Digital learning is multifaceted and a dynamic component of education’s future. The term digital learning is all encompassing of any technology-based education. Electronic learning or e-learning involves the use of a computer or any digital learning. The term online learning and virtual learning are often used interchangeably, but online learning is general education that is given and received through the internet. This is usually asynchronous, meaning students can access the videos, presentations, texts etc. at any time. Virtual learning is like tradition classrooms because the instructor and students are interacting in real time together on a digital platform.
For many Americans, Covid 19 and the move to remote learning was their introduction to digital learning but it has been a growing trend since the 1980s when colleges opened up providing degrees available completely through online instruction. Today many college offer online classes, high schools offer dual-enrollment classes online and even k-12 schools use digital learning to supplement education.
For Muslim students in the pursuit of knowledge, digital learning helps fill in gaps of knowledge and expand understanding. For Muslim there is great reward in pursuing knowledge and we can look to the prophetic tradition and note how digital learning allows students to travel across distance and time to gain knowledge. In the hadith, we learn:
If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, Allah will cause him to travel on one of the roads of Paradise. The angels will lower their wings in their great pleasure with one who seeks knowledge, the inhabitants of the heavens and the Earth and the fish in the deep waters will ask forgiveness for the learned man. The superiority of the learned man over the devout is like that of the moon, on the night when it is full, over the rest of the stars. The learned are the heirs of the Prophets, and the Prophets leave neither dinar nor dirham, leaving only knowledge, and he who takes it takes an abundant portion
Sunan al Dawud
Opportunity.
- Since there are so many online courses on a vast variety of subjects, Muslim students can access classes in language, fiqh, Quranic studies, Islamic history and civilization, hadith as well as knowledge from scholars in Islam. Online classes afford access from anywhere in the world to increase and gain beneficial knowledge.
Hadith
Supplemental
- Digital learning helps home school parents and parents who want to expand their student’s knowledge base by providing supplemental instruction by knowledge experts. It also helps students prepare for standardized testing.
Flexible
- Digital learning is not bound by a 8am to 3pm schedule. Students can learn early in the morning after fajr, after school, evening, certain days of the week or just on weekends. Since it is technology driven, it is also always available, even when students are not in their home.
Adaptable
- Online learning can be adapted to fit the particular needs of the student. This may include an online tutor to assist. It may include more advanced material that a student is receiving at school due to their interest, it can also even include students with various and differing learning styles.
Self-paced
- Digital learning is helpful to students who experience anxiety because lessons can viewed and reviewed or split up into smaller chunks. The online platform allows the student to determine how much of a lesson they will explore during a given session.
Controlled
- Parents may appreciate online learning platforms and curriculum because they have more control over what their student is receiving in instruction. Many parents may be dismayed by the sexual health education provided by the public school system, whereas with digital platforms they can seek knowledge experts on the same subject matter that instructs from the Islamic perspective and values.
Collaborative
- Students in online learning are not typically in the same shared space so they learn how to share digital resources and information and work together on projects often with people very different from themselves.
Tech skills
- Online learning forces students to become technologically savvy in both using software and navigating problem solving technological glitches. Students who study online also develop cyber security skills in detecting malicious posts and unreliable sources. Technology is used in education, politics, business, healthcare, etc so familiarity and comfortability is essential in the 21st century.
The positive advantages for digital learning are tempered by some concerns that both parents and students should be aware of. Many of the disadvantages can be mitigated either by parents acknowledging whether their student is a good fit for online education or parental involvement to assist students with motivation and commitment.
Not a fit for all learning styles
- Digital learning platforms require students to work independently, with limited instructor interaction. Some students require the movement and voice of instructors, eye to eye contact and physical presence or handling of materials in order to connect with information. Some students have specific learning needs that can only be provided in a face to face interaction. A virtual learning environment is not a good fit for all students or even students of all ages.
Discipline
- Digital learning platforms require a certain amount of patience, commitment, motivation and understanding. The student has to have the discipline to log on and engage with the work
Isolation
- Some students may not learn well working by themselves.
Distractions
- Unless students set up a particular learning space, distractions from within the home or even while online can be a problems. Students must resist the urge to segue into playing video games or looking up irrelevant topics that distracts from the learning goal.
Access
- Students must have internet access and a working technological media like a computer or even a tablet in order to effectively engage. If in a virtual learning environment, students will also need to be savvy enough to retrieve texts, articles, videos, lectures, class discussions, grades, teacher comments and notifications etc from a particular platform like Canvas or Google Classroom
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Author bio: Mahasin D. Shamsid-Deen is the news curator and content manager for Muslim Network TV (MNTV) and contributing writer for Sound Vision. She holds a master’s degree in English writing and has worked as both a High School and College ESL Instructor and Writing Instructor for more than a decade. Mahasin has numerous published articles, books, essays and is a published playwright with three award winning stage plays. She is currently writing her dissertation for her doctoral degree.
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