A Paper Submitted for

National Conference on

On

“Information Technology
and Business Computing (ITBC12)- E-learning”

By

Dr. Mukul A. Burghate

&
Prof. Tushar D. Tale

Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Institute of Management Technology & Research,

Dept. Of Dhanwate National College, Nagpur

Email: tushartaley@gmail.com; mukulburghate@rediffmail.com

Mobile: +919970284268, +919823141467

 E-learning- Innovative Information & Communication Technology (ICT)

Key Words: Internet, Information, Distance Education, Teacher Training, Stakeholders.

Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is universally acknowledged as an important

catalyst for social transformation and national progress. However, disparities in the levels of ICT
readiness and use could translate into disparities in level of productivities and hence could influence
a country’s rate of economic growth.

Understanding and leveraging ICT is therefore critical for countries striving for continued social
and economic progress. Changes in the economic and social fundamentals call for transformation in
the skills, capabilities and attitudes of the masses. This requires a shift in the delivery and pedagogy
used in the current education system. The purpose of this paper is to promote integration of
Information and Communication technologies (ICT) in education for imparting easily accessible,
affordable and quality higher education leading to the economic upliftment of India.
The focus of the paper is on the benefits that ICT integration in education can provide, right from
breaking time and distance barriers to facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing among
geographically distributed students. The findings reveal that it also facilitates sharing of best
practices and knowledge across the world.

Operational Definitions of ICT

Information and Communication Technologies are defined as all devices, tools, content, resources,
forums, and services, digital and those that can be converted into or delivered through digital forms,
which can be deployed for realising the goals of teaching learning, enhancing access to and reach of
resources, building of capacities, as well as management of the educational system.

These will not only include hardware devices connected to computers, and software applications,
but also interactive digital content, internet and other satellite communication devices, radio and
television services, web based content repositories, interactive forums, learning management
systems, and management information systems.

These will also include processes for digitisation, deployment and management of content,
development and deployment of platforms and processes for capacity development, and creation of
forums for interaction and exchange.
India, like any other knowledge economy, depends on the development of its educational sector.
Higher education drives the competitiveness and employment generation in India. However,
research findings have shown that the overall state of higher education is dismal in the country.
There is a severe constraint on the availability of skilled labor. There exist socio-economic, cultural,
time and geographical barriers for people who wish to pursue higher education. Innovative use of
Information and Communication Technology can potentially solve this problem.

ICTs in Education

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be utilized for the education sector.
Education includes online, distance and part time education. There are unlimited applications of
ICT in the real world. Traditional Non-formal education system process includes activities like
admission, Personal Contact Programmes, Exam for any course in a University or Institution. In this
process ICT can play a great role in all the activities by providing a lot of benefits to students,
teachers, parents and Universities itself. ICT can be used for providing education to the people who
are not able to come to school due to various constraints. ICT can play great role in formal and non
formal forms of education. The paper examines certain important issues related with the effective
implementation of ICTs in all levels of education and provides suggestions to address certain
challenges that would help in the implementation of ICTs in education and simultaneously
increasing Quality of education.

The term ICTs, or Information and Communication Technologies can be describes as

“…the tools and the processes to access, retrieve, store, organize, manipulate, produce, present and
exchange information by electronic and other automated means. These include hardware, software
and telecommunications in the forms of personal computers, scanners, digital cameras, phones,
faxes, modems, CD and DVD players and recorders, digitized video, radio and TV programs,
database programs and multimedia programs”

Any kind of technology can be understood as a tool or technique for extending human capacity. In
this sense, ICTs extend our human capacity to perceive, understand and communicate. The mobile
phone enables us to speak from wherever we are to others thousands of kilometers away; television
permits us to see what is happening on the other side of the planet almost as it happens; and the
Web supports immediate access to, and exchange of, information, opinions and shared interests.
In the field of formal education, ICTs are increasingly deployed as tools to extend the learner’s
capacity to perceive, understand and communicate, as seen in the increase in online learning
programs and the use of the computer as a learning support tool in the classroom. Although
universities were certainly leaders in engineering the Internet and interoperable computer systems to
connect researchers for e-mail and data exchange, the use of ICTs for education and training has
lagged behind other sectors in society.
In order to best use these technologies in education, new pedagogies and learning assessment
methods may, and probably will, be required. In this rapidly advancing field, it is worth reviewing
the history, current uses and trends in ICTs that will further influence how education practices may
be changed in future. Educators are continuing to develop new applications and online resources to
support learning objectives in all disciplines. The field of environment and sustainable development
education is no exception.

The following table shows the main benefits of using ICT in education to the various
stakeholders Benefits of ICT in education to the main stakeholders.

Stakeholder Benefits
Student 1. Increased access,
2. Flexibility of content and delivery,
3. Combination of work and education,
4. Learner-centred approach,
5. Higher quality of education and new ways
of interaction.
Employers 1. High quality, cost effective professional
development in the workplace,
2. Upgrading of employee skills, increased
productivity,
3. Development of a new learning culture,
4. Sharing of costs and of training time with
the employees,
5. Increased portability of training.
Governments 1. Increase the capacity and cost
effectiveness of education and training
systems,
2. To reach target groups with limited access
to conventional education and training,
3. To support and enhance the quality and
relevance of existing educational
structures,
4. To ensure the connection of educational
institutions and curricula to the emerging
networks and information resources,
5. To promote innovation and opportunities
for lifelong learning.
ICT Tools

There are various ICT tools available which can be utilized for the knowledge creation and
dissemination in the modern world. Tools include Radio, T.V, Internet, Mobile phone, Computer,
laptop, tablets and many other hardware and software applications. Certain ICT tools like laptops,
PCs, mobile phones, and PDAs have their own implication in Education. These devices can be used
in imparting education and training for teachers and students. Many of the ICT tools are much
hyped but have not given fruitful results till now. Use of radio for pedagogical practices has been
very much popular in past and is still in use in India by IGNOU. But One-to-many broadcast
technologies like radio and television are seen as less ‗revolutionary‘ ICTs in education, as their
usage is seen as reinforcing of traditional instructor-centric learning models, unlike computers,
which many see as important tools in fostering more learner-centric instructional models.
Successful ICT initiatives meet three intertwined objectives: availability, access, and demand.
Educational ICT tools are not for making educators master ICT skills themselves, but for making
educators create a more effective learning environment via ICT. Teachers can utilize ICT tools to
get benefits from using these tools in the areas of content, curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
ICTs include fixed-line telephony, mobile telephony, newspapers, radio, television, very small
aperture terminal (VSAT), computer, and internet must be accessible to rural public as per their
demand.

ICT can be used as a tool in the process of education in the following ways:

 Informative tool: It provides vast amount of data in various formats such as audio,
video, documents.
 Situating tool: It creates situations, which the student experiences in real life. Thus,
simulation and virtual reality is possible.
 Constructive tool: To manipulate the data and generate analysis.
 Communicative tool: It can be used to remove communication barriers such as that of
space and time.
The following mediums are used for the delivery and for conducting the education process:
 Voice – Instructional audio tools that include interactive technologies as well as the passive
ones.
 Video - Instructional video tools that include still images, prerecorded moving images, and
real-time moving images combined with audio conferencing.
 Print – instructional print formats that include textbooks, study guides, workbooks and case
studies.

India is making use of powerful combination of ICTs such as open source software, satellite
technology, local language interfaces, easy to use human-computer interfaces, digital libraries, etc.
with a long-term plan to reach the remotest of the villages. Community service centres have been
started to promote e-learning throughout the country .Notable initiatives of use of ICT in education
in India include:
 Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) uses radio, television, and Internet
technologies.
 National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning: a concept similar to the open
courseware initiative of MIT. It uses Internet and television technologies (National
Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning, India, 2007).
 Eklavya initiative: Uses Internet and television to promote distance learning.
 IIT-Kanpur has developed Brihaspati, an open source e-learning platform.
 Premier institutions like IIM-Calcutta have entered into a strategic alliance with NIIT for
providing programmes through virtual classrooms.
 Jadavpur University is using a mobile-learning centre.
 IIT-Bombay has started the program of CDEEP (Centre for Distance Engineering
Education Program) as emulated classroom interaction through the use of real time
interactive satellite technology (Centre for Distance Engineering Education Programme,
India, 2007).

ICT and Teacher Training.

In the modern world of ICT there is decentralization of knowledge source. Technology is only a
tool and it must be utilized only to remove the barriers and challenges present in the existing
system. ICT provides opportunities to complement on the job training and continuing education for
teachers in a convenient and flexible manner. Use of ICTs in education requires major shift in the
way content is designed and delivered. New technologies cannot be imposed without enabling
teachers and learners to understand these fundamental shifts. Ongoing training is necessary for the
trainers in institutions and organizations who are engaged in the design of curriculum, teaching
materials and delivery of ICT-enabled education. ICT is applied in their teaching practices as well
as for delivery for these trainings. In order to implement ICT-driven distance education
programmes, the teachers must first understand and be comfortable with the technologies. They
must be given opportunities for acquisition of a new knowledge. This can begin by promoting
computer-training programmes for teachers. Use of ICTs for teacher training has been recognized
by the governments of most South Asian countries and teacher training programmes like Intel
Teach across India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka; Microsoft Shiksha in India; and several other
initiatives in Nepal and Bhutan are focused on using ICTs for training teachers. The SSA has taken
initiatives to strengthen Computer-Aided Learning (CAL) in collaboration with a number of private
organizations after having a look at the advantages of ICT in Education for achieving the goals of
SSA. Under the SSA framework, a provision has been made for computer education district-wise
and is made available to each State under CAL interventions under PPP mode. ICT can be applied
for pre-service and in-service teachers training programmes.

Conclusion

Changes in the curriculum do support fundamental economic and social transformation in the
society. Such transformations require new kinds of skills, capabilities and attitudes, which can be
developed by integrating ICT in education. The overall literature suggests that successful ICT
integration depends on many factors. National policies as well as school policies and actions taken
have a deep impact on the same. Similarly, there needs to be an ICT plan, support and training to all
the stakeholders involved in the integration. There needs to be shared vision among the various
stakeholders and a collaborative approach should be adopted. Care should be taken to influence the
attitudes and beliefs of all the stakeholders.

ICT can affect the delivery of education and enable wider access to the same. In addition, it will
increase flexibility so that learners can access the education regardless of time and geographical
barriers. It can influence the way students are taught and how they learn. It would enable
development of collaborative skills as well as knowledge creation skills. This in turn would better
prepare the learners for lifelong learning as well as to join the industry. It can improve the quality of
learning and thus contribute to the economy.

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