Digital Content
Digital is here and it’s here to stay.
UOITC is following new ways of teaching and learning, on our campus and around the world, by inventing and leveraging digital technologies. The university’s portfolio of massively open online courses, offers flexible access to a range of interactive courses developed and taught by instructors from UOITC.
The idea is to publish all of our courses materials online and make them widely available. Digital Contents technologies enable students to grasp concepts more quickly and fully, to connect theory and application more adeptly, and to engage in learning more readily, while also improving instructional techniques,
leveraging instructor time, and facilitating the widespread sharing of knowledge. Digital technologies will enable this in new and better ways and create possibilities beyond the limits of our current imagination.
The open University is the world’s leading distance-learning institution. The study takes place online which gives you the flexibility to earn while you learn. As well as outstanding flexibility, it will offer you value, an excellent reputation and unrivalled quality.
The University’s websites and digital services are the most important element of our communications mix. They are powerful channels for marketing our success and building the perception of our University to provide a cohesive University identity.
Digital content is a common denominator that underlies all discussions on scholarly communication, digital preservation, and asset management. This past decade has seen a distinctive evolution in thinking among stakeholders on how to assemble,
care for, deliver, and ultimately preserve digital resources in a college and university environment. At first, institutional repositories promised both a technical infrastructure and a policy framework for the active management of scholarly publications.
Now other approaches that take a broader view of digital content hold sway, the result being confusion rather than clarity about where digital content originates, who the stakeholders are, and how to establish and adjust asset management priorities.
This article seeks to present a model for plotting the range of digital content that might be amenable to management as digital assets in higher education.
THE FACTORS OF DIGITAL EDUCATION GROWTH:
1. PERSONALISED AND ADAPTIVE LEARNING
Learning platforms, software and digital devices are together creating countless new ways to modify education. This way, the academic potential, strengths, weaknesses, aptitude and learning pace of every single student is catered to. Precise, mobile and reliable applications are being created to teach students, help them practice their learnings, take assignments and manage their schedules.
Schools are now providing their students with digital devices like desktop computers, laptops and tablets. These devices are aiding them in the teaching process while also helping them understand how students learn and how to enhance their learning process.
The 'one size fits all' teaching model is being supplemented by adaptive, personalized learning pedagogies. Going forward, this will be the new trend in formal learning that will enable students to be technologically skilled and equipped for modern workplaces.
2. TWO-WAY CONVERSATIONS IN E-LEARNING
In the traditional classroom seating scenario, students are unable to get the individual attention they need due to time constraints. In contrast, the one-to-one context of learning in digital mediums currently students to learn through videos and chat with an expert.
The upcoming 'Learning Management System' will continue the two-way communication model between students and experts. More importantly, it will let students track their coursework progress, identify improvement areas and offer ways to make the most of them.
Through the help of 'Big Data', experts will be able to capture student feedback within the framework of the content provided. With this alone, they'll be able to improvise and enhance their offerings in new ways to further benefit students.
3. MOBILE-BASED LEARNING
Over the past few years, mobile learning has picked up by the populace who have gradually assimilated it in their lives. It has offered students the flexibility to access educational content seamlessly across multiple digital devices like desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
The smartphone user base in India continues to increase, in both urban and rural areas. The coming years will witness users accessing most of their educational content through internet powered smartphones in a massive way. Most educational content, including even online courses, will be optimized entirely for mobile devices.
4. VIDEO-BASED LEARNING
Video learning has always appealed to students since it closely mirrors the traditional classroom teaching style. Earlier, students watched video lectures as a form of homework and then discussed them during the next class. Over time, this habit brought about a remarkable improvement in their performance, with a noticeable improvement in grades.
Video lectures allowed students to learn subject syllabi at their own pace and dedicate time spent in class towards interactions. This will continue to be a trend in the future where students will have access to rich and interactive content, that will be useful for both formal training as well as performance enhancement. The increase in video-based learning on mobile devices will eventually account for 80 per cent of all internet traffic by 2019.
5. OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Open digital education resources have commonly been used in distance learning courses. They consist of freely accessible media for learning, teaching and research purposes. They are licensed to be revised and disseminated freely by teachers among students. This allows the latter to gain access to an extensive arrive of study material that is otherwise restricted indigenously.
Open educational resources also facilitate the creation of a flexible environment where teachers can customize educational content for individual sessions or classroom sittings. This is applicable for typical curricular subjects like mathematics, sciences and languages, as well as business and fine arts.
successfully harness digital
1 Understand that digital
transformation affects
every part of the university,
not just IT
The idea that digital is all about
technology is a common misconception.
Of course, technology plays an important
role, but it is simply the canvas upon
which the digital experience is created.
Many universities looking for a digital
quick fix, procure new technology
platforms via their IT departments
without first understanding the wider
role of digital across the institution.
IT-led programmes seldom deliver the
anticipated benefits and can disadvantage
universities while they wait for outcomes
that never materialise.
2 Link all digital activity to the
university’s overall vision
and strategy
All successful change programmes need
to be underpinned by a clear vision and
strategy defined by senior management.
Digital is no different and clarity on the
anticipated benefits and how these tie
back to the overall strategy is necessary
for success.
A lack of overall vision can lead to
disjointed programmes and this siloed
thinking leads to siloed IT systems
creating an infrastructure that is complex,
inflexible and unable to react quickly in a
changing marketplace. Before staff and
academics can buy into new strategic
programmes to improve digital
capabilities, they need to understand why
the programme exists and what their role
is in achieving the strategic outcomes.
3 Invest in communities built
around willing and capable
digital innovators
To make digital a success, universities
need to invest in giving staff, academics
and students the right training in
digital technologies and combine this
with effective support networks. This
is an ongoing commitment, and those
institutions that, for example, simply
provide students with an introduction to
a series of software applications during
Fresher’s Week with no follow up, should
not expect to achieve a significant uptake
in digital technologies from those students.
