Page 33 - International Perspectives on Effective Teaching and Learning in Digital Education

The Panorama of Digital Education in the XXI Century

gators like Seymour Papert have introduced innovative concepts that really
form the basis of many modern educational technologies (Papert & Harel,
1991). Companies and organizations, like the Khan Academy, have made sig-
nificant contributions by providing free, high-quality educational content
online, thereby democratising access to education (Khan, 1). These type of
contributions have changed the digital education environment, carrying the
world to innovation and expanding the way to learning. As we move forward,
the technology rapid development continues, which redefine a new frontier
on education, offering new possibilities for teaching and learning. However,
to be a real opportunity, the existing disadvantages need to be considered in
the equation. Education should be for everybody.
So, the digital education landscape continually evolves, becoming increas-
ingly complex as new technologies and trends emerge daily. The rapid pace
of technological advancement presents both opportunities and challenges
in education.
The new technologies can transform the teaching and learning process,
because they can make education more interactive, engaging, personalised
and like this open the persons to new communication, collaboration, and cre-
ative expression possibilities. For example, advancements in artificial intelli-
gence and machine learning enable the development of adaptive learning
systems that can fit the individual needs of each student, while virtual and
augmented reality technologies are creating new opportunities for immer-
sive, experiential learning (Weller, 1). On the other side, the speed that
these technologies appear, can make it very difficult for educators and in-
stitutions to keep up. The integration into the classroom always requires a
financial investment, which most of time mean, government support. Even
when we have good conditions and proper tech, it is very important to spend
a significant amount of time and efforts to learn how to use them effective-
ly. Everybody know that the change can promote instability and uncertain-
ty, this is something that usually happens also on the educators side when
using the technology. It is possible that they may feel pressure to keep up
constantly updated, for this reason, the knowledge triangle (professors, stu-
dents, community) must stay connected on the technological change, care-
fully evaluating new technologies' potential benefits and challenges before
adopting them to the classroom (Facer & Selwyn, 1).
Another very important toll is the Virtual reality (VR) integration in edu-
cation. It has gained significant attention, particularly in HEI, since VR can
provide students with teaching aids closer to real life, rich and diverse per-
sonalised learning environments, and change traditional classrooms (Ding &

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