Illustration: Biplob Chakroborty

A couple of months ago, while I was sitting at a station for the bus service in Queensland Australia, I received a phone call. The caller told me, "I am calling from Harvard University. Do you want to register for the online programme on Cybersecurity you were interested in?" and proceeded to give me more details. I was a bit surprised to receive that call. Similarly, I was interested in the Master of Science in Data Analytics online from the University of New South Wales, Australia and their educational adviser reached out to me several times a month. Later, I started my second Masters in Data Analytics online from the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA while residing in Australia.

Once, people went to universities for education, but now the motive has shifted partially, and the universities are approaching people with a diverse set of education programmes. This is referred to as Online Digital Education. Bangladesh has made remarkable progress digitally in different sectors, but not as much in online digital education as expected. The country is yet to mark its presence in the global online education industry, which is estimated to be worth USD 375 billion by 2026. It could easily be the third biggest source of earning revenues after remittance and the garments industry if this sector is given due importance and carefully visioned policies. Now is the right time for our policymakers to rethink online digital education policy and facilitate prominent institutions to excel in today's transnational education system as a Brand of Education Bangladesh.

Let's start by understanding digital learning, which can be defined as any type of learning that is accompanied by ICTs or by instructional practice that makes effective use of it. From this perspective, blended or online learning can also be referred to as digital learning, as this type of learning is not possible without ICTs. However, shifting from traditional face-to-face education to online is not an easy journey for many institutions across the world during the pandemic—a bunch of challenges in terms of digital competencies, pedagogical knowledge, psycho-social counselling, varied levels of interaction, engagement and assessment strategies, support structures, etc. are required to be integrated into institutional policies and practices. Unfortunately, many of our educational institutions failed to adapt to these challenges to some extent but often attributed this failure to online digital education. What are the key reasons behind it?

The first is opposition to the idea of "learning how to unlearn". Professor Chris Dede from Harvard University attended a summit at Daffodil University in March 2021 and advised the audience that learning how to unlearn is the biggest challenge worldwide for transforming education digitally. Human beings always oppose those cultures they are not habituated to. Since the beginning of civilisation, teachers are accustomed to traditional face-to-face education. It is not easy to shift away from it overnight and learn new modes of teaching-learning.

The second obstacle is poor speed of the Internet. This is the issue largely affecting the wide acceptance and implementation of digital education in the developing and least developed countries. Bangladesh ranked 134th in the world for mobile speeds and 96th for fixed broadband speeds in May 2021. The country's broadband Internet density is quite low, though narrowband mobile Internet has penetrated most parts of the country. However, the Internet speed is moderately poor and not at all satisfactory for operating education digitally. Minimum 3G stable Internet needs to be ensured across the country.

Then there is a negative perception of the community—people often perceive that online digital education is useless and it is possible to get certificates without any study. While pursuing my second masters online, I found it more challenging to perform well. Admittedly, the issue is not with online digital education but rather on the provider's trustworthiness. Online degrees provided by Stanford University won't be the same as Stamford University.

Socioeconomic conditions also play a role here. Studies reveal that only 10-15 percent of university students have laptops or PCs in Bangladesh. Due to the pandemic, many parents have been laid off, students lost their part-time work, and female students have been forced to encounter the plague of early marriage. This situation is further aggravated by the high cost of fairly poor Internet. Government support is urgently required to overcome this situation.

The absence of an authentic examination system in online education is another big challenge, resulting in poor community perception. Reputed universities focus largely on formative assessment instead of summative exams and consider only a few courses (two to three out of 12) of a programme for formal exams. Research indicates that more than 90 percent of students have at least an Android device in Bangladesh. So, mobile-based online exam proctoring could be a viable solution.

Another challenge is the absence of suitable software solution and relevant human resources. We have grown up using pirated software and are often reluctant to invest money for suitable software. The country's two leading universities provided institutional emails to their students only last year. The situation deteriorates further due to a lack of qualified manpower for maintenance and support 24/7.

Then there is the issue of lack of commitment to accountability. Online digital education creates evidence of work digitally. So, if we can ensure teachers' accountability to submit a monthly report through Smart Education, like software comprising a rubric of eight to ten aspects including student feedback, research work, professional training, students' engagement, overall presentation, etc., it can result in better quality education than what we do in traditional face-to-face learning.

However, there is a pressing need for support structure. As we have not progressed much in digital education, certain things have not yet been introduced, such as learning designers and technologists. Learning designers sit with the course teacher and design the course keeping in mind outcome-based education, presentation, interactive videos and assessment, while learning technologists organise the course at the learning management system and provide necessary training to teachers and students. In the absence of them, teachers consider conducting online classes a relatively difficult task.

Unwillingness regarding continuous professional development is another fact. There is no alternative to continuous professional development to reduce the gap of industry and academic practices, as well as to develop professional ethics. Unfortunately, our teachers are highly reluctant in this regard, and it should be included in the provisions of annual increment and/or promotion.

Finally, the lack of executable policies and visible practices hinders the development of online education in Bangladesh. The University Grants Commission has recently initiated the National Framework for Blended Learning to help continue our education digitally. Monitoring compliance requirements of universities with transparency, particularly for online digital learning, is the key to ensure quality education.

Now that all walks of people in Bangladesh are understanding the importance of online digital learning, we should capitalise on it. If online education is comprehended appropriately, we won't have to discontinue education, teachers won't have to search odd jobs for their survival, and students won't feel dejected. The world is becoming increasingly digital, and the educational institutions that can't embrace digitalisation will be gradually excluded. The sooner we realise that, the better.

Dr Md Aktaruzzaman is digital education expert and director at the Blended Learning Center in Daffodil International University, Dhaka, and founding head of ICT and Education dept(s) at Bangabandhu Digital University. Email: director.blc@daffodilvarsity.edu.bd.