how can we use Information Communication Technology(ICT) to develope our culture in terms of Education - Marked

 

ICT FOR DEVELOPMENT - 16/20

Information is organized or classified data, which has some meaningful values for the receiver. Information is the processed data on which decisions and actions are based.

Communications is the exchange of information between two or more things, such as people, devices, governments, organizations, or businesses. In digital communication, data is exchanged between two or more computing devices. This communication occurs over a communication medium, such as a telephone line, fiber optic cable, or wireless radio signal. The collection of digital devices and their connection media is a computer network

Technology is knowledge or a set of tools that helps make things easier or resolve problems.

Development is a process that creates growth, progress, positive change or the addition of physical, economic, environmental, social and demographic components. 

The purpose of development is a rise in the level and quality of life of the population, and the creation or expansion of local regional income and employment opportunities, without damaging the resources of the environment.  Development is visible and useful, not necessarily immediately, and includes an aspect of quality change and the creation of conditions for a continuation of that change.

Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, that enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.

The term ICT is also used to refer to the convergence of audio-visual and telephone networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has an important role in the world since we are now in the information age era. With ICT, the company can make the business easier to happen with the client, supplier and the distributor. It is also very important in our daily lives.

The lack of appropriate information at the right time will result in;

Ø  low productivity

Ø  low quality research works

Ø  waste of time to pursue information and even to do research which actually others had done or in other countries.

Nowadays ICT cannot be separated with our daily needs.

ICT has a great impact in our daily lives. For example,

1.   we can read our local newspaper using the online newspaper like daily Monitor or New vision.

2.   we still can get connected with our family, relatives, or colleagues even if we are abroad by using the electronic mail, yahoo messenger, call conference, or video conference and attend to business meetings virtually like zoom meetings.

Digital computer and networking has changed our economy concept to the economy with no boundary in time and space because of ICT. It brings a lot of advantages for economic development enabling millions of transactions to happen in an easy and fast way.

ICT is one of the economic development pillars to gain national competitive advantage. It has improved the quality of human life because it used as a learning and education media, the mass communication media in promoting and campaigning practical and important issues, such as the health and social area.

Will be used in education to add value in teaching and learning, by enhancing the effectiveness of learning, or by adding a dimension to learning that was not previously available. ICT will also be a significant motivational factor in students’ learning, and support students’ engagement with collaborative learning for example E-Learning using online Learning Management system.

As a matter of fact, we are living in a constantly evolving digital world. ICT has an impact on nearly every aspect of our lives – from working to socializing, learning to playing. The digital age has transformed the way young people communicate, network, seek help, access information and learn. We must recognize that young people are now an online population and access is through a variety of means such as computers, TV and mobile phones.

It is in this premise that educational technology and e-learning is taught in or out of the classroom since educational technology is used by learners and educators in homes, schools, businesses, and other settings.

ICT, or Information and Communication Technology, has given wings to scholars, educators, and allied staff in a multitude of ways. Software in schools has empowered them to uplift their communities through the use of technology related activities in the world of education.

Nowadays, when schools are increasingly transforming themselves into smart schools, the importance of educational technology also increases like today where almost all higher learning academic institutions are diverting to E-learning due to Covid-19.

This rising ubiquity of ICT means that we must monitor its role in education. It is necessary for decision makers like education ministers, school administrators, and educational institutions to be sufficiently insightful about methodologies that enable the implementation of information and communication technology in schools. Latest technologies can sprout novel education activities in addition to enhancing existing education systems.

However, the following are the challenges of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Education.

The rapid rate of technology growth in schools means a shake-up of the educational framework it occupies space in. To take full advantage of school management software, it is important to understand how they work. It is not enough to merely show on paper that educational technology is an option offered to students – efforts must be made to integrate its use into the current way of doing things at educational institutions.

There is a huge impact of the internet on students’ lives. Learning exercises have to be reoriented and reformulated, shifting the focus from obsolete and constraining manual sources to dynamic open source ones. For this to be realized, the broad utilization of web access has to be a strategy that is thought through and implemented by the powers that be at school.

There will always be detractors to the use of technology at school. After all, we have had a successful run without it so far. So is it not gimmicky or indulgent to claim that we must integrate the use of such technology in our schools? Do our students really need anything more than a pen, paper, and a determined teacher?

BY Mukandayisenga Allen

2020-01-01133