CHALLENGES IN INTEGRATING ICT IN
SCHOOL EDUCATION
Technology Integration:
Technology integration is a
term used by the educators to describe effective use of technology by teachers
and students.
Ex:
Educational Technology includes Hardware (computer, handled devices, printers, digital
camera) Software and content application (programming classes, productivity
software) and media (Internet and Video Conferencing)
Technology integration is
defined not by the amount or type of technology used; but by how and why it is
used (Rodney Earle 2002)
Teacher should note that: There
is a difference between technology use and technology integration.
Technology use
everyday/everywhere use, everyone uses technology & its disconnected from
subject matter.
Teacher uses technology
in order to teach curriculum in a more meaningful and purposeful way.
Resistance to change:
Resistance is commonly
witnessed while attempting to introduce ICT’s into schools,very often from the
teachers themselves, since they may be of the opinion that they shall become
redundant once technology comes in or due to their perception that is too late
for them to adapt to a new environment. Educators themselves may be skeptical
about effectiveness of using ICTs in school education.
Lack of Awareness:
There is a general lack
of awareness about the utility of ICTs in education, as well as about ICTs at
our disposal and how they can be accessed and utilized economically and
effectively. This lack of awareness and knowledge about ICTs and their in
education, even on the part of policy makers, administrators and educators
makes it particularly difficult to deploy ICTs in the field of school education.
Language Barriers:
English is the dominant
language of the Internet. An estimated 80 percent of online content is in
English. A large proportion of the educational software produced in the world
market is in English. For developing countries (in the South Asian region)
where English language proficiency is not high especially outside metropolitan
areas this represents a serious barrier in maximizing the educational benefits
of world wide web.
Capacity building of Teachers:
In most of our schools the
teachers are overloaded, less motivated and inadequately trained and often deal
with inconvenient working conditions. The use of ICT in the classroom or in
distance education does not diminish the role of the teacher, neither does it
automatically change teaching practices. In such an atmosphere, building the
capacity of teachers so that they are equipped to deal with using ICT’s in
classroom is a challenge.
Monitoring and Evaluation:
Many
of the issues and challenges associated with ICTs in education initiatives are
known by policy makers, donar staff and educators. However data on the nature
and complexity of these remain limited because of the lack of good monitoring
and evaluation tools and processes. Where evaluation data is available much of
the work is seem to suffer from important biases
Another problem in this
area is the lack of a common set of indicators for ICTs in education. And where
data has been collected, it is often quantitative data related to
infrastructure (for example number of computers) rather than data that can help
policy makers gain the impact of ICT interventions on student learning.
If ICTs are to become
effective and integral tools in education and if accountability is to be
demonstrated to donors and stake holders monitoring and evaluation must be a
priority area of focus.
Another critical issue
with the usage of ICT in schools is the implementation of new technologies having
analysed their appropriateness, applicability and impact on various
environments and contexts. In most countries particularly the least developed
ones, must learn from the experiences of others, but must also use technology
to respond to their own needs and not just follows trend.
Internet usage & Monitoring
students: Internet usage has its own merits and demerits.
Providing internet access to every student is a very expensive for most
government schools. This is more so in the case of rural centers and remote
areas, where internet connections are bound to be erratic if available at all.
A different challenge
altogether when it comes to the internet usage is the effort involved
inmonitoring the students usage of the internet to ensures that they do not
visit educationally irrelevant and socially undesirable sites, thus detracting
from the intended objective.
Maintenance:
The problem most often
noted by teachers was the maintenance of equipment needed to operate a
technologically enhanced school.
Inequalities:
Another frequently
mentioned problem was the disparities between students who have to access to
computers at homes and those who do not.
Need for training:
Teachers provided evidence
of the importance of training needed for professional development in
integrating ICT in classroom teaching.
Information Overload:
Teachers recognized that
sometimes students/teachers are overwhelmed with the amount of information
available and with the task of filtering through the information.
Pace of Change & Stress: Teachers
have a hard time keeping up with the pace of change. People are stressed this
level of stress is transferred to young students.
Plagiarism: The
problem of increased plagiarism arises because technology was making it easy to
reproduce and revise someone else’s work. There is a lot of Cutting and pasting
going on.
Teacher’s time: Teachers
stated that IT was placing more demands on their time. Teachers noted that
extra time was needed to learn new software.
Failure to use
Technology to deliver effective formative assessment:
Assessment is an
important drive for educational practice and change and over the last years we
have seen a welcome rise in the use of formative assessment in educational
practice. However, there is still an assessment gap in how changes in curricula
and new skills demands are implemented in education, schools do not always make
necessary adjustments in assessment practices as a consequence of these
changes. Simple applications of digital media tools like webcams that allow
non-disruptive peer observation, offer considerable promise in giving teachers timely
feedback they can use.
Cost of Technology, its
rapid revolution and the special knowledge and skill required of its users pose
substantial barriers to effective utilization. When attempting to integrate
tool teachers typically encounter many barriers.
REVIEW
QUESTIONS
Short Questions:
1.
Write the comparison between Linear,
Branched Programming?
2.
Write the Advantages and Limitations of
Programmed Learning?
Essay
Questions:
1.
What is classroom interaction Analysis.
Write short notes on FIACS. Discuss the advantages and limitations of Flanders
system.
2.
Explain the concept of multi sensory
instruction.
3.
What is Programmed Learning? Write the
principles of programmed learning? Write its merits and demerits?
4.
What is individualized Instruction?
Write its need and Principles?
