Hi, I want to do this outline. I attached my draft so you can have information about what you are going to write in the outline form. The topic is Digital Education. Let me know if you want to know anything else.
20190324182633digital_education_2.edited.docx
Unformatted Attachment Preview
Running head: DIGITAL EDUCATION
1
Digital Education
Name
Institution
Instructor
Date
DIGITAL EDUCATION
2
Digital Education
Introduction
Digital learning methodologies are a new strategy that is used in technology with the
primary aim of enhancing the quality of education and better engage the learners (Sousa et al.
2017). It can also be described as the innovatively using digital tools and technologies when
giving instruction and in learning and more commonly referred to as e-learning (University of
Edinburgh, 2019). The digital world’s fast-paced growth is penetrating the education and skill
sector with technology being now applied in the delivery of training, skills, and knowledge in
much newer and innovative approaches. The foray into digital training coupled with the changes
taking place in the sector has altered the landscape, and the focus is now more into the use of
technology in education. The changes have been triggered by the present method of fastchanging technology within the workplaces which have led to the requirement for new skills
have come up.
Despite the great drive towards digital learning, there are still some concerns that make
the change impracticable and unsustainable. Some of the concerns include the substantial
financial investment that is required in rolling out the technologies and ensuring its practical
usage. There is also the rigidity of using computers and other tools that lack the necessary
instructor-student interaction that is needed for practical training. The educators’ role is lost, and
even in hybrid types and web-based models, there is still the concern of the disconnect between
the teacher and students relation. Introduction and use of digital learning are expensive and
impractical; it requires a complete overhaul of the curricula and financially demanding
approaches to ensure that it is a success.
DIGITAL EDUCATION
3
Digital learning and its shift requires a lot of investment in the tools, training of the
facilitators, and also will need that schools are computerized which means shifting away from
the standardized curriculum. Digital devices have become ubiquitous globally, but debates have
raged as to whether as well as which type of technology have proved that they are valuable as a
tool for training. Many school systems have embraced technology and even gone to the extent of
providing every student with a computer which is a costly initiative. To develop an effective elearning course requires a lot of time, financial investment, and a significant amount of expertise.
An excellent digital learning course will need multimedia, technical support, customer web
development, and a robust user interaction design. A critical aspect of digital education is the
internet, to ensure access, schools, counties, and the State as a whole need to invest heavily to
ensure that it reaches the institutions (Clemmitt, 2011).
Computers and other forms of simulation applied in digital learning lack the connection
that a live instructor builds with their students and that creates a disconnect in teacher-student
interactions and subsequently the quality of instruction. Computers, it is argued, can never
replace the human touch that is especially critical in elementary as well as high schools
classrooms. The disconnect can also be in how the training was developed which is based on
what is provided by the course developers and what they think is an appropriate curriculum at a
given time. Learning content has the potential of quickly becoming outdated or contains errors
from the very start, and that will be passed on to the students considering that it lacks the
flexibility of amendments that would be there in a traditional type of training (Clemmitt, 2011).
Teachers play an essential role in education through engagement with the learners and find the
best and most effective mode of training for each within the class which is not the case using elearning methodologies (Burns, 2013). An essential part of training is the feedback that is
DIGITAL EDUCATION
4
received from the student, it helps the teacher know if they are useful and be able to tailor make
personalize the instruction based on the students’ needs, and that is not possible in an e-learning
course.
Educators play a critical part training of children, in e-learning; however, the role of the
instructor is either removed or it assumes a more passive role compared to the more conventional
training. There is no doubt that digital technologies are affecting the part of the educator.
Nevertheless, not much is being done to prepare them for the changes which potentially affects
the program to roll out as well as the effectiveness of the instruction being given. For an effective
e-learning experience, there needs to be adequate training and preparation of the educators; they
are to be made familiar and comfortable with the use of e-learning tools and technologies in their
teaching (Grand-Clement et al. 2017). That need is critical in elementary and high school
training especially in the blended or hybrid and web-delivered course type where the delivery
where face to face interactions is partly needed. With e-learning, technology changes how the
material is accessed, how the students navigate the information, as well as how to access
pedagogy in a variety of settings. Educators may require continuous professional training and
development in areas of ICT and related capabilities (Burns, 2013). Overall, all these changes
point to a complete shift in the training environment that requires substantial investment in
building the capacity of the educators, equipping them with the right skillset for training the
students.
Arguments for the use of digital education that it helps meet the teacher-student ratio that
more often is not well balanced; the combination of live teaching with the web-based course is
described as the answer to the problem. Additionally, under e-learning, the role of the educators’
changes to one of motivation and inspiring the learners that are quite different from the
DIGITAL EDUCATION
5
traditional mode of training where little to no online training is done, and the teacher is the
primary source of instruction (Grand-Clement et al. 2017). It is also argued that simulations and
other applications available in e-learning portals provide training that has potentially make them
more effective in terms of engagement compared to the traditional instructor-student mode of
training. Computers are also described as having superior capabilities in gathering and analyzing
data of the learners’ behaviors to gauge their grasp of the material and point out weak areas
where more training can then be directed for improved performance. Nevertheless, taking away
the educators or using less of them is bound to affect the quality of instruction, the teacherstudent interaction is reduced, and that causes challenges in elementary and high schools levels
where such contact is crucial to the student’s performance. The use of digital learning tools and
applications that are stated as being superior to the traditional mode of teaching have also been
found to have little impact or at times unclear as to how they impact on the learning experience
of the students (Clemmitt, 2011).
Conclusion
To ensure sustainability and future growth of digital learning numerous and expensive
changes are needed for the entire curriculum. Some factors that have been highlighted as critical
to that change include cost, and there needs to be a push to drive down the value of content. The
validity of digital education also relies on accreditation which will work in enhancing trust
around the e-learning initiatives (Grand-Clement et al. 2017). The third factor is access, social
inclusion and effective resourcing across the board is critical to the sustainable growth of digital
learning. Finally, there needs to be sufficient infrastructure that can be used in mapping the skills
gap and predict the skills that are required (Grand-Clement et al. 2017). These factors have
substantial financial implications on the schools, districts, and the state as a whole. Given the fact
DIGITAL EDUCATION
6
that there is little evidence on digital education being significantly better than the traditional
approaches of learning, it poses the question as to whether the change is worth it. It is evident
that digital education denies the students the teacher-student interaction that is vital to
developing better and more personalized teaching critical to their success. Acquisition of digital
training tools and related infrastructure is also expensive; it requires training of instructors, and a
complete overhaul of the current training curricula, which does not automatically translate to
superior performance. A sober and balanced assessment is therefore critical when deciding on
the mode of training, but as demonstrated, the disadvantages outstrip the supposed gains of elearning.
DIGITAL EDUCATION
7
References
Burns, M. (2013). “Success, failure or no significant difference: Charting a course for successful
educational technology integration,” International Journal of Emerging Technologies in
Learning, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 38-45.
Clemmitt, M. (2011). Digital Education, CQ Researcher, Volume 21, Number 42, 1001-1024.
Grand-Clement, S, Devaux, A., Belanger, J and Manville, C. (2017). Digital learning:
Education and skills in the digital age. RAND Corporation and Corsham Institute,
https://www.rand.org/pubs/conf_proceedings/CF369.html.
Sousa, M. J., Cruz, R and Martins, J. M. (2017). Digital Learning Methodologies and Tools – A
Literature Review, Universidade Europeia, Lisboa, Portugal. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318679851_DIGITAL_LEARNING_METHO
DOLOGIES_AND_TOOLS_-_A_LITERATURE_REVIEW
University of Edinburgh. (2019). What is Digital Education? Retrieved from
https://www.ed.ac.uk/institute-academic-development/learning-teaching/staff/digitaled/what-is-digital-education
…
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
