education is an extension of Google play designed for schools. Here educators can discover Android and Chrome apps approved by teachers as well as educational videos and collection of classic books for their classroom. Teachers can search for approved apps by grade, subject and standard. They can bulk purchase  and pay using a purchase order ,then instant distribution let educators bring the apps directly to classrooms and schools.Millions of students ,faculty and staff are using Google Apps for education and other Google services.It has brought the innovation of Android technology into classrooms.School districts can set up and deploy number of devices in just minutes or hours,rather than days.

       

   2) YOU TUBE: Another popular digital platform is you tube. It is said that the knowledge is at its best when we visualize or see the things with our own eyes. It has taken the responsibility of helping our generation to move forward. You tube acts as a teacher when we want to learn about something by seeing the things. In 2011 You Tube announced that they had an 80% increase in hits on their educational videos and they believe their investment on this has been fruitful. It has mainly three categories of education namely primary and secondary, University and Lifelong learning. There are many educational channels where we can explore. Subscription to those channels will help us to remain updated by feeding with new topics, ideas and tips .For example if we want to learn  about some chemistry related topic, say structure of a chemical compound then we will just search  and we will get to see the videos in which things are clearly explained by the experts. For the trainers and lecturers You Tube opens up number of opportunities as how to share ,convey and engage with students by presenting different ideas, facts and theories.

                The popular educational video channels are National Geographic Channel, Research channel, Science channel ,BBC earth, Discovery channel etc. Research channel provides new information about the scientific world .It mainly targets audience that would be interested in knowing information such as new gene modifications,new cure for cancer, improvement of nanotechnology etc. Once in a while they let popular figures such as Bill Gates’ discussions to be run on this channel.

              National Geographic Channel is a must subscribe channel on You Tube regardless of the age. There are thousands of videos that could answer many curious questions in one’s mind.

                 Discovery channel provides educational information with flair of entertainment and fun, which makes the channel more interesting letting itself stand out among the other channels.

                The Khan Academy is another popular website initiated in 2006 by a well known celebrity, Salman Khan .This website provides over 4000 micro lessons with useful information doing justice to their aim of providing high quality education anytime anywhere .The benefit of this channel is indisputable.

            The teachers can learn various teaching tips from experts and can improve their way of teaching.Here we can take online courses where we only have to study by sitting at home and having internet connection.For example : Stanford University has introduced a digital cource in masters in electrical engineering .According to research more professors are selling their lectures and notes to digital campuses which are very beneficial for the students.In this way this platform is providing a strong field  to develop education sector.

  3)FACEBOOK: We all know that the most popular social networking site as well as the digital platform is facebook.We are so much familiar with it.The founder Merk Zucherberg innovated this app not for just making friends and commenting in photos.It has got tremendous source of knowledge. Here we can follow various educational pages like Discovery channel,National Geographic channel,BBC Earth,various news channel like The Hindu,Hindustan Times,CNN,carrier counselling related sites,coaching centre pages.The news pages are important for the UPSC,APSC aspirants to know about the current affairs.The science pages helps us to remain updated about the recent discoveries and inventions.In the news feed we can see various blogs about carrier options,coaching centres for bank examinations etc.For example Pharmatutor an educational website which provides various notifications and job alerts which are very beneficial for the students like us.

          Facebook can actually help students learn if we tap into more than 200 Facebook apps for educators.Here are some educational apps for educators used inside and outside the classroom to help students learn.

        Study groups: This application  is used by the students to work together outside the classroom. They collaborate on group projects ,share notes ,discuss assignments and help each other prepare for tests.

           Quizlet: This handy tool is one of the fastest growing flashcard  websites. Flash card sets are available for a variety of topics including standardized test paper, language, maths and science.

            Quiz monster: Students create their own quizzes with this very popular application.

4)Digital classrooms: This project aims to bring a low cost digital learning solutions to 1000 low income schools across 12 states if India, reaching about 50,000 children. It mainly aims to provide technology with curriculum aligned learning content. The digital teacher routinely uses digital resources and students use them as variety of purposes including research, texts and multimedia. Library databases are utilized to reach richer sources of information  including journals and reference books. Digital version of text books replace the paper version for in- class use. Digital tools like Noodle tools,Diigo and Zotero are used to support the research process by enabling students to easily track information and organize  web content.

          The video conference learning programme is on the full swing in many school ,Universities and coaching centres.Here students and teachers from one institution can share, convey their ideas and questions with students and teachers of other institution.Thereby accumulation of new ideas and solutions leads to greater academic growth and strong build up of the education system.One example is seen  in webinars which the Institution of Engineering and Technology(IET)  has trialled for trainers, lecturers and students. These webinars have meant that learners can follow an IET expert giving an on screen lecture at the same time viewing all of the relevant pages of the publication. The experts presents new models and theories which are very helpful for the students and teachers.In addition learners can also interact with the expert by asking questions remotely via a live forum tab on the screen. This form of digital learning experience  ensures that educational materials are distributed effectively and that the learners are given the opportunity to engage not only with the presenter but with fellow delegates remotely without the need to travel to a central location. In this way connected classrooms offer today’s students and teachers easier ,affordable and faster access to information, experts and wider community.

5)BLOGGER, WORDPRESS and EDUBLOG: These are the largest blogging platforms on the web.They are becoming a platform for course delivery and learning.The use of blogs  has become popular in educational institutions.Blogging is much about sharing with one another as it is about getting our own voice out.Blogging can be an awesome experience if it is done correctly.If we add it in social networking sites blogs have the capability to read by people all over the world .When students have the opportunity to blog it gives them the chance to play with languages and sentence structure.Blogging is a 21^st century way to engage them in the learning process.It provides us the opportunity to write about the topic of our interest.One can write about various teaching tips and make their own websites.The Blogger as well as Wordpress providing us a great opportunity for blogging .It is useful for the learners and experts.

          Edublog is created for educational purposes.It support and archieve student and teacher learning by facilitating reflection, questioning  by self and others.Common examples include blogs written by or for teachers ,blogs maintained  for the purpose of classroom instruction or blogs written about education policy .There are several uses of edublogs .Some bloggers use their blogs as a learning journal or a knowledge log to gather information and ideas.Some teachers use blogs to keep in contact with students.There are many teacher related blogs on the internet where teachers can share information  with one another.Teachers familiarize  themselves  with Edublogs before implementing them with their students.Many teachers  share materials and ideas to meet the diverse needs of all learners in their classrooms.The use of blogs in the classroom allows both the teacher and student the ability to edit and add content at any time.Blogs increase exposure to other students from around the country or world ,while improving writing and communication skills.

7)WhatsApp: In present century WhtsApp   is available in everyone’s phone.It is surprising that this app can also be used as a learning tool.The main purpose of WhatsApp is to facilitate communication and education is nothing but a kind of communication.There are many education strategies  for WhatsApp .

      a)Use of group chat features to create learning and study groups and virtual classes for students.

      b)Create audio lessons that can be sent directly to students:n This    can facilitate learning because the students can listen to the lecture over and over again and here lectures which are missed.

     c)Send out problems or assignments to students.

     d)Sharing of topics and experts videos among students

     e)A teacher can create video lessons or lectures using solutions such as You Tube that student can share via WhatsApp.

   A messaging solution such as WhatsApp is a perfect means of entering into education  because it utilizes a medium and technology that students use everyday.By using WhatsApp a teacher can integrate the classroom and the real world and make education part of the student’s lives.

8)INSTAGRAM:It is a social picture sharing platform.But it has also got the way for teachers and students to connect and share information.Teachers have started using Instagram like Pinterest to find and share creative ideas.However instead of pinning and viewing links to webpages and videos,Instagram allows them to share examples of projects and activities actually going on their classroom.With Instagram teachers can find ideas for creative bulletin boards,arts and craft projects and other hand-on activities.For teachers who wants to boost student’s creative and critical thinking skills Instagram can be a helpful tool.Here we can follow various educational channels like BBC Earth,National Geographic Channel,Discovery channel,various news channels.So in this way instagram is playing an important role to improve the education system.

9)Animato: It gives students the ability to make a short ,30 second share video of what they learned in a given lesson

10)AudioNote: It is a combination of a voice recorder and notepad that captures both audio and video notes for student collaboration.

11)ClassKick: This app allows teachers to post assignments for students .Students can monitor their progress and work.

12)Formative Feedback for Learning: An iPad app that is designed to foster and encourage communication between students and teachers .Through a conference setting it uses icons to prompt discussions.

13)Google Forms: A Google Drive app that allows to create documents that students can collaborate on a real time using smartphones ,tablets and laptops.

14)Kahoot: A game based classroom response system,where teachers  can create  quizzes using internet content.

15)PollDaddy:It is a quick and easy way to create  online polls ,quizzes and questions.

16)ThinkBinder: A collaboration tool that allows  students to ask questions and discuss topic in a group ,share and create and work together on almost any project.

17)TodaysMeet: This online  collaboration tool allows educators to create a “room” in which students can share ideas, answers and thoughts to lectures and lessons.

     So there are many more digital platforms which are providing world of opportunities.Today for trainers,lecturers  and students  the digital age is one in which we need to embrace.Digital platform in education system  opens up huge opportunities as how we convey,share and engage with  students and teachers presenting different ideas, facts and theories.Education and training are the sectors which have the capacity to enlarge the digital platforms  in order to better engage the learners from all ages.By use of digital platforms experts teaches up to date topics using very latest information.It enables the lecturers and trainers to share information with learners more effectively.

CONCLUSION: Education sector has long awaited  to meet the  growing demand for a contemporary education system that is accessible to all.Children and youth in last decade has become increasingly technology driven and learnt using digital media.The ambitions of Digital India which is recently launched by PM of India Narendra Modi is envisioned to transform India  into a digitally empowered society.He introduced initiatives such as e-education,e-basta,Nand Ghar  which will impart education using technologies including smartphones,mobile apps and internet services  in far flung areas  where it may not be possible for teachers to be present in person.Further e-basta is another cherished initiatives by the government aimed at making school books accessible in digital form as e books to read on tablets and laptops.Again Sesame workshop in India is  trying to bridge the education gap by providing innovative content that is integrated into the prescribed curriculum through games on digital devices which in result has improved the attendance of the students and helped the teachers  to become more familiar  with technology as a teaching tool.

          

With approximately 131 million cellular-phone households in the country,it can be predicted that delivering education through the digital platforms  to learners ,teachers and students could be a potential way to bridge the education deficit. However the challenge has always been how the technology will adopt to make a significant difference. With the various digital initiatives that the government had launched we are hopeful that it will help strengthen access to education system to make a better and smart future.