The forced digitization has transformed the educational system from the book to the tablet

Was the Spanish education system successful last school year Spanish education ended 2020 with a SL (needs improvement) just like in the previous grades. The educational world was shaken by digitization, which turned the world of work upside-down. This academic year is still struggling to recover.

The young people were required to leave their classrooms in March to park their books and exchange them for computers. Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom were just a few of the tools that allowed students to continue their classes. In 2014, the search engine giant opened an educational tool that allows distance learning.

Students can access this platform from any device, making it convenient for students to access the site at any time. Teachers can also add multimedia attachments, such as YouTube videos, links to other websites, or Drive documents. Moodle is the most popular platform among universities. This collaborative system allows students and teachers to actively take part in the process.

Many teachers chose to use the mythical cards in order to continue their educational tasks. These were monitored through photos that were exchanged via email or WhatsApp. The INE has just released the most recent data. Nine out of ten Spanish households now have internet access. This percentage is 97% for households with children.

If we take into account the lowest income bracket (less that 900 euros per monthly), 9.2% households with children can't access the Network. This means that almost 100,000 households are not able to connect. Only 0.4% of households earning more than 3,000 euro per month have internet.

A study done by the High Commission for the Fight against Child Poverty found that one fifth of children in the first income quadrant live in homes without computers (20%). This is compared to 0.9% in fourth quarterile.

In the lowest income quarter, 48 percent of households have children and less than half (48%) have access. The INE reports that all households with a tablet have a computer in their household. This suggests that the device can still be used as a complement.

Experts point out that while most schools have the tools necessary for digitizing education, the goal is not to recreate the classroom. Rather, it is important to give students temporary access to educators, their lessons and school resources.

The pandemic threat that struck last year was a surprise, and it showed that the Spanish education system wasn't prepared for it. The Administration, both the regional and central ones, was not prepared, as were teachers, students, and centres. Regular attendance in the classroom gives you access to information and privacy. Educational content is difficult to replace.

Digitalization has been rapid and without any plan. Personal technological devices have become the ideal vehicle for accessing classes. Due to domestic use, laptops, desktop computers, tablets, or smartphones lack cybersecurity solutions that are adapted for school environments and allow hackers to easily exploit their vulnerabilities.

Remote learning is made more difficult by the human factor. Cohabitants are more likely than not to share their devices and passwords, click on phishing emails, or download dangerous and unapproved apps.

Awareness is therefore an essential element. It is crucial to teach users how to protect their passwords, how to install patches on devices, how download applications and how to act against 'phishing'.

The European Commission launched the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027), with the goal of "adapting education to the digital age". The work of Brussels has been ongoing since 2020. It will attempt to initiate a strategic dialog with EU member states to prepare a proposal for a recommendation on the factors that will ensure the success of digital education by 2022.

2020 saw the disclosure of security flaws in educational institutions' cybersecurity systems. They must strengthen their systems to prevent such attacks and invest the required funds to ensure data privacy. They must also ensure that the online education platform is available. This includes protecting the tools they use such as virtual private network (VPN). Cloud environments promote agility and safe storage. .