The benefits and drawbacks of digitalisation in educational sector - Essay Example

? The Benefits and Drawbacks of Digitalisation in Educational Sector Introduction The world is getting digitalized more and more as time goes on. Theintroductions of computers, televisions, mobile phones and internet have created a digital culture which affects every segment of human life at present. The difference in culture between the current world and the world couple of decades before can be identified easily. It should be noted that the communication technologies a couple decades before was dependent on analogue technology whereas it is heavily dependent on digital technologies at present. Information communication technologies improved a lot with the introduction of computers and internet. Information Communication technology (ICT) is a broad topic which is used extensively in educational sectors all over the world. Sornes et al. (2004) defined ICT as the “technologies that facilitate the handling of information and enable different forms of communication among human actors, between human beings and electronic systems, and among electronic systems” (Sornes et al, 2004). Any product which is capable of storing, retrieving, manipulating, transmitting and receiving information in the form of digital data using electronic means can be accommodated under the label ICT. Since most of the current ICT oriented equipment are working on digital technologies, digitalization in education means introduction of ICT in education. Many people may not have the awareness about the differences between digitalization and digitization. Some people believe that both are same processes. However, these tow processes are different things. Digitalization is a process of “Integration of digital technologies into everyday life by the digitization of everything that can be digitized” (Digitalization, n.d). On the other hand, digitization is the process of converting analogue formats into digital formats. “In this format, information is organized into discrete units of data (called bit s) that can be separately addressed (usually in multiple-bit groups called byte s). This is the binary data that computers and many devices with computing capacity can process”(Digitization, 2008). Information communication technology or digitalization has brought many changes both in real and virtual educational world. Some of these changes are positive whereas others are negative. This paper analyses the literature available through secondary research to know more about the benefits and drawbacks of information communication technology or digitalization in educational sector. Benefits of Digitalisation in Educational Sector Computer based technologies are normally used at the current educational sector which help the students and teachers to communicate and share information digitally. Word processing software like Microsoft Word and spread sheets like Microsoft Excel helps students immensely in creating instant documents and solving problems. Spelling checkers, dictionaries and readymade computer programs are available nowadays for corrections and calculations. Presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint helps both teachers and students to express their views in a clear manner so that the mutual communication between the teacher and the students could be improved. Databases like Oracle, MS Access etc help teachers to maintain digital records of students in a structured manner. In short, most of the curriculum functions are heavily dependent on the information communication technology at present. Internal and external networks like Local Area network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) are used specifically by schools and colleges to communicate each other. Interactive digital television (iDTV), as a relatively easy way to use technology, brings many challenges and opportunities into the field of education, i.e. formation and utilization of learning via TV, called t-learning. T-learning has many characteristics (i.e. technological or pedagogical aspects) that differentiate this type of education from other well elaborated approaches (e-learning, face-to-face learning, classroom learning, etc.). These characteristics include learners' motivation, lean back interactivity, and combination of education and entertainment known as edutainment (Bures et al., 2008, p.43). T-learning or edutainment is increasing day by day because of the increasing popularity of digitalization in educational sector. Educational topics are currently live telecasted all over the world with the help of television. India has recently launched a specific satellite called Edusat in order to telecast educational programs through televisions. One of the major advantages of T-learning is the fact that the services of expert teachers can be made available to all students. It is not necessary that all the schools and colleges have brilliant teachers in all subjects. T-learning helps students to exploit the services of brilliant teachers staying anywhere in this world. Zuga, et al. (2007) mentioned that “Digitalisation of television has opened up new possibilities for education. In particular two types of interactivity became possible: local (without a return channel); and remote (with usage of a return channel)” (Zuga, et al., 2007, p.113) “Effective Communication (Teamwork; interactive communication; responsibility) and High Productivity (Managing for results; effective use of tools; ability to produce high quality products) etc are some other advantages of digitalization in educational field” (Digital Innovation in Education, 2011, p.8). Two way communications between the teacher and the students improved a lot because of the introduction of ICT in schools and colleges. It should be noted that students can contact their teachers any time nowadays through email or mobile phones. Such facilities were not even in the distant dreams of students few decades before. LAN and WAN technologies help students and teachers to access information instantly from any parts of the world. Internet and digital libraries are incorporated in majority of the schools and colleges to help students and teachers to get proper knowledge in all subjects and topics. Earlier, teachers and students relied heavily on campus libraries to get in depth knowledge in a particular topic. Identifying of reference book was not an easy task. Now, with the help of few key words, teachers and students can get instant access to any of the topic they wanted to research more. Literacy becomes more autonomous and public because of the digitalization in education (Digital Innovation in Education, 2011, p.8). Earlier students relied heavily on the abilities of the teachers to get proper awareness about a particular topic. Now they can reduce their dependability on teachers, when they develop doubts in a particular topic. Moreover, current students are getting wide range of resources for their educational needs. Earlier, their access to knowledge was confined within the limits of the facilities in libraries and the capabilities of the teachers. Now they have instant access to global resources. In other words, education is becoming more universal and autonomous nowadays. Earlier, education was considered as a private activity whereas at present it is a public activity. The conversion from private to public happened mainly because of the entry of ICT or digital technologies. Creation of media rich environment in schools and homes is another advantage of digitalization of educational sector (Digital Innovation in Education, 2011, p.11). Media plays a vital role in enhancing the quality of education. Students get substantial knowledge from media while they watch educational programs. Internet, email, televisions, tablets and mobile phones help students immensely in acquiring proper knowledge in their educational topics. According to Rivero (2010), “content digitalization has ensured that textbooks are updated and interesting and that Discovery Education is continuously working to ensure that learning objectives are met” (Rivero, 2010, p.16). The introduction of tablets and laptops helped students in many ways to store as much as information possible and access it easily. Earlier, students relied heavily on text books for getting proper awareness about a particular topic. They were carrying differ types of text books and notebooks to the classrooms as part of their education. Nowadays, a tablet can replace all textbooks and notebooks easily. The burden of carrying heavy textbooks and notebooks was eliminated with the introduction of ipads and tablets. “Use of digital products in education could mean an all-in-one device for education which schools required including books, pens, and computers” (Gregg, 2010, p.4). K12 in the Middle East is regulated by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The K12 program does not allow children to progress in a subject until they understand the concept properly, and teachers connect with students to conduct verbal assessments. In the online K12 program, attendance, faculty interaction and lessons are conducted online (El-Basha, N.d.p.28). Online education is growing everywhere in the world because of the introduction of ICT in educational sector. One of the major advantages of online education is the fact that anybody can attend classes based on their convenience. In other words, online classes are arranged in different time segments and the students or adult learners can select convenient time schedule for attending these classes. Thus the constraints of lack of time or professional commitments are almost eliminated because of the introduction of online courses. A student can continue his learning even while he is at home with the help of online education. Gregg (2010) pointed out that “Technology enhances teachers teaching strategies and student learning” (Gregg, 2010, p.4). It is not necessary that the knowledge level of even expert teachers may be sufficient enough to teach in the current educational world in which knowledge explodes from all corners virtually in every second. Digitalization of information helped two changes in particular in schools; 1)the movement from the transmission of knowledge to the formation of key competences or capabilities and the growing weight of international evaluations of educational systems and 2) a paradigm change for schools and school libraries from the axis of having information knowledge to the axis of being and becoming competent and capable (Odasso, 2007, p.18). It should be noted that traditional school libraries have many drawbacks. These libraries have limitations in clearing the entire doubts of the students because of the limited availability of books. On the other hand, internet and online libraries do not have such limitations. Whatever the knowledge burst into this world will be available on internet instantly. Students can update their knowledge easily with the help of internet and online libraries. It is difficult for the traditional libraries to get access to modern knowledge instantly. Abby Smith (1999) pointed out that “Digitization has proven to be possible for nearly every format and medium presently held by libraries, from maps to manuscripts, and moving images to musical recordings” (Smith, 1999). Digital libraries were successful in creating libraries without wall. “The UNDP human development report for 2001 uses “network age” to stress the connection between ICT’s and the process of education” (Akpan-Obong, 2009, p.6). Educational subjects and knowledge are networked with the help of internet so that anybody with internet connection can access it anytime, staying anywhere in the world. Current period can be labelled as the network era. In other words, everything in this world is getting connected each other with the help of some kind of networks. An American company CEO can control the activities of his business unit in India because of the capabilities of networks in bringing people and activities closer. Same way, an Indian teacher can take classes for American students staying at the convenience of his home in India. Audio and video chatting facilities are improving day by day so that teachers can take online classes in the virtual world just like the way in which they take classes in the real world. Drawbacks of Digitalisation in Education Sector Creating a digital library is a very expensive venture which requires adequate planning and monitoring. The major problem is lack of technical-know-how; hence most digitization projects often run into problems. There is a need to design flexible and compatible programs. In addition, the interface should be user friendly, so that users can search for information with ease (Fabunmi, 2002, p.27). Creation of digital libraries is one of the prominent activities undertaken by schools and colleges as part of the digitalization process. Traditional libraries have many drawbacks in keeping or securing printed books in its collection. Such disadvantages of traditional libraries can be replaced with the help of digital libraries. However, the setting up of a digital library is not an easy task. A traditional library can be set up by purchasing and arranging books in a proper manner. Online libraries or digital libraries cannot be set up with that much ease. Students and teachers may use digital libraries only if they feel easiness in using these libraries. Otherwise, they will look for other options. “Copyright is usually a central issue for digital libraries. Copyright law varies from one country to another” (Witten et al., 2006, p.14). In the case of printed books, copy right laws may not be a problem whereas in electronic versions of books, obeying copy right laws is a big problem. Plenty of disputes occur worldwide with respect to the copyright violations while setting up digital libraries. A study conducted in Bangladesh by Mohammad Ataur Rahman in 2011 about how teacher educators perceive the incorporation and use of computer technology resources in Teachers' Training Colleges, concluded that “the teacher educators possessed moderate level of skills. Although there is a statistically significant differences between male and female towards computer skills” (Rahman, 2011, p.2). Teacher educators’ computer knowledge and skills are key factors of adopting it as a teaching tool. The computer skills usually consist of basic to advanced knowledge in word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet applications. Teachers’ poor ICT competence and lack of confidence in using new technologies in teaching are two very significant determinants of their levels of engagement in ICT(Rahman, 2011, p.3). It should be noted that many of the teachers who are currently working in schools do not have proper knowledge on computers and internet. Only the young teachers or the recently appointed teachers may have proper awareness about computers and digital technologies. Absence of digital knowledge prevents teachers from effectively using digital equipment in school and college campuses. Female teachers are comparatively less aware of the working principles of digital equipment used in school campuses. Most of them are not competent enough to operate digital machines. In short, absence of skilled teachers is a big problem in digitalizing school and college campuses. It should be noted that science teachers show more interests in learning digital electronics or computer related topics than the language or art subject teachers. But, digital technologies are required for teaching even art subjects nowadays. Lack of knowledge forces majority of the teachers to avoid digital technologies in their teaching schedules. According to a study conducted by Ono (2006), Internet use in any location was driven by age, education, and income. In Japan and South Korea women were less likely to be Internet users. Clearly, there is a gender divide in these countries. The determinants of computer ownership at home for Japan were education and income, which relate positively. Gender (being female) and age related in a negative manner. For South Korea and Singapore, age, education, and income were the most important factors (Guti?errez and Gamboa, 2010 p.348). Computer literacy is still negligible among students and teachers. Most of the students and teachers have only basic knowledge in operating computers. Advanced knowledge in digital technologies and computer software are necessary to students and teachers to use advanced technologies more effectively. Gender difference, age difference and socioeconomic status of the students and the teachers play an important role in implementing digitalization in schools and colleges. Generally speaking, female show less interests in using digital technologies than males. It should be noted that women are more interested in socializing like activities than exploring the complex computer programs. Same way younger generation show more interest in using digital equipment. It is difficult for old people to come in terms with the needs of operating digital equipment. In other words, younger generation is accustomed more with digital equipment than older generation. Since majority of the digital equipment are expensive in nature, people with less income still unable to purchase computers or other digital equipment. In short, still a substantial portion of the people does not have access and awareness in using digital equipment. According to McAllister et al. (2002), “Internet forms the backbone for much of the digitization of print publishing, from commercial promotional efforts to e-book readers to alliances with education”(McAllister et al., 2002, p.1). E-book reader is another digital technology introduced by prominent companies for reading digital books. For example, Amazon recently introduced Kindle e-book reader for helping its online readers. Many of the other online book companies have their own versions of e-book reader. Many students and teachers do not have any idea in operating these modern technological innovations. 38.7% of parents thought that their children spent too much time on the laptops. 39.3% of the teachers believed that it had become harder for their students to concentrate in class after having the laptops because they were being distracted by the Internet, e-mail, games, music, and so on. Students were more optimistic about their ability to deal with laptop related problems. For example, most of the students (83.9%) did not agree that laptops posed distractions to them in class (Digital text books impact education, n. d.). The introduction of digitalization in education caused many worries to the parents. Children started to spend more time in front of the computers because of the digitalization of education. It is difficult for the parents to prevent their children from spending too much time in front of the computers. It should be noted that internet connectivity is necessary for students to get access to various online education resources. Internet connectivity helps students to access both necessary and unnecessary websites. In the name of learning or studying, children may spend lengthy time in front of the computers for watching pornographic materials. Adolescence is a period in which sex hormones are developing rapidly. The influence of sex hormones forces teenagers to watch sex contents in internet more than accessing their study materials. It is quite possible that even brilliant students may fail to shift their attention from pornographic materials available on internet. Thus, internet has the ability to convert brilliant students into average ones. In other words, digitalization in education brings much harm also. “Required staff expertise and additional resources are often the greatest costs in digitization projects. Not only are large budget allocations needed to fund research and intellectual selection, but also time must be spent for feasibility assessments and training” (McKay, 2003). In other words, implementation of digitalization in educational sector is an expensive act. Ordinary schools and colleges cannot undertake this process because of lack of funds. Only wealthy educational organizations are capable of implementing digital technologies fully in its campuses. According to Lee (2001), “Digitization" has often experienced a privileged position in strategic thinking, which may not have happened if the issue had been judged more fairly” (Lee, 2001). The following statistics give us a rough ideas about the cost for digitization. (Lee, 2001) From the above illustration, it is evident that unnecessary digitization brings more costs than benefits. In other words, digitalization process in educational sector should be implemented carefully after the evaluation of costs and benefits. In some areas, digitalization may bring more benefits than costs whereas in other areas, it may bring more costs than benefits. Maxwell & McCain (1997) mentioned that copyright laws could be violated when digitalization is implemented in schools (Maxwell & McCain, 1997, p.141). For example, majority of the computer software are copy protected. Developers of these software insist that each computer owner/user should purchase a copy of original software for their personal use. Even if a computer user purchases an original copy of a particular software, he is not permitted to use it in more than one computers. Implementation of digitalization in schools increases the demand for software. Majority of the students may not purchase original software and they may try to use pirated copies of software. Thus copy right violation may take place extensively in schools and colleges as part of the digitalization process. According to Vogelsang (2010), “The phenomenon of digitalization has to be attributed to the interplay of several products” (Vogelsang, 2010, p.3). Just like electricity, the strings attached to digitalization process are invisible. Only after some time people come to know about the drawbacks of going electronic or digital. For example, safety and security of digital information is less compared to the analogue information. In other words, digital information can be retrieved easily by antisocial elements and they can misuse it for personal gains. Hackers are waiting for opportunities to attack unsecure websites. As part of digitalization process, many educational campuses have the habit of storing student records and documents in digital format alone. These digital documents and records can be misused The level of skill, confidence, and knowledge learners have when using digital technologies will impact on the quality of their use of the technology. While most learners express very positive attitudes towards technology for learning and are confident users, there are skills gaps. Individual differences including attitudes towards school and using technologies for learning and access to, and use of, technologies for learning at home are key to the development of e-maturity (Underwood, 2009, p.21). Some students have more interests and skills in using technology whereas others may not have such qualities. In other words, digitalization in educational sector may affect different students differently. Technology savvy students may accept digitalization process with hands whereas others may welcome it with lot of concerns. Moreover, it is difficult for students to convert from analogue medium to digital medium immediately. Enough time is necessary for the students to well accustom with the needs of digital technology oriented education. The digitalization process can be attributed to the interplay of several products. If any of such products become damaged, the entire digitalization process can be spoiled. For example, if computers were affected by viruses, both students and teachers may face problems in accessing vital information. Conclusions Digitalization in education has many benefits as well as drawbacks. It helps students and teachers immensely in getting proper knowledge about a particular topic instantly. In other words, digitalization helps academic community to access knowledge at their fingertips. Earlier, knowledge was confined within the walls of the academic campus as far as students and teachers were concerned. Knowledge became universal with the introduction of digital technologies in educational sector. Students can seek lessons from teachers staying in overseas countries with the help of digital technologies such as internet and computers. T-learning or learning with the help of television programs is another contribution of digital technology in educational sector. Literacy became more autonomous and public because of the introduction of digitalization in educational sector. Earlier, education was teacher centred. At present nobody can say that education is teacher centred. The reliance of education on technology is increasing day by day and therefore one can say that current education is technology centred. The intrusion of technology or digitalization in educational sector helped students to reduce their reliance and dependability on teachers. It is easy for the students to acquire proper knowledge about a topic with the help of internet and computers at present. There are many drawbacks also associated with the digitalization of educational sector. Digitalization is an expensive act for educational sector. Incorporating various digital technologies at various departments of the schools and colleges need time, money and effort. The digital technology incorporated in educational sector should be user friendly. Otherwise teachers and students may stay away from it. Younger generation adapts more easily with the digitalization process in educational sector than the older generation. Same way boys welcome digital technologies more than girls. Same way, it is not easy for the poor people to bear the cost of purchasing digital equipment as part of their education. In short, the success of digitalization process in educational sector depends on age, gender and economic background of the students and teachers. Digitalization can convert better students into average ones. It is quite possible that students may access unwanted websites and fell in trouble when they spent too much time in front of the computers and internet. Further research is necessary to know more about the merits and demerits of digitalization in educational sector. Safe use of technology is still a big question in front of the academic community. More research is necessary to acquire additional knowledge about how to reduce the cost factor of digitalization process and also about the safe usage of digital technologies. References 1. Akpan-Obong, P.I. (2009), Information and Communication Technologies in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges for Development , Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing; First printing edition (February 1, 2009), p.6 2. Bures, V., Ponce, D. & Cech, P. 2008. Digitalization Of Europe: A New Challenge For Education. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 2008, Vol. 5, p43-54, 3. Digital Innovation in Education. 2011. Power point presentation. Lecture Notes 4. 4. Digitalization, N.d. [Online] Available at: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/digitalization.html [Accessed 19 April 2012] 5. 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