EXPLORING THE ICT RESOURCES IN MY LOCATION 1

Exploring the ICT Resources in my Location: The Antigua State College

Shabera S. Jacobs
The University of the West Indies: Open Campus

EDCE6300 - ICT Infrastructure Supporting E-Learning in the Caribbean

Professor: Dr. Dreana Marshall-Stuart

November 26, 2022

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This paper explores the (ICT) resources in Antigua, specifically at the Antigua state

college. Societal demands on the education system to effectively assist learners in developing

21st century skills, result in the acceptance of ICT as the catalyst for significant change in the

educational landscape. According to González-Zamar et al. (2020), the management of ICT

resources ensures sustainability of education. In this paper, I also discuss the capabilities,

limitations, initiatives and strategies in relation to the management of ICT resources in my

location. The definition of ICT continues to evolve where some sources conceptualize it as a

process, while other sources define ICT only in relation to resources. For the purpose of this

paper, I propose the definition of ICT as the technological resources and processes employed to

gather or share information within an organization or across networks via wired or wireless

connections. To view this definition in context, I considered the perspective of González-Zamar

et al. (2020) where the ICT adoption in education is contextualized as an interconnected

environment in support of student digital learning. Therefore, ICT in educational environments

include the technological devices, information processing and the technological infrastructure

which supports communication.

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Current Context

There are limitless ICT resources which are beneficial to formal and informal structures of

education (Agrawal & Mittal, 2018). In my location, the available ICT resources include internet

access which is gained through a fibre optic cable to the admin building. The cable goes to the

server room which houses the main devices for the college’s backbone. The fibre connection is

then split between Data and Voice; both connections are shared over the physical network.

Devices used for network distribution include:

 fibre optic cables which are used to connect the college to the Internet Service Provider

(ISP) and to establish a high-speed connection between major switches and other

network devices.

 Ethernet cables which are used to connect devices such as desktops, printers, access

points and IP Phones.

 Switches to control the network devices. The Power over Ethernet (POE) switches

provide both power and data to the network device through a cable/port. There are also

switches which connect devices without providing power.

 The routers are devices used to direct data to connect different networks on the campus.

 Firewall is installed to protect the network from external threats.

 The uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is used to prevent or reduce power outages and

to protect the network devices from sudden power surges and power outages.

Other available resources include the data part of the network which is divided into wired

and wireless. These include desktops and printers used by staff and can be used to access the

internet and make phone calls through shared wired connections. The wireless connections are

further divided into two partitions (faculty and students). The wireless partition of the network is
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distributed through the use of access points which provide internet access throughout the entire

campus. Students are given a general password and must agree to the college’s terms and

conditions to gain access to the network. Faculty and staff gain access only via the password

issued. Policies have been created within the switches to prevent or minimize students’ accessing

malicious or inappropriate content while connected to the internet.

Additionally, there are various types of networks and network topologies. Local Area

Network (LAN) and Wider Area Network (WAN) networks with a Star topology are employed

at the institution. The diagram in the appendix captures the available ICT resources at the

Antigua State College.

In regards to the technical structure of the learning environment, based on conversations

with persons from the IT department at the Antigua State College, the virtual learning

environment (VLE) is primarily a cloud-based platform over a fibre network and is internally

managed by the IT department. The VLE at my workplace is dynamically structured where

Microsoft Teams and other applications and platforms are integrated in the primary learning

management system (LMS) or incorporated in the teaching approaches. While the ICT resources

are primarily internally managed, specific systems such as Sonis is externally hosted and grants

the users access to cloud-based features. This system is used by lecturers to record students’

grades and by admin to maintain students’ records and other functions. Other externally hosted

services include internet from service providers such as Flow, Digicel and APUA Inet. The

internal IT department manages the ICT resources and processes for the institution.

I think the current form of management is effective. However, I recommend increased

bandwidth which will allow a smoother user-experience when using devices on the network. I

also recommend installation of card reader locks to increase security, allowing only permitted
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individuals into specific rooms using their Antigua State College identification cards. Given the

various platforms used in the VLE, I think more technical staff could be assigned to each

platform in an effort to facilitate prompter troubleshooting for students and staff.

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Capabilities and Limitations

According to Sethi & Sarangi (2017), we have entered into an era described as the

Internet of Things (IoT) where most of the devices and tools which are used are connected to a

network and communication requires distinct networking protocols and mechanisms. Access to

the internet has placed contents and materials at out fingertips regardless of geographical

location. Adoption of ICT resources facilitates affordability and access to courses in my location.

For instance, in developing a course for a Common Wealth of Learning blended learning

workshop recently, the facilitator recommended the use of opened-source textbooks as opposed

to redistributing electronic copyrighted textbooks to students. Students are afforded the

opportunity to legally access resources for free. ICT is embedded in people’s social lives and

significantly change the way human beings socialize with each other. However, use of ICT

infrastructure is governed by written and unwritten rules. Social parameters govern human

interaction and engagement in the online learning environment. Educators should be aware of the

demands of ICT use in the classroom, especially to accommodate the younger generation (Gen

Z) who desire continuous use of ICT resources (Hanesova, et al., 2017).

Additionally, there are financial, operational, ethical, governmental and other factors

which affect ICT adoption in educational institutions. In agreement with Singhavi & Basargekar

(2019), I think more localized issues include school-level aspects such as organizational culture

and educators’ personal views about teaching, technology and readiness to change.

The primary ethical concern regarding the use of ICT resources at my place of work is

plagiarism. Copyright limitations are therefore communicated to the students from the

perspective that the copyrighted material cannot be copied without permission of the original

author. Students should be made aware of plagiarism policies and consequences. Additionally,
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Educators should be trained to use technology to prevent and detect copyright infringement,

plagiarism, hacking and also to guide students accordingly.

The role of educators in ICT integration in e-learning is critical, given that the government is

mandating policies for schools to adopt and integrate ICT into the school curriculum (Singhavi &

Basargekar, 2019). The fast-tracked development of the technological revolution in the new

digital world compels educators to revamp their teaching practice by integrating ICT to improve

the quality of teaching and learning (Benjamin etal., 2022). Educators are able to adopt learner-

centric pedagogies, facilitating student engagement, accommodating students’ self-paced

learning process, providing timely feedback and monitoring students’ progress (Singhavi &

Basargekar, 2019).

In addition to the following limitations, the lack of willingness of teachers to use ICT in the

classroom is one of the primary limitations (Singhavi & Basargekar, 2019). Other limitations

according to Singhavi & Basargekar (2019) include:

 IT and IT-related education and training are still not accessible to all

 Insufficient Internet bandwidth or speed

 Insufficient number of internet-connected computers

 Lack of flexibility due to time constraints and overload of work

 Lack of pedagogical models on how to use ICT for learning

 No, or unclear benefit to using ICT for teaching

 Lack of adequate skills of teachers

 Lack of interest in teachers

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Initiatives and strategies

Most modern devices and mobile technologies are connected via wireless technologies

and with the introduction of concepts such as IoTs, an innumerable number of devices will be

linked to a global network through wireless interfaces, using standard protocol solutions (Alam

et al., 2018). Heavy reliance on wireless communications due to the plethora of connected

devices usually result in challenges such as scalability, reliability, signal coexistence, data rate

and energy use (Alam et al., 2018). Mobile technology facilitates anytime-anywhere learning by

WI-FI or data connection. The use of mobile devices for teaching and learning facilitates

flexibility and result in significantly reduced printing cost. One of the disadvantages I

encountered with mobile learning is the expected timely communication between students and

lecturers outside of the scheduled class time.

 In my research to organize information for the individual assignment, I discovered that

the Ministry of Education in Antigua has developed and revised an ICT in Education policy for

the country. It was also interesting to discover a document on the topic, authored by the Vice

Principal of the Antigua State College. I have also become more aware of the importance of

educators having knowledge of adopting and managing ICT resources which support online

learning. According to Peters-Richardson (2016), Antigua and Barbuda were aided by UNESCO

and the Commonwealth of Learning to develop an ICT in education policy to provide educators

with the necessary guidance in employing ICT in the classroom.

In reflecting on the use of ICT in education specifically in Antigua, I initially thought the

country exerted much effort on internet and devices, neglecting areas such as networking.

However, the attempt was made to afford youths the opportunity to enrol in a variety of ICT

certificate training program, such as Introductory A+ and Network+ certificate training (Peters-
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Richardson, 2016). Additionally, the Ministry’s Master plan includes the provision of wireless

connectivity in all schools.

To a greater extent, there is an obvious shift in the educational landscape in the Caribbean

region where institutions in the region have been increasingly embracing a blended learning or

online learning approach. For instance, a shift in the economic structure of St. Vincent and the

Grenadines and the wider Caribbean highlights the significance of having an educational reform

(Davies & Lee, 2010). To this end, a blended learning reformation program was implemented in

St. Vincent & the Grenadines with the objective to incorporate ICT as a means to diversify

teaching and learning approaches and research activities (Davies & Lee, 2010).

I have also been the beneficiary of numerous ICT facilitated Commonwealth of Learning

training in Online and Blended Learning. I think however, there have been growing concerns

regarding the limitations which exist for the integration into e-learning environments. Based on

my experience, I also think that sustainability of ICT initiatives in the region is lacking.

Throughout the Caribbean Region, the role of ICT has expanded beyond the classroom to

community academic development. For instance, St. Lucia’s aims to meet the needs of

marginalized communities by making education accessible and affordable through the

integration of ICT in education, according to its ICT Master plan (Commonwealth of Learning,

2017).
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Recommendations

I think there is a need for more empirical studies in regards to the use of ICT in the

Caribbean educational institutions. I recommend an evaluation of the current ICT infrastructure

at the Antigua State College and the development of an ICT Masterplan and established training

schedules for all staff. The organization should conduct empirical studies and not just formulate

the ICT Master plan, rather ensure implementation and evaluation of the plan. Practices of other

institutions may also be analysed and transplanted. I was working at one institution where the

process was a little tedious to submit student’s grades to the registrar. In dialogue with a

colleague from another tertiary institution I realized that they had adopted a software which

made the process less tedious. I made the recommendations to the institution. However, the

software, though effective, was deemed too expensive. A Masterplan would also detail the

budget. In an effort to prepare for the ubiquitous trajectory of technology, I think an ICT

committee should be established and should include members of faculty. This committee could

focus on staff training support, soliciting funding and risk management strategies.

Risk management is the application of strategies to identify and guard against the risks

that are associated with the use of the resources. Formal risk management strategies include

avoidance, transfer, mitigation and acceptance (Bridges, 2019). Strategies to mitigate issues and

risks associated with technologies include setting up virtual private networks (VPN) which allow

the different ICT devices to be securely connected over a public network. Contemporarily, all

network devices deliver VPN functionalities and all basic VPN protection consist of a firewall

(Gentile et al., 2021). However, the organizations should create an IDS with a timely detection of

security breaches as while Firewalls can block the security attacks, they may become the victims

(Gentile, 2021). I think institutions should be mindful of the different process involved, beware
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of resource memory or capacity and know how to use ICT resources to communicate and secure

files (Musaddiq et al., 2018).

Educational institutions should also aim to lower the risk of data loss by establishing and

maintaining a backup and recovery system. I witnessed a software failure at a tertiary institution,

as the organization did not upgrade the software as required and the software company had

ceased upgrades for that software. This significantly slowed down the process of issuing

transcripts to past students and almost made headlines in the news. The registrar sought to

manually produce transcripts and some grades could not be found. To ensure successful backup

and recovery, the cloud service provider should warrant frequent data backup, using methods

such as forwarding a copy of the encrypted data to an offsite server hosted by another or third-

party service provider (Adejo et al., 2018). Additionally, the educational organizations should do

local backup or subcontract this to another organization (Adejo et al. 2018).

Cloud-based services can used to back up internally hosted data to facilitate data

recovery, enabling educational institutions to recover the data from the cloud during emergencies

or major disasters (Adejo et al., 2018). While the benefits of cloud-based infrastructures are

numerous there are also various associated security risks and challenges. The risks may also be

categorized broadly as organization and policy, legal, technical (Adejo et al., 2018) and ethical.

Finally, choose ICT resources based on the forms of e-learning which are used in the teaching

and learning process and be knowledgeable of the institutions requirements for educators to

access information and data.

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Conclusion

There are numerous ICT resources available in my location. Based on the physical and

logical structure of the learning environment, the resources are primarily internally managed

with some externally hosted and cloud-based resources. There are wired and wireless

connections and internet is provided by external service providers. There are several issues in

regards to accessibility and adoption of ICT resources. Use of ICT resources are significantly

impacted by various social, technical, ethical, political, organizational and economical

parameters. ICT integration in the online learning environments presents many benefits as well

as limitations. However, the structure and management of the resources successfully

accommodate the use of mobile devices, which on the increase in the learning community.

Many Caribbean countries have developed ICT Master Plans and share similar goals and

circumstances in regards to integrating and managing ICT resources in the learning environment.

There are many associated risks in regards to the use ICT resources, however, there are many

strategies that can be employed to guard against these risks.

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References

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Framework for Data Protection and Security in Cloud Infrastructure. I.J. Information

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Agrawal, A. K., & Mittal, G. K. (2018). The role of ICT in higher education for the 21st century:

ICT as a change agent for education. Multidisciplinary Higher Education, Research,

Dynamics & Concepts: Opportunities & Challenges For Sustainable Development, 1(1),

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Alam, A. (2022). Cloud-Based E-learning: Scaffolding the Environment for Adaptive E-learning

Ecosystem Based on Cloud Computing Infrastructure. Lecture Notes in Networks and

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Alam, M., Jan, M. A., Shu, L., He, X., & Chen, Y. (2018). Current and future trends in wireless

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Peters-Richardson, J. (2016). ICTs and OERs Antigua and Barbuda’s Journey An Analysis of

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Appendix

ICT Resources available at the Antigua State College (Antigua)

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Note: ICT infrastructure diagram that represents the ICT components, resources and tools available at
the Antigua State College. Diagram was created using Visio