Introduction
We
are in a digital era. It is difficult to think of any event in our daily life
that is not using Information and Communication Technology. Our schools and
classrooms are no exceptions. As an ordinary citizen as well as a teacher, we
have to handle enormous data all the time. Data refers to facts, events,
activities and transactions which have been recorded. Data is the raw
material from which information is produced. Number of boys and girls in a
class is a factual description of a classroom. This is an example of data
related to the students in the class. In this sense, data is a description of
the world. Information is making meaning from the data. Based on the data,
one can conclude if girls are more in number in the class. The information is
processed data. Most of the decisions taken in and around the world by and
large are based on the data and information. Information is the key guiding
force of the world today.
Information and Communication technology(ICT)
The information created, stored, processed, transmitted, displayed and
shared is in digital form and through electronic media. The technologies used
in these processes are Information and Communication Technologies.
Traditionally also
radio, television, and print media were the widespread technologies used for
communication. The digital revolution has changed the way these traditional
technologies function. The analog television has become digital television.
In addition to the printed newspaper we also have electronic versions. Along
with traditional radio, we also have online radio. All these have started
appearing in the classroom to make the learning experiences rich.
ICT in Education
Education is one
major sector which has undergone the influence of innovations in ICT. Starting
from providing online content service, platform for organizing learning
experiences to managing learning and assessment has been changed greatly by
ICT developments. Students, teachers and educational administrators and every
stakeholder in education have been benefitted by the integration of ICT
in education..
ICTs have the potential to be used in
various practices of education,
1.teaching and
learning
Now a day the class rooms are
changing in to high-tech mode and the infrastructure and multimedia
facilities changed along with. A good teacher who is well equipped and well practiced with ICT only can handle classes.
Teacher can use virtual boards, power point presentations, you tube videos,
microphones and internet facilities in classrooms. Education minister, Kerala
Prof.C.Ravindranath announced new massive ICT roll out for primary classes in
Kerala. The scaling up of ICT-enabled education in UP classrooms is a major
step in achieving the educational goal of the Kerala government with respect
to its General Education Rejuvenation Mission. The detailed ICT school survey
for the LP and UP classes would commence in June and the detailed project
report would be prepared by IT@School in July. Computer labs and Smart
Classrooms would be set-up in all LP and UP schools. IT@ School has already
imparted specific ICT training for 70,602l LP and UP teachers in the State
and we have roped in the BSNL for providing broadband connectivity to all LP
and UP schools and as on date as many as 8,918 LP and UP schools (97 per
cent) schools have been fully covered.
2.Publication
Ø The
notes,printed text books, handbooks,workbooks,journals etc. can be printed
and published with the help of ICT
Ø Many
e-books are available in the websites which are useful to reference and
learning.
Ø Encyclopedia
is easily available in internet
3.Assessment-
Assessment plays a major role in student learning.
Online tests,
Results,feedback, software,progress reports etc can be done with ICT.There
are many new approaches to assessment with an emphasis on the process of
learning along with the product of learning. Performance based authentic
assessment is emphasized world over. In India also there is an emphasis on
continuous and comprehensive evaluation of students’ learning. Development in
information and communication technology has thrown open numerous
possibilities for assessing student learning and providing feedback. Teachers
can use computers to construct their assessment tasks, to deliver these tasks
to relevant students and to record and provide feedback and grades to these
students. Computers can also be used to analyse students' responses, both to
provide feedback to the student on the quality and relevance of their
response, as well as to provide feedback to the teacher on whether the task
can differentiate between students with different abilities. ICT based
assessment can be used to test many different capabilities and skills that
are developed by students. There are only a few tasks that might not be
suitable for completing and recording electronically, but the number of such
tasks is rapidly diminishing as technology becomes more sophisticated and
widespread. In many disciplines laboratory equipment can be manipulated
remotely and students can undertake real time physical performances that are
able to be recorded and used for assessment purposes. We are quickly
approaching the stage where our imaginations will be the limiting factor in
designing e-assessment tasks.
In assessment
conducting examinations, marking, grading, tabulating ICT is a good help for
teachers.After that graphical representation indicating the progress can be
made with the help of ICT .
4.Research
Research is the main
area in education which brings desirable changes. In all stages of
researchwork ICT is an essential factor which supports generates and
manipulates new ways. Serach engines e-libraries,internet Wikipedia, helps to
collect secondary datas and many informations. ICT reduces the distance
between the investigator and the truth or fact.We can digitalize and publish
the results after the work has been completed.A lot of statistical parts can
be done with ICT.
5.Administration
Change has been
happening at an uneven pace in any growth-oriented industry, and the
education sector is no exception. Rapid growth in the field of education has
made governance in academic sector a very complex task. The 21st
century has witnessed tremendous advancements in technology which has led to
far-reaching developments in the administrative system. Cost-effective
technology combined with the flexibility in learning and administrative
activities is essential to enhance efficiency.Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) plays a vital role in supporting powerful, efficient
management and administration in education sector. It is specified that
technology can be used right from student administration to various resource
administration in an education institution.Important records in an
educational institution can be keep digitally. For eg.,• Admission and Withdrawal Register:.• Attendance
Register: • Log Book:.• The Visitors Book: • Staff and Students' Personal
Files:.• Cumulative Record Folder: • Students' Report Sheet/Card• Lesson Notes/Plan.•
Scheme and Record of Work Book:.• Staff Time Book and Movement Book• Transfer
and Leaving Certificate: • Library records:.• Stock register• Cash Register.etc.
6. Teacher
professional development.
Teacher Professional Development (TPD)
is ‘a systematized, initial and continuous, coherent and modular process of
professional development of educators in accordance with professional
competency standards and frameworks’. Teacher professional development would
also include training in the adaptation to the evolution of change of the
profession of teachers and managers of education systems. ICT is becoming
increasingly prominent in the process of teacher professional development. If
we see this continuum of teacher development models, we would see that ICT is
more and more important for these models as some of them are partially and
others are completely organized through ICT tools. The teaching and learning
dimension of education can integrate ICTs in content creation, content
delivery and collaboration. Let us see one of them in detail, content
development for example. ICT provides us with many tools, including hardware
and content. The hardware encompasses computing devices as well as display
devises. The content sources can be Open Education Resources (OER), and
Reusable Learning Objects (RLO). Similar detailed exploration of ICT use can
be taken up for other aspects of educational practice. Professional
development of teachers is another such example. ICT tools provide various
opportunities in the form of Webinars, online courses, online collaborative
projects, online tutorials, social networking, and so on. Look at other
components presented in the graphic and see how ICTs contribute for
educational practice. Rest of the Units in this course is going to deal with
these topics at a greater length.
7. E-content and open educational resources
E-content is
becoming popular because of its flexibility of time, place and pace of
learning. E-content includes all kinds of content created and delivered
through various electronic media. E-content is available in many subjects and
almost all levels of education. It can be used by wide variety learners with
diverse needs, different backgrounds, and previous experience and skill
levels. It can be shared and transmitted easily and promptly among unlimited
number of users around the world. Teachers, students and others get benefited
by the use of well designed and developed e-content. It is advantageous to
the educational organizations to make their program accessible to their
teachers and students on campus, home and other community learning or
resource centers. It has a significant implications for open and
distance learning institutions.
8. ICT Integrated
lesson
Wikis-
A wiki is a website which allows collaborative modification of its content
and structure directly from the web browser. In a typical wiki, text is
written using a simplified markup language (known as "wiki
markup"), and often edited with the help of a rich-text editor.
BLOGS-"Blog"
is an abbreviated version of "weblog," which is a term used to
describe websites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information. A blog
features diary-type commentary and links to articles on other websites,
usually presented as a list of entries in reverse chronological order
(Source: codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging)
It's a space for sharing ideas and publishing to the world or restricted
target groups. The different content that the user publish could initiate
discussion and comments also. Teachers can create blog easily with google
blog service www.blogspot.com, or www.wordpress.com, or www.edublogs.org
Podcasts-A
podcast is a form of digital media that consists of an episodic series of
audio, video, digital radio, PDF, or e- pub files subscribed to and
downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile
device.
Social
Networks
Social network is a
network or connectivity among individuals or organizations. The connectivity
has been decided based on different interdependency and need. Individuals can
get connected instantly across the globe, and share the ideas and
information, which could be seen or shared by the individuals in the network.
There is complete freedom for the individuals to make connections on mutual
understanding for any general or specific purpose. Facebook, twitter, MySpace
etc. are some of the largest social networks.
Virtual World A
virtual world is a computer based simulated environment, also known as
massively multiplayer online world (MMOW). This enables the users to interact
with each other across the globe. Each user is represented by an avatar. The
user preferences are the key for designing virtual world, which is available
anywhere and anytime.
Using Social Bookmarking in the
Classroom
As an educational tool, bookmarking
sites can help students to find ways to search for information other than
Google indexing. Students who use these sites will also be less likely to
lose links that they have found valuable. Following are some reasons for
using social bookmarking in the classroom.
- Classroom Management: Students
and teachers can move from one computer to another and still have full
access to their bookmarks. Students and teachers will be less likely to
forget the location of the sites they have used.
- Collaboration:
Students can share their bookmarks with their classmates. Students and
teachers can also share collections of bookmarks they
have found to be worthwhile.
- News Gathering: Social
bookmarking sites can also help students to quickly find links to
important current events and historical events. Some bookmarking sites
allow students to subscribe to news feeds on a particular subject of
interest. They can then go daily to this site to find the most current
news on the subject. For a definition of news feeds go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_feed
Conclusion
In all phases and stages of education from curriculum
planning ICT can be used
Through ICT, images can easily be used in teaching and
improving the retentive memory of students.
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