Information technology has reformed each sector it has grasped and it is currently in the promising phases of altering academia. In the coming decades education will be more immersive and hopefully more constructive to the people than it is today. Digitisation in the education industry has totally changed the learning and also the teaching process to a great extent.
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 can add to the growing repository of Digital learning Objects (DLOs) and technological platforms available to learning.
As online education has been adapted by many universities, it has made them approachable and shortened the distance between a student and their dreams. Online education is a type of distance learning which does not require the student to attend the college or university in person. Coursera, for example, is an educational technology company which works with universities to make some of their courses available online. E-learning or computer-based training includes all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. It also includes educational technology.
According to a report by FITCH, the Indian digital market size in 2011 was Rs. 3.3 trillion which rose to Rs. 5.9 trillion in 2015. The highest growth rate area is Asia (India being the key) at 17.3 per cent which is well ahead of Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America, according to Docebo Report 2014.
Internet users are expected to double by 2018 while rural users are expected to rise by almost 40 per cent of the total, which is a promising opportunity to revitalise the education system and address the learning crisis. It can create individual learning paths, make learning interactive and fun through gamification and provide numerous practice opportunities.
During a session at the FICCI Higher Education Summit, experts from education and industry namely Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE; Prof. Pankaj Jalote, Director, IIT-Delhi; Mark Maddocks, CIO, Cambridge University Press; Prof. Hocheng Hong, President, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan; Mohan Kannegal, Chief Product Officer, Manipal Global ; Prof. Andre Mostert, Manager, CIME, University of East London, UK; Udai Singh, Head-New Business Initiatives, NIIT and Anand Sudarshan, Founder and Director, Sylvant Advisers Pvt Ltd spoke on how educational systems in the world can adapt to the 21st century demands.
As put by Sudarshan, "Technology has made imparting education stress-free for both students and educators. Schools are gradually implementing digital teaching solutions to involve with a generation of learners familiar with the likes of PlayStations and iPads and trying to make the classroom atmosphere more broad and participatory. Information and communication technology in education has facilitated student understanding, students are perhaps the most ready and exposed to external education but they are in the best situation to absorb what comes up in the classroom."
According to Maddocks, “Digital education has had a great impact on education sector of India. Everything digitalised becomes audible, retrievable which is very important. Teachers and students, nowadays, are exposed to the information present online. School is a place where students come to acquire knowledge and teachers, as they are certified, require approval by students in the era of digitalisation. With information available online, teachers need to achieve more fruitful interactions with students.”
Jalote concluded the session by saying, “Along with parent and student approval, peer approval is equally important. Peer to per interaction also encourages digitalisation.”
Thus, this grouping of traditional training instructions united with digitised learning is one of the ways we can make our future generations to become global contributors who can interconnect across culture, time and geographies.
