9.

3 Information and communication technology (ICT) literacy

ICT, which stands for Information and Communications Technology, has

become an essential component of our everyday life. The creative use of ICT in
education has the capacity to increase the quality of people’s lives by
enhancing teaching and learning.

An increasing number of educational organizations are adopting ICT and

replacing the traditional educational practices with it. Since, technological skills
are increasingly important for advancement in education and work, the
educational curriculums of schools and colleges should integrate ICT into them
to refine their teaching and learning processes and provide students with the
opportunities to use modern technology to advance and improve their
learning. For educational institutions, ICT can include computer, computer
networks (Internet/Intranet), external devices, multimedia and other assistive
technologies as well. When ICT is effectively integrated in educational
curriculums, it offers teachers and students a powerful set of tools to aid in
their teaching in learning and helps them realize their true potential. ICT
should be carefully incorporated in the curriculum, keeping in view the
individual needs of students, the philosophy and content of the curriculum and
the learning experience that the teacher wants to provide to the students.
ICT provides students and teachers with the educational tools and resources
that extend the overall learning environment. These tools support the aims
and principles of the curriculum to rejuvenate classroom learning and teaching.
There are a wide range of benefits of embedding ICT literacy in the
curriculum, which make it a “must” today, these are:
Improves motivation and engagement with learning: It leads to increased
collaboration, greater engagement and persistence, more task specific
behavior and better understanding of concepts. It also enhances creativity,
critical thinking skills and develops problem-solving abilities.
Provides tools for all purposes: A wide range of technologies are available
for use in the classroom, such as Interactive Whiteboards (IWs), display and
presentation software with animations and simulations, help students
develop understanding of concepts through concrete examples and
graphical illustrations. Mobile technologies support educational initiatives
that focus on communication. Laptops can be also be used by teachers for
management and administrative purposes. The inclusion of games,
improves decision-making and information processing. Video
conferencing engage students and encourage them to work in collaboration
with others.
Aids students with special needs: ICT offers individualized support. It has a
positive impact on the learning of students with special educational needs,
through adaptive and assistive technologies specially designed to support
students with specific disabilities or through the use of mainstream
technologies such as digital video and photography.
Personalized learning experience: E-learning offers flexible and
personalized learning and makes learning a possibility even outside schools.
It makes learning more targeted towards the needs of an individual learner.
Combinations of technology and applications give greater choice in relation
to what, when and where to study, selecting according to interests, learning
styles, preferences and needs. Such systems can give students more
autonomy and independence with learning.

Improves communication between schools and the broader community:

Schools are linked internally and also to their outer community through
online networks, which has improved communication between them and
has led to centralized attendance, assessment and recording systems,
better communication with parents, stakeholders, staff, etc.
Improves administration and management: Schools use Intranets to
support administrative activities such as attendance monitoring,
assessment records, finance, sharing of information and more. They make
use of data-gathering tools for better management, monitoring and
evaluation.
Promotes Active learning:
ICT tools can promote active learning by enabling the child to find, manage,
evaluate and use information retrieved from online sources. The child can
discuss his or her findings, and share them with others using presentation
and authoring software.
Develops higher order thinking and problem-solving:
ICT incorporates in the curriculum such authentic learning resources which
can develop a student’s ability to question, analyze, investigate and think
critically. Content-free software like databases, spreadsheets, allows
students to interpret and manipulate data representations.
Develops Collaborative learning:
 It allows students to construct knowledge collaboratively when working
together on tasks using one computer. They can also work collaboratively
when they use communication technologies such as E-mail or video-
conferencing.
Apart from all these reasons, there are a lot more reasons to incorporate ICT
into the educational curriculum. Schools should aim to identify innovative and
authentic contexts for developing skills and understanding which provide a
clear purpose for using ICT. The planning process should be creative,
reinforcing the fact that technology can support learning in all curriculum
areas. Share why you think ICT should be embedded in educational
curriculums.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.4 Technology in Education

The term educational technology refers to the use of technology in

educational settings, whether it be elementary and secondary
schools, colleges and universities, corporate training sites, or
independent study at home. Educational technology has both
general and specialized meanings. To the lay public and to a majority
of educators, the term refers to the instructional use of computers,
television, and other kinds of electronic hardware and software.
Specialists in educational technology, in particular college and
university faculty who conduct research and teach courses on
educational technology, prefer the term instructional
technology because it draws attention to the instructional use of
educational technology. This term represents both a process and the
particular devices that teachers employ in their classrooms.

Association for Educational Communications and Technology:

According to the Association for Educational Communications and

Technology, one of the principal professional associations
representing educational technologists, "Instructional Technology is
a complex, integrated process involving people, procedures, ideas,
devices, and organization for analyzing problems, and devising,
implementing evaluating, and managing solutions to these problems,
in situations in which learning is purposive and controlled."

Educational technologists often employ the term instructional

media to represent all of the devices that teachers and learners use
to support learning. However, for many educators the
terms educational technology, instructional media, and instructional
technology are used interchangeably, and they are used so here. In
addition, the principal focus will be upon the most modern
computational and communication devices used in schools today.

Technology and Learning

A primary purpose for employing instructional technology in schools

is to enhance student learning. Has technology been successful in
helping students learn more effectively and efficiently? Much
research has been done on this question, but the answer is far from
certain. Most research on educational technology has consisted of
media comparison studies. After assigning comparable students to
control groups or to experimental groups, the researcher presents
the experimental group of students with instruction that employs the
new media, while the control group experiences the same content
without the new media. The researcher then compares the
achievement of the two groups.

Current Technologies Used in Schools

Whatever learning theory a teacher may embrace, many

technologies exist in schools to enhance instruction and to support
student learning. While teachers vary greatly in their use of these
technologies, teachers select media they believe will promote their
instructional goals. Following are a few examples of computers being
used to support four goals: building student capacity for research,
making student inquiry more realistic, enabling students to present
information in appealing forms, and offering students access to
learning resources within and beyond the school.

 Student research
Students once relied upon local and school libraries and their
printed reference materials to research topics. Now, however,
computer technologies provide access to digital versions of
these references–and to libraries worldwide. Encyclopedias on
CD-ROMs provide information, digital images, video, and audio,
and also provide links to websites where students access tools
such as live web cameras and global positioning satellites.
Dictionaries and thesauruses are built into word processors.
Through the Internet students can gain access to a wide variety
of primary and secondary sources, including government
documents, photographs, and diaries.
 Student inquiry
Educational reformers believe education needs to be real and
authentic for students. Technology can engage students in real-
world activities. In the sciences, electronic probes allow science
students to collect precise weather or chemical reaction data
and digitally trace trends and answer hypotheses. Graphing
calculators, spreadsheets, and graphing software provide
mathematics students with the ability to visualize difficult
mathematical concepts. In the social sciences, electronic
communication tools (e.g. Internet conferencing, e-mail,
electronic discussion groups) allow students to communicate
with their peers from many parts of the world. In the language
arts, students use handheld computers and wireless networks
to create joint writing exercises and read electronic books that
 allow them to explore related topics. Concept-mapping
software provides all students with the opportunity to build the
framework for a story or report and to map out linkages among
complex characters, such as those in a play by Shakespeare.
 Constructing new knowledge
In the past, award-winning projects have included a video
created by fourth graders that demonstrates their feelings
regarding acceptance, diversity, and compassion; an
interactive, multimedia presentation by second graders about
the water cycle; and an interactive multimedia project by a high
school student depicting the history of war experienced by one
family.
 Access to learning resources

Some schools lack the resources to provide all of the courses that
students may need or want. Advanced placement and foreign
language courses can be particularly expensive for a school system to
offer when there is not a high level of student demand. A variety of
technologies (e.g. interactive television, Internet videoconferencing)
provide students the opportunity to participate in a class that is
located in a different school, in a different town, and even in a
different state or country.