Digital education is looking to the future with a growing importance of technology within the framework of the digital transformation that society as a whole is undergoing.
Virtual reality (VR) will increase the possibilities of student interaction with different educational content, creating immersive learning experiences.
On the other hand, artificial intelligence will enable different issues in digital education, such as a greater degree of personalisation by adapting learning rhythms and content.
Let’s take a closer look at how these technologies will help digital education, but not without losing sight of the fact that they also pose a number of challenges.
VR for digital education
Virtual reality has become a powerful educational tool with different uses.
Travelling to other historical moments or environments, exploring in different dimensions (on issues as varied or on very different scales as cells, galaxies or the human body in detail) or increasing levels of empathy and consideration for people with very different life situations are some of the characteristics of the application of this technology in educational environments.
In addition to this range of issues, VR can also serve to stimulate students’ creativity, recreate complex issues that can be better understood with more detail, or aid training by breaking down different educational barriers.
How will AI change the educational experience?
To put the progress of technology in general and AI in particular into perspective, let’s look at a few facts: fixed-line telephony, born in the mid-19th century, took several decades to reach 100 million users; mobile telephony took more than ten years; Instagram, one of the most widely used social networks in the world, took only two years, while ChatGPT took just one month.
Intelligent algorithms will enable personalised, self-paced education through interactions with extensive language models such as ChatGPT.
AI can be seen as a valuable asset that can help teachers to be more professional and students to solve their queries more effectively.
However, as UNESCO recognises, these technological developments also bring risks and challenges: AI in education should aim to improve human capabilities and protect human rights.
Technology and education for UNESCO
To put the question of the relationship between education and technology in context, let’s take a look at the views of the head of UNESCO, the largest education-related institution of the United Nations, an organisation founded on 24 October 1945.
As Stefania Giannini, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education, explained in a recent interview, technology must be put at the service of students and not the other way around.
Regarding the specific case of Artificial Intelligence, she recognises that this technology ‘has many implications for the future of education’ as it enriches learning experiences, but does not lose sight of issues such as security or privacy, as well as the future role of educators.
Therefore, he explains that UNESCO’s perspective is to ‘promote a human-centred approach to integrating AI into education, equipping students with the skills and competencies needed to thrive in the digital age’.
Challenges facing digital education
Digital education faces a number of challenges in the short, medium and long term.
One of them is its relationship with the digital divide, which could become a way of providing better and greater educational opportunities to groups or social groups that are in situations of vulnerability for various reasons.
Another issue, to which Stefania Giannini also referred, is the training of teaching staff in digital environments, given that the accelerated advance of technologies means that there are educational professionals who do not have the skills or knowledge necessary for their efficient or effective use.
One of the potential advantages of the application of new technologies in digital education – personalisation in learning – does not cease to present a challenge as it is necessary to specify how to implement this personalisation.
The possibility of having other options linked to leisure (such as video games, social networks or instant messaging) available on the same device as the one on which digital education takes place is also a challenge in order to avoid possible distractions.
