THE ROLE OF ICT

The role of ICT to an individual

First and foremost, you are an individual. ICT can be used in many ways to improve your life,
for example in the following daily activities:

Collecting data
Storing data
Retrieving data
Processing data
Sending information
Receiving information

The role of ICT in education

As you can guess correctly, ICT is useful in education in so many ways. Go through the list
below to see some of these.

ICT is important for enhancing education management, teaching and learning.

It is important to education authorities, e.g. educational planners and education administrators.
It is important to teachers and students.
There are five different hierarchical levels of education where ICTs can be used:
presentation
demonstration
drill and practice
interaction
collaboration

The role of ICT to students

Students can use ICT in many ways, .e.g.

Researching for study materials, e.g. use of electronic encyclopedias and the Internet.

Communication with teachers, sponsors, parents and friends.

Production of learning resources, e.g. notes and assignments.

Collaboration on tasks with colleagues is easier. In fact, learners can participate on

internationally presented instruction. This makes it possible for learners to understand that
learning support is not always from teachers but also from peers and other people with similar
interests.
As a tool for self-paced learning, e.g. use of audio, video and virtual classrooms. Learners can
also be made to interact with their learning materials for more effective learning. This is the
concept of learning by doing.

The saying "practice makes perfect" becomes a reality with use of ICT because learners are able
to practice a skill, or listen or watch a presentation many times at their own pace, place and time.
The role of ICT to a teacher
Teachers can use ICT in many ways, e.g.

Processing and storage of assignments, tests and examinations.

Processing and storage of students' records.

Research and development of teaching resources.

Presentation of learning materials to learners. Instead of meeting learners in a face to face

environment, teachers can prepare all the learning materials on multimedia resources to be issued
to all the learners in a particular study programme.

Demonstration and simulation of principles/skills/operations to learners. One other problem of

face to face learning is that demonstrations are often time consuming especially where there are
many learners. This problem can easily be solved by videotaping all the demonstrations so that
learners would be playing them on their own multimedia resources.

Communication and interaction with students, colleagues and school managers.

Collaboration with colleagues on tasks. Teachers are able to consult their colleagues on many
issues ranging from knowledge based to technical skills in order to improve and increase their
productivity. For example, a teacher would be able to collaborate with colleagues when
producing an instruction manual or a report.
The role of ICT to an institute manager
Institute managers can use ICTs for various purposes, e.g.

Processing of information

Efficient communication with schools, partners, sponsors and parents.

Assisting in learner administration, e.g.

 Admission procedures
 Induction
 Storage of learners' progress records and personal data

Assisting in staff administration, e.g.

  Storage of personal data and professional development planning records

Assisting in library administration

Assisting in resource management

Assisting in establishing and maintaining contacts with labour market / future employers

Assisting in programme planning and development

The role of ICT in business

ICT plays a vital role in modern business. Some of the benefits of ICT in business are as follows:

Large storage for data and information.

Fast retrieval of data or information.

Fast and accurate processing of data.

Fast communication of information.

Reduction in the cost of storage facilities.

Reduction in the number of staff employed to do routine tasks.

Complex calculations can greatly be simplified.

Routine and repetitive tasks can easily be performed.

Work in places inaccessible to humans can easily be done and monitored

ICTs have revolutionized business processes and organizations and have created a worldwide
network of e-commerce.
E-learning and M-learning
Traditional learning involves face to face contact. This is a type of learning in which the learner
and the teacher are physically in the same place at the same time. Some of the disadvantages of
face to face learning are as follows:
1.Most learners do not take control of their own learning.
2.Learning is more teacher-centered instead of being learner-centered. As a result, learners tend
to concentrate on rote learning which involves merely memorizing facts from teachers.
3.Most learners tend to think that learning only takes place in a classroom. As a result, learning
appears to come to an end when both the learner and the teacher leave the classroom.
4.Many potential learners cannot have access to education due to limited learning opportunities
offered by schools.
5.Schools tend to mix learners of different abilities in classrooms. As a result, the learners cannot
learn at their own pace.
Solutions to these problems lie in e-learning and m-learning. E-learning stands for electronic
learning, and m-learning stands for mobile- learning. E-learning and m-learning are part of
what is called flexible and blended learning, abbreviated FaB. According to science direct,
"Flexible Learning is a set of educational practices, concerned with providing learners with
increased choice, convenience, and personalization to suit the learner. In particular, flexible
learning provides learners with choices about where, when, and how learning occurs". Science
direct also defines blended learning as a mixing of different learning environments that combines
traditional face to face classroom methods with more modern computer-mediated activities
aimed at creating a more integrated approach for both instructors and learners.
E-learning is the type of learning that employs electronic equipment to support learning. ICT is
part of e-learning. "E-learning includes Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual
education opportunities and digital collaboration. Content is delivered via the Internet,
intranet/extranet, audio or video tape, satellite TV, and CD-ROM. It can be self-paced or
instructor-led and includes media in the form of text, image, animation, streaming video and
audio".(Wikipedia)
M-learning, is the type of learning in which the learner is not at a fixed or predetermined
location. It is also defined as the type of learning offered in such a way that the learner uses
mobile technologies to support his/her learning.
The advantage of e-learning and m-learning is that many Zambians already possess some of the
basic technologies that can be used for their learning. For example, many Zambians already have
VCRs, DVD players, cassette players, TV sets, radio sets and cell phones. Most of these devices
are mostly used for entertainment instead of for learning. With e-learning and m-learning,
learning can be done at any time, place and by everyone without restrictions.
Some of the disadvantages of ICTs in education
Although ICTs have many potential benefits in education, they also have some disadvantages
such as the following:
1.Some people place so much dependency on ICTs at the expense of their human skills.
2.ICTs have been known to disrupt social fabrics in society or communities. For example, some
learners and teachers rarely interact with their colleagues, preferring to interact with cell phones,
TVs, computers and the Internet.
3.The quality of work goes down because of "too much information available", especially on the
web.
4.Cases of plagiarism (i.e. intellectual theft) and piracy (i.e. illegal copying of media) become on
the increase.
5.Some social vices like pornography become more popular at the expense of study materials.
Examples of ICTs that can be used in education Many ICTs can be used in education. Some of
them are as follows:
Telephone
Cell phone
Television Radio
Cameras
Computer
Audio tape
Video tape CDs/DVDs
Internet resources
What are ICTs

ICT, or information and communications technology (or technologies), is

the infrastructure and components that enable modern computing. Among the goals of IC
technologies, tools and systems is to improve the way humans create, process and share data or
information with each other. Another is to help them improve their abilities in numerous areas,
including business; education; medicine; real-world problem-solving; and even leisure activities
related to sports, music, and movies. There is no single, universal definition of ICT because the
technologies, devices and even ideas related to ICT are constantly evolving. However, the term
is generally accepted to mean all devices, networking components and applications. When
combined, these help people and organizations interact in the digital world.
Here, organizations also have a broad definition since it encompasses businesses and nonprofit
agencies, governments and even criminal enterprises. Anyone can benefit from the proper
application and use of ICT technologies, devices and innovations.

For several decades now, the world has been undergoing a constant technological revolution
centered around data, the foundation of which is Information and Communication
Technologies. Their adoption drives the development of societies today. Therefore, in addition
to knowing what ICTs are, it is important to know how they have changed people's lives, in
order to prepare for the future. Each new innovation frantically inspires the next. The changes
that are taking place in areas such as industry, work, the countryside, mobility, health, finance,
environmental management, recreation and human relations have been firmly driven by this
technological lever. What is more, the technological transition has become an important
source of economic dynamism and solutions to multiple challenges. Society needs the adoption
of connectivity and digitalization, as these are key concepts for moving forward.

What technologies are included in ICT?

ICT encompasses the internet-enabled sphere and the mobile one powered by wireless networks.
It includes antiquated technologies, such as landline telephones, radio and television broadcast --
all of which remain widely used alongside today's cutting-edge ICT pieces, such as artificial
intelligence and robotics. The internet, internet of things, metaverse, virtual reality and social
media are also part of ICT, as are cloud computing services, video conferencing and
collaboration tools, unified communications systems and mobile communication networks.
Emerging, work-in-progress or still-nascent technologies like 5G/6G, Web3, and quantum
computing are also in the ICT universe. Any technology, infrastructure, component, or device
that enables communications, data sharing, and global connectivity between humans and
between humans and machines is included in the umbrella term ICT.

ICT vs. IT
The acronym ICT is sometimes used synonymously with IT. However, ICT is generally used to
represent a more comprehensive list of all components related to computer and digital
technologies.

IT is more about managing the technologies related to information, and its various technical
aspects, including software, hardware, and networking. IT management does not include
considerations of telecommunications devices and technologies while ICT does. IT can be
considered a subset of ICT.

Components of ICTs

The term information and communication technology (ICT) is geneerally accepted to mean all
technologies that, combined, allow people and organizations to interact in the digital world.

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Componen
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This image identifies several key categories that are components of information and
communications technology.
What are the components of ICT?
The list of ICT components is exhaustive and continues to grow. Some components, such
as computers and telephones, have existed for decades. Others, such as smartphones, digital
TVs and robots, are more recent entries.

ICT components include the following:

 Devices (hardware).
 Software.
 Middleware.
 Data.
 Wired networks.
 Wireless networks.
 Communication technologies.
 The cloud.
 Communications protocols and interfaces.
 Information security and governance policies.

ICT means more than its list of components. It encompasses the application of all those various
components. It's here that the real potential, power and danger of ICT emerges -- for economic,
societal, and interpersonal transactions and interactions.

Challenges ICT creates

Its many benefits notwithstanding, ICT has also created problems and challenges for
organizations, individuals and society. The digitization of data, the expanding use of the high-
speed internet and the growing global network together have created new opportunities for
crime. Increasingly, bad actors leverage these opportunities to hatch new schemes to gain
unauthorized access to enterprise or government systems. They do so to steal money, intellectual
property or private information. Many cybercrimes are also aimed at disrupting systems that
control critical infrastructure and, ultimately, creating widespread chaos and panic.

Developments in ICT have also brought new automation technologies and robots that sometimes
displace workers, especially workers involved in repetitive, low-value tasks. In some cases, ICT
has let more people limit their face-to-face interactions with others, creating or exacerbating
social issues such as trolling, cyberbullying, isolation, loneliness and depression.

ICT, the digital age and digital divide

ICT has changed drastically how people work, communicate, learn and live. It continues to
revolutionize all parts of the human experience as first computers and now robots do many tasks
humans once handled.
ICT's importance to economic development and business growth has been so monumental that
it's often credited with ushering in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. ICT also underpins broad
shifts in society, as individuals en masse are moving from personal, face-to-face interactions to
ones in the digital space. This new era is frequently termed the digital age. For all its
revolutionary aspects, ICT capabilities aren't evenly distributed, with richer countries and richer
individuals getting to enjoy more access to ICT technologies. These entities are better able to
seize the advantages offered by and the opportunities powered by ICT. This discrepancy in
access to ICT has created what is now known as the digital divide. Numerous governmental
authorities and non-government organizations advocate policies and programs that aim to bridge
the digital divide by providing greater access to ICT among those individuals and populations
struggling to afford it.

21st Century skills

21st Century skills are 12 abilities that today’s students need to succeed in their careers during
the Information Age.
The twelve 21st Century skills are:

 Critical thinking
 Creativity
 Collaboration
 Communication
 Information literacy
 Media literacy
 Technology literacy
 Flexibility
 Leadership
 Initiative
 Productivity
 Social skills

These skills are intended to help students keep up with the lightning-pace of today’s modern
markets. Each skill is unique in how it helps students, but they all have one quality in common.
They’re essential in the age of the Internet.
To start, let's dive into the three categories that 21st Century skills fall into.
The Three 21st Century Skill Categories
Each 21st Century skill is broken into one of three categories:

 Learning skills
 Literacy skills
 Life skills

Learning skills (the four C’s) teaches students about the mental processes required to adapt and
improve upon a modern work environment.
Literacy skills (IMT) focuses on how students can discern facts, publishing outlets, and the
technology behind them. There’s a strong focus on determining trustworthy sources and factual
information to separate it from the misinformation that floods the Internet.
Life skills (FLIPS) take a look at intangible elements of a student’s everyday life. These
intangibles focus on both personal and professional qualities.
Altogether, these categories cover all 12 21st Century skills that contribute to a student’s future
career.
Category 1. Learning Skills (The Four C’s)

The four C’s are by far the most popular 21st Century skills. These skills are also called learning
skills.
More educators know about these skills because they’re universal needs for any career. They
also vary in terms of importance, depending on an individual’s career aspirations.
The 4 C's of 21st Century Skills are:

 Critical thinking: Finding solutions to problems

 Creativity: Thinking outside the box
 Collaboration: Working with others
 Communication: Talking to others

Arguably, critical thinking is the most important quality for someone to have in health sciences.
In business settings, critical thinking is essential to improvement. It’s the mechanism that weeds
out problems and replaces them with fruitful endeavors. It’s what helps students figure stuff
out for themselves when they don’t have a teacher at their disposal.
Creativity is equally important as a means of adaptation. This skill empowers students to see
concepts in a different light, which leads to innovation. In any field, innovation is key to the
adaptability and overall success of a company. Learning creativity as a skill requires someone to
understand that “the way things have always been done” may have been best 10 years ago — but
someday, that has to change.
Collaboration means getting students to work together, achieve compromises, and get the best
possible results from solving a problem. Collaboration may be the most difficult concept in the
four C’s. But once it’s mastered, it can bring companies back from the brink of bankruptcy. The
key element of collaboration is willingness. All participants have to be willing to sacrifice parts
of their own ideas and adopt others to get results for the company. That means understanding the
idea of a “greater good,” which in this case tends to be company-wide success.
Finally, communication is the glue that brings all of these educational qualities together.
Communication is a requirement for any company to maintain profitability. It’s crucial for
students to learn how to effectively convey ideas among different personality types. That has the
potential to eliminate confusion in a workplace, which makes your students valuable parts of
their teams, departments, and companies. Effective communication is also one of the most
underrated soft skills in the United States. For many, it’s viewed as a “given,” and some
companies may even take good communication for granted. But when employees communicate
poorly, whole projects fall apart. No one can clearly see the objectives they want to achieve. No
one can take responsibility because nobody’s claimed it. Without understanding proper
communication, students in the 21st Century will lack a pivotal skill to progress their careers.
But the four C’s are only the beginning. 21st Century skills also require students to understand
the information that’s around them.
Category 2. Literacy Skills (IMT)

Literacy skills are the next category of 21st Century skills. They’re sometimes called IMT skills,
and they’re each concerned with a different element in digital comprehension. The three 21st
Century literacy skills are:

 Information literacy: Understanding facts, figures, statistics, and data

 Media literacy: Understanding the methods and outlets in which information is published
  Technology literacy: Understanding the machines that make the Information Age
possible
Information literacy is the foundational skill. It helps students understand facts, especially data
points, that they’ll encounter online. More importantly, it teaches them how to separate fact from
fiction. In an age of chronic misinformation, finding truth online has become a job all on its own.
It’s crucial that students can identify honesty on their own. Otherwise, they can fall prey to
myths, misconceptions, and outright lies.
Media literacy is the practice of identifying publishing methods, outlets, and sources while
distinguishing between the ones that are credible and the ones that aren’t. Just like the previous
skill, media literacy is helpful for finding truth in a world that’s saturated with information. This
is how students find trustworthy sources of information in their lives. Without it, anything
that looks credible becomes credible. But with it, they can learn which media outlets or formats
to ignore. They also learn which ones to embrace, which is equally important.
Last, technology literacy goes another step further to teach students about the machines
involved in the Information Age. As computers, cloud programming, and mobile devices become
more important to the world, the world needs more people to understand those concepts.
Technology literacy gives students the basic information they need to understand what gadgets
perform what tasks and why. This understanding removes the intimidating feeling that
technology tends to have. After all, if you don’t understand how technology works, it might as
well be magic. But technology literacy unmasks the high-powered tools that run today’s world.
As a result, students can adapt to the world more effectively. They can play an important role in
its evolution. They might even guide its future. But to truly round out a student’s 21st Century
skills, they need to learn from a third category.

Category 3. Life Skills (FLIPS)

Life skills is the final category. Also called FLIPS, these skills all pertain to someone’s personal
life, but they also bleed into professional settings. The five 21st Century life skills are:

 Flexibility: Deviating from plans as needed

 Leadership: Motivating a team to accomplish a goal
 Initiative: Starting projects, strategies, and plans on one’s own
 Productivity: Maintaining efficiency in an age of distractions
 Social skills: Meeting and networking with others for mutual benefit

Flexibility is the expression of someone’s ability to adapt to changing circumstances. This is one
of the most challenging qualities to learn for students because it’s based on two uncomfortable
ideas:

 Your way isn’t always the best way

 You have to know and admit when you’re wrong

That’s a struggle for a lot of students, especially in an age when you can know any bit of
information at the drop of a hat. Flexibility requires them to show humility and accept that
they’ll always have a lot to learn — even when they’re experienced. Still, flexibility is crucial to
a student’s long-term success in a career. Knowing when to change, how to change, and how to
react to change is a skill that’ll pay dividends for someone’s entire life. It also plays a big role in
the next skill in this category.
Leadership is someone’s penchant for setting goals, walking a team through the steps required,
and achieving those goals collaboratively. Whether someone’s a seasoned entrepreneur or a fresh
hire just starting their careers, leadership applies to career. Entry-level workers need leadership
skills for several reasons. The most important is that it helps them understand the decisions
that managers and business leaders make. Then, those entry-level employees can apply their
leadership skills when they’re promoted to middle management (or the equivalent). This is where
21st Century skill learners can apply the previous skills they’ve learned. It’s also where they get
the real-world experience they need to lead entire companies. As they lead individual
departments, they can learn the ins and outs of their specific careers. That gives ambitious
students the expertise they need to grow professionally and lead whole corporations.
True success also requires initiative, requiring students to be self-starters. Initiative only comes
naturally to a handful of people. As a result, students need to learn it to fully succeed. This is one
of the hardest skills to learn and practice. Initiative often means working on projects outside of
regular working hours. The rewards for students with extreme initiative vary from person to
person. Sometimes they’re good grades. Other times they’re new business ventures. Sometimes,
it’s spending an extra 30 minutes at their jobs wrapping something up before the weekend.
Regardless, initiative is an attribute that earns rewards. It’s especially indicative of
someone’s character in terms of work ethic and professional progress. That goes double when
initiative is practiced with qualities like flexibility and leadership.
Along with initiative, 21st Century skills require students to learn about productivity. That’s a
student’s ability to complete work in an appropriate amount of time. In business terms, it’s called
“efficiency.” The common goal of any professional — from entry-level employee to CEO — is
to get more done in less time. By understanding productivity strategies at every level, students
discover the ways in which they work best while gaining an appreciation for how others work as
well. That equips them with the practical means to carry out the ideas they determine through
flexibility, leadership, and initiative.
Still, there’s one last skill that ties all other 21st Century skills together. Social skills are crucial
to the ongoing success of a professional. Business is frequently done through the connections
one person makes with others around them. This concept of networking is more active in some
industries than others, but proper social skills are excellent tools for forging long-lasting
relationships. While these may have been implied in past generations, the rise of social media
and instant communications have changed the nature of human interaction.
As a result, today’s students possess a wide range of social skills. Some are more socially adept
than others. Some are far behind their peers. And some lucky few may be far ahead, as
socializing comes naturally to them. But most students need a crash course in social skills at
least. Etiquette, manners, politeness, and small talk still play major roles in today’s world. That
means some students need to learn them in an educational setting instead of a social setting. For
them, it’s another skill to add to their lives. Now that we’ve established what 21st Century skills
are, let’s answer the next big question. Do employers actually want people with 21st Century
skills?
What’s the Demand for 21st Century Skills?
While 21st Century skills have always been important, they’ve become essential in a worldwide
market that moves faster by the day. These skills all double back to one key focus.
Someone’s ability to enact and / or adapt to change.
This is because any industry is capable of changing at a moment’s notice. Industries are now
regularly disrupted with new ideas and methodologies. Those industries that haven’t been
disrupted aren’t immune though. They just haven’t been disrupted yet. With that in mind, the
world has entered an era where nothing is guaranteed. As a result, students need to learn to guide
the change that’ll inundate their lives. At the very least, they need to learn how to react to it.
Otherwise, they’ll be left behind. This is especially true as customer demand accelerates in all
industries along with expectations for newer features, higher-level capabilities, and lower prices.
In today’s marketplace, falling behind means becoming obsolete. That’s a familiar concept to all
of today’s students as tomorrow’s advancements make today’s miracles quaint or unimpressive.
Today, the only consistency from year to year is change. That's why many teachers are
incorporating the 21st Century Skills Assessment into their career readiness courses. With 21st
Century skills, your students will have the adaptive qualities they need to keep up with a
business environment that’s constantly evolving.