Funnel Vision #23
Transforming School Education System
In September, we published an article talking about the EdTech space in India and the impact of the reopening of schools. Three months later, the schools have opened up across the country and the education system is returning back to normal amidst the fears of the new COVID variant. However, the impact of 1.5 years of online education will be prevalent throughout this decade, which is evident from the data published in the Annual Status of Education Report 2021. The government wants to make amends and digitally transform the schools to avoid a repeat of this situation.
In this edition, we talk about the broad roadmap for digital transformation - in the context of the school education system.
Transformation of School Education System
Digital technology can create a system that co-exists with the traditional school system and facilitate optimal utilization of available resources by enhancing the reach and access of education.
The intent is to transform a traditional brick & mortar school plagued with minimal teachers and namesake accountability into a mobile school system – a school whose processes can be monitored and managed remotely and centrally. A school connected to other schools over a common scalable and reliable platform can leverage the potential of a global ecosystem breaking the boundaries of a classroom.
The Roadmap
It's essential to start with the right objective and measurable outcome to achieve the any digital transformation. Digital transformation encompasses not just the technology but process and people as well. Thus, the success or the failure lies not in technology but the alignment of people to processes and technology.
Key focus areas include network, ICT devices, learning management system and the often neglected – change management system.
A network to connect the school digitally in layman language is to provide an internet facility. It can also be provided with a low-cost wireless setup with a monthly subscription plan. In the simplest form, ICT devices can be the infrastructure to utilize that connectivity, with a low-cost solution being a smartphone or a tablet.
Based on the benefits realized, one can establish a state-of-the-art digital system by investing in network connectivity and infrastructure. Security over the internet can be availed by using private networks and scalability by exploiting cloud services. Nevertheless, basic connectivity and infrastructure will enable movement in the right direction to achieve the North Star.
The next step will be to have a learning management system that can digitalize educational content and complement the existing learning mechanism, making it more interactive. The course curriculum and other content can be converted to digital form. Interactive videos and presentations can positively leverage the audio-visual senses of the students. The digital content can be tagged based on the subject, grade, difficulty level and many other factors to enable easy content discovery.
The learning portal can be used to grade the students electronically and analyzed to suggest improvements. It can also be integrated to manage the attendance of not only the students but also the teachers. It can include various discussion groups to monitor and facilitate discussions between teachers and students or among teachers only. The portal can be extended to encompass various systems such as Exam Management, Nutrition Management, Staff Management, Attendance Management, and even Disaster Management, which becomes crucial in a rural setting.
The final step will be to utilize subscription-based cloud services for integration, storage, and computation. The cloud and learning portal can be used to cover more schools while replicating the network connectivity and infrastructure setup across schools.
Challenges with the digital transformation
One of the biggest challenges is not technology but people – acceptance and adoption among end-users. Often ignored, the change management process needs to be executed early and often in the entire implementation process. The change needs to be identified and communicated frequently. Training needs to be devised as per individual considerations. And right behavior, not just performance, should be rewarded.
Other challenges include remote geographical conditions, which can make it challenging to connect the school digitally or increase the operational issues and costs, or the problem of erratic power supply at the school can reduce the availability of the digital system.
Conclusion
The benefits of digitally transforming the school educational system are multi-fold. It breaks the boundaries of a classroom and fosters self-paced learning. The learning management system can be personalized as per a student's needs, thereby ensuring one-on-one care. It provides holistic development of a child and boosts confidence. The setup increases accountability, enhances transparency, improves decision-making, and facilitates optimal utilization of available resources. It increases the productivity of the staff and tracks performance. It also opens up the possibility of integrating and transforming associated systems, creating a truly connected and scalable ecosystem.
Meet the Author
This issue of Funnel Vision has been authored by Ankur Mittal.
While this article gives a brief outline of how to digitally transform schools, similar roadmaps can be developed for other industries.
That’s all for this edition!
Do follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn. Stay connected for insightful articles lined up for this year.