Digital leaning is the new definition of globalization and modernization. In today’s world most of the things are done through internet due to the advancement in the field of technology. From grocery shopping to doing big business deals digital learning is used. It enhances the activities which can be done through technology in a broad manner and utilizes it effectively. It is often confused with online learning or e-learning but it encompasses the aforementioned concepts. People have become highly dependent on various gadgets nowadays with the increase in new inventions. The global pandemic also affected the use of digital learning greatly.
The relationship between humans and digital technologies has been documented extensively in the past decades, but has yet to be reviewed through the lens of the current global pandemic crisis. .As we all know there was an outburst of a deadly virus named corona also known as covid-19 on 2019 which also affected our country, Nepal on 2020. The government enforced lockdown on March to control the wild spread of covid-19 making physical distancing and quarantine mandated which led to loss of many businesses. But it also opened a path for the expansion of small scale business through digital methods. The pandemic brought changes in human activities e.g. shopping, learning, working, meeting, entertaining that shifted from offline to online. Digital learning helped a lot during the time of covid-19 and lockdown like expanding local business into global, continuation of student’s studies, online shopping and many more. In context of Nepal where physical involvement was of great importance is being affected by the pandemic. So digital learning help us a lot like government taxes are now made to pay through online. Where everything is shutdown for more than half a month from the first surge of Covid-19 to the second hit, people are now going with the flow of adapting the digital learning from shopping, education and business. Whereas it is quite normal for the outside world but for our country where people are having difficulty joining hand and mouth twice a day, government trying to provide his digital learning to each and every corner of the country is a great luxury.
As more people make use of digital learning, online businesses are increasing which means business startups are increasing. Not only it benefits the business sector but the investment that goes in those business results in growth of per capita income raising peoples living standards. During the pandemic we learned to cope in the post pandemic world and companies emerging from the crisis are realizing the work force need new capabilities to face the digital and environmental future. So, to flourish during and after the pandemic companies require new set of skills including social and emotional, advanced cognitive, and digital capabilities. With the increment n use of digital methods people are realizing how convenient it is than offline. Nowadays everybody has a Smartphone on their pocket and is on their computer from dawn to dusk, from household work to office work. So the advancement of digital learning is like killing two birds with one stone during the times of pandemic.
Digital learning is found out to be useful not only in business sector but also in educational sector. The covid-19 had resulted in school shut down all across the world in 2020. Globally, over 1.2 billion children were out of the class. No one predicted that this virus would cause this much chaos in our world for this long time period. As a result, education has changed dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. All the educational sectors such as schools, colleges, universities switched to online classes as they could not suspend the studies of students further. From primary grade children to undergraduate students were gaining knowledge from digital learning methods such as Duo, Zoom, Google meet, Microsoft office and so on. The use of this method not only prevented from spreading of virus but were also proven to increase retention of information, and take less time, meaning the changes corona virus have caused might be here to stay. With this sudden shift in the education teaching methods from offline to online people are starting to wonder how long will this continue for?
Just as the first wave of covid-19 was decreasing, second wave struck parts of India our neighboring country with force more powerful than the first one. It is also reported that it has been spreading like wild fire and has already cross the threshold of the territory of Nepal. If the condition of Nepal continues like this then the world for digital to be normal might not be that far. Even before covid-19 there was already high growth and adoption with educational technology but now it is being used by people all across the globe. In the absence of physical class there is no better option than online class for schooling during the current situation of pandemic. Not only this digital learning is proven to be effective for learning but also to decrease the spread of corona virus and this also helps the students to interact with teachers staying at home.
While some believe that the unplanned and rapid move to online learning with no training, insufficient bandwidth, and little preparation will result in a poor user experience that is unlikely to sustained growth, others believe that a new hybrid model of education will emerge, with significant benefits. As there are challenges that need to be overcome by students to have access to digital learning such as unreliable internet source, may create a sense of isolation, requires being responsible for your own leaning and many more. But considering the current situation of our country there is less likely to be change in using digital methods for either business or studies. This can go on for many years for we don’t know how fast it can spread.
Digital learning has greatly impacted on people’s life. Some are adapting, some have already mastered it and some are deprived of this opportunity. With the surge of digital learning the world is taking a step ahead to digital globe. The evolution people have one through is astronomical, from using an abacus to the world revolving around your finger tip. Without digital leaning it would have been impossible for humans to survive in today’s world.
बैशाख २७ गते, २०७८ मा प्रकाशित
