Cars that drive themselves, robots that can perform heart operations or take care of dependent people, systems that are able to predict environmental pollution through algorithms… These are no longer situations described in science fiction films or novels. It is our everyday life. It is not the future. It is today. New technologies have changed the way we live and our societies at an unprecedented speed, and they will continue to do so. Today’s world is nothing like the world we lived in just 30 years ago. Preparing students for this new world is a necessity in life.
There are two sides to the new technologies and all the services they provide us in health, education, administration, services, etc. On the one hand, they make life easier and offer us easier and broader access to different socio-economic opportunities; but on the other hand, they pose a major challenge to us with regard to social inclusion: that people who lack digital skills or who don’t have access to the internet are excluded from progress. We must avoid at all costs that children and young people who are already in a vulnerable situation due to their socio-economic conditions, become even more vulnerable because they are unable to access new technologies or do not have the necessary skills to function in the new digital society. This is the digital divide and education plays an absolutely fundamental role in eliminating it.
Some facts about the digital divide in the world. Source: The State of the World’s Children 2017: Children in a Digital World. UNICEF.
In its famous SDGs, the United Nations states that “all children, regardless of their background and situation, should have access to quality education.” So, what does a “quality education” mean in the 21st century? How can access to education be democratised?
In its publication Retos:Inclusion social desde la educación digital (Challenges: Social inclusion through digital education), the ProFuturo Observatory has identified three areas of action that can greatly contribute to the democratisation of education. These are active methodologies and the integration of diversity, education in conflict areas as well as Mobile Learning.
Areas of action which contribute to the democratisation of education. Source: Retos: Inclusión social desde la educación digital. ProFuturo.
How do these processes help the democratisation of education?
Active methodologies focus on the learner and make them an active part of the learning process by connecting them to their immediate reality. This increases their motivation to learn and they become more involved in their academic and personal development process. Learners are more involved, better understand the relationship between concepts and their environment, and in turn, they develop skills and abilities in a personalised and autonomous way.
In particular, the situation of children living in conflict areas, where, for obvious reasons, receiving a quality education is at a greater risk than anywhere else, make these places unique in being able to demonstrate how education can break cycles of poverty, violence and injustice when the children are given the tools, they need to build a better future for themselves and for their communities.
Mobile learning (the use of mobile technologies as educational tools) is presented as a great instrument for democratising learning as it allows easy and economical access to educational content and resources, in multiple formats (text, video, audio, etc.) and which can be used in different places and times.
If you would like to know more about how ProFuturo is tackling these challenges, what initiatives have been launched in different parts of the world or what our community of readers thinks about these issues, download our publication Retos: Inclusión social desde la educación digital.
