Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can impact student learning when teachers are digitally literate and understand how to integrate it into curriculum.
Schools use a diverse set of ICT tools to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage information.(6) In some contexts, ICT has also become integral to the teaching-learning interaction, through such approaches as replacing chalkboards with interactive digital whiteboards, using students’ own smartphones or other devices for learning during class time, and the “flipped classroom” model where students watch lectures at home on the computer and use classroom time for more interactive exercises.
These methods can foster higher order thinking skills, offer unique and creative ways for students to communicate their understandings, and better equip them to deal with the constant technological change that is occurring in both the workplace and society as a whole when teachers are trained and knowledgeable about ICT .
Planners dealing with ICT concerns need to take into account the whole cost-benefit analysis, provide and maintain the necessary infrastructure, and make sure that investments are linked with policies and teacher assistance to ensure effective ICT use.
Issues and Discussion
Digital literacy and digital culture: Computer technologies and other elements of digital culture have altered how people learn, work, play, and live. This has an impact on the global distribution and construction of power and knowledge. Graduates with limited exposure to digital culture are increasingly at a disadvantage in both the domestic and international labor markets. Thus, curriculum frameworks now take digital literacy—the abilities to find, evaluate, and produce information as well as the critical use of new media for full engagement in society—into serious consideration.
In many countries, digital literacy is being built through the incorporation of information and communication technology (ICT) into schools. Some common educational applications of ICT include:
One laptop per child: Due to efforts to cut costs, some developing countries may find that providing one laptop per child is too expensive. Less expensive laptops have been designed for use in schools on a 1:1 basis with features like lower power consumption, a low cost operating system, special re-programming, and mesh network functions.
Tablets: With its touch screen, tablets are tiny personal computers that enable input without the need for a keyboard or mouse. Tablets are an adaptable learning tool because inexpensive learning software, or "apps," can be downloaded. The best applications foster higher order thinking skills and give students unique, creative ways to communicate what they have learned.
ICT and Teacher Professional Development: Teachers need specific professional development opportunities in order to increase their ability to use ICT for formative learning assessments, individualized instruction, accessing online resources, and for fostering student interaction and collaboration. Such training in ICT should positively impact teachers’ general attitudes towards ICT in the classroom, but it should also provide specific guidance on ICT teaching and learning within each discipline. Without this support, teachers tend to use ICT for skill-based applications, limiting student academic thinking. To support teachers as they change their teaching, it is also essential for education managers, supervisors, teacher educators, and decision makers to be trained in ICT use.
Ensuring benefits of ICT investments: To ensure the investments made in ICT benefit students, additional conditions must be met. School policies need to provide schools with the minimum acceptable infrastructure for ICT, including stable and affordable internet connectivity and security measures such as filters and site blockers. Teacher policies need to target basic ICT literacy skills, ICT use in pedagogical settings, and discipline-specific uses. Successful implementation of ICT requires integration of ICT in the curriculum. Finally, digital content needs to be developed in local languages and reflect local culture. Ongoing technical, human, and organizational supports on all of these issues are needed to ensure access and effective use of ICT.
Resource Constrained Contexts: The total cost of ICT ownership is considerable: training of teachers and administrators, connectivity, technical support, and software, amongst others. When bringing ICT into classrooms, policies should use an incremental pathway, establishing infrastructure and bringing in sustainable and easily upgradable ICT. Schools in some countries have begun allowing students to bring their own mobile technology (such as laptop, tablet, or smartphone) into class rather than providing such tools to all students—an approach called Bring Your Own Device. However, not all families can afford devices or service plans for their children.(30) Schools must ensure all students have equitable access to ICT devices for learning.
Inclusiveness Considerations
Digital Divide: The digital divide refers to disparities of digital media and internet access both within and across countries, as well as the gap between people with and without the digital literacy and skills to utilize media and internet. The digital divide both creates and reinforces socio-economic inequalities of the world’s poorest people. Policies need to intentionally bridge this divide to bring media, internet, and digital literacy to all students, not just those who are easiest to reach.
Minority language groups: Students whose mother tongue is different from the official language of instruction are less likely to have computers and internet connections at home than students from the majority. There is also less material available to them online in their own language, putting them at a disadvantage in comparison to their majority peers who gather information, prepare talks and papers, and communicate more using ICT. Yet ICT tools can also help improve the skills of minority language students—especially in learning the official language of instruction—through features such as automatic speech recognition, the availability of authentic audio-visual materials, and chat functions.
Students with different styles of learning: ICT can provide diverse options for taking in and processing information, making sense of ideas, and expressing learning. Over 87% of students learn best through visual and tactile modalities, and ICT can help these students ‘experience’ the information instead of just reading and hearing it. Mobile devices can also offer programmes (“apps”) that provide extra support to students with special needs, with features such as simplified screens and instructions, consistent placement of menus and control features, graphics combined with text, audio feedback, ability to set pace and level of difficulty, appropriate and unambiguous feedback, and easy error correction.
Reference and Resources
1. Alberta Education. 2012. Bring your own device: A guide for schools. Retrieved from http://education.alberta.ca/admin/technology/research.aspx
2. Alsied, S.M. and Pathan, M.M. 2015. ‘The use of computer technology in EFL classroom: Advantages and implications.’ International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies. 1(1).
3. Beilefeldt, T. 2012. ‘Guidance for technology decisions from classroom observation.’ Journal of Research on Technology in Education. 44(3).
4. Bishop, J.L. and Verleger, M.A. 2013. ‘The flipped classroom: A survey of the research.’ Presented at the 120th ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition. Atlanta, Georgia.
5. Bryant, B.R., Ok, M., Kang, E.Y., Kim, M.K., Lang, R., Bryant, D.P. and Pfannestiel, K. 2015. ‘Performance of fourth-grade students with learning disabilities on multiplication facts comparing teacher-mediated and technology-mediated interventions: A preliminary investigation. Journal of Behavioral Education.
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