We are living in a world of 0’s and 1’s. These two digits have transformed the way we live. We IT professionals call it ‘Digital World’ through which we are always connected to all our friends irrespective of geographical distances. We have access to all possible sorts of information with just one click. We are using digital devices to communicate, run e-commerce businesses like shopping sites, reservations of transport modes, travel and leisure etc. Digital is enhancing every industry. Over the years it is also changing the way we learn. With initiatives like MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), we can learn almost everything from courses which are offered in some of top universities to those which are merely of interest to individuals. We can attend virtual classrooms, ask questions, give exams and get certified. Having known this, let us understand how digital learning can make difference.
My Smart Nephew
Yesterday I was at my cousin’s birthday party. Her son Rudra, a 4-year old child was taking pictures of us. Rudra knows almost everything in a smart phone from taking pictures, making and answering calls and playing Angry Birds. Then he showed me one app which was loaded with animal cartoons. I was really missing my childhood and those colorful books. He was switching between different animals; he mentioned every animal’s name followed by its habitat. I could remember matching the pairs in my childhood. He was able to tap on an animal and then that animal would make a certain sound. So the dog was barking; ducks were quacking etc. It was so easy to understand. I have also read books which say ducks quack but I never heard that sound till I actually went to the zoo. This is where digital experience is enhancing the learning process and bridging the gap between the real and virtual world.
My Learner Dad
Six months ago, I gifted my Dad an Android smartphone. He was so reluctant to move on from his old Nokia 6300 phone. He was struggling for almost a month to understand how to operate a touchscreen phone. I taught him some basic functionalities like how to answer calls, add contacts and chat on WhatsApp. Dad really took long to understand a smartphone’s basic functionalities.
How it is effective?
Then I started correlating these incidents. And I asked myself two simple questions.
The first question is – When did I learn my mother tongue?
My mother tongue is Marathi and if someone asks me when I started speaking in Marathi, I really don’t remember. I learnt to feel and express everything in Marathi. Every child just starts speaking his/her mother tongue.
The second question is – When did I learn English?
I was in class 5 when I had English as one of my language subjects and I started learning it. I started converting all my thoughts from my mother tongue Marathi to English. I still think in Marathi but express in English. Compare it to a computer which only understands 0’s and 1’s but can execute assembly programs faster that C or JAVA programs.
A similar thing is happening in the digital era. My nephew will never remember when he learnt to take pictures on a phone or play Angry birds. He just learnt it. This is how the Digital World is enhancing and building a smarter next generation. We call it Generation Z. However, it is disrupting or rather, making it not-so-easy to elderly people. Next day when I went to office, my colleague sent me one quote by Robin Sharma – ‘Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end’.
And year on year we are loving it.