Effect of information technology in

Higher education
Koustav Roy
Computer Science Engineering Department
Kalyani Government Engineering College , Kalyani
requirement of higher education
through part-time and distance-learning
schemes. It can be used as a tool to
overcome the issues of cost, less
number of teachers, and poor quality of
I .Abstract - The focus of this paper is
education as well as to overcome time
to examine the role of Information
and distance barriers (McGorry, 2002).
and Communication Technology
Mooij (2007) states that differentiated
(ICT) in higher education in India.
ICT based education can be expected
The emergence of ICT has
to provide greater reliability, validity,
fundamentally changed the practices
and efficiency of data collection and
of not only business and governance
greater ease of analysis, evaluation, and
but education as well. While the
interpretation at any educational level.
world is moving rapidly towards
While the world is moving rapidly
digital media, the role of ICT in
towards digital media, the role of ICT
education has become increasingly
in education has become increasingly
important.
important. It has transformed the way
Keywords: ICT, higher education, how knowledge is disseminated today
elearning. in terms of how teachers interact and
communicate with the students and
vice-versa. Besides, it can provide
networking structures transcending
II .Introduction - The emergence of
borders and foster empowerment
Information and Communication
amongst students. But then what has
Technology (ICT) has fundamentally
been its impact in the higher
changed the practices of not only
educational scenario in the country?
business, governance or education but
every spheres of human endeavour. As
the world population edged to 7 billion
III. INDIA AS A KNOWLEDGE
in 2011, it has profound implications in
ECONOMY
every sphere (UN, 2013).

The emancipator and transformative The economic value of IT depends

potentials of ICT in higher education in greatly on the levels of economic
India has helped increase the country’s
progress a nation has already achieved.
IT has the potential to make existing
processes more effective and
efficient, but cannot substitute for the
lack of a basic infrastructure. What is
good for a developed country like the
U.S. is not necessarily optimal for a
developing country like India when
and ventures of industrial and knowledge-
based economies are recognized.
Industrial growth yields
from investments in large-scale
infrastructure (e.g., railroads, roadways,
power grids, and dams).
These investments, in turn, support
the growth of physical-asset
intensive industries (e.g., the steel,
chemical, and transportation
industries) that create and move
physical entities (e.g., people, water,
and goods)
IV.The Next Generation Internet
The Internet has grown so fast and wide
that there is tremendous clogging
happening on the Net. This
choking has actually restricted the
usage of the Internet and has not
permitted applications such as
Virtual Reality to be made available for
Distance Learning purposes. The Next
Generation Internet
hopes to rectify that by providing higher
V.SETTING THE STAGE
As any class begins, teachers
provide opportunities for students to
connect with each other in authentic,
meaningful ways as part of an
emerging learning community. In
FTF teaching teachers and students
learn about each other through
getting to know you activities,
classroom meetings, discussions,
those basic elements of infrastructure
that support a
successful economy such as
educational opportunities, healthcare,
electricity, drinking water, and capital
are still in short supply. The
impact of IT is best understood when
the fundamental differences between
the innovations
bandwidth and better quality audio and
video to enable
Multimedia as well as a high
amount of interactivity which is so
essential in learning. The student
based in Rural India will be able to
access the best Libraries and
Laboratories in the World. The
Carnegie Mellon
University’s Informedia project is
already a step
in the direction of Digital Libraries.
The Next
Generation Internet will also permit
Virtual Laboratories by which
students using Laboratory
instruments connected to the
Advanced Internet will be able to
conduct a Laboratory experiment
remotely. Therefore, a student in a
Village in India will be able to
virtual access the best Laboratories
in the
world. The University of North
Carolina has already
attempted the setting up of a Virtual
Laboratory on the Advanced Internet
sharing times, and informal chats.
Derek noted how he often took up to
two hours on the first night of his
FTF
courses to engage students in team
building
activities aimed at fostering trust and
communication As students shared
their interests and talents, each person’s
contributions and connections to the
group were acknowledged, valued, and
contextualized. Relationships and
connections Began to form. For
example, when a student shared an idea
in a FTF class, that student was located
within a physical space - such as a seat
and a room as well as a timeframe
which situated the interaction for each
group member and created a stronger
memory of that person’s contribution.
The student’s voice, facial expressions,
and body language add to the power of
the memory and the understanding of
the listeners. In
addition, the student has most likely
had social encounters with many of
the group members before and after
class, so initial connections are
already developing.
VI. THE ROLE OF LEARNING AND
LEARNING TECHNOLOGY
In many respects, learning technology
has already provided the means for
additional access and capacity. It has
been and is up to the most motivated
institutions to take advantage of this
development. Retention, persistence,
and graduation rates have been under
study for several decades. Perhaps the
most notablescholar in this area is
Vincent Tinto of Syracuse University.
Tinto identifies five factors that
impact persistence: expectation,
advice, support, involvement, and
learning (Tinto, 2002, pp. 27-28). It is
interesting to note that these factors
essentially define an institutional
system for success. It is also
interesting to note that certainly the
challenges in these areas grow as more
non-traditional students are served.
While some institutions that specialize
in distance programs have adopted
new ways to
set expectations, provide advice, and provide Education
VII .Benefits of ICT in Education :
Opportunities for developing
relationships and connections are
strong within FTF courses that
incorporate introductory opportunities.
After reading the introductions,
students were asked to respond to each
member of their small study group
(e.g., 3-4 peers) by noting something
they have in common and creating a
visual that illustrated the connections
and themes they found across the
group. As the students identified
themes and looked for connections,
they began to create contexts within
which they could situate their
classmates
support, most students are looking to
the heart of their learning experience,
the interaction with faculty, to judge
whether the educational
endeavor is worth the time and effort.
This is where involvement and learning
takes place for the non-traditional
student and probably most traditional
students as well. Tinto reinforces this
idea with his finding that the last factor,
learning, is the key ingredient:”
Students are more
likely to persist and graduate in settings
that foster
learning. Learning has always been
the key to studentpersistence. Students
who learn are students who stay.
Again, the challenge in achieving
better learning should not be
underestimated given that there is more
to know while at the same time most
students have substantial non-
traditional concerns.
VIII.Major ICT Initiatives in Higher
India has taken up major
initiatives in terms of content
delivery and furthering education
through Information and
Communication Technology. For
instance Gyan Darshan was
launched in 2000 to broadcast
educational programs for school kids,
university students, and adults.
Similarly Gyan Vani was another such
important step which broadcast
programs contributed by institutions
such as IGNOU and IITs. Under the
UGC country wide classroom initiative,
education programs are broadcast on
Gyan Darshan and Doordarshan’s
National Channel (DD1) everyday. E-
Gyankosh which aims at preserving
digital learning resources is a
knowledge repository launched by
IGNOU in 2005. Almost 95% of
IGNOU’s printed material has been
digitized and uploaded on the
repository. The National Programme
for Technology Enhanced Learning
(NPTEL) launched in 2001 is another
joint initiative of IITs and IISc which
promotes education through
technology.
Realising the value that could be
provided by ICT in education there
have been many attempts incorporate
ICT inhigher education. Some of these
trends seen in use of ICT by higher
education institution are:
Digitization of Books (E-Text Books):
There is an increased trend towards
creation of a digital repository of books
tocreate a digital learning environment
for students. The digital version of the
books embedded with text ,pictures
along with video, simulations and
visualizations help students learn the
concepts in an interactive way. Efforts
are going on to prepare course content
for 130 courses (UG and PG).
Content Delivery using IT/ICT: Higher
IX.APPLICATION OF ICT IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Education is mainly a content driven mission on Education through ICT is
play, where educational content can be working on a war foot to establish a
effectively delivered through virtual technical university to impart
innovative use of ICT. There is an training to UG/PG students.
increased trend in higher education
Moreover, the ambitious National
Mission on Education through ICT was
launched by the government to harness
ICT’s potential throughout the length
and breadth of the country. In 2009, the
government approved the landmark
“National Mission on Education
through ICT” scheme. The National
Mission on Education through ICT is
centrally sponsored scheme submitted
by the Ministry of HRD and approved
by the Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs (CCEA). The
Mission has planned a variety of
initiatives aimed at developing and
standardizing digital content for Indian
higher education segment. The Mission
envisions catering to the learning needs
of 500 million people in the country.
institutes to render content through
radio, TV, internet and satellite.
Open Education Resources: Many
Indian universities are contemplating
technology enabled free access of
education resources. AICTE – Indian
National Digital Library in
Engineering & Technology (AICTE –
INDEST) is a consortium set up by the
Ministry of Human Resource to
enhance greater access and generate
annual savings in access of
bibliographic databases. UGC has also
launched its Digital Library
Consortium to provide access to peer
reviewed journals and bibliographic
databases covering subjects such as
arts, humanities, technology and
sciences.
Virtual University: The National
Mobility: With the proliferation of
mobile phones on campus, colleges
everywhere are compelled to capitalize
on feature-rich phones that are capable
of much more than just voice calls.
Adoption of smart devices that have
Internet access allows students and
faculty members to perform a wide
range of assignments. Tasks like
administration, sharing class notes,
downloading lectures, instant
messaging, etc., are possible anywhere
cell phone service is available. Mobile
phones are also being used to access
computer files from remote locations.
X . IT, JOB GROWTH, AND
GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT
From a social planner’s perspective, it
is important that wealth not only be
created at a societal levelbut that
different sections of society benefit in
some measure from such wealth. The
development of ITin India has, by and
large, focused on developing and
delivering IT services to support the
more advanced economies of the
world (e.g., U.S., Japan, England,
Germany). Even if the most optimistic
projections of the IT-related job
creation (including jobs associated
XI .Issues and Challenges Affecting Utilization of ICT in Higher Education
While we glorify the role of ICT in the higher the problems and prospects in its education
sector, we also need to assess implementation. Literature on ICT in
with IT out sourcing call centers, and
design centers) in the next decade
come true, this industry will employ at
the most couple of million people. In a
nation with over 1 billion people, this
level of employment can make but a
minor dent in the employment
statistics. Further, in the zeal to
Social Learning: The emergence of
Web 2.0 and social networking such as
blogs and wikis, as well as new online
video repository and delivery websites
such as YouTube are influencing a new
trend in higher education. These
technologies create new channels for
content delivery, online video
expansion and podcasting. While
traditional Learning Management
Systems (LMS) like Blackboard are
course-centered and driven by faculty,
the new trend in education is to create a
“learnercentric” system.
establish call centers in India, many
have ignored the fact that numerous
English-trained and highly educated
members of the workforce are being
relegated to tasks that are generally
manned by workers with much more
modest levels of education in the
advanced economies. Moreover, is
this model economically sustainable
in the long run? Call centers,by and
large, are commodities. Due to intense
competition, prices for some of these
services have fallen so dramatically
that many call centers are already
struggling to survive. Also, it is very
likely that other developing nations
with even cheaper labor and growing
English-speaking populations will
compete with India in this area in the
near future. Call centers, unlike
manufacturing plants, can be shifted
easily from one country to another
education
— it is difficult to achieve “lock-in” in
this arena continues to project that it
can help improve India’s higher
education system by providing greater
equity, better access and improved
quality. There is a growing
apprehension that Information and
Communication Technology can
XII.CONCLUSION
transform India towards becoming a
knowledge society, but then cant
echnology alone enhance the quality of
higher education in the country? The
penetration of ICT systems in higher
education institutions is extremely poor
according to a survey of accredited
colleges by UGC in 2008 which reveals
shortcomings in
IT infrastructure. As the majority of
Indians living in rural areas have poor
access to internet, it is necessary that
they are exposed and trained in basic
computing skills and ICT utilization.
Moreover, the low awareness on IT
literacy is also a major challenge
India faces in realizing ICT
implementation in higher education.
According to the International
Telecommunication Union; The Internet
and
Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)
report a majority of government
institutions do not have sufficient IT
Higher education is considered to play
a significant role in the development of
a country, as it is viewed as a strong
mechanism to build knowledge based
society and hence Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) can
play a critical role to accelerate the
pace of creating new knowledge, if
integrated in higher education. The
introduction of ICT in the higher
education has had a profound
implication for the whole education
process, especially in dealing with key
issues of access, equity, management,
efficiency, pedagogy and quality. In
general, ICT offers a lot of benefits to
higher education and its stake holders.
There are some potential drawbacks
also to be taken care of, when ICT is
integrated with education system. This
paper discussed the impact of ICT in
systems. India’s linguistic diversity
necessitates the development of content
in multiple languages to increase ICT
applications. According to the 2011
Census the rural-urban distribution is
68.84% & 31.16% in terms of
population where majority of the rural
people do not speak English. Therefore,
the need to develop content in all the
official languages of India becomes all
the more important. While there are
many challenges in development of
local language content particularly due
to the absence of script and font
standardization, local language
computing becomes problemetic though
not impossible. In a multi-lingual
country like India, this standardization
becomes even more difficult. However,
this needs to be addressed immediately.
As ambitious ICT based initiatives in
higher education is envisioned, it is
necessary to embark on a well
articulated ‘Action Plan’.
higher education in India. Nonetheless,
it has become an indispensable support
system for higher education as it could
address some of the challenges facing
higher education system in the country.
Moreover, it can provideaccessto
education regardless of time and
geographical barriers. Similarly
wider availability of course material
in education which can be shared by
means of ICT, can
foster better teaching. While
technology
can influence the way how students are
taught, it would also enable
development of collaborative skills as
well as knowledge creation skills.
References :

• Information And Communication Technology in Higher Education in India:

Challenges and Opportunities - Uttam Kr Pegu , Department of Mass
Communication & Journalism, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Sonitpur, Assam,
India

• IMPACT OF ICT IN HIGHER EDUCATION - Manjula KA ,

Research Scholar, Bharathiar University, Tamilnadu.

• IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA - N

Raghvendra

Sal , K L University ; G.Sai Chaitanya Kumar , DVR&Dr.HS MIC College of

Technology

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