INFORMATION AND

COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
BASES OF IMPLOYING ICT IN
EDUCATION

Submitted To:
Submitted By:
Pallavi Jha

CONCEPT, NEED AND

IMPORTANCE OF ICT IN
EDUCATION:
Globalization and technological changes have created a new global
economy powered by technology, fueled by information and driven by
knowledge. The emergence of this new global economy has serious
implications for the nature and purpose of educational institutions. As the
access to information continues to grow rapidly, schools cannot be
contented with the limited knowledge to be transmitted in a fixed period
of time. They have to become compatible to the ever expanding
knowledge and also be equipped with the technology to deal with this
knowledge. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) which
include radio and television, as well as newer digital technologies such as
computers and the Internet have been proven as potentially powerful
tools for educational change and reform. When used appropriately,
different ICTs can help expand access to education, strengthen the
relevance of education to the increasingly digital workplace, and raise
educational quality by helping make teaching and learning into an active
process connected to real life.
ICT stand for information and communication technologies and is defined,
as a "diverse set of technological tools and resources used to
communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information.
These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting
technologies (radio and television), and telephony. ICT in education is any
educational technology that is applied in the educational process. It
encompasses Hardware approach like use of machines and materials,
Software approach like use of methodologies and strategies of teaching
learning and Systems approach that uses the management technology
that deals with the systematic organization of the hardware and the
software. Different software packages for the use in different department
of education; e.g. library software, administration software, software
related to managing the entire teaching learning process.

IMPORTANCE OF ICT IN EDUCATION

Quick access to information
Easy availability of updated data
1

 Connecting Geographically dispersed regions

Catering to the Individual differences
Wider range of communication media
Wider learning opportunities for pupils

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY,
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AND
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Information Technology is a scientific, technological and engineerning
discipline and management technique used in handing the information,
its application and association with social, economical and cultural
matters. It is a systemic study of artifacts that can be used to give form to
facts in order to provide meaning for decision making, and artifacts that
can be used for organization, processing, communication and application
of information.
Information Technology has the following characteristics :
* Acquistion, Storage, manipulation, management, transmission or
reception of data or information.
* Real time access to information.
* Easy availability of updated data
* Connecting Geographically dispersed regions
* Wider range of communication media.

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
Communication Technology implies the knowledge, skills and
understanding needed to exchange information verbally or non- verbally.
It is processing of information in terms of accessing information, decoding
information and sending it via a medium and changer to the receivers.
Medium or channel can be written or oral or gesture form of information
through speech, action or any electronic machine. It facilitates
2

communication between individuals or groups. Who are not physically

present at the same location. Systems such as telephone, telex, Fax,
radio, T.V. and Video are included, as well as more recent computer based
technologies, including electronic data interchange and e-mail. In short,
communication technology is the activity of designing and constructing
and maintaining communication systems.

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Educational technology (also called learning technology) is the study
and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by
creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and
resources."[1] The term educational technology is often associated with,
and encompasses,instructional theory and learning theory. Educational
technology includes systems used in the process of developing human
capability. Educational Technology includes, but is not limited to, software,
hardware, as well as Internet applications and activities. The interaction of
physical sciences with education provides us with traditional aids, tools
and hardwares such as paper, ink, books, radios, lin-guaphones, films, etc.
and more sophisticated modern hardware like electronic computers, space
satellites, language laboratories etc.

CHALLENGES IN INTEGRATING
INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY
IN SCHOOL EDUCATION:
Although valuable lessons may be learned from best practices around the
world, there is no one formula for determining the optimal level of ICTs
integration in the education system. The concerns such as who will
manage this process of ICTs integration in education develop policy
guidelines and strategies. There are significant challenges in integrating
ICTs use in education rising from environmental, cultural and educational
faced by policy makers, educators, educational administrators and
students in higher education.

ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES:
People are expected to be able to work, learn, and study whenever and
wherever they want to; this in developing world this still not possible. A
countrys educational technology infrastructure sits on top of national
telecommunications and information technology infrastructures. There is a
limited regional infrastructure for the full ICTs integration in education. It is
very important for policymakers and planners before any ICT
implementation in education to carefully consider the following:
Appropriate rooms or buildings available to house the technology. In
countries where they are many old buildings, ensure proper electrically
wiring, heating/cooling and ventilation and also security and safety will be
needed.
Availability of electricity and telephony in most developing countries
where there still large areas without a reliable supply of electricity and the
nearest telephones are miles away.

 Policymakers should also look at the ubiquity of different types of ICT in

the country in general and in the educational system in particular.

CULTURAL CHALLENGES:
Diversities of culture in different part of the world are also challenges in
introducing ICT in education. English is the dominant language of the
internet. Research has shown that an estimation of 80% of online content
is in English. A large proportion of educational software produced in the
world market is in English also. In most countries where English is not the
first language this represents a serious barrier in integrating ICTs use in
education system. Using the example of India and Pakistan, the majority
all the websites in the world are in English. This situation limits the
information access for some people who has lack or no ability in English
language. Similar to the situation in South Africa , where students
multilingualism background causes a major challenge in the role of ICTs in
South African higher education system.

EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGES:
One of the greatest challenges in ICT integration in education is balancing
educational goals with economic realities. ICTs in education require large
capital investments. Due to financial difficulties, government in some part
of the world specially developing countries priority is the rehabilitation of
school buildings and teacher welfare. ICT for education on the other hand
has not yet been considered a priority. In term of human resources, the
constraints are due to the lack of trained teaching manpower and lack of
motivation among educators to adopt and integrate ICT as a tool into their
teaching or educational curriculum. Extra effort and time involve in the
use of ICTs in education. In some part of the world due to educational
background generally there is lack preparedness for students entering
higher education in the knowledge and skills required for the basic use of
technologies. Still in educational, learning challenges arise in the delivery
methods of using ICTs (online-based, blended etc.), content not adapted to
the technology and context, limited interaction between students and
educators.

DALES CONE OF EXPERIENCE:

The Cone was originally developed by Edgar Dale in 1946 and was
intended as a way to describe various learning experiences. The diagram
5

presented to the right (Raymond S. Pastore, Ph.D) is a modification of

Dales original Cone; the percentages given relate to how much people
remember and is a recent modification. Essentially, the Cone shows the
progression of experiences from the most concrete (at the bottom of the
cone) to the most abstract (at the top of the cone). It is important to note
that Dale never intended the Cone to depict a value judgment of
experiences; in other words, his argument was not that more concrete
experiences were better than more abstract ones. Dale believed that any
and all of the approaches could and should be used, depending on the
needs of the learner.

The figure above shows what students will be able to do at each level of
the Cone (the learning outcomes they will be able to achieve) relative to
the type of activity they are doing (reading, hearing, viewing images,
etc.). The numerical figures on the left side of the image, what people will
generally remember, indicate that practical, hands-on experience in a
real-life context will allow students to remember best what they do. Again,
it is important to remember that this doesnt mean reading and listening
are not valuable learning experiences, simply that doing the real thing
can lead to the retention of the largest amount of information. This is in
part because those experiences near the bottom of the Cone, closer to
and including real-world experiences, make use of more of our senses; it is
believed that the more senses that are used, the greater our ability to
learn from and remember an event or experience.
6

MULTISENSORY INSTRUCTIONAL
APPROACH:
Multisensory techniques are frequently used for children with learning
differences. Studies from the National Institute of Child Health and Human
development (United States of America) have shown that for children with
difficulties in learning to read, a multisensory teaching method is the most
effective teaching method.
Multisensory teaching techniques and strategies stimulate learning by
engaging students on multiple levels. They encourage students to use
some or all their senses to:

Gather information about a task

Link information to ideas they already know and understand
Perceive the logic involved in solving problems
Learn problem solving tasks
Tap into nonverbal reasoning skills
Understand relationships between concepts
Store information and store it for later recall

Using a multisensory teaching technique means helping a child to learn

through more than one sense. Most teaching techniques are done using
either sight or hearing (visual or auditory). The childs sight is used in
reading information, looking at text, pictures or reading information based
from the board. The hearing sense is used to listen to what the teacher
says. The childs vision may be affected by difficulties with tracking or
visual processing. Sometimes the childs auditory processing may be
weak. The solution for these difficulties is to involve the use of more of the
childs senses, especially the use of touch (tactile) and movement
(kinetic). This will help the childs brain to develop tactile and kinetic
memories to hang on to, as well as the auditory and visual ones.
Students with learning difficulties typically have difficulties in one or more
areas of reading, spelling, writing, math, listening comprehension and
expressive language. Multisensory techniques enable students to use their
personal areas of strength to help them learn. They can range from simple
to complex, depending on the needs of the student and the task at hand.
7

CONSTRUCTIVIST APPROACH:
Constructivist teaching is based on constructivist learning theory.
Constructivist teaching is based on the belief that learning occurs as
learners are actively involved in a process of meaning and knowledge
construction as opposed to passively receiving information. Learners are
the makers of meaning and knowledge. Constructivist teaching fosters
critical thinking, and creates motivated and independent learners. This
theoretical framework holds that learning always builds upon knowledge
that a student already knows; this prior knowledge is called a schema.
Because all learning is filtered through pre-existing schemata,
constructivists suggest that learning is more effective when a student is
actively engaged in the learning process rather than attempting to receive
knowledge passively. A wide variety of methods claim to be based on
constructivist learning theory. Most of these methods rely on some form of
guided discovery where the teacher avoids most direct instruction and
attempts to lead the student through questions and activities to discover,
discuss, appreciate, and verbalize the new knowledge.
One of the primary goals of using constructivist teaching is that students
learn how to learn by giving them the training to take initiative for their
own learning experiences.
According to Audrey Gray, the characteristics of a constructivist classroom
are as follows:

the learners are actively involved

the environment is democratic

the activities are interactive and student-centered

the teacher facilitates a process of learning in which students are

encouraged to be responsible and autonomous