Digital Leap in Education: Bridging the Gap for Equitable Access

Guest Author: Sakshi Kapoor, Manager – Skills Enablers Business, TCS iON

Technology has been an integral part of education and more so over last 3 – 4 years since the pandemic. In today’s fast-paced evolving digital world, this technological revolution is significantly catering to a generation which has witnessed the shaping of the new educational landscape. However, equitable access to technology for learning still poses a challenge even though we see considerable growth of internet for information and entertainment purposes. Before we look into suggested measures to resolve these issues, let’s take a look at the top five advancements brought into the education system through technology.

1. AI emerging as a veritable virtual assistant to teachers

The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has shown how teachers can use it smartly for conducting their routine activities. It holds the potential to address some of the major challenges in education by innovating teaching and learning methodologies. For instance, AI can easily take up the activities like grading and lesson planning for teachers, thus freeing them from doing the work that brought them into the profession in the first place. Instead, teachers can focus on ideating engaging teaching methodologies for the learners. Further, the Generative AI intervention has improved the course affordability while minimizing the language barriers for the learners.

2. AR-VR-MR making learning immersive and experiential

While AI comforts both the teacher and learner in more ways than one, during their teaching / learning journeys, the integration of Augmented, Virtual and Mixed realities (AR / VR / MR) enhances this experience to another level. The possibilities of enhancement of the learning experience through these tools are endless and are going to explode in the times to come. For example – a student conducting a chemical experiment through VR, without physically visiting the Chemical laboratory.

3. Gamification enhancing learner motivation, curiosity and engagement

Gamified learning has seen rapid adoption in many forms of online learning. With gamification, the learner stays indulged in the learning environment through the engaging interactive learning elements. Features like levels, rewards, gaining points and step-up challenges motivate the learners to participate, staying engaged in the learning journey and improving the knowledge retention.

4. Adaptive learning and assessments providing personalized learning experiences

The increasing role of technology in the education system produces a lot of data about the learners. This facilitates tracking of each stroke made by the learner and thus track their progress. However, mere data collection does not suffice, it is important that the collected information is analyzed in a meaningful way to derive conclusions for decision making. This in turn has resulted in the development of Adaptive Learning and Assessment Tools. The adaptive learning tool ensures a personalized learning experience for each student by adapting the curriculum as per the learner’s strengths and weaknesses, thus enabling them to progress at their own pace. The institutes can have complete oversight on the student performance, learning patterns, engagement levels, allowing the teachers to create a customized instructional guide for each learner.

5. Virtual classrooms making learning holistic and collaborative

Another emerging trend through AI is virtual classrooms which connect learners from across the globe to learn and deliberate on any given topic. A virtual classroom is a coalesced platform for online teaching and learning wherein teachers can share learning content, respond to the learner queries, track learning progress, conduct tests while the learners can communicate with the teachers and fellow learners, view progress reports, receive notifications, among others. This concept of collaborative interaction through digital classroom, embedded with technology, offering an immersive learning experience also instils the soft skills element among the learners to work together as a team.

That said about the enablement which technology has brought into the learning and education system, it is well understood that technology in the hands of educators can completely transform the landscape. However, it will not be unfair to state that these technological interventions are limited to the urban regions of the country wherein basic infrastructure along with internet connectivity is available. As we dive deep into the utmost rural sections of the country, the learners are not only oblivious to these emerging trends but are merely able to access the basic educational tools. While technology has already enabled a great paradigm in the education system, the concern is whether it has been able to impact a larger section of the learners which is based in the rural regions of the country (a country where nearly 80% of the population is from rural region).

Promote internet for learning through wider access

If we look at some statistical data, there is a clear digital divide within states for internet adoption, for instance, Goa has ~70% unlike Bihar, which has ~30% of its population accessing the internet. Likewise, there is a huge gender disparity for internet access where male users pose a higher share in consuming internet, while the female ones are still catching up. Further, this internet adoption is primarily for social networking, video calling, and consumption of content through OTT platforms, where the rural India is reaching at par to its urban counterpart. If we consider online learning, there is still a long way to go. Hence creating awareness about internet usage, exploring government schemes and initiatives like Common Service Centers (CSCs) can go a long way in creating online learning hubs.

Upskill teachers in using technology for learning and championing edtech

Currently, in the rural areas of the country, neither the teachers are well-versed with these technological upgrades in education, nor the infrastructure is adequate to cater to these advancements. Consequently, both learner and teacher succumb to this digital leap in education, instead of leveraging it as an opportunity to transform and prepare for a better world. The challenge ahead is not just equipping the educational institutes with necessary infrastructure, but also upskilling our teachers to deliver the lectures digitally. Besides, the teachers who are early adopters of technology can champion the cause of edtech and promote its benefits to the people.

Also read: Bridge the Gap through Industry-Ready Skills for Emerging Technologies

Thus, for all the key stakeholders of the ecosystem, the question that lies ahead is how and by when we will be able to cater to the larger section of the learners. How soon will we able to not only enable our learners to access the technology for learning, to pace up with the emerging trends in industry landscape but also to arm our educators well to leverage it for impacting more learners in much effective manner. It is not to be overlooked that the solution to these critical concerns can be catered to by technological intervention only. The way technology has been able to enable outreach so far, it only can support in overcoming the existing gap areas and allow us to witness a remarkable transformative ed-tech journey.

While it is amply evident that technology is positively impacting teaching learning in many innovative ways, the benefits of these technologies are yet to reach many in India. TCS iON, through their online learning programs, are playing a crucial role in addressing the digital divide and contributing to reducing disparity between technology access, adoption and affordability the rural and geographically challenged parts of India. Check out their programs: TCS iON Learning Porgrams