ICT in Education

The Promise of ICTs in Education

For developing countries ICTs have the potential for increasing access to and improving the relevance and quality of education. It thus represents a potentially equalizing strategy for developing countries.[ICTs] greatly facilitate the acquisition and absorption of knowledge, offering developing countries unprecedented opportunities to enhance educational systems, improve policy formulation and execution, and widen the range of opportunities for business and the poor. One of the greatest hardships endured by the poor, and by many others who live in the poorest countries, is their sense of isolation. The new communications technologies promise to reduce that sense of isolation, and to open access to knowledge in ways unimaginable not long ago.

However, the reality of the Digital Divide—the gap between those who have access to and control of technology and those who do not—means that the introduction and integration of ICTs at different levels and in various types of education will be a most challenging undertaking. Failure to meet the challenge would mean a further widening of the knowledge gap and the deepening of existing economic and social inequalities.

How can ICTs help expand access to education?

ICTs are potentially powerful tool for extending educational opportunities, both formal and non-formal, to previously underserved constituencies—scattered and rural populations, groups traditionally excluded from education due to cultural or social reasons such as ethnic minorities, girls and women, persons with disabilities, and the elderly, as well as all others who for reasons of cost or because of time constraints are unable to enroll on campus.

Anytime, anywhere. One defining feature of ICTs is their ability to transcend time and space. ICTs make possible asynchronous learning, or learning

The Role of ICT in Teaching and Learning: Past, Present and Future Perfect

To go back in time, the first commercial computer was launched only 60 years ago and the first microcomputers appeared in schools about 30 years later. Schools up to that time could mostly be described as traditional, having changed little from the learning institutions of 100 years or so previously. But these first microcomputers were beginning to bring about gradual change in classrooms as recorded in a UNESCO publication, Developing Computer Use in Education (1986). This time may be considered as a baseline; the beginning of the use of ICT in schools – termed theemerging stage.

To jump to the present, we see today the linking of computers across the world. The year 1996 may be remembered as the year that the Internet made its initial, far-reaching impact, on learning institutions and on much of the rest of human activity. Today’s web of computers and what we call ICT (Information and Communication Technologies)

Impact of ICTs on Learning & Achievement

Guiding Questions:

1. How are ICTs actually being used in education?
2. What do we know about the impact of ICTs on student learning?
3. What do we know about the impact of ICTs on student motivation and engagement for learning?

Current knowledgebase
What we know, what we believe -- and what we don’t

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 limitedThere 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.