Role of digital platforms in the education sector_Essay by Sushama Rawat

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:-

The role of education in an individual’s personal growth, skill development & democratic responsible behavior (his/her rights and duties to be exercised in terms of learned human resource pool) thereby contributing immensely to the overall prosperity of a nation, is irrefutable.

A digital learning platform is a software ecosystem with tools that gives learners, teachers, parents and administrators access to common communication tools, information, and resources, not only within the school but outside it as well. When used correctly, it can significantly minimize expenditure on IT and administration, reduce teacher workload, and enhance learning and teaching experience.

For years, printed textbooks have been used, but today some companies have made the intensive efforts to shift from print study materials to digital tools in the form of digital educational platforms. With this change, content has become more interactive and engaging, and the advantages are obvious.

It includes tailored learning technologies ingrained around a digital textbook and can be personalized by faculty to fulfill the requirements of the specific class. They can be easily used on any device and usually involve problems, games, and quizzes to keep students interested and engaged in the topic. Not only these platforms are economical for students to get it, but, when compared to lugging around books, they're extremely convenient to use online.

India holds an important place in the global education industry. The country has more than 1.4 million schools with over 227 million students enrolled and more than 36,000 higher education institutes. India has one of the largest higher education systems in the world. However, there is still a lot of potential for further development in the education system.

India has become the second largest market for e-learning after the US. The sector is currently pegged at US$ 2-3 billion, and is expected to touch US$ 40 billion by 2017. The distance education market in India is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 34 per cent during 2013-14 to 2017-18. Moreover, the aim of the government to raise its current gross enrolment ratio to 30 per cent by 2020 will also boost the growth of the distance education in India.

The education sector in India is poised to witness major growth in the years to come as India will have world’s largest tertiary-age population and second largest graduate talent pipeline globally by the end of 2020. In FY 2015-16, the education market was worth about US$ 100 billion and is expected to reach US$ 116.4 billion in FY 2016-17. Currently, higher education contributes 59.7 per cent of the market size, school education 38.1 per cent, pre-school segment 1.6 per cent, and technology and multi-media the remaining 0.6 per cent.

Higher education system in India has undergone rapid expansion. Currently, India’s higher education system is the largest in the world enrolling over 70 million students while in less than two decades, India has managed to create additional capacity for over 40 million students. At present, higher education sector witnesses spending of over Rs 46,200 crore (US$ 6.78 billion), and it is expected to grow at an average annual rate of over 18 per cent to reach Rs 232,500 crore (US$ 34.12 billion) in next 10 years.

Present State of Education: India Context

Although, India scored well in improving from mere 12% literacy at the time of independence to 74% as per 2011 census, it still lags behind the world average of 84%. Targeted programs at primary and secondary education like SSA (SarvaShikshaAbhiyan) have definitely proved beneficial to some extent but a lot needs to be done to truly educate India.

Data figures and enrollment ratios might have presented a rosy picture but one needs to invigilate the dark corners of Indian education. Apart from the basic twin ills of ACCESS & AFFORDABILITY which keeps a significant child population at bay from school doors, we need to enquire about the level and quality of education one gets imparted with. India has a significant drop out ratio with some BIMARU states exceeding 50% before Std. X. Primary reasons relate to student’s personal and family interventions.

As per a 2014 study by a Delhi based NGO Pratham, which surveyed school children across 500 districts, a fifth of 10 year olds could not read sentences, 50% of 7 year olds surveyed, could not read letters and more than 50% of 14 year olds could not perform simple arithmetic like division of numbers.

A similar study on higher education last year estimated that fewer than 10% of graduates with Masters Degree were employable. Prevailing wide differences in India in terms of economic, social and gender divide makes the situation further worse.

Quality of education in government run schools with a skewed teacher-student ratio is not appropriate. The lack of basic amenities like library, clean toilets, and playgrounds further add to the drop out ratio. Private schools in a rat-race to raise margins commercialize education and display a pathetic apathy towards admitting children from the weaker sections as specified by the RTE act. In the present ambience of poor teacher-student value connect and stress on conventional rote-learning the student is actually immune to the passion, zeal and excitement that must be part of their learning.

The few leftovers of natural curiosity in children are muted by ignorant parents who stress on heavy schools bags and out of school tuitions. Without paying any heed to innovative learning and practical aspects, we are shrinking the magnanimity of academicians and researcher brains into small potholes of job-seekers. Degradation of talent in this vicious silent manner in the past few years has amassed a huge pool of degree-holder, unemployed youth in India. Poor state of research in the country is a true reflection of this fact.

In this gloomy picture of education in India, the ICT (Information & Communication Technology) revolution has paved the way to introduce some breakthroughs in different spheres like banking, education, health and the like.

Education globally is one of the significant sectors to witness revolutionary changes in recent times. Digital Education is the panacea for this anathema of education all over the globe. It is in particular a blessing for developing countries which chronically suffer from ailments of access and affordability.

With wise coverage over various means of communication it becomes a natural choice to learn even for those in the hinterlands. Primarily Digital Education has 3 components:

1.     The content

2.     The technology platforms

3.     The delivery infrastructure

The Indian IT sector organically or otherwise holds enough capacity and character to provide excellent digital content and supporting technological platforms. With the advent of several corporate giants like TATA, BSNL & RELIANCE in digital education and the subsequent money flow this sector is gearing up for some quality movement. But innovation is one thing that has no end and therefore would always invite different stakeholders like Government, Content experts, Technology firms, Users, Teaching community etc. to come together to collaborate and invent cutting edge technologies and methods to facilitate this sector’s meaningful growth. Government and private players need to come together to bridge connectivity and accessibility issues.

Digital Education showed its face in the 90s in developed economies like the US. With device manufacturers mushrooming early in USA and other developed countries it started penetrating gradually. Developed nations have started realizing the cost benefits of going digital and are acting with an eye on the future. According to research by Harvard University, more professors are selling their lectures and notes to digital campuses. Society, with some challenges related to internet connectivity though, is ready to accept the change in the developed nations.

Hanging Fruits in India:-

In India, where mobile penetration is nearing a billion people with over 200 million connected to the internet, and this expected to reach 550 million by 2018, the potential to digitally educate the masses seems very rich. In the past few years there has been a considerable rise in Digital and Live Virtual Classrooms at different levels of learning. With evolution of technologies such as cloud, data centers and virtualization there is huge potential for technology to be integrated with the Education Industry.

Besides its cost and access advantages, digital education comes as a win-win for all. Education institutions see the rapid rise in enrollments and added revenue. Students view this as a flexible option allowing them to study as per their time and pace. Teachers too find it convenient to prepare their learning plans well aided by technology. Teaching becomes a smoother experience with a perfect mesh of personalized packages having a blend of animations, gamification and elaborate audio-visual effects.

Digital education is fun learning for all cadres and particularly effective for child learning as the innovative audio-video feature boosts the cognitive elements in a child’s brain. The INFOTAINMENT combination involved in digital learning makes it more practical, applicable and relatable to our life and surroundings in an interesting manner. The Reform Push, expanding eLearning, reduction in costs due to satellite technology (VSAT) are all strong catalysts for a high potential business opportunity in India. This is where EdTech companies like Magic Software can add to the growing repository of Digital learning Objects (DLOs) and technological platforms available to learning.

Some data to help tap the Indian potential…

            Σ India Market Size– Rs 3.3 trillion (2011), Rs 5.9 trillion (2015), as reported by FITCH

            Σ Highest growth rate area is Asia (India being the key) at 17.3% well ahead of Eastern

            Europe, Africa and Latin America, according to Docebo Report 2014.

            Σ Internet users to double by 2018; rural users to rise by almost 40% of the total, by

            Internet & Mobile Association of India

IMPERATIVE BENEFITS OF DIGITAL LEARNING PLATFORMS:-

These platforms are growing continuously across a wide range of educational institutions, from primary wings to universities. Here are 9 benefits which cannot be overlooked-

1. Improved organization of communication and information: It can assist a school to make sure every student, parent, teacher, and administrator gets access to the information they need, and when they need it.

2. More parental involvement: Using it, parents can get better informed about their child's progress and school news, and eventually, the learner gets more support at home to continue their learning.

3. More opportunities for personal learning: Using these platforms leads to a higher range of learning resources, and so can both support and motivate independent learners.

4. Improving quality and variety of educational resources: Online education platforms let teachers the opportunity to supplement or replace the textbook with a different range of learning and teaching resources, both in the classroom and online.

5. Bigger opportunities for interaction and collaboration: Collaboration between schools and teachers to merge expertise and resources, and better collaboration between learners, are a few of the most remarkable benefits of making use of this platform.

6. Taking advantage of teachers' time to attain positive results: Digital education platforms provide several benefits for administrators and teachers by automating several tasks that they need to do regularly. Consequently, schools get more time to focus on their core activity- teaching.

7. Smoothing the progress of strategic leadership and teaching management: With the assistance of modern digital learning platforms, the education sector can get benefitted from faster and clearer communication among all the people involved in education.

8. Enhanced management of student attendance and behavior: They have been found to aid schools' efforts for improving student attendance and encourage positive behavior.

9. Developing the school identity and community: These platforms assist increase school democracy and offer their students a voice, usually leading to a persuasive sense of school community. E-learning platform technology is ever-developing today: it's now faster, more secure, and convenient to use, and it easily gets integrated with other third party systems in order to create a much more comprehensive studying environment students.

Today, Digital Education is more likely to play an increasingly crucial role as more and more schools and teachers want to develop their use of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in different areas. By providing communication channels, educational course and tools and school management systems, the best education platforms offer students and teachers a single and quick gateway to using technology inside as well as outside the classroom.

Challenges and Measures:-

Yet, there is a long way to tread before realizing the actual potential of Digital Education in India. Some of the prominent hurdles are Digital Literacy & Infrastructure. The majority of the Indian population still does not have the required internet bandwidth and many are illiterate in digital terminologies and devices.

1: Professional development:

Key among all challenges is the lack of adequate, ongoing professional development for teachers who are required to integrate new technologies into their classrooms yet who are unprepared or unable to understand new technologies.

2: Resistance to change:

Resistance to technology comes in many forms, but one of the key resistance challenges identified in the report is "comfort with the status quo." According to the researchers, teachers and school leaders often see technological experimentation as outside the scope of their job descriptions.

3: MOOCs and other new models for schooling:

New models for teaching and learning are providing "unprecedented competition to traditional models of schooling." In particular, the MOOC (massive open online course) — probably the hottest topic in higher education right now , identified as being "at the forefront" of discussions about new modes of delivering K-12 education.

"K-12 institutions are latecomers to distance education in most cases, but competition from specialized charter schools and for-profit providers has called attention to the needs of today's students, especially those at risk," according to the report.

4: Delivering informal learning:

Related to point 3, Rigid lecture-and-test models of learning are failing to challenge students to experiment and engage in informal learning. But, according to the report, opportunities for such informal learning can be found in non-traditional classroom models, such as flipped classrooms, which allow for a blending of formal and informal learning.

5: Failures of personalized learning:

According to the report, there's a gap between the vision of delivering personalized, differentiated instruction and the technologies available to make this possible. So while K-12 teachers seem to see the need for personalized learning, they aren't being given the tools they need to accomplish it, or adequate tools simply don't exist.

6: Failure to use technology to deliver effective formative assessments:

The report noted: "Assessment is an important driver for educational practice and change, and over the last years we have seen a welcome rise in the use of formative assessment in educational practice. However, there is still an assessment gap in how changes in curricula and new skill demands are implemented in education; schools do not always make necessary adjustments in assessment practices as a consequence of these changes. Simple applications of digital media tools, like webcams that allow non-disruptive peer observation, offer considerable promise in giving teachers timely feedback they can use."

Therefore, Innovation should also be poured into making digital education more interactive and robust. Limitation in teaching numerical analytics and empirical subjects like Mathematics can be overcome by appropriate classification of content and tutors trained and specialized in responding to dynamic and spontaneous queries of students. In developing countries like India, digital education comes with a premonition of “Digital Divide” and therefore government should make efforts to include all stakeholders in this initiative to make it “inclusive & sustainable” for all.

Here, a special emphasis must be laid on Security features like examinee verification, plagiarism etc. to uphold the independence and integrity of the education system. Active campaigning, informative sessions, technical workshops and a multi-pronged approach by all stakeholders is needed to bring about Digital awareness and change trends like Distance Education to Digital Education.

Digital technologies are everywhere and they’re bringing many exciting opportunities for our schools, impacting what, where and how education is delivered. For this reason, supporting schools to make the most of new technologies is a significant part of the Ministry’s work programme.

By the end of 2020, all schools will have access to the technology available to provide high quality, high capacity, ultrafast internet access for teaching and learning. Connected classrooms offer today’s students and teachers easier, affordable, and faster access to information, teaching and learning resources, peers, experts and the wider community.

Connecting with technology:

Σ Schools are using digital devices like laptops and tablets to quickly, easily and cheaply connect students with a huge and ever-growing number of educational tools and resources and subject-matter experts over the internet.

Σ Teachers are using online networks and social media to connect with other schools and peers who can help them adapt their teaching practices to make the most of digital tools.

Σ Students are using digital technologies to connect with other students across the country and across the world, and to engage in self-directed learning in areas of personal interest and expertise.

Σ Parents and families are forming stronger connections with schools using digital services like social networks, websites and online surveys.

Σ Many of us use technology to connect to information and learning whenever and wherever we choose.

The digital environment is transforming teaching and learning in our schools. We can take full advantage of this opportunity to help our schools become world leaders in digital education systems through changes to their infrastructure, practices and pedagogy. So in a nutshell, we can say the Role of Digital Platforms in the Education System is very crucial for any country which is not only helpful in improving our Education system but also achieving the economic goals of the country in the long run.