The Benefits of Digital Learning for Students and Educators: An Overview

Are you a person interested in advancing your skills but struggling to fit traditional classroom learning into your schedule? Or maybe you're an educator looking to integrate technology into your teaching methods to better engage your students. If so, digital learning may be the answer for you.

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What is digital learning?

Digital learning refers to any form of education facilitated by digital technologies. This mode of learning allows for increased flexibility, personalised education, and interactive experiences for both students and educators. All that a student needs is an internet connection and a digital device, such as laptop, smartphone, or tablet.

Benefits of Digital Learning for Students:

1. Accessibility: Digital learning platforms provide an opportunity to gain new knowledge from anywhere, at any time, as long as students have an internet connection.

2. Personalised Education: Digital learning can be adapted to individual needs in any field of studies. This allows learning experience to be self-paced and personalised.

3. Engaging Learning: Digital learning often includes interactive elements such as quizzes, simulations, and games, making learning more engaging, effective, and easier to comprehend. Research has found that digital learning tools, like simulations, facilitate long-term and collaborative learning.

Benefits of Digital Learning for Educators:

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1. Improved Engagement: Digital tools can significantly improve student engagement and increase participation in the learning event

2. Increased Efficiency: Educators’ time and efforts are often spent on routine tasks like records, grading etc. Digital learning tools allow atomisation of assessments and record keeping, as well as provide lesson plans and teaching materials that save educators time and effort.

3. Flexibility: Digital learning offers the flexibility to teach from anywhere, at any time, and reach a wider audience.

4. Improved Outcomes: Research has shown that students in digital learning environments often perform better than when getting knowledge in traditional classroom conditions.

Challenges of Digital Learning:

1. Technical Issues: Technical difficulties such as poor internet connection or outdated devices can impact the quality of the digital learning experience.

2. Need of Self-discipline: some students struggle to find motivation to study outside the classroom, as well as having difficulties with distracting to social media.

3. Lack of Interaction: Digital learning can sometimes lack the interpersonal interaction and community building that is present in traditional classroom environments. To overcome this, many digital learning tools, such as simulations, are designed to be done in a team.

4. Digital Divide: When implementing digital courses it is important to keep in mind that access to technology can vary and this can impact the results of digital learning.

Despite these challenges, the benefits of digital learning make it a promising alternative to traditional classroom education. With advancements in technology, global digitalisation and increasing demand, digital learning is a growing trend in education that is here to stay.

Unlock the Potential of Digital Learning Today! Read about the ways RealGame business simulations help to overcome digital learning challenges.

This text was created by the RealGame Business Simulation team.

RealGame is a Finnish business simulation provider. RealGame creates simulations based on decades of experience and latest academic research. Business simulations by RealGame are created by educators for educators with a purpose of providing hands-on experiences and an understanding of how supply chain operations evolve continuously, hour by hour. RealGame is unique in that it has a clock-driven operational mode, which allows for generating transaction-specific data for business analysis and strategic planning.

Please cite this as:

RealGame (2023). The Benefits of Digital Learning for Students and Educators: An Overview, Realgame.fi. Retrieved [Date], from https://www.realgame.fi/

References

Lainema, K., Syynimaa, K., Lainema, T., & Hämäläinen, R. (2021). Organizing for collaboration in simulation-based environments: An affordance perspective. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 1-17.

Lainema, K., Lainema, T., Heinonen, K., & Hämäläinen, R. (2021). Technological, Organisational and Socio-Interactional Affordances in Simulation-Based Collaborative Learning. Balancing the Tension between Digital Technologies and Learning Sciences, 199-216.

Blundell, C., Lee, K. T., & Nykvist, S. (2016). Digital learning in schools: Conceptualizing the challenges and influences on teacher practice. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 15, 535-560.

Heider, J. S. (2015). Using digital learning solutions to address higher education’s greatest challenges. Publishing Research Quarterly, 31, 183-189.