The process of imparting education has undergone gargantuan change over the past few years. Education has evolved greatly from its earlier tropes of rote learning to the present day innovative procedures. Technology has impacted every facet of daily life over the last few years – from personal and business interactions to school systems and the ways in which we learn something new every day. Considering how fast technology has evolved over the past decade, mankind is yet to see the best of it.
Edu tech is certainly ushering the new age of learning in India. It is estimated that the ed-tech market will double in size from the present USD 20 billion to USD 40 billion by the end of 2017.
Today, innovative methods to improve and facilitate learning can be found in abundance. One can safely say that, we have embraced technology in education where it is used for both teaching and learning, with an aim to transform the ways in which teachers and students gather, access, analyse, present and transmit information.
The key drivers of growth in digital learning in India are:
● With nearly a billion people connected over mobile phones, widespread use of internet and its easy availability has lead to considerable rise in digital learning.
● The incorporation of best-in-class content, real-time learning and feedback methods and personalised instructions has ensured steady growth of online learning.
● Rise of the current crop of ed tech firms, garnering the interest of mass. People have started stepping towards digital learning as the ed-tech firms are providing them the comfort of 'live and interactive' anywhere learning in digital format.
● Digital learning aims to break the numerous barriers that are preventing people from receiving quality education in the physically bound classrooms.
This explosion of digital learning has had the following impact:
● The impact of new technologies has been mostly positive as they have given educators the opportunity to enhance their knowledge, skills, and therefore, enhance the standard of education through constructive learning environment, empowered with digital storytelling.
● Audio visual aids along with interactive, educational simulations have helped understand concepts and theories enabling a better scope of learning.
● The students gain knowledge from masters of the subjects from world class institutes without geographical and monetary constraints.
● Students have also benefitted by learning from eminent corporate leaders, business academicians as well as the industry connoisseurs. These experts share their valuable insights on the relevant, practical and must know aspects of the corporate world, enabling the students to gain comprehensive and specialised knowledge.
● Digitisation has led to bridging the rural and urban gap as now even rural children have the access to education.
Conclusion
With the prime minister's Digital India initiative to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge-based economy, the education sector in India is perched to witness major growth in the years to come. Embracing technology has led to an increased efficiency and effectiveness of the teaching-learning process. Technology is leading to a prompt pedagogical change, while addressing issues that affect learning, teaching and social functionalities. Technology can therefore, be seen as a tool alongside a catalyst for change. Students should embrace technology for their benefit and teachers should be open to introducing it into the classroom to innovate their teaching practices.
The author is Mitsuyo Tamai, founder of Kiwami – Japan based out-of-school learning institute.