The Role of Information Technology

Our age is known as the age of Information Technology. Information Technology with its superhighway
has not only revolutionized man’s way of working but also his very existence. IT (Information Technology)
revolution is sweeping our civilization bringing about unfathomable changes in our present-day
civilization. Twenty first century belongs to the IT world.

The term ‘Information Technology’ or simply known as IT is a generic name given to all improvements
that are taking place in our world due to the inter-linked advancement in technology, learning, and
information. The term refers to recent technological developments that are taking place in our world as a
result of better technology, due to better information.

It consists of a number of allied modern advancements such as, computer, Internet, websites, surfing, E-
mail, E-commerce. E-governance, Video- conference, cellular phones, paging, fax machines, smart
cards, credit cards, ATM cards etc. All these have been possible due to the advancement in information
gathering technique or system which is known as ‘Information Superhighway’ which, like a highway,
opens us to a world of technology and information full of immense possibilities.

Two essential components of IT revolution have been the development of computer and internet. These
two developments have revolutionized modern civilization. Today at the press of a button we can get any
information that we want from anywhere in the world in a fraction of a second, sitting in our room.

This easy and quick access to information has been instrumental in improving our communication, travel,
business, entertainment, space exploration, defense capabilities, medical surgeries etc. “We can visit
sites situated thousands of miles away, chat with people sitting in other parts of the world, see the latest
movies, watch live international matches, read daily newspapers, attend business conferences, conduct
business transactions, visit world famous libraries, go through the latest books etc. all at the click of a key
on the computer.

The facility of internet and surfing opens us to the world of information superhighway enabling us to seek
the information that we want. With the possibility of downloading programmes and information through a
computer to a paper, our task of gathering information is a few minutes affair. In this manner, today the
process of gathering knowledge and information has become, easy, cheap, fast, and enjoyable. This has
been the greatest advantage of IT boom.
IT revolution has also altered the very face of business operations and E- commerce is becoming a
fashion of the day. We can advertise our products and seek jobs and make ourselves available through
the internet. IT boom has also revolutionized our style of living. It has made our life easy, pleasurable, and
luxurious.

Today, we need not go hunting for household items in congested markets. Sitting in our room we can
order things, buy tickets, talk to clients, listen to lectures, take part in on-line lotteries, sign business
agreements, do bank transactions etc. In other words the recent development in the IT world has reduced
man’s labor, workload, and has created a better world to live in.

Today IT revolution is sweeping over the world. Although, IT boom has revolutionized the western world
beyond recognition it is still to make much headway in changing lives in India. The boom has, however,
affected only the affluent and the urban India. The benefits of IT boom needs to penetrate down to the
ordinary men and women living in our country.

[THE END]
 The Role of Good Teacher
The interrelation between guidance and instruction in the educational process emphasizes the key role of
the teacher in guidance.

The teacher is uniquely responsible for the climate of learning in which the class as a group, and each
pupil as an individual in the group, finds opportunity for learning and for personal development.

Johnston, Peters, and Evraiff say, “The school must be conceived of as the setting for learning
experiences, and everything which helps to make that setting educational is a concern of the teacher.”
Teachers affect the lives and personalities of children, and their influence goes far beyond the academic
area and what can be measured by achievement tests.

Ohlsen say, “If the teacher will accept each pupil as he is, with all his strengths and weaknesses, and will
help him to improve where he needs to improve, the teacher will have many opportunities to help pupils
understand and accept themselves and to aid them in defining reasonable life goals—two major aims of
guidance.

He may also influence the attitudes and feelings which contribute to making independent choice either
easy or difficult.”

Roles
1. The Teacher Studies Children:
Child study is a basic guidance function and is accomplished through the use of both formal methods
involving tests and cumulative records and informal methods based upon observations of the pupil in his
classroom and in other settings.

The teacher learns much about the child as he studies the pupil’s production, his oral and written work,
his art work, and his reading record. The teacher seeks to observe hobbies and interests as an aid to
motivation through understanding.

Observations of behavior systematized through the use of the anecdotal record provide a rich source of
data for child study.

The teacher in an elementary school is in a strategic position to conduct child study, for he sees the child
in many differing situations and has frequent opportunity for contacts with parents.
The first-grade teacher who must provide more formal learning experiences for children entering school
for the first time faces a big task in studying the individual pupils in his class. Too frequently a reading-
readiness score is the only objective evidence of individual differences.

Readiness for learning depends upon physical and mental factors, situational factors, and the self-system
of the child. The child must see what is to be learned as meaningful and useful as it relates to his needs,
goals, and self-concept.

The teacher must first look at the individuals in his class in order to determine each child’s readiness for
learning, the degree to which individual needs are being met, and how each child sees himself.

The teacher also looks at himself and raises the question, “How do I feel about each of these pupils?
What are my personal needs which may influence my relationship with the group or with individuals within
the class?

2. The Teacher Collects Data about Children:

Early identification of individual needs makes educational planning more valid. Identification and planning,
however, must be continuous and not a one-time experience.

Identification involves observation in many areas of behavior, a study of developmental records, and
interviews with parents and children.

Kough and DeHaan provide teachers with techniques and procedures for observing behavior. Their
handbook provides descriptions of behaviors which can be observed as a basis for recognizing children
with special interests, abilities, or problems.

One of the most useful techniques for informal study is the anecdotal record together with the roster of
observations kept by the teacher.

The teacher will also participate in the collection of data by more formal methods and will utilize all the
data in the cumulative record of the child. Such data usually cover personal and family background,
health, attendance, scholarship, and activities both in and out of school.

The standardized test, inventories, and rating scales may all be used in the elementary school to provide
essential information for understanding children.

The cumulative record which the school develops in designed to help teachers function more effectively
by grouping the data collected so that conclusions are more easily drawn.
Effective use of pupil records is possible only when the information covers all the fundamental areas of
human development and when it is so organized that developmental patterns are evident.

Then the record can be analyzed with a reasonable expenditure of time and effort. Cassel offers a plan of
organization for recording developmental data on a profile which makes it possible to recognize growth in
some six areas of physiological, emotional, psychosexual, intellectual, social, and educational
development. This or some similar plan lends continuity to records.

3. The Teacher Counsels:

The teacher works with individuals as well as groups, and there is a kind of counseling which is a
legitimate function of the classroom teacher. Johnston feels that the teacher’s relationship with pupils in
this class often leads to possibilities for establishing good counseling rapport.

Only in the classroom climate which is really conductive to learning can such a rapport be established,
because it is based on respect for the individual and reflects attitudes and not processes.

Gordon reminds us that “the teacher-counselor cannot be all things to all students. He must be closely
aware of his limits and use referral processes when the counseling situation seems to be going ‘out of his
depth.’” Johnston says:

“The teacher’s counseling role is not a therapeutic one, but he does aim at offering the student assistance
in making more effective personal and environmental adjustments.”

When the pupil is unable to relate to the classroom teacher, or when the case calls for techniques beyond
the ability of the teacher, the child should be referred to the school counselor.

Many teachers are including courses in guidance in their graduate programmes, and these teachers often
possess skills which make for effective counseling.

If a teacher finds it difficult to accept the basic philosophy of counseling, he cannot be expected to do
counseling, as such, in his work.

Counselors can serve as consultants to teachers, thus providing in service education in the area of
referral procedures.

The case conference involving teacher, administrator, nurse, counselor, visiting teacher, and school
psychologist offers an excellent opportunity to increase the teacher’s skill in looking beneath symptoms to
problems which need to be referred.
Although the teacher is the key guidance worker in the elementary school, he needs to recognize the
guidance roles of other school personnel. The teacher is a member of a team whose function is to obtain
the maximum development of each child in the school.

Johnston says, “No school is effectively staffed guidance-wise when there is not someone in the school
who can function as a counselor and handle the kinds of cases which are referred by the classroom
teacher.”

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Teachers play an important part in training children, teenagers and even people in their early maturity.
Some qualities of a good teacher that are crucial for determining one as a good teacher are the teacher’s
sound knowledge in his/her major and its related fields, certain devotion to and great love for his/her
students and his/her ability to inspire the students’ passion for studying either in or out of class.

There is no doubt that knowledge is a quality/must for a good teacher. In addition to his/her professional
knowledge, the teacher need to enlarge his/her general knowledge on culture, society, humanity,
psychology, methodology, politics, history, etc. to provide his/her students with what they need to know,
satisfy their curiosity and meet their requirements in any case.

Another quality that a good teacher should have is his/her devotion to and great love for those who call
him ‘sir’ or her ‘madam’ in class. Generally speaking, the students are not mature enough to behave
properly. They are sometimes really stubborn. Consequently, the teacher has to learn how to handle the
students’ troubles in a gentle and affectionate manner. He/she should pay adequate attention to the
students and know how to keep calm in any situation so that he/she can give the students some advice
when they are in need or help them distinguish the right from the wrong.

Last but not least, a good teacher always succeeds in inspiring his/her students’ passion for studying both
under his/her guidance in class and out of class by themselves. I highly appreciate this third quality of a
good teacher because of its undeniable value. It is not always easy to provide his/her students with all the
required knowledge in class; therefore, a good teacher can manage to make the students motivated
enough to carry on their active and successful self-study at home. Obviously, teaching his/her students
how to study independently, creatively and effectively is what a good teacher must do in any academic
setting.

In conclusion, to be a good teacher, anyone who devotes himself/herself to the “coinage” of a succession
of young generations must keep on working really hard to enlarge his/her skill and general as well as
professional knowledge, to accumulate experience in how to deal with his/her students properly and to be
able to inspire in the students the true love, the increasing hope and the ever-lasting enthusiasm to reach
higher and higher levels of education in their life. Those are important qualities of a good teacher.

[THE END]

How We Can Make Pakistan a Super Power?

  In my opinion, we have ignored a lot of things as Muslims and we have followed the west blindly; the
result, we have not done as good as we should have, to put in nice words, but the two things we have
ignored as Pakistanis are free press and judicial system. Pakistan was created by the blessings of Allah
(S.W) and by the tireless efforts of the Muslims of the sub-continent under the leadership of Muhammad
Ali Jinnah, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal and their companions on 14th AUG, 1947. What I want in this
thread is that the members of PDF to look back and see what mistakes we have done and what could
have been done to correct those mistakes?

     Under the previous few administrations of Pakistan, it has been portrayed that the current leaders are
doing a lot for the country, while these politicians were in power, but as soon as those leaders were
removed or their term was over, the press (controlled by the government) started to portray as the
previous leaders/politicians as the worst person ever. What I am proposing is that if we could establish a
press, free of the government control, we the people of Pakistan would be able to know what is the
current performance of the current administration and there should be monitoring teams who would
constantly keep check of the performance and keep the people informed, that way, we the people would
exactly know that where our tax money is going and is it going for the betterment of the country or is it
going on the pockets of these corrupt leaders/politicians.
     Second, we need a judicial system which actually works. If we could establish that, the law breaker
would know that he would be accountable if he would commit a crime. Usually, a criminal violates the law
if he knows that he would not be held accountable, so he is free to do whatever he/she desires. If he
would know that he would be held responsible for whatever he is doing, than the crime would not be
committed.

     In the end, I'd like to propose and say that free press and judicial system goes hand in hand. The role
of free press is to report the performance and facts and figures of the leaders/politicians and cover news
from all over the nation and bring it in front if the people. The role of judicial system which is free of any
flaws is to conduct research and held accountable the law breakers and law violators. If the person would
know that he/she can be held accountable and that there is an NGO (non-government organization) that
monitors the performance and reports these facts and figures to the judicial system, the law breaker
would think twice to do the crime.