Up close with digital learning

EIndia, the largest ICT expo currently being held at Mahatma Mandir Gandhinagar, has three focuses — e-governance, e-health and digital learning. EIndia's focus on digital learning is the recognition of the fact that digital learning is no longer a point of debate.

The question is no longer whether there should be digital learning inside classrooms, instead the question to be asked is how to implement digital learning and in what measure.

Although digitisation of classrooms has arrived and is here to stay, there are certain concerns. Does too much digital learning lead to brain plasticity? Or is digital learning only about the use of new gadgets? If all the technology is available for the urban rich, what about the rural poor students?

The rural-urban digital divide has been an area of perpetual debate. A segment of people believe that there is already a lot being done for urban students who are anyway tech savvy and do not need more exposure. On the other hand, rural students neither have access to technology nor availability of gadgets. Technology could be a boon in rural areas since there is a prevailing lack of quality teaching resource. Technology here can enable uniform teaching.

Ravi Saxena, additional chief secretary of State science & technology department believes that Gujarat has made a paradigm shift in its education scenario in the last 10 years and technology has been one of the enabling factors. This year, digital media equipment worth over Rs700 crore has been installed in 17,000 village primary schools along with one instructor to handhold the teachers. Active practitioners, institutional owners and management representatives were unanimous in their opinion that all modern and contemporary institutions must use technology.

The list is endless when one were to look at various gadgets used by academic institutions. What started with Overhead Projectors went on to use of LCD projectors, laptops, interactive boards and now use of tablets and even iPads in classrooms. Technology is no longer about schools owning computer laboratories rather it is about a host of software services being offered through a portal.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions manage entire academic business from student data management, transportation data - routes and fees, online fees payment gateways, admission processes to online assessments and evaluations. Digital libraries make teaching material readily available for the teacher to access and use in the classroom. With more free time available, the faculty is clearly able to generate more discussion-based group learning and creative ways to explain concepts.

The use of multimedia makes difficult concepts come alive. Indian education system, which is often criticised for being heavily focused on rote learning, can finally shed this skin and look at innovative pedagogical approaches. Does too much use of interactive technology at an early age lead to brain plasticity?

With an overexposure to gaming devices, excessive TV view and rampant use of computers or social media, is the use of technology inside school rooms surrounding the students with too much technology? It is a question that does not have any conclusive answer, supported by research.   

The writer is  an entrepreneur and educationist