How the digital era is breaking learning barriers

In the digital era, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become an integral part of almost every economic and social activity. Education, the most revered and productive human activity, too is highly influenced by the power of 1 and 0 in the action packed digital era.

Dr Heidi Hayes Jacobs, one of the most recognised education leaders and the inventor of Curriculum Mapping once said, "Teachers need to integrate technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an add-on, an afterthought, or an event."

In the digital era, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become an integral part of almost every economic and social activity. Without digital technology, life is a big challenge to live and move forward because everything is governed and controlled by it today. Education, the most revered and productive human activity, too is highly influenced by the power of 1 and 0 in the action packed digital era.

Today, digitised information crosses barriers of time, space and efficiency. One can search for knowledge in multiple ways using multiple tools irrespective of the location and time. A smart search on Google through mobile, laptop or tab offer tons of learning options such as MOOCs, lectures, Skype classes, webinars, video conferencing and online chat with the master of a subject.

Benefits of an ICT-enabled education sector:

With the onset of ICT in the education sector, knowledge sharing has become an easy and effective activity. The accessibility to knowledge sources leads to speedy sharing, storage and analysis of content under a definite perspective. The ability to sift through a large amount of data is the biggest advantage of digital techniques and processes.

However, the role of digital technology in education is not restricted knowledge acquisition, its impact is rather wider and deeper in conducting a research, managing a library of books and data, and collating the synthesised information for further analysis. The cutting edge technology eradicates many learning barriers and facilitates both teachers and students in the whole process.  

Digital era: Win-win situation for both teachers and students

Digital technology, with its many tentacles of communication hacking and information sharing, has breathed fresh life into classroom learning. Usage of digital boards and multimedia content leads to increased attention and engagement of the students and better interaction between teachers and students. Learning has become more interesting and animated for pupils, while on the other hand, teachers also feel less burdened with the easy availability of quality content on the internet.

Use of social media for learning:

Things become further easier on both ends after the introduction of social media in the field of education. Now, teachers can upload the text as well as AV files pertaining to their lesson plan on various social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. As per the convenience, students can read the same on laptop, smart-phone or tab, or they can also take the printout of the shared notes as per their need. This way, lesson planning is no more a tiring and dull practice for the subject teachers.

Teachers can also create professional learning networks on the aforesaid channels for projects, dissertations and other types of research work. Social media is equally advantageous to students if used in a controlled manner under the guidance of parents and teachers.

Digital technology helps students in the collection, exchange and evaluation of the information (course material). It instigates them to explore the practical aspects of learning and how it is going to benefit them in the career they want to pursue.  

Authored by Prof. Ramola Kumar, Dean, Delhi School of Communication

Source | http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/digital-learning/1/738780.html

Regards

Pralhad Jadhav

Senior Manager @ Library

Khaitan & Co

Blog | http://pralhad-fyilibrarian.blogspot.in/

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