PRINCIPLES OF ICT

Principles of ICT

Principles of ICT

The use of Information Technology benefits students greatly in many areas. Information technology has encouraged the development of productivity, increased student involvement and enabled students to complete joint projects with students in other cities, states and even countries (Carey 26). Studies on students who have twenty four hour access to laptops have shown that students shown an increase in problem-solving and critical thing sills, enhanced learning in core academic subjects, produce higher quality work and have even provided more one-on one time between teachers and students. Computers are powerful tools to mediate the learning process in higher education. Teachers use them in their relation with their students. The development of online courses has led many educators to re-examine their current approach, whereas others have simply adapted their current approach. Courses can thus vary from video lectures to student-centred constructivist approaches with less guidance from educators (Peck Dorricot 1994 pp, 11-15). This variety of approaches reflects the exploration-exploitation process induced by ICT. Any use of technology needs an adaptation by the teacher to its specific uses and teachers prefer their own tools to all other ready-to-use tools in the education setting. The ability and the preferences of teachers are fundamental concerning the intensity of usage. Nowadays a variety of under-utilised learning objects2 exist on the web. For example, in a recent study, Sutherland (2004) points out that “the Oxford English Dictionary, online in English, and the graph-plotting software in mathematics are among the free powerful pedagogical tools which are under-utilised”. The identification of these tools and the increasing awareness of their potential must be at the heart of future public policies. The whole process of learning must be changed such that teachers take the time to explore, with their students, the possibilities of ICT usages in education.

Technology is an integral component of learning. Being that students learn at different rates, technology can individualize instruction. They can move at an appropriate pace providing a solid foundation of basic skills. Computer based technologies can administer individualized lesson sequences that branch and remediate according to student's unique needs, quickly and automatically track progress and generate reports (Peck and Dorricot 11). The Internet provides a communications tool, which can assist students in networking within and between schools. Internet technology permits swift student-to-student communication through relatively inexpensive e-mail. Through the Internet students are also able to find Internet pen pals and ...