Technology has a significant impact on higher education and pedagogy in higher education has changed over a period due to technological advancement and innovation in teaching strategies. Students and corporate partners get attracted towards higher education due to higher educational institution’s move to online education and globalization. Technology makes people socialise across the world with no boundaries and makes education possible for people who might not otherwise be able to access it.
How can technology assist
Students imbibe more through learning on their own and they like to spend time in studying as per their convenience. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) brought a revolution in higher education and educational institutes are moving towards publishing online courses with certification programs.
This generation likes to be online and spends more time in mobile-internet access than in watching televisions. Students fraternity spends most of their time on social media, leaving opportunities for organizations to trace them and know them well and bring services as per their need which works in higher education also. Higher education institutions invest hugely in identifying the student’s behavior and their interests in their career through cookies, social media, wikis, instant messaging, & social networking and propose courses as per their interest and provide support in student’s employability which aligns with their career objectives.
The investments in technology for higher education are cost-effective and gain the best possible advancements. Most of the institutions across the world have started investing in technology especially once after the IOT (Internet of Things) and cloud revolution.
The use of ‘big data analytics’ in higher education is leading to customised education and personalised assistance for learners. It brings a tightly coupled relationship between the instructor and learner and it allows the higher educational institution to assist students and to be behind at the very moment when needed.
Need for change
Ms McClure says: “Students need to feel that they can plot their own academic path”. They should be able to identify the reasons behind the right and wrong answers in their examinations and get the instructor’s support in the wrong answers immediately after the examination. The term “individual approach” is a big hit in the educational sector and higher education is moving towards course customization. There is a huge competition in the online educational sector as the partners are from all over the world. Online education implementation has become easier for the established Institutes as they gained trust from student fraternity over a period.
The higher educational institution’s sustainability in online education is dependent on two aspects.
Conclusion
In this way, it will take a very long time for Indian Institutes to put forth theirs in front of all the foreign bodies. The best possible way is to help the learners with individual approach till their employability with best resources and a life-long support in their career path will make Indian institutes to have better sustainability in the higher educational sectors.
This article has been authored by Prof. Kalpana S Kumaran, HOD, PGDM - IT & Analytics at ITM Business School, Navi Mumbai
