ICT in Education

How can the use of 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.Ts
are also transformational tools which, when used appropriately, can promote the shift to a learner-centered
environment.
Motivating to learn. ICTs such as videos, television and multimedia computer software that combine
text, sound, and colorful, moving images can be used to provide challenging and authentic content
that will engage the student in the learning process. Interactive radio likewise makes use of sound
effects, songs, dramatizations, comic skits, and other performance conventions to compel the students
to listen and become involved in the lessons being delivered.More so than any other type of ICT, networked
computers with Internet connectivity can increase learner motivation as it combines the
media richness and interactivity of other ICTs with the opportunity to connect with real people and to
participate in real world events.
Facilitating the acquisition of basic skills. The transmission of basic skills and concepts that are the
foundation of higher order thinking skills and creativity can be facilitated by ICTs through drill and
practice. Educational television programs such as Sesame Street use repetition and reinforcement to
teach the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes and other basic concepts.Most of the early uses of computers
were for computer-based learning (also called computer-assisted instruction) that focused on
mastery of skills and content through repetition and reinforcement.

Enhancing teacher training. ICTs have also been used to improve access to and the quality of teacher
training.

How can ICTs help transform the learning environment into one that islearner-centered?

Research has shown that the appropriate use of ICTs can catalyze the paradigmatic shift in both content
and pedagogy that is at the heart of education reform in the 21st century. If designed and
implemented properly, ICT-supported education can promote the acquisition of the knowledge and
skills that will empower students for lifelong learning.
When used appropriately, ICTs—especially computers and Internet technologies— enable new ways
of teaching and learning rather than simply allow teachers and students to do what they have done
before in a better way. These new ways of teaching and learning are underpinned by constructivist
theories of learning and constitute a shift from a teacher-centered pedagogy—in its worst form characterized
by memorization and rote learning—to one that is learner-centered.
• Active learning. ICT-enhanced learning mobilizes tools for examination, calculation and analysis
of information, thus providing a platform for student inquiry, analysis and construction of new
information. Learners therefore learn as they do and, whenever appropriate,work on real-life
problems in-depth,making learning less abstract and more relevant to the learner’s life situation.
In this way, and in contrast to memorization-based or rote learning, ICT-enhanced learning
promotes increased learner engagement. ICT-enhanced learning is also “just-in-time” learning in
which learners can choose what to learn when they need to learn it.
• Collaborative learning. ICT-supported learning encourages interaction and cooperation among
students, teachers, and experts regardless of where they are. Apart from modeling real-world
interactions, ICT-supported learning provides learners the opportunity to work with people
from different cultures, thereby helping to enhance learners’ teaming and communicative skills
as well as their global awareness. It models learning done throughout the learner’s lifetime by
expanding the learning space to include not just peers but also mentors and experts from different
fields.
• Creative Learning. ICT-supported learning promotes the manipulation of existing information
and the creation of real-world products rather than the regurgitation of received information.
• Integrative learning. ICT-enhanced learning promotes a thematic, integrative approach to
teaching and learning.This approach eliminates the artificial separation between the different
disciplines and between theory and practice that characterizes the traditional classroom
approach.
• Evaluative learning. ICT-enhanced learning is student-directed and diagnostic.Unlike static,
text- or print-based educational technologies, ICT-enhanced learning recognizes that there are
many different learning pathways and many different articulations of knowledge. ICTs allow
learners to explore and discover rather than merely listen and remember.