How The Digital Revolution Changed the Educational World

Education is arguably the greatest advancement we made as a species. Our ability to understand and process information is what set us aside as a species in our early years, and the ability to communicate and pass on the information we learn allowed us to form civilizations and thrive. As we developed throughout the years we have improved and refined our educational systems, and it has become a right that most people have access to.

But it is far from perfect. There are many people in less developed and struggling countries that have no access to the educational systems we are so lucky to be a part of. But humans are, at their core, generous and caring and many people dedicate their lives to bringing education around the globe. And in our modern-day where technology is growing daily, the educational world has changed in ways we could never have imagined.

But how has the digital revolution changed the educational world? Below we are going to take a look at exactly what has changed and how it affects those studying.

Paper Vs Digital

Time was everything was done on paper. There are those that still prefer the old way of doing things with pen and paper, but for the most part, a lot of work and note-taking have moved to the digital landscape. And this has advantages in spades. Firstly, taking notes during lessons has become much easier. People can type a lot faster than they can write allowing people to take down more notes and improve their learning quality.

Secondly, it allows people to store their notes in one convenient place without taking up any physical space. Digital storage and sorting have made things easier for everyone involved. Students can simply organize their notes by class or topic and can even search their documents for keywords, as opposed to rifling through pages and pages of notes to find one specific part.

Online Student Life

The advent of the internet has brought about a lot of advantages to students. Student life can be daunting and difficult to keep on top of. Whether it be tracking finances or finding the best deals or even finding sites that make studying easier, the internet has allowed companies to produce lots of resources for students.

Some great examples of this include this list of textsheet alternatives or sites like Unidays. Both sites are designed to give students the most out of their time in education. Back in the day, students were forced to manually keep track of their finances or hunt around for deals themselves. But now the internet has made all of that easier and also allows students to save a lot more money than they ever could before.

Information Availability

Information is a commodity as well as a right. Time was you needed either someone who knew about a topic or books around it. This meant there was a separation of information within the educational world. If a school didn’t have any teachers educated in a certain topic or the funding to provide the texts on it, students would not be able to learn about it. And this led to a culture of educational pedigree where certain topics were considered worth more than others and some students were gatekept from learning certain things.

But the advent of the internet changed this in the biggest way possible. Suddenly anyone could have their voice heard across the globe. As we know, the internet is a repository for all the known information we possess as a species and it can be mostly accessed by anyone. There is, of course, still a massive divide between countries with internet access and those without, but for the most part the educational world has changed forever.

Now students can take their own probative and find information on any topic they desire. Teachers can improve their research and online versions of expansive texts can be acquired allowing access to everyone. This has also allowed whole classes to be held online, which leads to our next point.

Online Education

Schools and Universities used to be accessible only by the most able-bodied individuals. And even today there are still issues around access. But the digital revolution has created online courses and open universities that allow people to take courses online and in their own time. This is a massive help for those who are unable to find the time to attend normally scheduled classes or are physically unable to traverse the campuses or even from their own home. Education should be accessible to everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from, and the digital revolution has opened up avenues for so many people. But there is still a long way to go.