Challenges & Opportunities In Digital Education Space

While digital transformation in education was gaining traction across the globe a few years back, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic proved to be a shot in the arm of the sector. The pandemic-induced lockdowns pushed the entire education landscape to switch to a remote working model necessitating the requirement of a seamless digital infrastructure and strategies.

In the post-Covid-19 era, digital learning has revolutionised the way instructions are delivered and received and has opened up new opportunities for learners to access quality education from anywhere in the world. 

The compulsion for schools, businesses and institutions to shift their operations online during the pandemic also highlighted some of the challenges associated with the remote learning ecosystem.

One of the biggest challenges in the digital learning space is ensuring that all students have access to quality resources and tools since with an abundance of information available online, it can be difficult to know where to find reliable and accurate knowledge. 

This challenge is specifically prevalent among learners from deprived backgrounds who do not have access to quality resources as compared to their well-to-do counterparts. The assumption that every student has access to high-speed internet or a smart device would be a plain exaggeration of the existing digital infrastructure and socio-economic parity in the country.

Another challenge that stems from the soaring growth of digital education is to keep the students engaged and motivated to learn as a significant number of students tend to drop out as compared to the offline mode of classes. The primary cause behind this is that they do not have the same level of interaction with their peers and teachers. 

Moreover, students often struggle with self-discipline and the absence of an effective monitoring mechanism for their actions results in a lack of focus and subsequently dropping out of the course.

The positive energy of a physical classroom can facilitate learning since there is an open discussion and engagement among peers and educators can effectively address the doubts of students. Offline classes also enable teachers to cater to the specific requirements of different students.

On the flip side, digital learning also presents some unique opportunities including the potential to create customised learning experiences that cater to the specific needs of each student. Another significant advantage of digital learning is that a student can record the entire session and can repeat it multiple times for a convenient learning experience.

Digital learning also fetches students with greater flexibility and choice as they can choose when and where they learn as per their comfort and convenience. For many professionals and adult learners, this comes as a viable proposition who may not be in the position to stick to a fixed learning schedule.

Overall, digital learning is a mixed bag of challenges and opportunities and while it is important to embrace the new possibilities it brings along, it is also crucial to put effective measures in place to address the challenges.

This will demand an expansive collaborative approach between governments, educational institutions, technology players as well as teachers and parents to build a truly conducive and rewarding ecosystem for digital education in India.

GAURAV GOEL

Guest Author The author is Co-Founder and CEO, Toprankers