As a country, we're going through an incredible phase of technological development, and it is impacting every sector – not just in business but in education as well, especially after the success of Chandrayaan-3. For a long time, we have relied on traditional teaching methods that involved a teacher addressing a group of students in a four-walled classroom. The extent to which education could be disseminated in this way depended upon the teacher's ability to help students visualize difficult concepts without the right tools.
However, with the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we've begun transitioning towards a world that relies heavily on digital technology to make things easier. Several online learning platforms have mushroomed up in the past few years to make learning easier, simpler, and more convenient. As of now, we have more than 560 million internet users in the country, and the number is growing exponentially. It means that the online world has become easily accessible for a major chunk of our population, and we need to make the most of this change.
Even though technology in education was already evolving rapidly, the intervention of the Covid-19 pandemic has added fuel to the fire. With schools, colleges, and other educational institutions shut down to prevent any outbreaks, online learning has emerged as the primary teaching platform.
Key Benefits and Limitations of Technology in Education
Advantages of technology in education:
- Provides a better interactive experience during the learning and teaching process.
- Provides access to an unlimited amount of current information and data from a variety of sources.
- Teaches digital literacy.
- Reduces educational costs.
- Provides better insight into student performance.
- Allows them to choose between real-time learning or learning at their own pace.
Disadvantages of technology in education:
- It is distracting both in the classroom and outside of it.
- Potentially diminishes cognitive development and reduces problem-solving skills.
- Reduces direct peer interaction.
- Maintaining modern technology is very expensive.
- It is easier to cheat in exams.
The Challenge
The biggest challenge for the e-learning industry in India is the lack of technological penetration in rural areas. Given that most of our population (65.53%) resides in rural areas, this is a serious issue that needs to be tackled. Luckily, the government has launched several initiatives to fast-track technological development in Indian villages, and these initiatives may bridge the gap between urban and rural education.
India has 35 million students enrolled in higher education, contributing to a small gross enrollment ratio (GER) of 26 per cent. If we are to achieve the target of 50 per cent GER by 2035 as envisaged by the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, we have to give prominence to using technology in education. Besides, the NEP's studied provision of multi-point entry-exits and credit banks will only be feasible if they are adequately facilitated for adoption in an online environment.
Although the education system has always been strongly influenced by innovations, the explosion of new technologies has caused tectonic shifts in the way the teaching process is carried out in colleges. The biggest problem here is the fact that daily interaction with technological devices reduces attention span, and research shows that the attention span of children from Generation Z is about 8 seconds, so it becomes a challenge for teachers to keep them attentive.
A futuristic aspect of the Narendra Modi government's Budget 2020 was the announcement of the National Digital Educational Architecture (NDEAR) "for administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation, and delivery of educational courses, training programs, or learning and development programs," which could lead to a learning management system.
Final Thoughts on Technology in Education
Different people have different opinions on the introduction of these changes in the education system, especially if it's done so suddenly and in such a short time. However, one should be realistic because the advantages still far outweigh the disadvantages. So, a continuous insistence on disadvantages should not be seen as a desire to return to traditional education but as a reason for caution and the possibility to better see the holes in the technologies and methods used in education. It is up to educational institutions and teachers to analyze the disadvantages in the next revision and improve the quality of teaching both in their digital and physical classrooms.
