how can a person get benefited by the information of educational technology based services provided by the government writing is a within 250 words
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Every challenge is an opportunity, they say. I’ve been thinking about the impact of the coronavirus, and the kinds of tools and services that could be focused on ensuring that students don’t miss a beat in their learning. COVID-19 has brought home the reality that education technology that delivers great content and engages students and teachers has never been more important. While many education systems have resisted changing their 150-year-old structure, necessity now compels them to do what declining student achievement could not. Thousands of entrepreneurs and innovations can help our students keep moving in their educational journey no matter where this virus disruption takes them. While we are all upset by this global problem, we can and we must overcome it. And fortunately the tools to do so are at hand.
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Reinventing Education
In the field of education technology, most products and services on the market work to improve the educational experiences of students, instructors or managers. Far fewer are intended to ensure the educational experience can continue for each student on their own, in the event of choice — or necessity.
Higher education is the exception. University students have had access to advanced and interactive curricula online for at least a decade, though many institutions are still slow getting to the party. In reflecting on the current situation, Andrea Leone-Pizzighella, who manages English language instruction remotely in Italy for the University of Pennsylvania, “You want to have the option...to do lots of different things, having every possible tool available to us… It makes sense to continue to develop our online infrastructure and have everything available to us and also because it’s not complicated; [we need to get] over the idea of high quality education needing to be offered in a face-to-face format as opposed to being offered in an adaptable, online format.”
That’s a lesson that Coursera, EdX and the non-profit Modern States Education Alliance have taught us, as well as Arizona State University, who has been a leader in delivering highly adaptive and interactive programs online. But primary and secondary education have lagged unless you live in a community or state with innovative leaders, like Florida, whose state-wide virtual school has been working to help incorporate digital learning in classrooms by providing personalized, student centric solutions for 23 years. "If and when that time comes, I think we are well poised to be able to educate, with our teacher population and with our student population, kids without losing hours," Florida’s commissioner of education Richard Corcoran told reporters.
In the charter school arena there are large and small players that have long served as options for students with numerous needs and challenges, like the nearly 300,000 full-time online charter school students who’ll continue their education seamlessly in spite of the virus. This model has yet to be utilized across much of “traditional” education, but could become an equitable, quality substitute for virtually all students should tragedy, or potentially opportunity, hit.
Rather than leave it to chance when a tragedy strikes, what if we were actually deploying the many advances in the science of learning and technology to bring an “end to average?” As Harvard’s Todd Rose argues, “The hardest part of learning something new is not embracing new ideas, but letting go of old ones.”
New Jersey, for example, began considering legislation last week to permit school districts “to use remote or virtual education in emergency situations such as a coronavirus outbreak that would require facilities to be shuttered for more than three days.” They’ve also asked the Commissioner to come up with standards to guide that.
In China, a massive effort is underway to make sure children keep learning. Technology seems to be the answer. We will only know how effective this is after the crisis, but it does seem to be a good use of children’s time. Home schooling might be an answer, but this option is not very widespread outside of the United States.
In Europe and Central Asia, we have a diverse set of countries at different levels of income and development. The spread, use and availability of technology is key, as is the availability of online learning materials, as well as devices and the level of internet connectivity at home.
At the same time, one more important question is: can students actually benefit from technology at home? Here we clearly have an equity issue. While financially well-off families can afford computers and multiple devices, students from struggling families can hardly afford simple devices and may likely not have the internet at home.
For example, PISA 2108 data form Belarus confirms the lack of any device puts students at a large disadvantage in terms of educational achievement. It is also an indicator of poverty.
Using a quick survey of World Bank staff working on education in the region, we gathered some key statistics on the availability of technology and online learning materials in the region.
In terms of internet connectivity at school, most countries in the Europe and Central Asia region have the basic capabilities that enable schools to deliver instruction using technology. Only a few countries lack this capacity.
What is happening on the other end of the internet cable? In many countries in the region we see that home connectivity has become widespread and home internet connections may enable students to connect to different type of learning resources.
As many countries have been implementing computer equipment programs in the region over the last few decades, they are better positioned in terms of technological equipment in schools. For example, as per our assessment of the IT equipment and internet connectivity in schools, 50% of them have basic resources to ensure the minimum ability to deliver content.
At the same time, another 20% are in a position to provide good computers and networking with decent internet connectivity and robust security. Yet, with all this progress in a majority of countries, one-third are in the unenvious position of not being fully equipped nor fully connected to the internet.
Let’s look at educational content. Two-thirds of school systems do not use digital content in education. Another 20% of countries use some digital learning resources in teaching, but only in some schools. A mere 10 percent of countries have more robust digital learning capabilities with some of the educational content available outside of school. No country, according to our assessment, has universal curriculum-linked resources for teaching and learning, regardless of place and time.
Distance education capabilities are also limited. By our estimation, in 70 percent of countries in the region, we see zero to minimal distance education capabilities. The other 30 percent have better capabilities, but none have integrated curriculum widely delivered with a blended mode.
We need to think about the state of distance education. Traditionally, distance education was conducted by paper mail through the post office. This is not the case today. Yet, we do not see tremendous progress in terms of its use. It is very likely that the traditional school education just does not need distance technology.
At the same time, countries that lack access to good teaching in remote areas try to use this capability for education improvement, both by using the older and proven technologies such as radio and television broadcasting, and leveraging the potential of ICT. This is where teacher training with digital technologies and applications becomes important.
Media, and especially social media, can also be used to educate students about the virus itself and to teach basic hygiene. In Vietnam, for example, a cartoon musical video about handwashing and other precautionary measures to protect from the virus has gone viral.
As the region’s current education systems are designed for face-to-face teaching and learning, the lock-down and school closures may be accommodated if they happen in short periods of time. However, if the situation continues to last for months, it may need a dramatic change in delivery.