Importance of ICT in Education

SUMMARY OF ICT JOURNAL

TITLE            : Importance of ICT in Education

AUTHOR      : Department of Education, University of Jammu

YEAR             : 2013

ABSTRACT  : This paper is a mere attempt to present a glimpse of meaning of ICT, its importance & its mandatory need for education, which is indispensable.ICT stands for INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY .These technologies include: computers, the Internet, Broadcasting technologies (radio and television), Telephony.

INTRODUCTION    :

To accurately understand the importance of ICT in Education there is need to actually understand the meaning of ICT.ICTs stand for information and communication technologies and are defined, for the purposes of this primer, as a ―diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information. The Internet is a driving force for much development and innovation in both developed and developing countries. Countries must be able to benefit from technological developments. To be able to do so, a cadre of professionals has to be educated with sound ICT backgrounds, independent of specific computer platforms or software environments. Technological developments lead to changes in work and changes in the organization of work, and required competencies are therefore changing. Gaining in importance are the following competencies: critical thinking, generalist (broad) competencies, ICT competencies enabling expert work, decision-making, handling of dynamic situations, working as a member of a team, and Communicating effectively.

There are two very different and distinct aspects of ICT in education:

1.      One is teaching ICT itself, and

2.      The second is using ICT as an augmented tool to the existing teaching methods which is more important; it will be very useful if the people study from MCSE, CCNA, CompTIA, IBM, and Ctirix.

The main purpose of the Strategy for Information and Communication Technology Implementation in Education is to provide the prospects and trends of integrating information and communication technology (ICT) into the general educational activities. There are some unavoidable facts in the modern education:

·         First, the ICT has been developing very rapidly nowadays. Therefore, in order to balance it, the whole educational system should be reformed and ICT should be integrated into educational activities.

·         Second, the influence of ICT, especially internet (open source tool) cannot be ignored in our student‘s lives. So, the learning activities should be reoriented and reformulated, from the manual source centered to the open source ones. In this case the widely use of internet access has been an unavoidable policy that should be anticipated by schools authorities.

·         Third, the presence of multimedia games and online games by internet has been another serious problem that should be wisely handled by the educational institutions. The students cannot be exterminated from this case. They can have and do with it wherever and whenever they want.

·         Fourth, the implementation of ICT in education has not been a priority trend of educational reform and the state paid little attention to it. Therefore, there should be an active participation, initiative and good will of the schools and the government institutions to enhance ICT implementation at school.

·         Fifth, the teachers should be the main motivator and initiator of the ICT implementation at schools. The teachers should be aware of the social change in their teaching activities. They should be the agent of change from the classical method into the modern one. They must also be the part of the global change in learning and teaching modification.

The followings are the aim and objectives of ICT implementation in education:

1)      To implement the principle of life-long learning / education.

2)      To increase a variety of educational services and medium / method.

3)      To promote equal opportunities to obtain education and information.

4)      To develop a system of collecting and disseminating educational information.

5)      To promote technology literacy of all citizens, especially for students.

6)      To develop distance education with national contents.

7)      To promote the culture of learning at school (development of learning skills, expansion of optional education, open source of education, etc.)

8)      To promote the culture of learning at school (development of learning skills, expansion of optional education, open source of education, etc.)\

ICTs Help Improve the Quality of Education

Improving the quality of education and training is a critical issue, particularly at a time of educational expansion. ICTs can enhance the quality of education in several ways:

§  By increasing learner motivation and engagement,

§  By facilitating the acquisition of basic skills, and

§  By enhancing teacher training. ICTs are also transformational tools which when used appropriately, can promote the shift to a learner-centered environment.

CONCLUSION         :

Support of school administrators and, in some cases, the community, is critical if ICTs are to be used effectively. In addition, teachers must have adequate access to functioning computers (or other technologies) and sufficient technical support. Shifting pedagogies, redesigning curriculum and assessment tools, and providing more autonomy to local schools all contribute to the optimal use of ICTs in education. Very few strong examples of integration of ICT into classroom teaching learning is visible, though some schools do use the audio visual aids and integrate teaching of some lessons. Largely however, even where ICT is used in the classes, it is usually as an information source and not a part of core learning process.