Today, digital devices have become very common in classrooms and among teachers and students. Be it lectures or taking notes during meetings, it is important to keep track of what was discussed. Using traditional paper to take notes can be messy and it is easy to get disorganized. But thanks to technology, now we have various digital devices to take notes, store and organize it in a better way. Notes that are already in paper format can be digitized and stored in digital devices with the help of data conversion company. Digital notes make it easier for students to cut, copy and paste any passages into any documents but there are no studies that show how this compares with taking notes by hand.
Governmental agencies and other organizations are contributing to the effort to transition schools to more connected teaching strategies. With digitization, schools and universities can provide a new phase of learning with various advanced techniques:
- Online courses
Online courses are provided by experts online who have excellent proficiency in their specific field and they offer the experience of real-time learning to their students by designing their own online courses.
- Digital textbooks
With digitization, there are several e-textbooks and e-texts, digital textbooks available that provide an interactive interface in which students have access to multimedia content like videos, interactive presentations, and hyperlinks.
- Online exams
Digitization allows students to give online exam. This makes the examination process convenient for both teachers and students.
- Animation
This is an innovative approach that helps students learn in a better manner. By providing a visual representation of the topic, students grasp the concept in a more understandable manner. Even the most difficult and complicated topics can be presented in a simplified way with the help of animation.
Digitization of education helps improve the quality of education by encouraging self study, ensuring better understanding and providing access to higher education.
Digitization of Education Becomes Useful in an Emergency
The corona virus pandemic has spread to almost all continents today and the governments in most countries have declared nationwide shutdown to prevent the spread of the virus. This risk control decision has forced millions of students into temporary ‘home-schooling’ situations in many countries. Here are some changes that have reshaped education system with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Home schooling: COVID-19 has become a catalyst for educational institutions worldwide to search for innovative solutions in a relatively short period of time. In Hong Kong, students started home schooling from February. Similarly, students at one school in Lebanon began leveraging online learning, even for subjects such as physical education and in China, 120 million Chinese got access to learning material through live television broadcasts. With 5 G technology countries like China, US, Japan etc students have embraced the concept of digital learning and it has become a habit that is integrated into daily routines.
- Public: private educational partnership: For the past few weeks, there have been learning consortiums and coalitions taking shape, with diverse stakeholders like governments, publishers, education professionals, technology providers, and telecom network operators with the objective of using digital platforms as a temporary solution to the crisis. In China, the Ministry of Education has a group of diverse constituents to develop a new cloud-based, online learning facility and broadcasting platform to upgrade a suite of education infrastructure, led by the Education Ministry and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. This shows that educational innovation is receiving attention. From Microsoft and Google in the U.S. to Samsung in Korea to Tencent, Ping An, and Alibaba in China, corporations are realizing the significance of an educated populace. While most initiatives until now have been limited in scope, and fairly isolated, the pandemic could encourage larger-scale, cross-industry tie-ups with a common educational goal.
- There could be further digital divide: The quality of learning is heavily dependent on the level and quality of digital access. Only 60 percent of the global population has online access. While many students from developed countries have access to online learning, there are many students from less developed countries who rely on lessons and assignments sent via WhatsApp or email. Students from families that are less affluent and digitally savvy are left behind. When classes transition online, these children may lose out because of the cost of digital devices and data plans. So, to minimize this segregation among students on a global level, digital access expenses should decrease and the quality of access should increase.
Students require strategies that support their acquisition of knowledge even at the time of crises like the COVID -19 pandemic. Students can be guided to consider this pandemic situation as an opportunity to learn how to face this unpredictable world and gain skills like informed decision making, creative problem solving, and perhaps above all, adaptability.
No research or study justifies that students should strictly use either digital devices or traditional books. Today, teachers recognize the power of digital tools and the important role of data conversion services in this regard. Digitized data and digital tools help students to more effectively engage with new ideas, synthesize concepts and build the critical thinking that will prove useful or them in the future. Students need to be able to easily manage and use information personally and professionally in the 21st century. Skills such as the ability to collect, analyze and understand data and information can help with good decision making, which is the key to success.
