Digital Transformation in schools is not about innovation or technology, it’s more a matter of culture. Through a digitalization of the learning experience, both teachers and students can improve their skills, with a common goal: to create a more engaging and effective education process.
1 – Boosting Digital Equity
Digital equity in education means that all students can have access to learning resources in an easier and less expensive way than the traditional one. Thanks to the digital transformation, students can check out only one device – a smartphone, a tablet, or a laptop – to access many different contents at school, at home, wherever they are and regardless of their economic status.
With digital transformation, there is no longer a need to stop by the library to collect so many heavy books, that most of the time were already taken by someone else. Also, there will be no need to choose which paper book to buy among those in the long list of suggested coursebooks. Digital contents are less expensive, and they can be shared among students and teachers in a click.
And let’s not forget about the burst of free and open content and tools, through which schools can guarantee equal access to learning resources while saving money. Finally, digital equity allows lifelong learners to continue to pursue an education while growing up and meeting work or family commitments.
2 – Customized Experience
Promoting the digital transformation process in schools means allowing students to access the benefits of customization, building big data fueled curriculums to shape their future. Today, special programs can suggest what courses a learner should take depending on the courses he previously completed, his scores and his aptitude.
These systems use big data to recommend courses that can satisfy the interest of students, also advising them on which are the probability of getting good results. The opportunity to customize learning for each student makes education more productive: special needs are more quickly diagnosed, and progress is accelerated. Therefore, capturing data is an important step for the students’ customized experience.
3 – Modular Learning
One of the most powerful and positive impact on education provided by the digital transformation in schools is the possibility to build learning modules in a faster way. Educators can prepare their courses and programs using the best content previously developed by other colleagues, from their same department but also from other institutes.
Thanks to this “digital abstraction” of content, educators can solve the struggle to create a variety of effective learning materials that have to satisfy a broad range of needs for different competencies, difficulty levels, roles, and departments. Furthermore, thanks to digital tools, educators can measure how students learn most effectively, adjusting the learning modules to new evidence-based aspects.
4 – High-Quality Educators
Teachers’ training is fundamental to the success of digital transformation in schools. It needs prepared educators who feel empowered using digital tools and want to use them in the most efficient way, without missing any possible opportunity given by the new education technologies. Teachers can join online professional learning communities to ask questions and share tips with the colleagues, staying connected and animating the common goal to create an evolved, high-quality standard of education. Thus, creating a bright future of digital equity.