The Future of Education

Equality of Access to High Quality Digital Resources 

The United Nations sustainability goals have fostered a growing awareness of what a high-quality digital learning experience should look like [1]. In late 2022 The EU Commission published the final report by the expert group on quality investment in education and training. One of the findings in this report highlights that there is a lack of evidence on the impact of the use of digital tools within schools [2]. Research is badly needed on how digital tools can be used outside of the formal school day to support students to achieve their potential. The requirements of the digital experience have never been higher as students’ needs have become more complex [3, 4]. Likewise, students’ expectations of any digital experience have been increased because of initiatives such as the Web Accessibility Directive. This Directive requires all public sector websites to strive to create and maintain a more equitable online experience for all users and to publish web accessibility statement on their websites [3]. As the e-publishing model becomes more prevalent in the provision of resources for schools we may expect to see accessibility statements also becoming associated with digital teaching and learning materials [4,5,6]. This article looks at existing international cost-effective strategies, for the inclusion of high-quality digital resources at second-level and makes reccommendations for stakeholders looking to incorporate high quality digital teaching and learning materials into their teaching and learning activities.

Please use the following tables to select three topics and specify whether your work is research based or experience based. 

Use numbers from 1 to 3