What does the future of digital learning look like?

We’re standing on the brink of the fourth industrial revolution: an age welcoming the fusion of all things digital. From advances in artificial intelligence, the internet of things, blockchain technology and more, this is a time for creating new industries and transforming existing ones. 

Higher education institutions worldwide must take advantage of new technologies and approaches to applied learning to equip students with the skills needed to thrive in a digital-first world.

Education 4.0 is the answer, but what does that look like, and how can universities ensure they’re preparing their students for the future?

Education 4.0 is the blending of digital approaches to support the new educational goals of what’s been called the ‘fourth industrial revolution’.

Universities across the globe have been rethinking what the student experience should look like, and the strategies they need to give students the skills, mindset, and knowledge for the workplace of the future.

At Teesside, my role is to lead the digital transformation of learning and teaching across the university as part of a four-year journey. While Teesside has been investing in digital since 2017, we need a longer-term plan to map this digital transformation within the university’s learning and teaching strategy.

Our vision of Education 4.0 may be different to other organisations. What that does give us, however, is the creativity and ambition to reimagine the entire education process.

Going forward, we need to be ambitious with how we support our learners to prepare them for changes across industries, professions, and sectors. For example, the legal profession has been completely reformed by digital – so how do we equip law students to have the confidence and literacies to flourish in this evolving space?. 

Universities have a responsibility to adapt alongside the changing times, and this is exactly what we’re preparing for.

Education 4.0 won’t mean anything if universities don't support staff in understanding and using the wide range of digital tools and solutions on offer. Through this, staff can gain the tools to reimagine and design courses themselves.

This doesn’t just mean using digital spaces to enable students to find information. The art of engaging students always requires taking the needs of students into account.

Through Education 4.0, for example, students can integrate learning with other parts of their life to gain new transferable skills.

The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the need to develop digital learning. At Teesside, we were lucky that our digital transformation journey started a few years ago, but the pandemic meant many staff were prompted to use technology in new ways when designing courses – beyond simply seeing the virtual space as a way to upload content online.

And how can we bring digital into the classroom experience? Staff are experimenting with technologies to make the learning process more engaging, and students also have access to tools outside the classroom to build on their creativity.

For example, our assessment process at Teesside is being revamped: students are now encouraged to use more advanced creative tools like Adobe to reimagine how they present their knowledge.

Universities and colleges need to think outside of the way things have always been done, and consider examples from outside of the higher education sector. Everyone has a role to play in thinking about how we can adapt to a new world.

We have a lot of data from our students, but we need to be transparent with it. All students and tutors at Teesside have access to learning analytics, meaning that students can see how well they’re engaging with their courses, what their grades are, and use it to understand if they’re meeting their goals.

Students co-creating the curriculum and collaborating with staff has a powerful impact – not just on them, but also on the entire learning experience. We’re giving students the confidence to use and apply their knowledge in different and unpredictable ways.

Students need personalisation to allow them to reach their true potential, and universities should be doing everything they can to prepare enriching academic experiences for them.

We’re in higher education because we want to support the next generation of learners to succeed and shape our future economy. But we can't do this if we aren't willing to explore new opportunities that will set the foundations needed for Education 4.0, including:

• reimagining assessments
• personalising the learning experience
• creating more scalable approaches to learning design
• giving staff the confidence and tools to become involved in digital transformation
• reimagining student-centred learning through digital literacies

Dr Ann Thanaraj is Assistant Academic Registrar (Digital Transformation) at Teesside University. Dr Ann Thanaraj will be discussing Education 4.0 with Paul Durston, Digital Learning Manager at Teesside, at Ahead by Bett, taking place 23–25 March 2022 at ExCel London.