Digitalization is transforming the skills that youth and workers must acquire to succeed. In a globalized economy, digitalization’s role highly affects both the learners and institutions that deliver and receive knowledge. Digital education will allow people to continue to participate in social life in a self-determined manner in the future.
Universities are making themselves capable of corresponding with the digital age to remain relevant in technological education. HEIs are experimenting with new technologies to support teaching and research in online forms that require different skills and processes.
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During the outbreak of Covid-19, educators were facing severe challenges
To overcome these challenges, higher education institutions adopted the digitalization process to provide universities with new opportunities, just like the learning process in the classroom. Digital Technologies offers a new framework and solutions to achieve the educational goals of HEIs. During Covid-19, it became evident that the only way to continue the education process is to opt for online education.
There has been an inconclusive debate about digital learning and whether this learning will relate to individual elements in the teaching and learning process or not. The best way to change education design is to point out the valuable strategy for educational institutions. Here we will indicate how most of the top-ranking universities in the world have experienced the notion of teaching and learning in the outbreak of Covid-19. In universities, digital learning is defined as the provision and use of learning materials and tools using digital learning technologies.
Digital technologies in education are modernizing education approaches and helping people in gaining a wealth of skills. The primary purpose of education is to acquire those skills which are of high impact. In the last 50 years, there have been drastic changes in educational technologies and innovative learning processes. To solve the problems of students in the pandemic situation, digital technologies should be actively used.
This is why universities across the globe rely more on digital formats for teaching and learning in the context of training and further education. It will be interesting to know that digitalization strategy can play a pivotal role in any pandemic or natural disaster. Many universities have supported teachers and encouraged students to develop their skills online. If you have a remote educational continuity strategy, you can access the resources quickly.
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Understanding distance learning
Distance education is defined as instruction between a teacher and students when they are separated by physical distance and communication is accomplished by one or more technological media.
Distance learning solutions include educational applications and tools developed to help students in lectures. Digital learning management systems and self-directed learning are great examples of educational technologies in the present scenario. The International society for technology in education ISTE offers guidelines for implementing new instructions. A series of recent studies indicated that variation in technology and connectivity is available among students. Learners are encouraged on various levels to teach online remotely when physical classes are not possible.
Though distance learning is complex for teachers and students exclusively in developing countries due to the lack of technology such as internet access and educational materials. To overcome these problems, some other technologies like radios, televisions and online platforms from time to time may be used for such tasks. At the beginning of the academic year 2020, many institutions in developing countries launched a national strategy to enhance the educational process and guarantee continuity of learning. This strategy includes learning via televisions, access to digital platforms, and learning through radio stations. In the last few decades, education across the globe has grown remarkably at all levels.
The government forced Higher education institutions to switch to online and virtual education when we witnessed lockdown due to the pandemic. With this sudden shift away from the classroom in many parts of the globe, some are wondering whether the adoption of online learning will continue to persist post-pandemic, and how such a shift would impact the worldwide education market.
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Lastly, everyone should be thankful for Digital learning in education as it helps in interactive multimedia classroom settings. The Digital learning environment influences learning behavior based on user-friendliness and functionality. As a result, students’ motivation can also be affected by the technical capability of the learning platform.
Written by Abid Hussain
The writer is the Deputy Director of the Library at ISSI. He can be reached at abidhussain@issi.org.pk. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.