ROLE OF ICT IN EDUCATION
Mamatha M
Assistant Professor, Department of Physics,
Govt First Grade College, Gubbi, Tumkur Dist, Karnataka
E mail: mamatha.soul@gmail.com, Contact no: 8147894982
Abstract
Today India is facing many challenges under Information and Communication revolution. The use of ICT in teaching is very essential for providing good education to the students. Those who do not know how to operate computers or to use will be considered as illiterate. The use of current and emerging technologies in day to day life, in teaching and learning context, the role of ICT in education is becoming more and more important and this will continued to grow and develop in future days. This paper attempts to highlight the requirement of ICT in education, obstacles, implementation and requirement of infrastructure and uses of ICT in education.
Introduction
Over the past many years, one may observe the existence of a worldwide societal debate about the future of our societies and the potential implications for the goals and organization of our educational systems. The information has triggered off a whole set of wild speculations about the necessity of educational reforms that will allow future citizens to survive in an information society. The introduction of Computer Science as an academic subject adds a further layer of complication to the challenging landscape of IT infrastructure. Without the right support and information, IT infrastructure cannot deliver the processing power and networking facilities that students need for computer education. Many governments have, in the late 1990s, developed plans to intensify their investments regarding ICT in education. The sudden booms up of the Internet and worldwide web (WWW) have led to the adoption of objectives to equip all institutions with access to these facilities in a short period of time. ICT in education is an area which is in turmoil and in which many participants play a role. During the past decade a great deal of literature has been produced on the use of Information and Communication Technology. The ICT refers to the hardware, software, networks and media for the collection, storage, processing, transmission and presentation of information (voice, data, text, images), as well as related services describe the extent of the uses of ITCs in the following terms “Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are defined as technologies used to convey, manipulate and store data by electronic means. This can include e-mail, SMS text messaging, video chat, and online social media. It also includes all the different computing devices (e.g., laptop, desktops and smart phones) that carry out a wide range of communication and information functions. All these electronic tools constitute the “Information and communication technologies” (ICTs) and are used to convey, manipulate and store information. The variety of ICTs suggests that ICT go far beyond computers and the internet. Rural side of India still struggling to get the basic infrastructure and the equipment they need. Education may be enriched by integrating such technologies into traditional educational activities. The ICT never displace the relationship between teacher and the student which is very crucial to the learning and development process.
Requirement of ICT in education
Students usually perform a number of tasks. A student must finish his homework, thesis, sharing material between students using ICT tools and applications. If a student is effective at communication with teachers and other students, his tasks will become much easier. There are many ICT tools and applications that a student can use sharing material with other students.
The ICT infrastructure and services need to support individual choice by offering a range of supported applications, services and access devices to enhance the learning experience at large. Institutions will need to ensure that users have the tools to meet their exact requirements and that the tools work together. Using ICT to support flexible working to enable an ICT infrastructure and services to support learners, educators, managers and administrators their needs to be inbuilt flexibility so that users have a range of ways and locations in which they can undertake their daily tasks. The user needs to have knowledge with confidence in the ICT infrastructure to deliver a fast and reliable service, regardless of the task in hand. Using ICT safely and securely by meeting the requirements in this document, schools and colleges will be able to ensure that all learners and staff have access to reliable systems whenever and wherever they want in a way that allows them to develop their skills and make use of technology safely. These requirements will amplify keeping data secure and will be protected.
Obstacles
The act of integrating ICT into teaching and learning is complex issue and one can face number of difficulties. These types of difficulties know as obstacles. Obstacles defined as any condition that makes difficult to make progress or achieve desired objective.
1. Lack of teacher confidence- One of the obstacles that prevent teachers from using ICT in teaching is lack of confidence. Major obstacles are to use computers in class rooms claiming lack of skills preventing teacher to use ICT in teaching. The teacher chose pedagogical lack of teacher competence one of the strong obstacles to the integration of technologies into educators. The teachers fear of failure caused a lack of confidence and limitations of teachers in ICT knowledge make them feel anxious about using ICT in the class room thus, not confident to use ICT in their teaching. Teachers who are having less knowledge in area of ICT are afraid of entering class room, lack of confidence and experience with the technology demoralised teachers and motivation to use ICT.
2. Lack of teacher competence- This is another obstacle which directly related to teacher confidence. In developing countries teacher lacks technological competence is main cause of their non acceptance and non adoption of ICT. Lack of skills is also considered main factor preventing teachers from using ICT in teaching.
3. Negative attitudes- The teacher attitude and inheritance resists to change is serious obstacle. The teachers who are exposed to new technology of the computers are still having the opinion that the use of ICT has no benefits. This negative attitude realised to obstacle in ICT learning.
4. Lack of effective training- There were not enough training opportunities to the teachers in the use of ICT in the class room and the main problem with implementation of the new ICT was that insufficient in-service training programmes to the teachers. Lack of training in the digital literacy, lack of pedagogic and didactic training in how to use ICT in the class room and lack of training concerning the use of technologies in specific area where obstacles to use new technologies.
5. Lack of accessibility- The lack of access to resources including home access is another complex obstacle which discourage teacher from integrating new technologies.
6. Lack of computer and lack of adequate materials- It is a hindrance of ICT. Insufficient of computers, insufficient materials, insufficient number of software, insufficient internet accesses, oldness of computers, and scarcity of educational software in the institutions become great obstacles in successful implementation of ICT.
7. Lack of technical support- Without the good technical support in the class room one should not accept teachers to overcome the obstacles preventing them from using ICT.
Implementation and Requirement of Infrastructure
The following features are essential in the ICT infrastructure and services of every institution. The institution’s ICT infrastructure and services must be reliable. An unreliable infrastructure is likely to detract from the learning experience and obstruct the educator. It will become a frustration to learners, educators, managers and administrators alike if devices, applications and services cannot be relied upon. It is important that an institution ensures coherence by implementing ICT technologies that work together and fit with the overall ICT strategy. This coherence must be applied equally to devices and services running over the institution’s infrastructure and to any connection that enables effective use of the National Education Network or the internet. Accessibility ICT literacy is fast becoming as essential a skill as literacy and numeracy, and it is natural to assume that given access to a computer anyone can gain the ICT skills they need for learning, leisure or employment. Unfortunately, this is not the case, as the number of ICT devices and applications has grown, so too have the ways in which they can be accessed. Collectively known as assistive technology all schools and institutions must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to ensure that learners are not put at a disadvantage in using any facilities or resources including the use of ICT. Institutions need to enable full access and create fully accessible systems that meet the needs of all users. The cheapest solution may not always be the most cost effective when taking these into consideration. As technology changes, so will the institution’s ICT needs, the needs of users and the institution’s capacity to meet those needs with technology are also subject to change. Longer term planning, and consistent management and support, are also essential.
Longer term planning is essential to plan upgrades or enhancements to the institution’s current infrastructure. The institution will be able to plan for improvements to its infrastructure led by educational requirements rather than focused on perceived technical requirements. Management and support Users need confidence that the ICT infrastructure and services will work reliably and consistently, allowing them to concentrate on their learning, educating or management and administration activities. There is a need to remove the inefficiencies of systems that do not work together. A lack of common technical standards in many cases has resulted in ad-hoc solutions being implemented by non-experts. In order to help meet and manage ICT requirements, where appropriate, such an approach could support the expressed desire to move towards support for teaching and learning.
Uses of ICT in education
Modern developments in information and communication technologies provide exciting possibilities to enhance the quality of education. Interactive education software, open access digital libraries, and cheaper technology may facilitate new forms of interaction between students, teachers, and education and enhance the quality of education by making it more accessible. Education may be enriched by integrating such technologies into traditional educational activities. However, it must be recognised that ITC may never displace the relationship between teacher and learner which is crucial to the learning and development process. ICT has the capacity to enhance the learning process and facilitate communications within education institutions and between educators and learners but it must be used in education institutions under the supervision of qualified well-trained professionals with the expertise in pedagogy and in education to ensure that its impact does not damage or undermine the learning process or the development of learners.
The use of ICTs in the educational system would not be able to solve the current problems in the educational system, but rather provide alternative solutions to the obstacles encountered in the conventional educational system. ICTs would be able to provide education and knowledge in a wider reach, even with a limited amount of resource, unlike conventional systems of education.
ICT has been employed in many education projects and research over the world. The education is a key factor of socio-economic development, the education system of developing countries must be aligned with modern technology. ICT can improve the quality of education and bring better outcomes by making information easily accessible to students, helping to gain knowledge and skill easily and making trainings more available for teachers.
Conclusion
Effective training and usage of ICT in teaching is important since poor or improper usage and management of ICT in the classroom may result in underperformance in educational outcomes. The inefficient use of ICT assisted instruction wastes time that could have been used for learning content and developing skills. Some development strategies for requirement of ICT in learning are proposed by the institution must assist in support for ICT adaptation using both formal and informal methods to create a learning system. Education network site populated with relevant learning resources for curriculum purposes needs to be developed.
It is necessary for institution to enhance their ICT in order to participate effectively in the global information age. Institutions ought to seriously consider better ways of proving their worth and usefulness in providing a student centered, intellectually stimulating and technologically advanced teaching, learning and research environment through the use of ICT. Teaching staff should be supported to use innovative methods of teaching in their routine work. ICT training centres that fulfil training needs of students needs to be established. The management, academic staff and non-academic staff should understand the rationale behind using ICT, which is for themselves, for the faculties they serve and the institution at large. Teams comprising of teachers, educational advisors, and library staff need to be developed which develop course-based education content.
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