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ICT
In Education By John
Yohanna Abimaje Like
the technology innovations which enhance performance in all sectors of
economic and social activities, educational technology has developed
over the last thirty years and ultimately improved the quality and
efficiency of education and learning, educational management and
research. The
Educational Technology can be seen as the end result of the systematic
application of scientific knowledge in finding practical solutions to
specific problems. It can also include teaching procedures, practices
and materials. Consequently, the inputs from technological developments
comprises, on the hand, non physical products (programmed learning soft
wares, individualized learning, teaching skills, the use of computers in
learning, computer assisted education, comprehensive educational syllabi
or curricula, multimedia, etc.); they also include, physical products
such as microcomputers, mainframe computers, video cassette recorders,
radio and television sets, video-tape recorders, tape recorders,
overhead projectors, photographic slides, electronic acetates, etc..) On
the issue of Information Communication Technology in education described
here, exploration of the potential of an interactive system to help
students to conceptualize the ideal hold on his/her area of discipline
is being considered. Actually,
the central task of the educator is to help students to understand the
various question the discipline they are studying ask, for this
assistance empowers students conceptually in developing their
familiarity with the grand ideas of the discipline they are studying.
One way of helping this literacy to emerge is to guide the alignment of
personal theory with the discipline the students are studying,
developing and extending students’ common sense views until they
coincide with the concept of their discipline. The
innovation of the computer and programmed instruction were applied to
education with encouraging result. Correspondence education later
developed into distance education that we have today. While
correspondence education utilized printed materials and programmed
instruction, distance teaching has incorporated a variety of media to
achieve educational result. It is observed that technology improves all
the time, new ideas is all the time being introduced by industry and
these should be applied to the process of education in order to help in
solving problem that educators are challenged with. Looking
at the whole purpose of an educational system, we see that it is an
efficient communication through the instruction sub-system. That is, the
transmission of information, knowledge skills, values and attitudes from
a source to a recipient, bridging the gap between generations of
learners. A major purpose of communication is to influence the recipient
of information to influence learners and consequently society, in a
desirable way, the future of the society has to be kept in view. Recent
developments in technology, especially in computer technology has set
the pace of development at fast “forward” in all spares. The
educational sector is therefore in danger of loosing contact with world
realities in the very near future. The rate of advances in computer
technology and the transformation it brings in its wake for
communication and “work” cannot be ignored by the educational sector
for two reasons; education involves and depends on communication system
and secondly, education prepares the future society for a world of work. Technology
is about machines. Machine make-work easier; achieve more work in less
time. It can therefore be expected that employing technology in teaching
would introduce better efficiency in the instructional system. This is
achieved in many ways:
The
main implication of a computer for instruction is not in data processing
but in its ability to aid the further development of all the other
information system used in education. For instance, photography can be
improved by using computerized cameras, which adjust automatically for
light exposure and object distance. Accordingly,
when ICT are discussed, much attention is however focused on the
computer because of its versatility. This is due to:
·
Its high speed processing of
information. ·
The ability to adapt to various input
formats and encoding system. ·
Convenient information packaging
format. ·
Relatively easy manipulation techniques ·
Relatively low cost of the technology. ·
Adaptability to user condition and
modes. The
computer has also gained the attention because it is regarded as the
main changing agent for the future. It is envisaged that in the very
near future, most work will be done through computers so the computer
technology has become an important subject for the educational system. In
the school system, the computer can serve as subject , as media, and as
a tool for creative work. As a subject, the student learns about
computer. This is computer literacy. The argument for computer literacy
is that in the future, the inability to use computers would be as
limiting as the inability to read and write. It has therefore become
important as this age to learn the basic uses of computers, to learn to
operate the computer, to learn to use various computer software and
learn to develop computer software for various purposes. As
media, the computer is used for teaching and learning. This is Computer
Assisted Instruction (CAI). The knowledge of computers and programmed
instruction are used to produce computer programmes that teach. It
becomes possible to tailor instruction to individual needs. Learners can
advance at their homes. Teachers can utilize packaged lesions or
produced their own course wave. CAI adds a lot of flexibility to
learning system. As
a tool for creative work, the learner uses the computer to advance
his/her ideas, trying out new methods or projects, and experimenting
with, and creating new concepts. In this format, to use a computer also
serve as a problem solving tool, calculating, manipulating and analyzing
data. However,
one of the ways the computer can be used for teaching and learning is
the Internet. It affords all learners and educators a rich resource for
their teaching research. So, what is Internet? It can be described as
the connections of over a million computers all over the world, sharing
information on different subject of life. With the help of browsing
software such as Microsoft Internet Explore and Netscape Navigator, the
rich materials shared within the internet can be accessed, download and
used for research work. Part
of the benefits of using the Internet includes:
In
general terms, the introduction of new technologies in education would
provide education with productive systems, ensuring equal opportunities
for learners. Technology itself has generated new information at an
exponential rate and it is only through technology that the tremendous
amount of available information can be harnessed and accessed in
learning. JOHN
YOHANNA ABIMAJE From : KADUNA |