Digitalization in the 21st Century - Impact on Learning and Doing Things

Our world is changing at dizzying speed. Globalization, technological innovation, and demographic change are creating both new demands and opportunities. The Internet is not only fascinating buy is also rapidly affecting our work and life. E-governance has become the order of the day. How do we respond? How do we prepare students for jobs that have not yet been created, for technologies that have not yet been invented? It has been estimated that our current skill sets would last only “the next decade or two”. Knowledge is no longer limited to set theories or single idea or linear thinking. What is required is the capacity to think across disciplines, connect ideas and “construct information”. The distinguishing fact from fiction is essential in our digital age and requires, “the capacity of young people to see the world through different perspectives, appreciate different ideas, and be open to different cultures”. Information for tomorrow has to be for transformation. Hence “learn, unlearn, and relearn” is the modern mantra of education. However there is a caution. In countries like India, where illiteracy and lack of education are still haunting is it possible to achieve digital empowerment and inclusive growth? Has the Internet – besides, informational interactivity – been successful in integration of communities and cultures? Is e-governance necessarily good governance? Is digital disruption cost-effective? How to overcome technophobia? These are some of the research questions that this paper tries to address based on theoretical and empirical data. This paper explores ways and means of digitally empowering marginalised communities living in socio-economic backwardness and poverty. Our finding is that digitalization per se is a complex programme and evolves with the perception and participation of the stakeholders. It suggests blending of technological and human approaches that strengthen the enabling and evaluatory mechanisms of digital empowerment