Impact of digitalization on flexible learning and teaching methods

Abstract:

The rapid development of information and communication technology has made the digital
society and digital economy a reality, creating certain challenges. In this environment, digital
skills and competencies are essential to achieving professional success and personal growth for
everyone. In this research, we tried to clarify some basic concepts in the field of digital
technologies, as well as their current impact on the educational process. The main purpose of this
paper is to reflect the impact of digitization on Indian education sector. The importance of the
topics covered can be justified with many arguments, but mainly refers to the need to achieve the
goals proposed by the Strategy 2020 in the field of education, research, and development. With
the previous premise in mind, this paper presents information on the concept of digitization and
digitization and its impact on the educational sector.

Keywords- Digitization, Flexible learning, Education sector

The framework of the digitization phenomenon

This article analyzes the impact that the phenomenon of digitization is having on the education
sector. The analyzed problems are also important from the perspective of achieving the goals of
the new post-corona education policy. In this regard, the current state of the digitization
phenomenon in India is adequately presented, the existing strategies for increasing the degree of
digitization in the education sector are discussed, and finally the prospects arising from the
enhancement of digitization in India and a conclusion is drawn on this sector. This topic has been
intensively discussed in the literature by both scientists and experts. We proposed to present the
latest perspectives and arguments on the analyzed topic to make a substantive contribution to the
topical research field.

Like current trends, the topic of digitization has caused confusion and debate about its
importance. In this case, the terms "digitization" and "digitization" are confused because
although they come from the same realm, they are interpreted differently. Therefore, the term
“digitization” is understood as the process of taking and encoding analog information so that
computers can recognize, process, store, and transmit it to users (Bloomberg, 2018). In business,
digitization is important both for analog processing of information and for streamlining "paper-
based" processes. "Paper-based" is only a metaphor. It is important to remember that it is not the
process that is digitized, but the information. This is where digitization comes in (Bloomberg,
2018). The term "digitization" or "digital transformation" refers to "changes associated with the
application of digital technologies in all aspects of human society". Digitization is also accepted
as “the ability to transform an existing product or service into a digital variant, thereby offering
advantages over physical products” (Parviainen, Tihinen, Kääriäinen, & Teppola, 2017 2006,
p.64). The process of digitization influences several other organizational processes, particularly
organizational change, and transformational leadership (Bratianu, 2011; Bratianu & Anagnoste,
2011; Lefter, Bratianu, Agapie, Agoston, & Orzea, 2011). A distinction between the two
concepts is necessary because of their differing usefulness and impact. Depending on what we
want to achieve, we resort to implementing one of two processes: digitization or digitization. A
proper understanding of the two processes is necessary for public knowledge but is especially
important for those involved in transformations such as those affecting innovation in the digital
realm. The implementation of the two processes captures different aspects related to non-linear
integrators of resources, technology, and organizational capital (Bloomberg, 2018; Bratianu,
2013, 2018).

This article deals specifically with the phenomenon of digitization, which is required by an
increasing number of organizations and universities. Adapting to the mass digitalization of
higher education institutions is very important. Because the customers of these institutions are
mainly the younger generation, complementing and even inseparable from digital technology.
Education systems need to adapt to the needs of these generations, as digital technology begins
to permeate people's lives from an early age and accompany them permanently. Digitization is
currently a facility/advantage offered by higher education institutions, but in the future it is
expected that digitization will become the criterion for the existence or non-existence of these
institutions (Parviainen, Tihinen, Teppola , 2017; Tihinen & Kaariainen, 2016).

According to Novak, Purta, Marciniak, Ignatowicz, Rozenbaum, and Yearwood (2018), there are
various areas of action that governments should focus on to profit from digitization, cooperating
with other stakeholders, particularly enterprises and citizens that are pushing for change. These
action plans are outlined in Figure 1 and will be detailed in subsequent sections.

Figure1 Source: Novak et.al (2018)

The digitization trend in education

Digitalization has transformed and stimulated the whole society in recent years, resulting in new
working skills, current cultural circumstances, and novel instruments for communication and
enterprise (Newell & Marabelli, 2015). Digitalization links with intellectual capital (Bejinaru,
2017b), services, and states in a knowledge economy, easing commercial operations,
collaborations, and engagement, leading to the establishment of complex networks (Pînzaru,
2015).

In terms of changing and updating the worldwide educational environment, the digitalization
revolution in education is a powerful trend. In the educational process, digitalization entails
converting text, pictures, video, and audio into a digital format that can be played by a computer.
Computers, the internet, smartphones, scanners, digital cameras, projectors, printers, and other
digitalization technologies are examples. Digitalization can take the shape of an online admission
procedure, an online test, the exchange of online / web knowledge, digital support materials (in
various forms such as ppt, pdf, doc), social groups, digital publications, and so on.

In the year 2021, the world was exposed to a health pandemic. The covid 19 pandemic. Due to
this the modes of and teaching methods had to adapt to the unexpected challenges and multiple
demands on because of the turbulent waters of covid 19 pandemic. The situation remains fluid as
there is an international and national escalation of the infection rates as lockdown restrictions are
lifted, institution of higher education are having to reshape and adapt the rigid learning and
teaching approaches to be more flexible and provide solutions to the challenges. Covid -19 has
presented a new set of challenges in higher education institutions. These challenges forced the
stakeholders to rethink the learning and teaching practices in higher education institutions during
covid -19 has become an integral catalyst for the transformation of higher education.

UNESCO numbers on school closures caused by covid-19 illustrate the pandemic overwhelming
impact on education throughout the world. At its peak early 2020, the nationwide closures of
educational institutions were affecting over 91 percent of global student population . In absolute
numbers this means that nearly 1.6 billion students in upto 194 countries were impacted by
schools being shut down. Because of its far-reaching effect technology role becomes so
prominent because it is the only way at that time which can be helpful in resolving this massive
problem because it is about the stake and future of students and country because both are
interrelated to each other

Digital technology in education enables us not to find new answers not only to what people learn
but also to how they learn, where and when they learn. On top of that, digital technology can
help boost the role of teachers. Rather than just communicating knowledge ,they can become co
–creators of knowledge ,coaches , mentors and evaluators .Existing digital learning systems .For
example can go beyond mere teaching. Empowered by Artificial Intelligence, these systems can
also observe how students learn. Besides they discover what kind of tasks and thinking interset
them the most, and what kind of problem they find boring or difficult. These systems then
accommodate individual students learning styles. And most importantly they can do this with
much more precision than any traditional classroom setting could ever achieved.
Digital Technology has changed the education scenario in the educational institution by
enhancing teaching and learning Research and governance there is a great need of advocate
infrastructure better internet connectivity up to date digital equipment safe platform that digital
computer professional in India higher education institution is evident with the increasing use of
ICT Cloud Computing artificial intelligence robotics and virtual reality in day to day practice
which enhance is complete competence and helping align with the industry based scheme this
present of digitalization process in higher education.

Impact of Digitization in Higher Education Sector

1.OFFICE AUTOMATION- Office automation in higher education institution coordinates and

control all office activities in transparent ways automation may be used for digitisation of
process at source creating smartphone creating workformsand document management
automation of student service request and creating self service blocked from office automation
labels administration solution data security detective and data storage and better cooler vision
across campus digitalisation and funding.

2.General Administration- The main the main impact of digitilization on general administration
includes the use of college website to display important information about the institution
computers or extensively used by official staff having administrative duties in the institution the
official noticesto stop or given through emails or WhatsApp groups old teacher stop and student
are using separate WhatsApp group 4 communication or information admission and registration
are done through the online platform and the admission status can be monitor from anywhere in
real time online content time table lecture location of hostel accommodation result and
assessment etc online awarding loan quiz biometric attendance is maintain through machine in
stored in administrative building the live management stock entry and work distribution or done
digital through computer Microsoft office is used to type letters and presentation of reports of.

3.Financial management-Cloud based accounting automation tools enables accountant and

financial team to work from anywhere Microsoft Excel are used to analyse financial institution
various accounting software or also used for the analysing data accounting automation takes
most of the account section work and touch them automatically and without any errors a large
portion of the financial transaction or done online using user id and password many college by
align payment via mobile apps for through net banking

4.Block chain-Block chain technology Is an open source platform where digital records are
stored at as a ledger. it is a database of several blocks which containing formation if one block
full of information then it is automatically connected with the other block and this process
continues. Blockchain technology offer security of data management mechanism ameliorated
efficiency and Technology improved in higher education adoption of this technology will bring
transparency and eliminate corruption. All records at the time of the establishment of the
institution will be stored securely because it is not under control of the person . It is impossible to
change the information stored in blockchain. Blockchain system maintain the records of
transaction across several computers,allows decentralized open data .Block chain are used to
exchange degree and diploma certificates among institution.

5.Big data analytics- The Institutions are using big data techniques to track the performance of
students. The data analysis is perform at an adequate speed using various data structure and
suggest the best solution among several choices. This technique predict the future occurrence and
analyse the past performance any errors are detected in real time and solved every year
thousands of student or include in variety of courses in different Institutions and a large amount
of data is generated the students data include post details enrollment year student id examination
graduation and the work marks obtained in individual subject these big data can be used to
screen student by performing productive analysis for understanding how student my perform in
future it help in selection and recruitment process and reduce the time spend in the process data
and automatic learning analytics of learning process.

Strategic orientation for digitalization

To successfully implement digital transformation, higher education institutions must develop a

variety of competencies in their field of activity, depending on the educational programs they
offer, the projects they implementation and the strategic vision they follow (Carcary, Doherty, &
Conway; Reis, Amorim, Melão, & Matos, 2018). Indeed, digital “abuses” in every way demands
a great deal of attention and thus easily reaches the center of our operations. This is a strong
incentive for organizations like HEI to rethink their market position, revise their strategies and
even improve their vision and mission so as not to get stuck in the past. Unlike business
organizations where digitization reduces barriers to entry and disruption of existing value chains,
industry structures and business models, universities have a field advantage that is not easily
overcome ( Bankewitz, Aberg and Teuchert, 2016; Schwab, 2016).

First, higher education institutions need to become digital institutions themselves to provide
digital teaching, digital learning, digital experiences, and finally technical skills. number for their
students. Becoming digital organizations requires digital resources and specialized staff. It is
important that all stakeholders understand, accept, and prepare for the need for change.
Organizational change, implemented in such large structures is likely to encounter some
resistance to change, which may be caused by a different type of factor. Passive factors refer to
the individual's habits of working style as well as a certain degree of comfort with the daily work
routine. On the other hand, there are positive factors including unpleasant attitudes towards new
and alternative methods or ways of developing tasks. “In this category, we also include cultural
inertia, which means the fear of acting differently from other members of the community”
(Bejinaru & Baesu, 2013, p.128). At this stage, higher education institutions should focus on
understanding the key drivers of the promising digitization process and disseminating them.

Changes in the economic, political, social and cultural spheres lead without error or delay to
changing priorities in the field of higher education. Organizations that truly want to prepare for a
prosperous future are using technology and data to transform processes and upgrade systems.
This is to enable what is now called digital transformation. In addition, we present the most
important factors that motivate universities to actively pursue this goal.

1. Improved competitiveness:

To achieve this goal, we need to use two kinds of means. On the one hand, the decline in student
numbers must be compensated for by streamlining the operation of educational institutions. On
the other hand, attracting students (from a dwindling pool) can be achieved by increasing the
attractiveness of the services offered and adjusting candidate preferences related to digital
experiences.

2. Cost control:
Financial management of financial institutions must focus on cost reduction. Additionally, more
care needs to be taken to justify tuition fees so that the cost-benefit ratio is positive for both the
student and the university. An alternative to cost savings is to reduce the amount of materials
required for file storage while saving staff time. This is called the spiral management method of
controlling costs.

3. Improved user experience:

Research shows that on average, 4 out of 10 of her students access at least two of her digital
devices during a typical school day. Students who grew up with smartphones often struggle with
outdated technology at school. Therefore, the university needs to update its website to make it
easy for students to use and get the information they need from their smart devices at any time.
Providing a digital experience that meets student expectations is a great strategy for engaging
students and keeping them connected to your university.

4. Improved Agility:

There is more to the digital transformation process than just software. It is to identify the
interests and needs of the institution in the decision-making process to adapt to the market. Using
technology is an agile and flexible way to meet the high demands of students, faculty, and staff.
World-class universities are always looking for new ways to improve their processes. Most
importantly, how to evolve the student's journey throughout the educational journey. Related to
this, continuous improvement of the user experience is created through innovative use of
technology to keep students, staff, and faculty productive and satisfied.
Figure 2: The effect of digitalization in higher studies. (Source: Novitas 2017)

By implementing four types of strategies, the results of digital transformation can be seen
relatively quickly. A prospective student's first impression of our university is determined by the
quality of their digital experience when they visit our website. If digital transformation is
successful, the effects will be noticeable very quickly and reliably. There is also a survey that
according to the website, 80% of college applicants rate the college. The study shows that 70%
of the information that interests them and that can later influence their choices is in online
scientific catalogs (Navitas, 2017). With this in mind, we have conclude that using cutting-edge
technology and updating the data in our virtual science catalog will enable us to undergo a rapid
and successful digital transformation.

Conclusion

Digitization is currently one of the most important trends transforming society and the economy.
There is no doubt that the digital economy is fundamentally changing the way businesses
produce and deliver goods and services around the world. This is how we will implement
digitization in the education sector at the next level.
For administration, education, learning, evaluation, research, development and for the benefit of
society. While there are many benefits such as time savings, transparency, overcoming
geographic barriers, continuous 24/7 flow, and minimizing human error, mass digitization is a
highly dependent, risks of a physical and psychological nature, and irresponsible use. process,
disregard for basic human skills, etc. In the adjustment process, universities should focus on
significantly improving their traditional mission of teaching and learning. In a world of rapid and
unpredictable change resulting in a turbulent business environment, higher education institutions
must not only adapt to all these changes, but also become change agents and pioneers in building
new contracts. Universities need to develop strategies to increase their intellectual capital and
become digital organizations. Universities should be able to be at the forefront of change and
innovation in new economic and social conditions.

Digitization is an important impact of globalization in higher education. To integrate ICT into

higher education, we need to ensure quality, easily assessed and affordable education for people
living in remote areas. Governments are developing strategies to increase it

Intellectual capital through funding for the development of a suitable technical infrastructure
within the institution. The new National Education Policy 2023 makes education digitalization
one of the government's top priorities.

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