SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to its economic development. Much of the progress, especially in higher education and scientific research, has been credited to various public institutions. While enrolment in higher education has increased steadily over the past decade, reaching a Gross Enrollment Ratio of 24% in 2013 there still remains a significant distance to catch up with tertiary education enrolment levels of developed nations a challenge that will be necessary to overcome in order to continue to reap a demographic dividend from India's comparatively young population.

Prof.(Dr.) Suresh Gosavi ,
Vice Chancellor

Digitization has changed the entire scenario of education and it has played crucial role in the inclusion of persons with all kinds of abilities with varied background. In order to this happen consistently over time, universities and colleges must adopt both a policy and a system that supports digitization of institutional programs, services and activities. Teachers, students, researchers use internet for their routine academic assignment. Blogs posts, forums, social media, Videos are very commonly used by them because it is easily accessible to every one including persons with disabilities. Digitization is the key driver for Universal Designing for Learning as many tools and applications uses digital system such as web, digital projectors and displays, audio devices, learning management tools etc. Multi-modal instructional design and learning is facilitated by Digital systems. Digital content can be available in many forms such as text, audio and video, large print, braille, pictorial and graphical etc. Also it is very easy to convert digital content in any format in short time. Digitization provide several options for learning such as distance learning through online programs, classroom learning through various means, Practical learning in Laboratories etc. Digital or online libraries has crucial role for inclusion of persons with varied abilities. All type of study material such as books, journals, magazines, short articles etc is readily available in digital library which can be easily accessible to every one with the use of computer aided assistive technologies like screen readers, screen magnifiers, sign language interpreters etc. Digitization of institutional programs, services and activities has made academics more inclusive and accessible for every one including persons with disabilities. It is beneficial to the academic institution to make its all the processes digital if they wish to make their academics inclusive and accessible.

Dr. Vaibhav Jadhav
Assistant Professor