Meaning Of ICT

ICT stands for Information Communications Technology. There isn't any universally excepted definition of ITC because the applications and technology involved in this constantly keeps changing almost on a daily basis. The changes happen so fast which makes it difficult to keep up with them. ITC deals with digital data and the ways of storing, retrieval, transmission and receipt. More importantly ITC deals with the ways these concepts work when put together. The C in ICT stands for Communication of data over some distance by electronic means. This is achieved by the use of networks connecting different hardware to send and receive data like, personal computers; digital television etc. networks are further divided into (LAN) local area networks usually linked within an office building and (WAN) Wide area network, a very common example of the WAN is the internet which is connected over a vast distance.

ICT IN EDUCATION
The very expression Information and Communication Technology has lots of ideas in it. It is not just using gadgets. The focus is on what is being transacted through this medium. We have information technology and communication technology. Managing of large quantities of information and communicating the same to the concerned people is the need of the hour. Hence the name ICT. It is a very comprehensive expression. It is not limited to the computers or the internet. It ranges from the use of FM radio to the use of satellite for communication. It includes both the form and essence of communication. ICT has the potential to make learning more experiential. Moreover the large amount of data, visuals available on any topic can be brought to the classroom from all over the world. That is why ICT has been considered an emerging area with lots of potential for making educational process more meaningful. The developments in the use of the electronic media have influenced all walks of life. Education is no exception to this. The use of computers and the internet for enhancing the quality of education by making learning more relevant to life has been seen as an ideal by educational institutions. The citizens of tomorrow who are our students now are going to live in the age of the electronic media. How are we preparing them for the same? Are we giving them technology based Education? Are we giving them exposure to the use of computers and the itnernet? Have we integrated the ICT into classroom processes? What are the efforts made by the department in this direction? What does policy say about ICT in Education? There are several such questions which we need to probe into. An understanding of these issues will enable us to use the ICT more meaningfully in Education. ICT in Education can be seen from two angles. 1. It refers to the use of ICT for enhancing learning.

2. Providing an exposure to the use of ICT in general which will basically include the use of computers

THE ROLE OF ICT IN EDUCATION SECTOR

Nowadays the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), especially internet in the education sector plays an important role, especially in the process of empowering the technology into the educational activities. Education sector can be the most effective sector to anticipate and eliminate the negative impact of ICT. Technology (internet) in another side can be the most effective way to increase the students knowledge. Being aware of the significant role of ICT (internet) in our life, especially in the educational activities, education authorities should be wise enough in implementing the strategies to empower ICT in supporting the teaching and learning process in the classroom. ICT is not just the bloom of the educational activities, but also it will be the secondary option to improve the effective and meaningful educational process. 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 students 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. Schools, as a matter of fact, do not have enough power and time to prevent or stop it after school times. Meanwhile, most parents do not have enough times to accompany and control their children. So, the students have large opportunities to do with multimedia games or online games or browsing the

negative and porn sites. Having been addicted, the students will have too
little time to study, and even do not want to attend classes. In such situation, education institutions play an important role to eradicate these problems. One of which is by facilitating the students to do edutainment or educational games. Schools can let their students be familiar with educational games adjusted by their teachers. Besides, they can also support and facilitate their students to have their own blogs in the internet. A lot of WebBlog providers are free to the users, such as WordPress. In their blogs, the students can create and write something, like an article, poem, news, short stories, features, or they can also express their opinion by an online forum provided in the internet. They are able to share experiences throughout their blogs to others from all over the world. I think it will be an interesting activity for them, and it will lessen their time to visit the negative

or porn sites existed.

By doing so, I think our young generation will get more and more information and knowledge by browsing in the internet. They can also create innovation in web design that it may be out of the formal curriculum content, but it will be useful for their future. 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: To implement the principle of life-long learning / education. to increase a variety of educational services and medium / method. to promote equal opportunities to obtain education and information. to develop a system of collecting and disseminating educational information. to promote technology literacy of all citizens, especially for students. to develop distance education with national contents. to promote the culture of learning at school (development of learning skills, expansion of optional education, open source of education, etc.) to support schools in sharing experience and information with others.

Role of ICT in Indian educational sector

Importance of education in almost all walks of life has increased with the support of information and communication technologies (ICT). During the past 20 years, the use of ICT has fundamentally changed the working of education. In the current environment-conscious world, the importance of education and acceptability of ICT as a social necessity has been increasing. Social acceptability of information and communication tools is necessary to improve the mobility in the society and increase the pitch for equity and social justice. Education as a qualitative development is not confined within the classroom structure. The modern tools of ICT such as eLearning and online practice of learning and getting information are much sought after by the students as well as by the institutions.

The government is spending a lot of money on ICT. In the higher education sector, the National Mission on Education is emphasising on the role of ICT in increasing... the enrolment ratio in higher education. School education in India has a problem of high dropout rate and we need to work on how to decrease this rate. Similarly, in the field of higher education, we need to increase the number of students. Therefore, if we make our learning more engaging with the use of ICT, it can completely change how our education system works. Also, we should examine the challenges of cost-factor and availability of trained teachers in the process of dissemination of education with the help of ICT. India is developing as a knowledge economy and it cannot function without the support of ICT. The gap between demand and supply of higher education has necessitated the governments and institutions to formulate the policies for the better use of ICT. And, in order to bridge the gap, it is necessary to evolve the cooperation between the public and private sectors. The education ICT policy should identify specific ways in which the application of ICT will enhance the educational capacity and the capability of higher education institutions. According to a recent study, innovations such as using Twitter to send messages are really helpful in disseminating education. In a similar fashion, the use of YouTube in sharing video information will go a long way in disseminating education. During the last decade, higher education has gained importance in Indias changing policy landscape as the government realises that Indias strength lies in education.

ICT in School Education in India ICT in Education

Information and Communication Technology has permeated in every walk of life affecting the technology fields such as launching satellites, managing businesses across the globe and also enabling social networking. The convergence of computer, communication and content technologies, being known as ICT, have attracted attention of academia, business, government and communities to use it for innovative profitable propositions. Year by year it is becoming simpler to use devices such as desktop palm top, iPod etc. 21st century is characterized with the emergence of knowledge based society wherein ICT plays a pivotal role. The National curriculum framework 2005 (NCF 2005) has also highlighted the importance of ICT in school education. With this backdrop, major paradigm shift is imperative in education characterised by imparting instructions, collaborative learning, multidisciplinary problem-solving and promoting critical thinking skills. Government of India has announced 2010-2020 as the decade of innovation. Reasoning and Critical thinking skills are necessary for innovation. Foundation of these skills is laid at school level. It is desirable that affordable ICT tools and techniques should be integrated into classroom instructions right form primary stage so as to enable students develop their requisite skills. Most of the tools, techniques and tutorials are available in Open domain and accessible on web.

Further to circular number 7 dated 22 Feb 2010 wherein the NCERT had invited responses from teachers involved in the teaching and learning of Mathematics at the senior secondary stage to acquire the skills for using the World Wide Web,the CBSE would like to extend it to all subjects and all classes. At Primary and Upper Primary level, focus may be on simple access to information and trying to compile different views and analyse them to conclude in ones own way. At the Secondary level, gathering and structuring of data and computing to arrive at some reports may be taken up in any subject not necessarily Science and Mathematics. At the Senior Secondary level, when students are so exposed, they will get highly motivated to use ICT tools for taking up complex, multidisciplinary problems such as biochemistry, bioinformatics, environmental science, forensic science, nanotechnology, business intelligence etc. This may necessitate computing tools and techniques of generic nature as well as domain-specific. This is the time when the students and the teachers together will work in global competitive environment. The schools affiliated to the CBSE have been at the forefront of adopting the most modern innovations and practices to ensure there is a continuous enhancement in the overall quality of teaching and learning. The CBSE believes that it must bring the immense benefits of ICT and computing technology to every classroom across its fraternity of affiliated schools to improve academic outcomes of learners and to enhance the productivity of teachers in classrooms. This can be done by encouraging the use of technology in classroom teaching e-learning and instant assessments which shall also go a long way in supporting its CCE initiative as well. CCE in the right spirit entails periodic assessments which are integrated effectively in the classroom teaching and learning. Infact all assessments must inform teaching and using technology helps to create interest among learners as for example a quiz may be done online as part of formative assessment. Technology can greatly assist teachers in classrooms to teach difficult and abstract subject matter concepts effectively if the right digital instruction materials, supporting technology infrastructure and intensive training is provided to the teachers to support instruction.. This may require setting up a classroom equipped with LCD projector and facility for computer mediated instructions. Specifically such classroom must have: a. A projection or display device b. An interactive system c. Computer with UPS System

The Importance of Mobile Phones in Education

From listening to music, to taking and editing pictures of teachers, the young community have found various ways to misuse the new technology being made available to them in such small and compact mobile phones. Obviously, anything that can disrupt learning, or teaching, cannot be accepted in a classroom environment and should be dealt with accordingly. It is my opinion that as technology advances at such a blistering pace, policies such as mobile phones should be switched off and in your bag, can be modified to benefit not only students, but teachers and schools alike.

As a student who has experienced some very rowdy and distracting classes, I know that mobile phones can cause huge distractions for not only students, but teachers as well. I am also aware that mobile phones can be a danger to the school environment; however I believe they can still have their benefits in the classroom.

As a very proud owner of an Apple iPhone 3G, I could rave all day about the importance of my mobile phone. It keeps me in contact wherever I go, which not only gives me peace of mind, but also my parents! An argument I have never understood is that youngsters have become too reliant on their mobiles. Nowadays mobile phones can be as useful to people as a pencil and paper, and I have never come across an argument that adults have become too reliant on those!

The ability to download apps to phones such as the iPhone can also make it not only personalised, but useful for people in most situations. From word processing software to a program that keeps an eye on the stock market, the range of potential uses can just not be argued with. For example, instead of waking up tired and grumpy, I use an advanced alarm clock to measure my sleeping patterns which also wakes me up when I am sleeping at my lightest. Not entirely necessary, but this could still be beneficial to anybody!

So if this level of technology can benefit from city workers to journalists, why can it not be taken advantage of at school? I have numerously thought to myself in lessons such as Spanish and English that if it was accepted for me to use my phone, my learning could be improved. Instead of taking out a dictionary, I could simply use my translator, and instead of trawling through books for a piece of literature, I could find the book online and be directed to a specific word, and so on. The fact is that these phones are really just computers, yet I am unaware of a school that is reluctant to allow the use of these.

I'm not nave; firstly not everybody has such an advanced phone and secondly, there are bound to be people who will take advantage. But as technology becomes cheaper, more people will invest in this equipment, and surely the people who take advantage of the leniency would use their phone regardless of new measures?

Schools themselves are modernising greatly. My present school, for instance, is in the process of becoming an academy. This means that from September 2010 it will no longer be classed as a school, and by 2013 it hopes to have established completely new buildings. I am part of a group of students who have listened to the new plans, and I was impressed with the new technology being considered. Ideas such as giving each student a laptop and registering attendance online are being planned already. I think it is fantastic that schools are finally getting with the times and are understanding the importance of ICT in education! Eventually I hope mobile phones will be looked upon in a much more reasonable way and take a more important role in education. After all, theres only so much fun you can have with editing teachers faces!

Importance of ICT in Primary Education

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is important in primary education because it enables kids to search for the information they need and to organize what they have found. As children progress through the school system, they become increasingly responsible for their own learning. Many believe that ICT needs to be better integrated into curriculums so all schools produce computer literate, independent learners.

History
Prior to 1990, computers were used only in secondary schools, and in the early 1990s they were introduced in primary schools. The United Kingdom invested 9 million between 1998 and 2002 to connect schools to the National Grid for Learning. In the UK as in other places, ICT policy depended on the notion that making computers part of the curriculum would lead to better teaching and learning outcomes.
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Considerations
Selwyn and Bullon's (2002) study of five primary schools found that children's sustained engagement with using computers in education was significantly affected by other factors in the classroom. Selwyn and Bullon also found that while children were quite knowledgeable about ICT, access to computers outside of school varied. According to Reynolds, Treharne and Tripp (2003) there was insufficient government investment in the development of the subject and not enough structure and support for how the subject was taught.
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Benefits

ICT is a global phenomenon, and children who are computer literate at an early stage of their lives might deal better with the modern world. A sound knowledge of ICT makes it much easier for children to find and organize information. An Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) funded study (2009) that took place between 2005 and 2008 identified good practices in the teaching of ICT. Although the ICT curriculum was sometimes poorly balanced, its use contributed to children doing better in some subject areas. The study also found that the primary school children spent as much time on computers as the curriculum allowed.
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Effects
Primary school children who do well in ICT spend a lot of time going over the same ground rather than progressing. The Ofsted study (2009) found that in more than half the primary schools they visited, children did well in ICT. However, earlier work found that children did better in schools where the computing resources were good, but had lower levels of achievement when resources were fewer. This was due to social and economical factors pertaining to certain areas.
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Potential
ICT is important in primary schools because it can help kids to achieve better results in other subjects and to find what they need and use information in particular ways. It is important that children become familiar with ICT at an early age, because they will need those skills for the remainder of their education and in adult life.
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Impact of ICTs on Learning & Achievement

General

1.

It is generally believed that ICTs can empower teachers and learners, promote change and foster the development of 21st century skills, but data to support these beliefs are still limited There is widespread belief that ICTs can and will empower teachers and learners, transforming teaching and learning processes from being highly teacher-dominated to student-centered, and that this transformation will result in increased learning gains for students, creating and allowing for opportunities for learners to develop their creativity, problem-solving abilities, informational reasoning skills, communication skills, and other higher-order thinking skills. However, there are currently very limited, unequivocally compelling data to support this belief. ICTs are very rarely seen as central to the overall learning process Even in the most advanced schools in OECD countries, ICTs are generally not considered central to the teaching and learning process. Many ICT in education initiatives in LDCs seek (at least in their rhetoric) to place ICTs as central to teaching and learning. An enduring problem: putting technology before education One of the enduring difficulties of technology use in education is that educational planners and technology advocates think of the technology first and then investigate the educational applications of this technology only later.

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Impact on student achievement

1. 2. 3.

The positive impact of ICT use in education has not been proven In general, and despite thousands of impact studies, the impact of ICT use on student achievement remains difficult to measure and open to much reasonable debate. Positive impact more likely when linked to pedagogy It is believed that specific uses of ICT can have positive effects on student achievement when ICTs are used appropriately to complement a teachers existing pedagogical philosophies. Computer Aided Instruction has been seen to slightly improve student performance on multiple choice, standardized testing in some areas Computer Aided (or Assisted) Instruction (CAI), which refers generally to student self-study or tutorials on PCs, has been shown to slightly improve student test scores on some reading and math skills, although whether such improvement correlates to real improvement in student learning is debatable. Need for clear goals ICTs are seen to be less effective (or ineffective) when the goals for their use are not clear. While such a statement would appear to be self-evident, the specific goals for ICT use in education are, in practice, are often only very broadly or rather loosely defined. There is an important tension between traditional versus 'new' pedagogies and standardized testing Traditional, transmission-type pedagogies are seen as more effective in preparation for standardized testing, which tends to measure the results of such teaching practices, than are more constructivist pedagogical styles. Mismatch between methods used to measure effects and type of learning promoted In many studies there may be a mismatch between the methods used to measure effects and the nature of the learning promoted by the specific uses of ICT. For example, some studies have looked only for improvements in traditional teaching and learning processes and knowledge mastery instead of looking for new processes and knowledge relatd to the use of ICTs. It may be that more useful analyses of the impact of ICT can only emerge when the methods used to measure achievement and outcomes are more closely related to the learning activities and processes promoted by the use of ICTs. ICTs are used differently in different school subjects Uses of ICTs for simulations and modeling in science and math have been shown to be effective, as have word processing and communication software (e-mail) in the development of student language and communication skills. Access outside of school affects impact The relationships between in-class student computer use, out of class student computer use and student achievement are unclear. However, students in OECD countries reporting the greatest amount of computer use outside school are seen in some studies to have lower than average achievement (the presumption is that high computer use outside of school is disproportionately devoted to computer gaming). Users believe that ICTs make a positive difference In studies that rely largely on self-reporting, most users feel that using ICTs make them more effective learners.

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7.

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Impact on student motivation

1. 2. 3.

ICTs motivate teachers and students There appears to be general consensus that both teachers and students feel ICT use greatly contributes to student motivation for learning. Access outside of school affects user confidence (Not surprisingly) Students who use a computer at home also use them in school more frequently and with more confidence than pupils who have no home access. Where to place computers has an impact Placing computers in classrooms enables much greater use of ICTs for higher order skills

than placing computers in separate computer laboratories (indeed, fewer computers in classrooms may enable even more use than greater numbers of computers located in separate computer labs). Related to this is an increasing attention given to the use of laptops by both teachers and students (and in some places, computers-on-wheels), as well as, to a much lesser extent, to the use of personal digital assistants and other mobile devices.

4.

Models for successfully integrating ICT use in school and after school hours are still emerging There are few successful models for the integration of student computer use at home or in other 'informal settings' outside of school facilities with use in school. The appropriate ages for introducing computers to students are hotly debated On a general level, appropriate ages for student ICT use in general are unclear. However, it is clear that certain uses are more or less appropriate, given student ages and abilities. Emerging research cautions against widespread use at younger ages. ICTs can promote learner autonomy Evidence exists that use of ICTs can increase learner autonomy for certain learners. Gender affects impact Uses of ICTs in education in many cases to be affected by the gender of the learner. The pilot effect can be an important driver for positive impact Dedicated ICT-related interventions in education that introduce a new tool for teaching and learning may show improvements merely because the efforts surrounding such interventions lead teachers and students to do more (potentially diverting energies and resources from other activities).

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6. 7. 8.

Comments General comments 1. A review of the research on impacts of ICTs on student achievement yields few conclusive statements, pro or contra, about the use of ICTs in education. For every study that cites significant positive impact, another study finds little or no such positive impact. Many studies that find positive impacts of ICTs on student learning rely (to an often uncomfortable degree) on self-reporting (which may be open to a variety of positive biases).

2.

Applicability to LDC/EFA context 1. 2. Where ICTs are to be utilized to improve educational quality as measured by most standardized tests, few such gains are to be expected. With sufficient teacher training, and given the existence of a variety of enabling factors, ICTs can be used to impact the nature and types of learning in which students engage.

Some areas for further investigation and research 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. How does exposure to and use of ICTs in school affect future employment? What is the impact of computer-literacy instruction in schools? What is the gender impact of ICTs in education on access, use of, attitudes toward, and learning outcomes? How can ICTs be used to present, comment on and discuss student work, and what are the implications of such impact? Are some school subjects better suited for ICT integration than others?

The Role of ICT in Learning: Implications for the ICP

1.2.1 Pedagogical Aspects

ICT has the potential to transform learning in and beyond the classroom. It can also in certain circumstances transcend previous limitations of space and time. Some of the perceived benefits to learners are:

students can access enormous amounts of information quickly; students can work at their own pace; special needs, both remedial and extension, can be offered during the same lesson; course material can be offered simultaneously in different languages; students can access quality material irrespective of their geographical location; academic courses can be offered asynchronously; students can interact with peers and experts outside the classroom, town, and/or country; ICT can offer simulations where the student can experiment by changing the variables; ICT offers a host of different tools to demonstrate learning suitable for divergent and different

intelligences; and,

young students have readily accepted the technology.

There are also benefits for teaching, too. While largely dependent on the teaching methodology employed, these benefits include:

ICT can, via multimedia, improve the richness of the learning experience; ICT can track a students progress and proficiency at certain skills; They allow the teacher to focus on process rather than product; Diagnostic tools allow the teacher to identify learning trends and problems; and Student work, created electronically, lends itself to Internet publishing and the creation of student

portfolio work. ICT, however, on their own, will not improve learning. Possible pitfalls to the deployment of ICT include:

the ability of educational systems, curriculum development to keep pace with ICT innovation is

problematic;

the individualized role of the teacher can be diminished where more and more material is offered

via a centralized content vendor. There could be a loss of teaching individuality;

other resources have to be sacrificed because of the enormous monetary expense that ICT

necessitates;

a myriad of technical issues which often seem overwhelming; and, teachers are often ignorant of what is available and also how to use the technology they already

have. There seems to be too little attention in training teachers on how to best exploit ICT for teaching. Computer acquisition and implementation in educational institutions must be paired with visionary pedagogical insight. Action plans should be devised as to just how ICTs can enhance teaching and learning. There has been much debate as to what we can realistically expect computer technology to contribute to the learning process. .