Facebook bubble among the major social networking sites, only Facebook can be said to have a truly global presence. Even in the not-so-advanced communities, most school and college-goers have personal FB accounts, while academic institutions have customized Facebook pages. The website has started to facilitate seamless virtual interaction between learners and teachers, and has given exposure to many new study courses. Growing popularity of distance learning courses – The concept of full-time video classes and flipped classrooms has yet to take roots in Southeast Asian and African countries. Understanding the value of mobile gadgets in education – Given the rapid pace of technological development across the globe. Mobile educational apps for kids are increasingly becoming a part of preschoolers’ academic pursuits. Senior students have started to rely on handheld gadgets for note-taking, study-scheduling, and accessing the web on the go.In most countries where the economic situation is not the best, tablets enjoy greater popularity than smartphones and feature phones – at least among students. This occurs chiefly because of the strategy of several companies to design low-cost, user-friendly tablets. To tackle the immense illiteracy problem, around 1.8 million instructors are required, only for the primary schools in the developing countries. They have to be provided the requisite computer training and made familiar with other technological aides too.
Although online education and iPad apps for kids are slowly getting accepted in the academic sector of poorer countries – students over here are still not in a position to compete with their Western counterparts, in terms of career opportunities. The problem is particularly serious in the more heavily-populated countries, like India and China. Competition is fierce, education and job-opportunities are far from adequate, and many students (and their parents) prefer going abroad to pursue higher studies. Just like in a vicious cycle, this drain of resources keeps developing countries in the mire. Students were not used to work on computers, and there were hardly any teachers to guide them either. At present, computer education is being made a part of the study curriculum of little kids. Developing an early familiarity with technology would stand kids from the developing countries in good stead. The average daily time-span of computer usage by a student is less than one hour. On smartphones and tablets, there remains the tendency of downloading inane games and wallpapers, instead of the many free Android or iPhone learning apps for kids that are available.
Technology has started to help physically challenged students in a big way, in quite a few of the third-world countries. The focus has shifted to bringing these kids with special needs at par with others. Once again, those from the more remote locations still do not have access to such high-end information and communication technology. Also, in spite of the best efforts of the governments, the expenses for such educational tools for children with special needs remain high. Difficulties to crop up when the necessary digital study material is not available in translated versions. Children pronounce Thailand (Thai) or India (Hindi) might be able to refer to online learning resources – but correctly translated texts and journals might simply not be available. Turning many students to settle for mediocre physical books in local languages.
