Information and Communication Technology [ 1 ]

I C T


What Does ICT Stand for?
What Is The Definition of ICT?


What is the definition of ICT?
Stands for "Information and Communication Technologies." ICT refers to technologies
that provide access to information through telecom munications. It is similar to Information
Technology (IT), but focuses primarily on communication technologies. This includes the
Internet, wireless networks, cell phones, and other communication mediums.
In the past few decades, information and communication technologies have provided
society with a vast array of new communication capabilities. For example, people can
communicate in real-time with others in different countries using technologies such as instant
messaging, voice over IP (VoIP), and video-conferencing. Social networking websites like
Facebook allow users from all over the world to remain in contact and communicate on a
regular basis.
Modern information and communication
technologies have created a "global village," in
which people can communicate with others across
the world as if they were living next door. For this
reason, ICT is often studied in the context of how
modern communication technologies affect society.
Information Communication Technology (ICT) is a
generic name used to describe a range of technologies for gathering, storing, retrieving,
processing, analysing, and transmitting information.
Information and communications Technology (ICT) is an umbrella that involves any
communication application or device, encompassing: television, radio, satellite systems,
cellular phones, computer hardware and software. ICT are widely used in Healthcare, schools
and libraries.

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What are ICTs and what types of ICTs are commonly used
in education?
ICTs stand for information and communication technologies and are defined, for the
purposes of this primer, 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.
In recent years there has been a groundswell of interest in how computers and the
Internet can best be harnessed to improve
the efficiency and effectiveness of education
at all levels and in both formal and non-
formal settings. But ICTs are more than just
these technologies; older technologies such
as the telephone, radio and television,
although now given less attention, have a
longer and richer history as instructional
tools. For instance, radio and television have
for over forty years been used for open and distance learning, although print remains the
cheapest, most accessible and therefore most dominant delivery mechanism in both
developed and developing countries. The use of computers and the Internet is still in its
infancy in developing countries, if these are used at all, due to limited infrastructure and the
attendant high costs of access.
Moreover, different technologies are typically used in combination rather than as the
sole delivery mechanism. For instance, the Kothmale Community Radio Internet uses both
radio broadcasts and computer and Internet technologies to facilitate the sharing of
information and provide educational opportunities in a rural community in Sri
[Link], the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India combines the use of
print, recorded audio and video, broadcast radio and television, and audioconferencing
technologies.




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The Promise of ICTs in Education
For developing countries ICTs have the potential for increasing access to and improving the
relevance and quality of education. It thus represents a potentially equalizing strategy for
developing countries.
[ICTs] greatly facilitate the acquisition and absorption of knowledge, offering developing
countries unprecedented opportunities to enhance educational systems, improve policy
formulation and execution, and widen the range of opportunities for business and the poor.
One of the greatest hardships endured by the poor, and by many others who live in the
poorest countries, is their sense of isolation. The new communications technologies promise
to reduce that sense of isolation, and to open access to knowledge in ways unimaginable not
long ago

However, the reality of the Digital Dividethe gap between those who have access to and control
of technology and those who do notmeans that the introduction and integration of ICTs at
different levels and in various types of education will be a most challenging undertaking. Failure to
meet the challenge would mean a further widening of the knowledge gap and the deepening of
existing economic and social inequalities.


How are computers and the Internet used in distance
education?
Many, higher educational institutions
offering distance education courses have started to
leverage the Internet to improve their programmes
reach and quality. The Virtual University of the
Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico uses
a combination of print, live and recorded
broadcasts, and the Internet to deliver courses to students throughout Mexico and in several Latin
American countries. Similarly, the African Virtual University, initiated in 1997 with funding
support from the World Bank, uses satellite and Internet technologies to provide distance learning
opportunities to individuals in various English-speaking and French-speaking countries throughout
Africa.
At the University of the Philippines Open University, course materials are still
predominantly print-based but online tutorials are becoming a convenient alternative to face-to-face
tutorials especially for students unwilling or unable to go to UPOUs various physical learning
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centres. About 70-90% of UPOUs degree courses offer online tutorials as an option, while in
several of its non-degree courses tutorials are conducted only online.
But even in Korea, where infrastructure is among the best in the world, and government has
put considerable financial and other resources behind an ambitious ICT-based re-tooling of its
educational system, challenges to online education persist.
Internet- and Web-based initiatives have also been developed at the secondary education
level. The Virtual High School is a result of efforts of a nationwide consortium of school districts in
the United States to promote the development and sharing of Web-based courses. In Canada, Open
School offers a wide range of courses and resources to grades K-12 teachers and students that meet
the requirements of the British Columbia curriculum. Course delivery is done through a mix of
broadcast and video, while some courses are delivered totally online.
The biggest movers in e-learning, however, are not found within academe but in the private
sector. John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, famously predicted that e-learning would be the next big
killer application, and corporations are moving aggressively to fulfill this prediction. Merrill Lynch
estimates that the combined higher education and corporate e-learning markets in the US will grow
from $US2.3 billion in 2000 to US$18 billion in 2003, with corporate training accounting for
almost two thirds of that growth. Indeed, the number of corporate universities have grown from 400
to 1,800 over the last 13 years. Corporate universities are primarily in-house organizations in large
multinational companies that make use of videoconferencing and the Internet for employee training.
If this rate of growth continues, the number of corporate universities will exceed the number of
traditional universities by 2010. A parallel development in business is the growth of a new breed of
companies that offer online training services to small- and medium-sized enterprises.

References
Carlson, S. and C. T. Gadio. 2002. Teacher Professional Development in the Use of
Technology,in Haddad, W. and A. Drexler (eds). Technologies for Education: Potentials,
Parameters, and Prospects. Washington DC: Academy for Educational Development and
Paris: UNESCO.
Cuban, L. 2002. Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom. Cambridge MA:
Harvard University Press.
Daniel, J. 1996. Mega Universities and Knowledge Media:Technology Strategies for Higher
Education. London: Kogan Page.


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