Lesson Learned: Education and Digital Natives

Learning has always been at the essence of humanity, but never in the history of humanity have the dynamics of learning been more challenged than over the past two years. Historically learning took place with the instructor and the student in the same place and at the same time. As the world changes with diversity of students, locations and timing of the curriculum creation and consumption, digital tools become mandatory.

Because of these changes, every place has become a place of learning today. It used to be that lecture halls, classrooms, libraries and laboratories were the main domain for learning. Now, authoring and consumption can take place on notebooks, tablets, interactive digital boards and phones. And both can occur in bedrooms, public spaces, public transportation and other locations. This also poses a potential detriment or a benefit in the equity of education. Therefore, as technologists, facilitating equity in education is also a consideration and a major motivator.

We also need to treat innovation as a continuum and not a destination. If any lesson has been learned from the past two years, it’s that innovation is central to continuity and resilience in education. Just as we keep a close eye on the existing and future needs for various features and functionality for education facilitation, high levels of focus on the interoperability of mixed hardware and software platforms calls for strong eco-system design, support and warranties. To be that catalyst for positive educational experiences, technologists sit front and center to ensure seamless user experiences.

How do we accomplish these ambitious, high-level goals? By breaking them down to their component parts and addressing what is within our power. Messaging and content of the curriculum is the goal with technology being the facilitator. What do the instructors need for hardware, software, tools, interfaces, training and support? What tools will the students use to consumer content? Ensuring they function is the primary goal, followed closely by being intuitive and simple to use for both the technology oriented individuals and the technology challenged.

For LG, that means developing displays that are high-performing, have intuitive user interfaces and reliable while being affordable. For interactive displays, that means being easy to install, easy to use, and seamless to integrate with third-party programs and platforms. We’re working to make laptops and mobile devices faster, lighter and more affordable to help bridge the digital divide.

With equal access to information, devices and bandwidth, personal discipline becomes the leading determinant of educational success. Digital natives will play on increasingly more level and larger playing fields. This can only be good for economies, communities and individuals. The emergence of talent and the democratization of opportunity could lead to seismic positive change in how the world works… and learns!