How digital courses are transforming learning

Necessity has given rise to critical contemporary technology. Even before the pandemic forced the world to come to a standstill, connectivity, and accessibility turned out to be a critical issue in education. New-age technologies managed to fill the gap at a rapid pace, and the advent of digital courses changed the face of education forever.

Education Technology, or EdTech, has been a transformative force in the last couple of years. Internet connectivity has raised the bar everywhere across the world, bringing the latest educational trends to the doorstep of millions, if not billions, of learners. This transformed the general learning experience. An extensive range of practices and tools that are focused on improving the quality of education for layman students in the comfort of their homes and vernacular languages through the digital space took centre stage. Virtual classrooms, digital courses, interactive course modules, innovative teaching methods and educational platforms changed the inherent meaning of learning with a brand-new concept of digital education, reshaping the future of education.

Necessity of digital learning

In India, the rural population in 2022 stood at over 90 crore. Despite significant urbanization efforts, this number was only a .06% decline from that of 2021. According to the latest data, rural Indian regions boasted 1.23 million schools. This directly translates to 1.4 schools per thousand. This highlights the lack of accessibility of educational institutions for a huge country like India — a critical factor behind the advent of digital courses in the country.

Digital education utilizes the constructive power of technology to offer learning solutions to individuals, irrespective of age and other demographics. Synchronization is an important aspect behind the popularity of this concept as it allows instantaneous interactions between teachers and students, similar to a physical classroom, with added benefits like accessing study materials in a personalized way.

Presently, EdTech platforms are rapidly collaborating with renowned educational institutions like IITs and IIMs to upgrade their courses, modules, and even teaching experience in the most trending aspects. This has proved particularly helpful to millions of Indian learners, who are benefitting from the state-of-the-art educational inputs from premier institutions, thus progressing rapidly in their careers. Never before in the history of Indian education this has been made possible, and the overall benefits for the country are yet to come.

Opportunities in the sector

Incorporating technology with education has proved to be transformational and has been received with widespread approval across the world. Globally, the digital courses industry is predicted to expand at a CAGR of over 25%, reaching a valuation of $95.7 billion by 2030. With innovative ideas and new companies, the Indian EdTech industry has become the second-largest in the world and grew at 8.4% in 2023 and is expected to reach a valuation of $10.27 billion by 2025, a CAGR of 20%.

Benefits of digital courses

Digital technologies are rapidly transforming the education domain as we know it, offering several benefits to students, teachers as well as educational institutions. These courses have been particularly helpful in upskilling millions of Indian youth in their professional careers, with a special emphasis on rural talents who are now becoming integral parts of the Indian workforce. The impact of these digital courses closely imitates the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs), helping them with critical knowledge to become successful and drive professional and personal development. Here are a few key benefits of digital courses:

Accessibility - Digital courses remove geographical considerations altogether, allowing students to access and learn from a library of digitally archived materials and a remotely positioned teacher. Accessibility to quality education has been a considerable challenge in rural India, where educational institutions are often challenging to reach or without proper resources.

Versatility - Unlike conventional institutions, e-learning platforms offer personalized education where students can learn at their own pace and routine. This helps them to accommodate other aspects of their lives, such as work, family commitments, or other related events. This versatility empowers millions of working professionals, as well as rural students, with lifelong learning and self-learning abilities.

Value for money - In contrast to conventional educational institutions, digital courses are often considerably cheaper and offer more than their offline peers. Furthermore, digital courses can be accessed in the comfort of the students’ households, which directly translates to no commute, accommodation needs or related resources. These courses also empower students with digitally stored materials, removing the need to buy physical books, thus reducing expenses.

Future considerations

Rapidly evolving new-age technological tools like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), and Virtual Reality (VR) offer more innovative measures slowly being incorporated into digital education to transform learning experiences. Apart from these immersive tools, initiatives that promote a lifelong learning ecosystem and collaborative learning frameworks highlight a paradigm shift in the education domain. These innovative tools and techniques promise to make education increasingly versatile, interactive and accessible — allowing more learners to focus on end goals and expectations.

(The author is Founder & CEO of GUVI)