Education for the digital economy

August 16, 2021

by Orlando Oxales originally published in The Manila Standard

“In a digital economy, businesses will demand workers with new skill sets that our education system must produce.”

Before the pandemic, education for Filipinos was the traditional brick and mortar, laddered progression of curriculum requisites before the student finally achieved those coveted academic degrees as proof of one’s competence and eligibility for a chosen career path.

We can then imagine the big shock to both public and private educational institutions when all schools had to suddenly shift to e-learning for their learners.

Parents who had children in schools that could not offer online learning went on a mad scramble to look for one and with the help of online searches and maybe some advice from friends. They took the first available school even if they did not have any idea how these online platforms would actually work.

In my case, my elder son’s college, known for its technology programs, could not make the shift as quickly as other schools. It had to cope as best as it could. For my younger child in seventh grade, I tried monitoring how e-learning was conducted and quickly realized how unbelievably complicated and unconducive to learning the system was. In my opinion, their platform, the teachers, the content, everybody—including us parents—were just not ready.

The 2019 paper “Rethinking Education for the Digital Era” published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) premised that as “new technologies, such as robotics, artificial intelligence and advances in information and computer technology, are changing the way societies interact, produce and create. These advances present a huge opportunity to improve human welfare and well-being through increased productivity and the personalisation of services to fit people’s needs.”

However, it emphasizes that the “success in the digital era will require a new set of skills, education systems and lifelong training programs need to adapt in order to give people the means to thrive in this new context and prepare them for the future.”

For the Philippines, the paper acknowledged government support in raising social awareness and integrating ICT in the school curricula. Still, it sees formidable challenges in improving school infrastructure for IT education and addressing the dearth of qualified teachers who will provide the training. According to 2012 data, Philippine schools had weaker ICT infrastructure compared to emerging Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and China, with the gap most pronounced in primary schools.

Citing studies by Alba and Trani (2018) and Caluz et al. (2017) on teacher’s ICT use and competency, found that “teachers need more training to apply basic ICT skills proficiently in the classroom.”

“Concerns include limited time available for accessing ICT equipment and tools, lack of an Internet connection, a shortage of computer units and other equipment, and lack of technical assistance for operating, maintaining and troubleshooting ICT tools.” (Caluza et al., 2017)

The OECD paper maintains that “teachers’ skills, motivation and attitude are essential to reaping the benefits from ICT use in classrooms” and “more complex digital skills that allow them to tailor the use of technology for their own teaching” resulting in better student performance.”

The recent online forum of the 15th Liveable Cities Lab organized by the League of Cities in partnership with Globe Telecom, Stratbase Group Founder and CEO, Prof. Dindo Manhit stated that, “Technology, infrastructure, and tools can be developed and purchased. However, this must be matched with talent and the next generation of skills that can wield the power of technology.”

Prof. Manhit stressed: “Digital Readiness is about the people’s readiness. A people-centric approach that harnesses the benefits of digital technologies as power tools to prosper in an evolving digital revolution.”

Globe Telecom VP for Site Acquisition and Management, Mr. Vince Tempongko, for his part said: “The effects of this pandemic particularly in the advancement of digital adoption will definitely stay and affect the way we work, study, and promote awareness campaigns.”

For students, the learning experience when switching from face to face to a virtual classroom may seem exciting at first but being able to effectively adapt to the online learning environment will take time. Online learning requires high bandwidth speeds, stable internet connections, and access to the right devices which for the vast majority of students at all levels, are not easy out of pocket expenses. E-Learners are now realizing how much more time and the intensity of concentration and work needed for online courses. Students cannot be passive and will need to develop a positive and self-motivating attitude to survive digital education.

In a digital economy, businesses will demand workers with new skill sets that our education system must produce. While the government and private sector must invest aggressively in our digital infrastructure, educational institutions will need to closely collaborate with industry for support in upgrading capacities and develop a digitally empowered workforce ready to excel in the emerging digital economy.