A digital learning future

Abstract

Across the world, digital education is becoming more and more important. It is continuing to grow in popularity among learners and teachers alike and, against the backdrop of COVID-19, has proven vital to enable training and educational development to continue. The European Commission has introduced a new Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 that is designed to overcome challenges associated with delivering digital education. It builds on the work of the previous 2018-2020 Action Plan and incorporates learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea is for world class, inclusive and accessible education to be available digitally to students across Europe. This will involve fostering stronger cooperation between key stakeholders in Member States. Indeed, a strategic dialogue will be launched among EU Member States in order to develop a Council Recommendation on factors that will help facilitate digital education by 2022. A priority area is how digital education can be optimised in education, creating a digital education system that is high-performing and universally useful. A second priority area concerns the development of digital skills and competencies in learners and teachers alike, as well as ensuring online learning resources are relevant, interactive and user-friendly.