Review Article: 2022 Vol: 26 Issue: 2
Situn Krishna Sahu, K.L. University
Savanam Chandra Sekhar, K.L. University
Citation Information: Sahu, S.K., & Sekhar, S.C. (2022). Perceptive on online education in enabling digital learning. Academy of marketing studies journal, 26(2), 1-7.
Acceptance of on-line courses is increasing within the field of management and engineering establishments. Growing digital learning is accessible, mass driven and on the go. Handiness of internet at quick speed and at cheap price is the reason for growth in digital learning. At the same time accessibility for digital products to urban and rural population remain a challenge as there are lack of access to devices, an internet connection, or educational content. Online education has easy access and flexibility in time of use in early morning, mid- afternoon, and late evening, in any location also at home, in eating house, and on the train. Price of on-line education is incredibly low compared to face to face education. Since all the content is obtainable on-line, therefore you would not like for obtaining books as well. Within the current era of liberalisation, privatization and globalisation, online education is anticipated to play a key role within the social and economic development. This research paper is about studying meaningful progress, benefit, influence of online education in the context of digital learning.
Digital Education, Digital Gadgets, Digital Infrastructure, Digital Learning, Online Education.
India is known for its largest education systems. Around 1.4 million schools, 39,931 colleges and 981 universities in India as this is often have an enormous chance for students for education. Though on-line education in India has become imminent with the event of Covid, but India is one in every of the nations that is developing in terms of education and technology. With the population of 1.3 billion, the facility of high-speed internet and digital devices, complement well for online education.
The increase of usage of the internet has modified the approach of learning in India. Individuals wish to do everything on line they do education, shop, and business and build friends. Covid has resulted in Schools, colleges and universities shut all across the globe. As a result, the way of education has modified dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. Graduate’s employment rate is insufficient in this country (Bollag & Overland, 2001). This inadequacy of our graduate employability shows the shortage of instructional infrastructure. India’s online education market is the second largest market after US. In forecast of Bengaluru-based market research firm RedSeer, which in a new report has found that India’s burgeoning education and technology industry will be driven by new reforms, including the increase in public spending. According to Ibef the online education market in India is expected to grow by a staggering 50% in coming years, is expected to reach US$ 4 billion by 2025, from US$ 750 million in 2020.
There are several many concepts of on-line education. Khan has revealed on-line education as delivery of instruction to a remote audience. Elaine Allen, Jeff Seaman have shown on- line courses as those in which minimum 80% of the course content is delivered on- line and 20 percent in Face-to-face (Broadbent, 2000). In view of Stack, Steven, on-line education has proliferated within the last decade. His analysis has not found any major distinction within the student taking on-line course and face to face categories. Another analysis done by Dr. Fahad, Al-Fahad investigates the students' attitudes and perceptions of 186 University Student's from totally different schools, institutions towards effectiveness of mobile learning in their studies. Their analysis findings have indicated that students understand Mobile technologies as an efficient tool in their communication and learning (Bruckman, 2002) had done a pursuit on comparison of price and learning outcomes of on-line education. Their findings show that on-line course engages students within the different learning methods, supports well-made interactions in student learning outcomes and ultimately saves cost.
Development of the online education taking the educational scenario at present – SWOT analysis.
1. Valuable insight on potential benefits of digital learning.
2. Influence by means of identifying by ensuring demographic dividend by turning opportunity into success.
In this paper secondary data is analysed for assessment of online education. It is also used for data in research and analysis.
Data Collection Resources
Secondary Data is the relevant data collected from:
1. Journals and Business Magazines
2. Text books
3. World Wide Web
4. Company Brochures
5. Pamphlets
Findings
Since online education only requires a laptop or a smartphone with an internet connection, students can learn anywhere at any time but there are issues for digital devices and connectivity. India has with 1.5 million schools and over 250 million students, is one of the world’s largest education systems. Even before the pandemic, the promise of personalized learning to improve education in India had created a market for digital learning. When schools across the country shut last year, virtual and remote learning meant people. In the present scenario, there are challenges for information technology in online education. It remains task for teachers those who can’t make full use of digital education tools if their students lack access to devices, an internet connection, or educational content (Burn & Thongprasert, 2005). In the study, of Google for Education and BCG around 75% of teachers cited the need for devices and internet connectivity, and roughly 60% of teachers identified the need for improved content. Factors needed to improve education quality in India: India's teachers feel schools are lacking in digital infrastructure. 75% cited the need for better internet connectivity, and 60% identified the need for improved content. Educational and Technology companies can draw inspiration from Japan’s GIGA School Program. The provisions like digital device to each student and high-speed internet to schools as well as other packages to support learning. One idea is to create a variety of packages, such as a one-device-per-student option, or provide one student with multiple devices (tablets, laptops, etc.). Add ready-to-use learning material to these packages, such as question banks, assignments, and premade courses, to make it easier for teachers to create their lesson plans using digital tools. Bundle training with these packages to help teachers take full advantage of the entire offering.
In view of research done by local Circle India’s leading Community Social Media platform 8000 citizen responses were received from 204 districts of India. 68% respondents were men while 32% respondents were women. 51% respondents were from tier 1, 33% from tier 2 and 16% respondents were from tier 3, 4 cities and rural districts. Some states have decided not to conduct online classes for primary students as they believe it will subject young children to screens. Also, many have cited the fact that a large number of young children, especially the under privileged ones may not have access to devices internet connection to connect to online classes. On the other hand, some schools in these states have said that they had invested in building the infrastructure to provide online classes to younger kids, which will be of no use now when there are physical classroom classes. In different states many parents have also stretched themselves to make arrangements for their children to attend online classes by buying laptops and tablets, getting a broadband connection etc., who now feel that al all of that was done for nothing.
Since January 2020, search interest for “online education” in India has seen a double growth, whereas venture capital investment in the educational sector jumped by 4 times to reach $2.3 billion. Search data shows 2 times growth in search interest for "online education" in India since January 2020. Reopening of schools in hybrid offline and online models, companies have an prospect to help schools and classrooms bringing digital education technology and high- quality content into schools and classrooms. This will help reach the unconnected students and make the entire education system to scale and who will benefit from online education. For rolling out digital education in India at a school, district, or state level, Boston Consulting Group a Google for Education partner, studied the rollout of Google tools to over 50,000 teachers across three states in India. Students in the schools are from various socioeconomic levels with varying access to digital tools and who spoke different languages. From that research, we found online education here to stay.
Everyone learns at a different pace. In traditional education there is disadvantage that everyone taught together, and many a time’s students find it difficult to follow the lessons. This is a core serious disadvantage of traditional education. Online education solves this problem. In online education all the course materials are provided beforehand, so students learn it by taking their own time. Likewise students can clear their doubts in live chats or forums as well. Online education is much more cost effective than doing regular on-campus classes. Since as you study at your own time, it supports to save time as well. This flexibility also helps working professionals to pursue new courses without giving up their jobs. Students can learn at weekends or in their free time. All the course materials are readily available at student’s reach.
Education Scenario of Online Education
On the one hand we are facing issues such as demand supply gap in education, access, resource constraints and inclusive growth, and on other hand, we have to address issues such as quality of education, and competing on a global scale. Particularly Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that are strategic factors affect online-education. With internet facility being appreciated in various sectors. E-learning plays an important role in handling the issues and problem of teaching today (Jiang & Ting, 2000). With hi-tech network and multimedia, the education sector has emerged to be one of the fast-emerging fields. The problem of educational industry is distant and beyond technology. As per the researches done earlier Indian education are focusing more on learning and creating a collaborative knowledge creation culture of learning. Several factors which are creating a hindrance in the growth which include insufficient digital infrastructure, credibility and language used in online education. While Government of India is taking initiative to develop digital infrastructure but there is a lot need to be done in this direction. High speed internet and stable power supply are the biggest problems faced in India, as it stands 89th worldwide on internet speed and stability.
According to the report of World Economic Forum, only 15 percent of the households have access to the Internet, and mobile broadband remains accessible to very few i.e. only 5.5 subscriptions for every 100 people. Additionally, currently reach of broadband is just about 600 corridors, largely in and around the top 50 to 100 Indian cities, leaving rural areas with poor connectivity. 5G networks technology is the requirement of today’s students of India which will increase the speed of downloading the data.
The teacher here takes on the role of facilitator and guide so as to facilitate students with the right approach of managing abundant information to their optimum benefit and in taking right decisions in this technologically complex world. Making SWOT Analysis of it.
SWOT
Strengths
1. One of the strengths of online teaching is flexibility.
2. As the teacher, you can give training material online and teach at your own schedule.
3. You do not have a regular day job, and you can work as you wish.
4. It is convenient, and it also presents different opportunities to be creative in your approaches.
5. Through online teaching, you will be able to easily take more jobs, and you will not be restricted to working with a single company.
Weaknesses
1. For instance, technology can be frustrating for some, especially for older teachers who are used to traditional approaches.
2. If you sell training courses and teach online, you may also end up compromising a number of benefits that are naturally present when you work in an actual educational institution.
3. You will also not have any personal interaction with your students, which will make teaching a lot different.
Opportunities
1. Teaching online can open a lot of doors, especially for career growth.
2. More than just teaching, you can also sell training material, allowing students to learn at their own pace, even in the absence of supervision.
3. Financially speaking, there are also opportunities to earn more.
4. As long as you are committed to what you do and if you persevere in building new skillset, you will be able to realize endless opportunities to earn money.
5. There is also a growth in the number of platforms that can be used for online teaching.
Threat
a) Unfortunately, there are many people who are realizing the benefits of online teaching, which is why competition can be seen as a significant threat.
b) Those who would like to sell personal training online can find it difficult to stand out from the competitive landscape.
c) Also, there are some students who are not willing to forgo classroom-style learning because of fears that online teaching won’t deliver a high level of effectiveness.
d) There are also some online schools that exploit the skills of teachers, offering substandard pay.
Benefits of Online Education
There is a numerous benefit of online education. These are
1. Opportunity to study a course of your choice from the comfort of your home
2. Lower costs involved
3. Convenient interaction
4. Hurdle-less career growth
5. Improvement in computer-based skills
6. Learn from anywhere, at any time
7. Save Money and Time
8. Learn at your own pace
9. Recognition of online degrees
Understand and Review the Role of Schools and Education in Digital Era
Media technologies can be classified into two categories, synchronous, and asynchronous. Synchronous media can be used when all participants are together at same time, whereas asynchronous media can be used even if the participants are at different time and places. The content in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) education can be classified into two categories, namely educational and instructional. The choice of delivery method can be done based on the type of content and purpose of the education.
1. The internet connectivity is not good everywhere. Some cities in location of India where the people are still using 2G or 3G internet connection.
2. A good concentration and self-motivation are required for online education. Students those who are below the age of 17 years may lack these skills.
3. More than 30% of the country’s population is not computer literate. Some of them even don’t know how to work with a computer.
4. Not everyone can afford a computer or a laptop. Some sections of the society such as lower class may face difficulties purchasing a laptop.
In using ICT there are numerous challenges faced by teachers. Society demands a higher level and different set of skills than schools were ever designed to teach. ICT brings with its various challenges that teachers need to face. First of all, there is need for adequate availability of technology in the schools which includes huge costs incurred on acquiring, installing, operating, maintaining (Levin, 2011). The basic infrastructural requirements suited for making adequate provision of ICT are required. Secondly, for making all teachers ICT literate and effective in handling ICT tools for teaching-learning processes. The very electronic devices that have become an extension of our children are an enigma to many of us in the older generation. Technology has brought some sort of alleviation for the teachers from one another which we call as ‘Digital Divide’. There is difficulty for teachers in handling these modern gadgets and technological devices. Also, some teachers are not familiar with the new format of education. They are not trained for online educational classes. As well it is not necessary that a good classroom teacher will be a good teacher in the online classroom.
Opportunities of Online Education
There are a variety lot of opportunities waiting to be explored in the field of online education.
Learning by Mobile
Going forward, IAMAI hopes that the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2018, which is focusing on new technologies like 5G, will promote better quality data services at more affordable prices and help address the digital divides that will promote internet penetration in the rural areas through mobile internet (Sharma, 2012). According to a report in Stastia (2018), in the year 2017 there were 320.57 million people who accessed the internet through their mobile phone. It is projected to increase to 462.26 million by the year 2021. The surge in users is credited to availability of 4G internet and smart phones at very low price. Also according to report by Zenith, mobile devices will account for 73 per cent of time spent using the internet in 2018. So, the vast majority of students in future will have access to e-learning through mobile phones.
Interest of Investors
A large number of entrepreneurs with digital India campaign, the cultural importance given to education and falling mobile data prices is enormous. So venturing into online education as this is expected to see an uptrend in the next 5 years (Mason,&Weller,2000). The Chang Zuckerberg Initiative has invested $50 million in Byju’s, Bertelsmann India has invested $8.2 million in Eruditus, and Kaizen Management Advisors and DeVry Inc. have put in $10 million in EduPristine. Khan Academy is a non-profit organization which receives financial support from philanthropic organizations like The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google and Netflix founder Reed Hastings. Online learning platform Unacademy also raised $11.5 million of funding led by Sequoia India and SAIF Partners; and Eruditus Executive Education, a provider of executive education programmes, had raised $8 million funding from Bertelsmann India Investments. So, the online education sector will continue to spark more interest among entrepreneurs, investors and attract more funding.
Combination Model
There will be convergence of the offline education and online education in future. This concept of blended learning combines online digital media with traditional classroom methods. It requires the physical presence of both teacher and student, but student has some control over time, place, path, or pace. This model will take advantage of both face-to-face classroom practices combined with computer-mediated activities. In future, there will be virtual classrooms where face to face offline pedagogy will be aided by digital courses on practical knowledge and soft skills.
As online education is through internet, so it can be easily accessed anywhere, anytime particularly in urban areas. There will be convergence of the offline and online education in future. This concept of blended learning combines online digital media with traditional classroom methods. As learning becomes more personalized, onus lies on teachers for orchestrating the mastery of 21st century skills in which students need to be successful. Teachers by using e-learning can mentor and share experiences practices with help of their colleagues so that they remove their apprehensions. Later on they can extend this practice for topics in their teaching-learning processes.
The country can become a knowledge haven as education sector has seen a host of reform and improved financial outlays in recent years that could possibly transform. Development of education infrastructure is expected to remain the key focus in the current decade as with human resource increasingly gaining significance in the overall development of the country. In this present scenario, infrastructure investment in the education sector is likely increase in the current decade. The acceptability of online channel remains a challenge among students. These factors clearly illustrate the involvement and future potential of online education in India.
Inscribing a research paper of this nature is an incredible journey for me. Usually it takes years of research and experience. This research paper has come up from numerous seminars I have attended and research papers written and books I have read. There are numerous suggestions from various sources in Marwadi University I have had privilege of working. I would like to thank all of those staff in the K.L. University who spent their time and memories with me. I have benefited immensely from interaction with students, colleagues and staffs of various institutes and companies. I am thankful to publishers for being part of making this research paper.
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Received: 07-Jan-2022, Manuscript No. AMSJ-22-11022; Editor assigned: 09-Jan-2022, PreQC No. AMSJ-22-11022(PQ); Reviewed: 23-Jan-2022, QC No. AMSJ-22-11022; Revised: 14-Jan-2022, Manuscript No. AMSJ-22-11022(R); Published: 31-Jan-2022