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1. Background

The changes in the digital landscape were already taking shape even before the pandemic. In fact, there were a lot of discussions prior to the pandemic on how IR4.0 was brought by digital technology and innovations. There’s no doubt that the pandemic has been unprecedented across all sectors and caused change on how we leveraged technology in our daily work. As we enter the post-pandemic era, we need to develop and cultivate new skills to adapt to these changes. Further, the fast-paced changes in the digital landscape requires responsive and innovative ways of learning. 

As the world becomes more uncertain, it is imperative to acknowledge that adapting to digital transformation is not just about investing in new technologies because it also requires a shift in mindset and culture. The internet and the means to access it, such as tablets and smartphones, along with social media platforms and messaging apps, have become integral to the lives of youth around the world.

However, the so-called digital divide across the globe is substantial: 346 million youth are not online, with African adolescents the most affected (60% are not connected compared with 4% in Europe)¹ Young people who lack digital skills, live in remote regions, or speak a minority language are also being left behind in harnessing the opportunities that digital technologies can provide.  These benefits include access to education, training, and jobs, which can help break intergenerational cycles of poverty, and access to news and information sources that can help protect their health, safety, and rights. 

As for the Southeast Asia region, the United Nations (UN) estimates that the rural population will total 324.3 million or 47 percent of its entire population by 2025 ². Asia DHRRA (Asia Partnership for the Development of Human Resource in Asia) points to increased urban to rural migration during the pandemic, with job losses forcing workers back to their rural hometowns. According to the Researcher at ISEAS (2023), currently there is an unprecedented demand for digital workers equipped with in-demand technical skills for digital technology. For example, Singapore needs 1.2 million additional digital workers by 2025 – a 55 per cent increase from today’s levels – to remain competitive. For Indonesia, an additional 600,000 digital talents annually are needed to service its digital transformation pipeline until 2030. Meanwhile, a digital talent survey conducted by a Malaysian think tank, the Social and Economic Research Initiative (SERI), found that only 4.8 per cent of Malaysian private sector respondents feel that the existing labour market can fully meet their digital talent needs³

Digital transformation also brought about challenges related to generation gaps. Students these days either belong to Generation Z or Alpha. They are digital natives. They have been exposed to digital devices at a young age. As they are born ready to use technology and are familiar with consuming tons of information in a short period, they can quickly adapt to new lifestyle, thought, and belief transformations. On the other hand, parents and educators are mostly digital immigrants, which means they learned and picked up digital skills later on in their adult lives. They take more time learning, adapting to, and understanding digital transformations. This gap in understanding was intensified during study-from-home periods when parents needed to take care of the learners’ well-being while assisting in their learning. Teachers also differ from students in that they still need to adapt to teaching online and measuring learning progress from behind the screen.
 
As digital transformation shapes the labor market globally and regionally, technology has become the center of the teaching and learning processes in our schools and education systems. Notably, Southeast Asia is one of the regions with the highest percentage of countries integrating digital skills in education policies and school frameworks. For example, enrolment in massive open online courses has the fastest growth in Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam. This access is supported by the increase in internet users in the region, from 16% in 2004 to 70% in 2021, accounting for 400 million individual users, 40 million of which were introduced in 2020 alone. This surge is more pronounced among the youth, with over four in five 12 to 17-year old in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam engaged in daily online activities. It is also noteworthy that internet accessibility at home is more common among more than 50% of school-age children and youth. This information is proof of the potential of digital technologies to transform education and the future of the region.

However, the extent to which technology can transform education is a topic to be deeply and meaningfully discussed. Changes from technological advances and innovation in education are gradual and uneven across different contexts. The application of technology is shaped by factors such as community socioeconomic status, teacher readiness, educational levels, and national income. Southeast Asia exhibits variations in our education system. This also remains true in leveraging digital technologies in enhancing Education, Science and Culture for all Learners across Southeast Asia.

Realising the gap in providing quality education for all learners in Southeast Asia, SEAMEO Secretariat aims to provide a platform to support innovative teaching and learning paradigms using digital technologies that would support more inclusive education, expand access to information and knowledge, enrich educational processes and improve the learning outcomes.  Building on this momentum, this journal explores how digital transformation in education can support the learning recovery and transformation of education systems to increase the relevance, efficiency, inclusion, resilience and quality of education delivery among learners in the region.

This year's theme for the SEAMEO Journal 2023 focuses on the key challenges and issues facing digital technology transformation among learners and the key priority areas for digital technology transformation in education, science and culture in Southeast Asia. This journal also looks forward to initiating policy pointers which could focus on the role of national governments in coordinating and empowering education system actors to advance the digital transformation of education in the region.

1. UNICEF's State of the World's Children 2017: Children in a Digital World report
2. https://theaseanpost.com/article/using-technology-better-education
3. https://www.iseas.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ISEAS_Perspective_2023_48.pdf

 

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2. Host Organisation

• SEAMEO Secretariat, Bangkok, Thailand

 

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3. Objectives

The objectives of SEAMEO Journal 2023 are as follows:

1. To provide a platform for SEAMEO Regional Centres and Network to share the research studies that will contribute towards the vision for digital transformation in education in the Southeast Asia;
2. To identify essential digital skills as a step towards learning new things and improve the learners’ confidence to use technology for learning and future workforce; and
3. To explore the concept of reducing the challenges related to generation gaps between learners, parents and teachers in adapting and understanding digital transformations.
   

 

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4. Theme and Sub-themes

Theme:

• Leveraging Digital Technologies in enhancing Education, Science and Culture for all Learners across Southeast Asia

Sub-themes:

• Ensuring the right skills required for current and future workforce to reduce the growing mismatch skills among the youth;
• Addressing the challenges posed by digital transformation in education, policy and governance; and
• Improving access to quality educational opportunities for the disadvantaged and the unreached.
  

 

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5. Expected Outputs

• Collate best practices to increase awareness of the usage of digital technology in enhancing education, science and culture among all learners in Southeast Asia;
• Identify the possible strategies to address gaps of achieving quality education based on the list of benefits and challenges in using digital technologies; and
• Enhance data driven learners’ insights in leveraging digital technologies in educational institutions.

 

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6. Tentative Schedule

 

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7. Participants

The participants include 26 SEAMEO Regional Centers and Network. Each SEAMEO Centre and Network can submit up to two (2) articles to the SEAMEO Secretariat at the following email address:
journal2023@seameo.org.

 

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8. Contact Person

Dr Kamaleswaran Jayarajah
Research, Evaluation and Assessment Specialist (REAS)
SEAMEO Secretariat
journal2023@seameo.org

Ms Chanika Nonthachai
Secretary for Programme and Development
SEAMEO Secretariat
journal2023@seameo.org