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Seven

p
rinciples to steer

the

development

of public digital learning platforms

UNESCO
-
UNICEF
-

ITU

Charter for

Public Digital

Learning Platform
s
1

Schools of the digital world

Public digital learning platforms are the public schools of the digital world.

Like physical schools

–

with their quality
-
controlled learning resources, prioritization of

safety and well
-
being, and designs and operations to facilitate equitable education

–

public digital learning platforms are spaces that bring together content, tech
nology,

people, and learning activities. They are virtual destinations for public education,

spaces that help learners learn and teachers teach. They prioritize a common

curriculum and reflect the evolving values and goals that societies place on education
.

Similarly to public schools, public digital learning platforms serve the public and are

accountable to it.

***

Too often public education stops where the digital begins

In far too many contexts, public education tends to

stop

where the digital begins.

Hundreds of millions of

learners
, teachers,

and families live in countries

or

communities that are not served

by

any public digital learning

platforms
.

Other

learners

and families

are confronted with

government
-
provisioned

platforms that are poorly

maintained, unreliable, and difficult to navigate and use.

Many of the

most widely used platforms for education

are

commercial

offerings

which

exist outside the reach of public education authorities.

These platforms

tend to

reflect

priorities that sit uneasily with the public aims of public education. They

are

engineered

to

maximize subscriptions, data collection, and engagement that generates profit for

private shareholders.

A lot of the higher
-
quality platforms require costly fees to use, and

this limits their uptake and widens opportunity gaps. Private digital l
earning platforms

that are fre
e typically

extract data about

teachers and learners. This data is then

deployed

or sold to third parties

to manipulate

a user’s

behavior

through advertising and

other techniques that have nothing to do with teaching and learning

–

and can be

antithetical to these pursuits.

Various other

commercial

platforms used for education

are

not actually designed for

educational use

but rather to enhance workplace

productivity, facilitate general communication, or grip and hold users’ att
ention with

content that demands little intellectual or imaginative effort.

Put simply, commercial platforms insufficiently uphold and advance the humanistic,

universal, and publicly agreed missions of public education in digital realms.
2

Extending public education to digital and online realms

This Charter asserts that governments should work to extend public education to digital

and online

environment
s
,

as well as to schools, libraries
,

and

other physical spaces

dedicated to education. Digital education and traditional in
-
person education should be

complementary and interwoven

–

and governments need to be vigilant about both.

Why public digital learning platforms
?

Systems of public education help direct the full development of human beings; promote

understanding and tolerance;

expand

opportunity; catalyze economic growth; and

facilitate the pursuit of truth, justice and social solidarity. Digital platforms for public

education need to advance these same objectives. They are digital commons that help

fulfil
l
,

expand
, and strengthen

the human right to education.

While some countries build and sustain robust public digital learning platforms, many

more do not.

This

leaves

a vacuum that is

commonly

filled by

non
-
governmental

actors.

A
round the world, for
-
profit technology corporations have

emerged

the de facto hosts,

architects and operators of digital education, rather

than

ministries of education
,

school leaders and teachers
.

I
n

countless

national and subnational contexts

alike,

public authorities have largely

cede
d

digital education to

private sector companies
.

A diversity of platforms

–

whether public or private

–

should be welcomed, but

education is too important to be left to the vicissitudes of the market alone. P
ublic

digital learning platforms

have become

essential components of holistic systems of

education
. They

guarantee that education will be supported in virtual spaces

and

offer

resources and functionalities

that help

public schools

fulfill thei
r

missions
. These

platforms

also

benefit a wider spectrum of education providers, from

universities,

libraries

and museums to private, religious, home, and vocational schools
.

A
dditionally
,

while

public digital learning platforms

should never ‘stand in’ for schools, they

occasionally

offer ‘only option’ link
s

to educational opportunities

for learners who

cannot access schooling whether because of poverty,

displacement, conflict, disease,

discrimination, natural disasters

or other reasons
.

Public needs and public aims need to steer the development and operation of public

digital learning platforms. Like

public

schools, they should be owned by, controlled by
,

and shared by the public and in service of the public.

This does not discount important
3

roles for the private sector through public
-
private partnerships and other arrangements,

but there need to be strong mechanisms to assure accountability to the public.

Fortunately, a growing number of governments are recognizing that in a digital and AI

age
,

safe and high
-
quality public education must cross into digital realms. Young people

commonly spend an average of seven

or more

hours a day immersed in digital screens.

There needs to be a safe harbor for public education on these screens

–

a place where

learners, teachers, parents, and wider communities can go to learn and grow.

Ultimately, the rationale for public digital learning platforms is as simple as it is

compelling: public education must be supported in digital as well as in physical spaces.

Public digital learning platforms have become non
-
optional complements to physica
l

schools.

They carry a vast

and mostly

unrealized potential to help put learners on more

equal footing and better maximize educational opportunities for all.

Aims of the Charter

The UNESCO
-
UNICEF
-
ITU

Charter seeks to help guide the creation and development of

public digital learning platforms that support, extend,

and

enrich school
-
based

education.

The Charter proposes

seven

broad principles that all public digital learning platforms

should strive to reflect and respect.

The

Charter

places a

primary focus on the role of digital learning platforms as

complement
s to

K
-
12 schooling

and a secondary focus on platforms that open non
-

formal learning opportunities or complement

tertiary
,

vocational

or professional

education.

By necessity, the principles are signposts, rather than detailed ‘how to’ guides. Given

the diversity of educational contexts in the world, it will be up to countries

–

and states,

provinces, municipalities and communities within countries

–

to determine w
hat

actions and processes are needed to actualize the principles.

***

Without question, technological advancements in AI, virtual and augmented reality,

quantum computing, neurotech

and other areas will invariably alter ideas of what

public digital learning platforms are, how they work and what they might become. The

principles shared here are intended to provide orientation and direction, even as new
4

technologies open novel possibilities and present novel challenges for educational

platforms.

While the technologies that comprise digital learning platforms will continue to evolve,

the need for well
-
recognized and trusted digital hubs for public education will remain.

Education systems require a front door for public education in online and digit
al

environments

–

spaces that welcome all learners, teachers and families and help them

access quality
-
assured, relevant, curriculum
-
aligned, and age
-

and culturally
-

appropriate learning content and experiences. Just as schools evolve to accommodate

techn
ological and social changes, so too will public digital learning platforms.

Seven

principles

This Charter puts forward

seven

principles to help public sector decision
-
makers make

informed choices about the design, development, provision and enhancement of public

digital learning platforms
.

The principles

are

grounded

in

beliefs

that

public

digital

learning

platforms

should:

•

uphold and expand

the

right

to

education,

•

be

governed

as

digital

public goods
,

and

•

strengthen

educational

inclusion,

equ
ity and

resilience
.

Each principle is

elaborated with sub
-
points that provide additional guidance to

authorities and teams responsible for the development and oversight of public digital

learning platforms.

Considered holistically, the principles

help define and

establish a common language to

support discussions and policies about digital learning platforms that support public

education.
5

Principle #1: PUBLIC

1.1 Public good:

Public digital learning platforms (PDLPs) embody and reinforce the

principle that education is a public good and a human right, apart from a market
-
driven

commodity. They serve the collective as well as individual aims of education.

1.2 Public governance:

PDLPs are controlled or closely overseen by public authorities

who are accountable to the public. Governance models treat PDLP
s

as public

infrastructure, including, and perhaps especially, in instances when commercial actors

are involved in their development or provision.

1.3 Public

financing:

With rare exception, PDLPs

are

largely or

fully

financed with

consistent and sustainable streams of public revenue. Platforms funded and controlled

by the public will serve the public aims of public education.

While public financing

is

the

foundation of PDLPs,

c
omplementary and carefully regulated partnerships with

private

and development partners can enhance

innovation and sustainability under firm public

oversight
.

1.4

Data sovereignty and stewardship
:

D
ata generated through

PDLPs

remains under

national jurisdiction and public control.

Information about learners and teachers is

sensitive. It must be

stored, processed, and governed according to national laws and

treated according to norms and values attached to

public education
, rather than digital

commerce
. When third parties are involved, clear agreements uphold public ownership,

access, and long
-
term stewardship of data resources.

1.
5

Talented teams of civil servants:

Governments make long
-
term investments in the

people and teams who build, maintain, and improve PDLPs. This means recruiting,

training, and retaining skilled technical and pedagogical professionals within public

institutions. A platform is only as strong a
s the human teams behind it
.

Talent

pipelines

must be planned and supported.

Principle #2:

INCLUSIVE

2.1 Widens opportunities for all
:

A moral imperative of public education is to leave no

one behind. PDLPs

aspire

to

benefit

all

end users, learners and teachers most centrally,

but also, ideally, parents and education authorities.

Asking how platforms will work for

teachers in remote areas, for learners with disabilities, and for children outside of

formal education

help
s

direct and prioritize design and development decisions.

2.2

Multilingual support
:

Learners should have the ability to learn in their own

language. Research has underscored the importance of mother tongue instruction in
6

the early years of education. PDLPs strive to support languages relevant in the national

and sub
national contexts where they are used.

Historically, t
his process

has been

prohibitively expensive, but

automated

translation tools, while imperfect, have eased

the financial burden considerably and made it more realistic to better support a

multiplicity of languages.

2.3

Accessible

for

learners

with disabilities
:

A
pproximately one in six learners has a

disability.

PDLPs

adhere to internationally recognized accessibility standards
, such as

the

Web Content Accessibility G
uidelines published by the World Wide Web

Consortium
. Compliance with these guidelines or similar accessibility frameworks will

help

ensure that education content is perceivable, operable, understandable and

robust for all users.

2.
4

Culturally aware
:

PDLPs should reflect and respect the cultural identities of the

learners, teachers and families they serve. There is no shortage of digital learning

content that assumes users are embedded in northern and anglophone cultures and

contexts. PDLPs can break

this default mode by curating content that is more locally

relevant and helps users learn

about and contribute

to

local

knowledge and belief

systems, traditions, histories, art, literature, and languages. Digital technologies and

digit
al learning applications are sometimes understood as tools that enable cultural

homogenization or even cultural colonialization, but these impacts are far from

inevitable.

PDLPs can appropriate and deploy t
ech
n
ology

to buttress

cultural and

knowledge diversity.

2.
5

Works with the technology people have
:

In a perfect world, all users of a PDLP will

have cutting
-
edge hardware, high bandwidth connectivity, and no restraints on data

consumption. This is almost never the reality. PDLPs should, to the extent possible, run

smoothly on low
-
cost hardware and acco
mmodate intermittent and low bandwidth

connectivity. They should also allow users options to download resources so that they

can be accessed even if users are not connected to the internet. Some of the most

impactful PDLPs are custom
-
designed to function s
moothly on a low
-
cost smartphone

rather than larger
-
screen and higher
-
performance tablets, laptops or desktop

computers.

2.6 Works with the digital skills people have:

Well
-
designed PDLPs help people with

limited digital skills find and benefit from educational content. Platforms should not

expect teachers and learners to develop sophisticated digital competencies before

trying to benefit from them. When PDLPs succeed i
n establishing entry points for

people with nascent digital skills, it tends to propel a virtuous cycle: learning is

accelerated and users get opportunities to become more comfortable accessing and

navigating digital spaces for education.
7

Pr
inciple

#3: PEDAGOGICAL

3.1 Teacher led
:

PDLPs give teachers

flexibility and

expanded

options to facilitate

student

learning in diverse contexts.

T
he content, presentation, design and

functionalities of platforms

should give teachers greater control over education
.

PDLPs

that try to

dictate the

actions and choices of

teachers

wrongly

strip the professionals

closest to students of the agency and autonomy they need to do their job
s
.

Effective

platforms empower teachers and give them a powerful toolbox to connect with

students and improve learning outcomes.

3
.
2

Balances guidance and independent exploration
:

PDLPs both guide learners and

let them explore ideas and topics on their own. ‘Ask me anything’ and ‘go anywhere’ AI

bots are increasingly understood as promising plug
-
ins or ‘machine tutors’ for PDLPs.

But these nascent, amoral, and largely user
-
directed

technologies, while powerful allies

for some educational and knowledge tasks, need to be complemented with more

structured content and tools that help learners make progress in curricular areas. Users

of P
DLPs

need

opportunities to lead

their own learning

and be led.

3.3

Pedagogically diverse:

P
DLPs

integrate a multiplicity of pedagogical approaches

from constructivist and experiential learning to didactic and behaviorist instruction to

Socratic dialogue and critical reflection.

These approaches and their application in

digital learning platforms should be guided by educational research, findings from

learning sciences and user preferences. PDLPs provide a variety of ways to

engage in

education and are not dominated by one didactic model.

3.4

Learning together and learning alone:

PDLPs facilitate the education of

individuals, groups, and even whole societies and nations, and, in doing so, help them

live together in

peace.

Because many commercial digital learning tools are aimed only

at individual consumers they have, arguably, overemphasized personalization. There is

some evidence to suggest that AI and more fixed algorithmic technologies can select

and tailor educational

content and pathways for individuals in ways that enhance their

learni
ng. There is also evidence that group
-
based learning is more effective

–

and

fosters important social and communication skills that can be difficult to measure. A

PDLP that overemphasizes personalization can, unintentionally, subvert the collective

and pub
lic purposes of education. There is value in class and generational cohorts

studying common topics, reading similar books, and discussing ideas in teacher
-
led

groups. Platforms should strive to advance education as both a collective and individual

endeavor

and maximize opportunities for conversation, cooperation and collaboration

between people

and absent heavy automation or prescriptions from non
-
human bots
.
8

Principle #
4
:

COMPLEMENTARY

4
.1

Reinforcing
:

Too many existing educational platforms seek to replace or

circumnavigate teachers and in
-
person institutions of public education. A

primary

function of PDLPs is to support teachers and strengthen education provided in physical,

face
-
to
-
face learning institutions, while expanding the reach of these institutions. The

relationship between schools and PDLPs

is

symbiotic.

4
.2

Part of a larger whole
:

PDLPs exist to help advance the holistic aims and

aspirations societies set for public education. They should be understood as

integral

components

of wider systems of public education, not standalone ‘products’. They

contribute to and work in

concert

with

wider

education ecosystems

that extend well

beyond digital services.

4
.3

Integrated with foundational digital public infrastructure:

PDLPs are usually a

branch of wider and deeper digital public infrastructure (DPI) that serves public needs

across sectors. Digital learning platforms are integrated with systems such as digital

identity, payment systems and data exchange. Embedding PDLPs

within national DPI

frameworks helps ensure sustainability, support scalability, and improve coherence

with other public digital services.

4
.
4

Embedded
:

PDLPs should be embedded in and complementary to national

education policy frameworks, including those related to curriculum, teacher

[US add]

development, assessment, scholarship programs, extra
-
curricular activities,

supplemental instruction and tutoring

[US add]

and resource management systems.

Just as schools are deeply embedded in almost all policy frameworks concerning

education, so too should PDLPs.

4
.
5

Synchronized
:

Planning, budgeting and reporting cycles connected to PDLPs

should be aligned with cycles related to schools and, when relevant, other essential

public services. This will help guarantee sustainability beyond single budgetary cycle

and responsibility and

accountability beyond a single political cycle. PDLPs need to be

treated as main branches of education systems and wider social programs.

4
.
6

Cohesive and coherent
:

PDLPs should fill distinct needs and provide resources

and services that are understood by teachers, learners, families, policy
-
makers, and

others involved in education. If there are multiple PDLPs in a single national or

sub
national context, they should have distinct purposes, users, and functions. When

PDLPs offer overlapping services, this creates unnecessary confusion

–

and splinters

government investments in scalable solutions for education. Ideally, PDLPs will reduce
9

fragmentation and redundancies and help an education system operate

in a

cohesive

and coherent manner.

4
.
7

Recognized
:

Successful PDLPs are known. They should be as familiar to average

people as the names and locations of long
-
operating local schools. Clustering

diverse

digital education content and services under a single platform improves its recognition.

While there can be good reasons to establish several PDLPs, this practice can also

create

fragmentation and unnecessary

confusion: people forget which platform is for

what purposes and for

whom. Just commercial providers tend to keep digital services

under a single digital roof to improve recognition and increase engagement, so too

should governments. The constant renaming and rebranding of PDLPs, often triggered

by pol
itical changes within a country or

a particular

administrative unit, usually

muddies

recognition. Building

and

committing to

one PDLP for public education helps bolster its

visibility, use, and impact.

Principle #
5
: OPEN

5
.1 Connected services and applications:

PDLPs should function as connected and

modular systems. Ideally, different services within a platform will link with and reinforce

others. Systems used for assessment should, for example, bridge to systems that help

teachers locate relevant content and le
sson plans. This ensures that teachers can find

resources to assist the review and reinforcement of concepts that students struggled to

grasp as detected by an assessment. Good PDLPs also strive to reduce the need fo
r

redundant data entry by incorporating information uploaded to one utility to others.

Currently, many PDLPs are comprised of largely stand
-
alone applications that rarely

‘talk to’ each other, forcing learners, teachers, and school leaders to enter similar

information across multiple systems, even when these systems are ostensibly housed

within a single platform. Data retrieval, essential to teachers and learners alike, can be

similarly constrained because data resides across walled off systems and applicat
ions.

PDLPs should always seek to provide a seamless user experience by, for example,

making content that has been bookmarked easily retrievable no matter where a user is

inside a platform.

5
.2

Built for integration:

Interoperability is facilitated by open technical standards and

systems that enable secure data exchange. PDLPs should be able to connect with other

core education systems, such as education registries or credentialing bodies, through a

Digital Public Infr
astructure (DPI) approach. Well planned application programming

interfaces (APIs) facilitate the integration of information housed in diverse repositories

into a PDLP, creating opportunities to expand and improve educational serv
ices. APIs

can help integrate everything from notices about community events to content and data

Charte éducation numérique UNESCO - en - Revision history