Johannesburg, 22 Feb 2022
Digital transformation continues to gain momentum in education both in K-12 and higher education environments. Although the concept is already familiar to many educators, a shift is taking place: more education professionals are recognising the value of initiatives like implementing digital signatures or improving student information systems. Today, 65% of K-12 educators agree that digital transformation is critical – and among HED professionals, that number is an even higher 77%.
Proving their commitment, schools are making significant progress in both classroom-focused initiatives and back-office operational upgrades. Demand for digital transformation is driven by the need for access to information. Those who achieve it attain a wide range of benefits, including greater operational efficiency and higher data accuracy. This moment represents a critical opportunity for educators to make strides in digital transformation.
What is digital transformation in education?
In September 2021, Adobe partnered with Hotwire to survey more than 200 education professionals across the K-12 and higher education sectors to understand their perceptions of and progress with digital transformation initiatives. Findings reveal that educators clearly understand the importance of adopting digital technologies and are increasingly making it a priority to do so.
Shifting to paperless environments is a key effort within digital transformation: 74% of education leadership considers it critical. This is unsurprising when you consider that educational institutions can process an average of 85 000 signed documents every single week – and 35% of educational institutions expect document volumes to increase over the next 18 to 21 months. That adds up to a major problem when 77% of education workflows involve time-consuming, error-prone paper-based processes.
The good news is that many schools are already taking steps towards digital transformation – both in the back office and in the classroom. The survey found that an average of 33% of educators are converting paper forms to digital ones, while 26% are automating administrative processes and workflows. Another 25%, meanwhile, are converting “wet” signatures to digital ones.
To further your school’s transformation journey, please contact your local Adobe distributor, Dax Data. Explore ways that Adobe’s technology can support your journey with one of our consultants.
A need for access in the classroom
Students’ career success requires strong technological literacy. That means teachers need to ensure technology gets into classrooms by setting personal examples – completing class evaluations on electronic tablets, digitising forms and using electronic signatures instead of paper ones, and incorporating multimedia into their lessons.
Classrooms like these are qualitatively changing students’ experiences of the classroom environment – inspiring 42% of educators to invest in online and remote learning improvements for their own institutions. Another 32% are investing in student information system implementation and improvements, and 30% are investing in learning management system upgrades.
The demand for these changes is driven by their measurable impact on efficiency. Although survey respondents cited a wide range of positive outcomes, 50% rated “easier access to information” as the top factor. “Operational efficiency” and “time savings” came in close seconds, with an average of 42% of educators citing each of these benefits as critical.
Another 35% of education professionals cited “greater data accuracy”, while 27% pointed to “better student outcomes” and “better decision-making”, Finally, 21% of education professionals said they valued the fact that digital transformation enabled their staff to spend more time focusing on students.
Let Dax Data help your school increase operational efficiency, while enhancing individual user experience securely. Contact us to discuss your specific needs and tailor demos to show you how Adobe products can add value to your school’s curriculum.