Page 1 of 11

The focal theme :- ‘ICT (Information and communication technologies) in Education’.

Sub-theme :- ‘Digital Technology and Socio-Economic Context’.

Title of the Paper :-

‘Technology Integration in Secondary Schools: An effective tool for

teaching and learning in a contemporary Indian education system’
Kaushik Mukherjee

Abstract:-

In this knowledge-based society, bring effectiveness in dissemination of information,

development of creative contents and incorporation of innovative information and
communication, technologies plays a vital role at all level of education system. For the
upcoming digital generation to create a digital teaching- learning environment, mastering ICT
(Information and communication technologies) skills and utilizing ICT is of most importance
in every educator’s professional life. E-content serves this purpose through its various forms
such as web-based learning, computer based learning, mobile-based learning, virtual
classrooms, and digital collaboration. It is a combination of text, audio, video, images,
animation with visual effects that is delivered via internet, satellite broadcast or mobile
technology.
It is commonly believed that learning is enhanced through the use of technology. Students
need to develop the technological skills in order to be productive members of society. For this
reason, providing a quality education includes the expectation that teachers use educational
technologies effectively in their classroom and that they help or assist students to learn the
skills to use technology.
In this chapter, I have seen tired to reflect on the review of technology integration research
around a framework based on three areas of focus:
(1) Increasing access to educational technologies,
(2) Increasing the use of technology for instructional purposes, and
(3) Improving the effectiveness of technology use to facilitate learning.

Keywords:-
Technology Integration, Educational Technology, Educational Policy.
 Page 2 of 11

‘Technology Integration in Secondary Schools: An effective tool for

teaching and learning in a contemporary Indian education system’

1. INTRODUCTION
E-content has become a very valuable and powerful tool of education in this contemporary
education system; it is the newest method of instruction that can be used to create an
information rich society where everyone, irrespective of caste, religion, race, region, gender
etc., are empowered to create, receive, share and utilize information and knowledge for their
economic, social, cultural and political upliftment and development. The use of e-content has
transformed teaching in several ways. In the process of e-learning, structured and validated e-
content serves as an effective virtual teacher. Today, the educators are able to generate their
own resources and consequently have more control over the classroom than they have had in
the past. (Mishra Urvashi, 2017)1
Technology can have a reciprocal relationship with teaching. The emergence of new
technologies pushes educators to understanding and leveraging these technologies for
classroom use; at the same time, the on-the-ground implementation of these technologies in
the classroom can (and does) directly impact how these technologies continue to take shape.
While many new technologies have emerged throughout history, so has the cry for educators
to find meaningful ways to incorporate these technologies into the classroom – be it the
typewriter, the television, the calculator, or the computer. And while some professional
educators may have become numb to this unwavering ‘call’ – and for good reason – it is
crucial to consider that the excitement over games and social networking isn’t just business
and industry “crying wolf.” Indeed, those previous technologies have a powerful place in
instruction and the classroom; but without them, strong lessons and learning objectives can
still be achieved. With these more recent technologies, we think educators should take the
call, even if only on a trial basis.

2. CONCEPT OF E-CONTENT
Educational system around the world is undergoing increasing pressure to use the new
information and communication technology to acquaint students with the knowledge and

1
Mishra Urvashi, P. S. (2017). E- Content: An effective tool for teaching and learning in a contemporary
education system. International Journal of Advance Research and Innovative Ideas in Education (IJARIIE) ,
VOL.2 (ISSUE 1), 79-83.
 Page 3 of 11

information, they require in this techno savvy Era. To develop a knowledge society, it is
essential to integrate ICT at all levels of education system. E-Content is a very powerful tool
of education. It is the latest method of instruction that has attracted attention of learners and
teachers of all instruction systems. It is the valuable resource for development of information
rich society where everyone, irrespective of cast, religion, race, region and gender bias are
empowered to create , receive share and utilize information and knowledge for their
economic , social, cultural and political upliftment and development. Thus, it can be
concluded that E-Content proves to be is very useful tool for teaching green consumerism at
secondary level.
E-learning, or electronic learning, has been defined in number of ways in the literature. In
general, e-learning is the expression broadly used to describe-instructional content or learning
experience delivered or enabled by electronic technologies by Ong Lai and Wang (2004).
Some definitions of e-learning are more restrictive, for example limiting e-learning to content
delivery via the Internet by Jones (2003). The broader definition can include the use of the
Internet, intranets/extranets, audio- and videotape, satellite broadcast, interactive TV, and
CDROM, not only for content delivery, but also for interaction among participants by
Industry Canada (2001). Holmes and Gardner (2006) point out that e-learning provide access
to resources that promotes learning on an anyplace, anytime basis. However, E-learning is
simply defined by Urdan and Weggen (2000), as a delivery of course content via electronic
media such as Internet, Intranet, Extranet, satellite broadcast, audio/video clips, interactive
TV and CD-ROMs (Mishra Urvashi, E- Content: An effective tool for teaching and learning
in a contemporary education system, 2018)2.

3. OPERATIONAL DEFINATION OF THE TERMS

Technology Integration:- The effective implementation of educational technologies to
accomplish intended learning outcomes.
Educational Technology:- Any tool, equipment, or device-electronic or mechanical-that can
help students accomplish specified learning goals. Educational technology includes both
instructional and learning technologies.
Instructional Technology:- Educational technologies teachers employ to provide
instruction.
2
Mishra Urvashi, P. S. (2018, 11 02). E- Content: An effective tool for teaching and learning in a contemporary
education system. Retrieved 11 02, 2018, from International Journal of Advance Research and Innovative Ideas
in Education: http://ijariie.com/ConferenceIssueList.aspx?VolumeId=5
 Page 4 of 11

Learning Technology:- Educational technologies learners use to accomplish specific

learning objectives and tasks.
TPACK:- Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, is the knowledge teachers need to
effectively and successfully teach their specific content area with content-specific
technologies.
Educational Policy:- Mandates for schools to utilize educational technologies in classrooms
based on the belief that (1) technology can improve instruction and facilitate learning, and (2)
students need to develop technology literacy and skills in order to become productive
members of society in a competitive global economy.
Technology-Enabled Assessment:- Assessment that utilizes technology to facilitate and
improve a teacher’s ability to measure student learning outcomes.
Personalized Instruction:- Adaptive technologies that use information obtained about
individual students (including formative and diagnostic assessment data) to modify the way
instruction is provided.

4. STAGES OF E-CONTENT DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESS

Unluckily, existing materials cannot be automatically transformed into e-content materials by
just making them available from a website. A systematic and a scientific approach are needed
to develop quality content. The e-content should follow appropriate instructional design
methodology in order to assure meeting of learning objectives and expected outcomes. The
effort spent in content preparation should be re-usable across various learning management
systems.
All the e-content materials should focus on:-
a) Cognitive perspective that emphases on the cognitive processes involved in learning
as well as how the brain works,
b) Emotional perspective that gravities on the emotional aspects of learning, like
motivation, engagement, fun, etc.
c) Behavioral perspective highlights the skills and behavioral outcomes of the learning
process, role playing, settings of job and
d) Contextual perspective that concentrate on the environmental and social aspects
which can stimulate learning.
 Page 5 of 11

The e-content development aspects comprise of six stages described as follows (Nachimuthu,
2012)3:
I. The Analysis Phase:
 It is the most important stage as it identifies our current situation comprise of subject
experts, target audience and their skills, objectives, budget of the e-content, delivery
methods and its constraints with due dates.

II. The Design Phase:

 This stage involves the complete design of the learning solution. It helps to planning
of an e-content preparation. The issues like use of relevant software; required skills;
creative and innovative interactions of subject contents like texts, pictures, videos and
suitable animations are addressed.
III. The Development Phase:
 It concerns the actual production of the e-content design. It helps to create the
econtent by mixing of texts, audio, video, animations, references, blogs, links, and
MCQs (multiple choice questions) with some programming specifications like home,
exit, next etc.
IV. The Testing phase:
 It helps to administer the e-content in the actual educational field. In this phase, the
spelling mistakes, content errors, clarity of pictures, relevant videos, appropriate
audios, timing of animations, and hyperlinks are tested.
V. The Implementation Phase:
 It helps to administer the e-content to the target audience. This phase explains how to
install and how to use it and their difficulties experienced while using e-content. It
checks the product accuracy and quality maintenance.
VI. The Evaluation Phase:
 It helps to satisfy the e-content and its effectiveness. This phase considers feedback
from both learners and instructors. After the feedback reactions, the e-content is
designed again as post-production for effective delivery of e-content.

5. USE OF E-CONTENT IN ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION

3
Nachimuthu. (2012). Need of E-Content Developments In Education, Education Today, . An International
Journal of Education & Humanities , Vol. 03 (No.02), pp. 72-80.
 Page 6 of 11

India is challenged by the nexus of environmental degradation and economic growth amidst
the paradoxical coexistence of poverty and affluence in their multifarious dimensions. These
challenges are directly linked with the conservation and maintenance of the life supporting
systems such as land, water, air, and biological diversity. The ultimate drivers of
environmental degradation are population growth, inappropriate technology and consumption
choices, and poverty, leading to changes in relations between people and ecosystems, and
development activities such as intensive agriculture, polluting industry, and unplanned
urbanization. For addressing the various environmental problems, environmental education is
emerging as an essential tool to change student’s commitment, motivation, stewardship,
behavior and attitudes for sustainable development by UNESCO (2011).
In order to achieve these goals, the active teaching learning approach is widely recommended
by various earlier researchers who have found that traditional class room lecture based
teaching learning approach have limited effectiveness in helping students to retain
information, become self-learners, and develop skills in transferring knowledge and solving
problems (McLeish, 1968) 4. Many investigations demonstrated that when students are
involved in active teaching learning process, retention of knowledge is significantly
increased, there is enhanced motivation and higher-order learning and development of
practical skills (Grant, 1997)5 .
It is observed that teachers face variety of problems while teaching environment education,
the dialogue is usually limited to the theoretical approach and the content becomes too
technical and data-driven. So, even though data presentation had to be an important aspect of
teaching, the main challenge is to identify a way to convert dry and factual data into an
interesting and interactive format. Another challenge is that students come from varied
background. Hence, the content needs to be interactive, engaging and yet simple enough to
appeal to the varied audience. However, the use of multiple learning strategies aligning to
technology-aided learning, e-learning can be a very strong tool to create such teaching-
learning environment. With e-content, teachers can generate their own material, incorporate
more creativity in classroom teaching and thus have more control over the classroom than
they have had in the past. Therefore, in order to study the Effectiveness of e-content in

4
McLeish, J. (1968). The Lecture Method. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Institute of Education.

5
Grant, R. (1997). A claim for the case method in the teaching of geography. Journal of Geography in
Higher Education , VOL. 21 (ISSUE 2), 171–185.
 Page 7 of 11

teaching environment education to the secondary school students the present research was
taken up.

6. Increasing Effective Use of Technology

Researchers have reported that even when teachers and students have sufficient access to
educational technologies, adequate training in technology use, and confidence in their
abilities to apply it, not all of them actually use technology in the classroom, and those who
do may not always use it effectively (Choy, 2009)6. The complex and dynamic nature of the
teaching and learning process contributes to the difficulty of effective technology integration.
For example, experts and stakeholders do not always agree on what to teach and how to teach
it (Woolf, 2018)7. Also given the complexity of most educational tasks, the certainty of
accomplishing specific learning goals with or without technology is often low (Patton,
2011)8. Thus establishing research based technology-enhanced instructional methods and best
practices is challenging. However, emerging research into the effective use of technology
has identified some best practices by considering issues such as (1) the need to focus on
pedagogically-sound technology use, (2) ways to use technology to personalize instruction,
and (3) benefits of technology-enabled assessment. An additional area of concern is the need
for systemic changes at the organizational level.
7. Need for Pedagogically Sound Technology Integration Practices
A major criticism of current teacher professional development efforts is that many of them
have emphasized improving teachers’ attitudes toward technology integration and increasing
their self-efficacy without a strong enough emphasis on pedagogically sound practice. Some
scholars have indicated that professional development goals must shift to emphasize

6
Choy, D. &. (2009). Student teachers’ intentions and actions on integrating technology into their
classrooms during student teaching: A Singapore study. Journal of Research on Technology in
Education , Vol. 42 (ISSUE 2), 175-195.
7
Woolf, B. (2018, 11 01). A roadmap for education technology. Retrieved 11 01, 2018, from
http://www.cra.org/ccc/docs/groe/GROE%20Roadmap%20for%20Education%2
0Technology%20Final%20Report.pdf
8
Patton, M. (2011). Developmental evaluation: Applying complexity concepts to enhance innovation
and use. In Developmental evaluation: Applying complexity concepts to enhance innovation and use.
New York: The Gilford Press.
 Page 8 of 11

understanding and utilizing pedagogically sound technology practices (Inan, 2010)9. For
example, (Palak, 2009)10 explained that “future technology professional development efforts
need to focus on integration of technology into curriculum via student-centered pedagogy
while attending to multiple contextual conditions under which teacher practice takes place” .
We need to help teachers understand how to use technology to facilitate meaningful learning,
defined as that which enables students to construct deep and connected knowledge, which can
be applied to real situations. To achieve technology integration that targets student learning,
teachers need to identify which technologies support specific curricular goals. Doing so
would require understanding the technological tools themselves, as well as the specific
affordances of each tool that would enable students to learn difficult concepts more readily,
hopefully resulting in greater and more meaningful student outcomes.
An emerging framework for professional development technology integration that attempts to
help teachers focus more on learning is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge
(TPACK). This framework is discussed elsewhere in this handbook, but it is worth
mentioning here in that it has been proposed as a guiding framework for training teachers and
evaluating effective technology integration effort (Harris, 2009) 11 developed the concept of
TPACK as a specific type of knowledge necessary for successful teaching with technology.
TPACK is the intersection of three knowledge areas that individual educators might possess:
content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge. Teachers are
expected to be knowledgeable in pedagogical issues related to teaching and learning (PK).
They are also required to have in-depth content knowledge of the subjects they are to teach
(CK). In addition, they are expected to have technological knowledge in general (TK), along
with an understanding of how specific technologies might facilitate student learning of
specific content in a pedagogically sound way (TPCK). TPACK proponents argue that

9
Inan, F. &. (2010). Factors affecting technology integration in K-12 classrooms: A path model.
Educational Technology Research and Development , Vol. 52 (ISSUE 2), 137-154.

10
Palak, D. &. (2009). Teachers’ beliefs and technology practices : A mixedmethods approach.
Journal of Research on Technology in Education , VOL. 41 (ISSUE 4), 417-441.

11
Harris, J. M. (2009). Teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge and learning activity
types: Curriculum-based technology Integration Reframed. Journal of Research on Technology in
Education , VOL. 41 (ISSUE 4), 393-416.
 Page 9 of 11

teachers must understand the connections between these knowledge areas so that instructional
decisions regarding technology integration are pedagogically sound and content driven.

8. Need for Technology-Enabled Personalized Instruction

Most educators hope to personalize instruction for their students, which generally includes
identifying the needs and capabilities of individual learners; providing flexibility in
scheduling, assignments, and pacing; and making instruction relevant and meaningful for the
individual student (Keefe, 2002)12. The goal of personalizing instruction usually means
rejecting the “one size fits all” model of education and replacing it with customized
instruction.
Much of the educational software currently being used in schools focuses on content delivery
(with some pacing flexibility and assessment) or on knowledge management systems using
information communication technology, but not necessarily customization that tailors
instruction to the individual needs of the learner. Computer software used in K-12 education
has primarily involved drill and practice for developing reading and mathematics skills (i.e.,
computer-based instructional products). Improving basic word processing skills (i.e., typing)
is also a prevalent technology-facilitated instructional activity taking place in schools. These
educational software programs are intended to supplement the work of teachers rather than
replacing them and are typically not integrated directly into classroom instruction.

9. Need for Technology-Enabled Assessment

Assessment is an important aspect of differentiated instruction that can be strengthened by
technology. The primary focus of summative standardized testing in schools has been
accountability but the true power of assessment is obtaining diagnostic and formative
information about individuals that can be used to customize instruction and remediation. For
this critical purpose, technology has the potential to be extremely valuable.
Embedding assessment into the learning activities for both formative and diagnostic purposes
can be facilitated by using technology, but the ability to do this is at the emergent stage.
Critics of technology-enabled assessment have pointed out that the tools required to
accomplish this type of testing are far from adequate.
Additionally, there seems to be a major gap in the literature regarding the development of a
technology integration framework that, like TPACK, is pedagogically driven but sensitive to

12
Keefe, J. &. (2002). Personalized instruction. Phi Delta Kappan , VOL. 83 (ISSUE 6), 440-448.
 Page 10 of 11

systemic variables. We are unsure what an “organizational TPACK” model would look like,
but we believe this to be a potentially fruitful research endeavor for the next decade.

10. CONCLUSIONS
E-content development is the heart of teaching learning process. Although content
development plays a key role in e-learning, it is undoubtedly not an easy process. It requires
expert knowledge in the subject area, patience in creating the necessary objects that make up
quality and a high sense of creativity in structuring and sequencing the topics to make a
complete whole.
In conclusion, future efforts to improve instruction and learning using educational
technologies will still need to focus on providing students and teachers with ubiquitous
access to new technologies and educational resources. However, pedagogically sound best
practices will need to be established, and professional development will need to focus more
on using technology to improve learning—not just on changing teachers’ attitudes and
abilities in general. Substantial systemic changes will likely need to be made in educational
systems, administration, and resources in order to support teachers in making these types of
transformations. The development of adaptive intelligent tutors is an area of great potential.
Technology enabled assessment will be an especially important area of research and
development in this regard. In addition to these efforts we would need more discussion on
pedagogically oriented systemic changes that can support frameworks such as TPACK at the
organizational level.

References
1. Choy, D. &. (2009). Student teachers’ intentions and actions on integrating technology into
their classrooms during student teaching: A Singapore study. Journal of Research on
Technology in Education , Vol. 42 (ISSUE 2), 175-195.

2. Grant, R. (1997). A claim for the case method in the teaching of geography. Journal of
Geography in Higher Education , VOL. 21 (ISSUE 2), 171–185.

3. Harris, J. M. (2009). Teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge and learning

activity types: Curriculum-based technology Integration Reframed. Journal of Research on
Technology in Education , VOL. 41 (ISSUE 4), 393-416.

4. Inan, F. &. (2010). Factors affecting technology integration in K-12 classrooms: A path model.
Educational Technology Research and Development , Vol. 52 (ISSUE 2), 137-154.

5. Keefe, J. &. (2002). Personalized instruction. Phi Delta Kappan , VOL. 83 (ISSUE 6), 440-448.
 Page 11 of 11

6. McLeish, J. (1968). The Lecture Method. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Institute of

Education.

7. Mishra Urvashi, P. S. (2017). E- Content: An effective tool for teaching and learning in a
contemporary education system. International Journal of Advance Research and Innovative
Ideas in Education (IJARIIE) , VOL.2 (ISSUE 1), 79-83.

8. Mishra Urvashi, P. S. (2018, 11 02). E- Content: An effective tool for teaching and learning in
a contemporary education system. Retrieved 11 02, 2018, from International Journal of
Advance Research and Innovative Ideas in Education:
http://ijariie.com/ConferenceIssueList.aspx?VolumeId=5

9. Nachimuthu. (2012). Need of E-Content Developments In Education, Education Today, . An

International Journal of Education & Humanities , Vol. 03 (No.02), pp. 72-80.

10. Palak, D. &. (2009). Teachers’ beliefs and technology practices : A mixedmethods approach.
Journal of Research on Technology in Education , VOL. 41 (ISSUE 4), 417-441.

11. Patton, M. (2011). Developmental evaluation: Applying complexity concepts to enhance

innovation and use. In Developmental evaluation: Applying complexity concepts to enhance
innovation and use. New York: The Gilford Press.

12. Woolf, B. (2018, 11 01). A roadmap for education technology. Retrieved 11 01, 2018, from
http://www.cra.org/ccc/docs/groe/GROE%20Roadmap%20for%20Education%2
0Technology%20Final%20Report.pdf