How technology innovations are changing learning processes and standards

Technology innovations among them augmented reality and game-based learning are changing learning both learning processes and standards, student-teacher interaction and professional relationship among scholars, recent studies show.

For academic institutions, charged with equipping graduates to compete in today’s knowledge economy, the possibilities are great. Distance education, sophisticated learning-management systems and the opportunity to collaborate with research partners from around the world are just some of the transformational benefits that universities are embracing. But significant challenges also loom. For all of its benefits, technology remains a disruptive innovation—and an expensive one. Faculty members used to teaching in one way may be loath to invest the time to learn new methods, and may lack the budget for needed support.

A survey by the Economist’s Intelligence Unit shows that technology has had, and will continue to have, a significant impact on higher education. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of survey respondents from both the public and private sectors say that technological innovation will have a major influence on teaching methodologies over the next five years. In fact, technology will become a core differentiator in attracting students and corporate partners.

According to information on Times Higher Education (THE) website, a leading world university ranking agency, teaching students face-to-face peaked as a matter of importance “at some point around 1985” with the introduction of what are now called PowerPoint presentations into the classroom, one edtech expert has claimed. Since then, face-to-face teaching has been downhill and in the future, everything will either be hybrid or online only.

Similarly, the skill-set needed to thrive in the digital economy is changing rapidly. A recent survey of educators in the Middle East and Africa commissioned by Microsoft and conducted by YouGov, a market research firm, which was shared at the annual British Education and Training Technology (BETT) Middle East 2017 event held in Abu Dhabi, showed that 64 percent of  Nigerian teachers surveyed believed that the most essential skills needed for the future workforce are problem solving skills, 60 percent believed in skilled communication and 56 percent thought it necessary for students to have knowledge construction, digital media literacy, data analytics and visualisation skills. While 89 percent of the educators surveyed in the Middle East have a clear vision for technology implementation in the classroom.

“It has become necessary to train teachers and prepare school leavers across Africa and globally. There is innovation happening in many of the countries in Africa and students need to be prepared for the holistic transformation and to drive change with the use of technology” Anthony Salcito, vice president, Worldwide Education said in an interview with BusinessDay, correspondent.

The five technology innovations set to transformation education include: augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), gamification, game-based learning and professional online networks.

Augmented reality blurs the line between what is real and what is computer-generated by enhancing what is seen, heard, felt and smelt. In the teaching world, AR has the potential to transform the teaching of subjects such as engineering.

Virtual reality is computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.

Last year, a Goldman Sachs report predicted that there could be a $700 million, 15 million-user market in schools and universities by 2025, although the price of headsets (often about $3,000) is proving a major sticking point for those keen to adopt the technology.

Educational training is now moving away from a system of accumulating points or qualification badges to one in which various psychological hooks, used by video games to keep players’ attention, are introduced into the classroom.

Nigeria is not keeping pace with these significant technology-dependent learning developments. The ability to use computers effectively has become an essential part of everyone’s education. Skills such as bookkeeping, clerical and administrative work, stocktaking, and so forth, now constitute a set of computerised practices that form the core Information Technology skills package: spreadsheets, word processors, and databases.

“The adoption and use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in schools have a positive impact on teaching, learning, and research. Despite the roles ICTs can play in education schools in Nigeria have yet to extensively adopt them for teaching and learning” wrote Esharenana Adomi, department of Library and Information Science and Emperor Kpanghan, department of Science Education both of Delta State University, Abraka in a research paper.

The duo added “efforts geared towards integration of ICTs into the school system, have not had much impact. Problems such as poor policy and project implementation strategies and limited or poor information infrastructure militate against these efforts.”

According to Times Higher Education, many academics are already using game-based learning such as Minecraft, in which users create virtual worlds, to teach architecture, civil engineering and other technical subjects, while even the long-forgotten platform Second Life has a surprisingly large number of users in universities.

Universities are taking advantage of technology to make learning easier. NMC Horizon report, Higher Education Edition published in 2015, stated that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology founded the MIT OpenCourseWare initiative in 2001, making over 2,200 of its courses instruction materials available online, free of charge. Other universities, including Carnegie Mellon University and Harvard University, have since developed their own open learning initiatives, and the report highlights Mexico’s Tecnológico de Monterrey, which has been compiling and sharing Open Educational Resources (OER) through ‘Temoa’, an online portal with over 500,000 learning materials.