Digital education: Contributions towards sustainable schools for the future

Abstract

This article discusses the movement of education to online learning. It features the contributions and challenges of digital education in today's educational system.

Background

The global shutdown experienced during the pandemic resulted in a massive migration to online learning, indicating how digital education can play a more prominent role in sustainable education (HEP, 2021). The year 2020 was particularly significant in the history of digital technology in the educational sector, as the pandemic paved way for sustainable education (Sousa et al., 2022). This calls for a move to accommodate this change experienced in schools. Some traditional schools may, however, be slower to adapt to the changing educational media (Burbules et al., 2020). It is necessary to have a corresponding evolution in teaching styles to match the development in digital education, engaging students across different regions using creative, interactive and strategic approaches (HEP, 2021). Rethinking educational practice, and perhaps abandoning some traditional practices, has implications for educational reform, which is largely driven by information technology (Burbules et al., 2020).

Contributions and challenges

Digital education comes with both benefits and limitations (Cano-Hila & Argemí-Baldich, 2021). It could increase students’ disengagement due to the physical absence of teachers, and lack of direct communication between students and their teachers, which might have some impact on stakeholders (Aldhafeeri & Alotaibi, 2022). Education is affected by many of the other challenges to a sustainable future, such as population, employment and urbanisation, which also depend on education (Burbules et al., 2020). One potential drawback of digital education is that it might increase the impact of families’ pre-existing cultural and economic capital on students’ outcomes, and thus run the risk of exacerbating social inequality, rather than ameliorating it (Cano-Hila & Argemí-Baldich, 2021). Not all families are able to afford the same digital gadgets for their children, nor are they all equally well-equipped to support their children with schoolwork. Despite these limitations, however, the importance of digital education cannot be overemphasised.

It could reach hundreds and thousands of students at low cost, and its increased use of visualisation and virtualisation technologies promotes the creation of sensory learning environment (Burbules et al., 2020). Digital education can also reduce deforestation by eliminating the need for paper, reducing pollution from student and staff travel and reducing pressure on school facilities, equipment maintenance and running costs (HEP, 2021), making it cheaper for schools to operate. It has created a way to learn outside the confinement of a classroom in this age of rapid growth and development of information technology (Aldhafeeri & Alotaibi, 2022). The element of gaming in digital education is particularly popular among young people, which could improve their engagement, motivation and interest (Burbules et al., 2020). Digital education creates the opportunity for all to enjoy learning from anywhere, provided they have an internet connection. It not only encourages the use of different technological resources and different teaching strategies to motivate students (Sousa et al., 2022), but it could also lead to the emergence of new and distinctive practices, giving teachers the ideas for reforming and revitalising their conventional classroom teaching (Burbules et al., 2020). It can also make students more creative, giving them more opportunities to use their imagination. The use of new technologies could improve educational systems and provide quality education for sustainable development, as well as training a skilled workforce that is ready for future digital economies (Zeeshan et al., 2022). Education has become more broadly accessible than it has ever been (Aldhafeeri & Alotaibi, 2022). Learning opportunities can be made available in different places with digital education (Burbules et al., 2020), which might have great advantage when combined with traditional classroom learning. It could be a tool to develop currently underserved and marginalised populations (Zeeshan et al., 2022).

Towards a sustainable future

The persistence of COVID-19 has given digital education a firmer foothold in the education sector (HEP, 2021). With the rapid digital transformation of the global economy and increased complexity of the contemporary world (Burbules et al., 2020), the benefits of digital education have increased its chances of being adopted (Sousa et al., 2022). Hence, the further transformation of education by new digital technologies is essential for the sustainability of the world and the future quality of human life (Burbules et al., 2020).