Project 25 by M.Yasir Shafi and Umair Asghar
ICT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION
1. Introduction of the Project
The project is the usage of ICT in the development and progress of education.ICT is an abbreviation which stands of “information and communication technology”. Every student is needed to be aware of the changing trends of the computers and IT and their role in the development of the society.ICT can be used in the field of education in many ways and has proved to be beneficial for the students who are undergoing their studies. The role of government is also very integral to the usage of ICT in education as government allocates funds to different universities/colleges.
What is Computer?
A computer works as we give instructions to it. These instructions are called program. It can solve the data we gave to it very fast. It is called universal information-processing machine. Today computer is used in every field of life. The most prominent use of computer is in the education field. Computer enables the students and teachers to study methodically.
Computers are now used for the development of the education. We can improve the education field by using computers in the education institutions. Today it is essential that children and young people have to get computer education because otherwise they will fall behind in their future search for professional jobs.
What is I.T?
Information technology (IT), as defined by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware."
According to NDCC 54.59.01 Information Technology means the use of hardware, software, services, and supporting infrastructure to manage and deliver information using voice, data, and video.
According to Wikipedia, “Information Technology (IT) is a general term that describes any technology that helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and/or disseminate information.”
Information technology contains:
- All computers with the human interface.
- Peripherals which will not work unless connected to a computer or network.
- All voice, data and video networks and equipments.
- All technological services provided by contractors.
Thus when computers and technology merge together then it forms information technology.
Examples of I.T
Examples of InfoTech are:
- Telephones and radios.
- Applications including data storage and programs.
- Soft wares supporting word processing and spreadsheets.
- All communication equipment and soft wares.
- Voice recognition software and systems.
- Computers and network systems used by the teachers and the students.
2. Objectives of the Project
The main objectives of this project are given below:
- To know about the role of ICT in education.
- How ICT is used in the field of education for the more effective and useful learning for the students.
- Role of teachers who use tools of ICT during their lectures.
- Role of students who are using different tools of ICT in order to enhance their skills.
- To know different media where education is provided and can be enhanced.
3. Importance of the objectives
The objectives described above can be very useful for an electronics engineer as when he will learn the tools of ICT, he will be able to meet the demands of the changing world more easily .The graduating electronics engineer will be able to get the job where ever he wants only if he has the desired knowledge and knowhow of the ICT tools which was taught to him. Without appropriate understanding of ICT, electronics engineer is not fit for the demands of any company .Thus electronics engineer is needed to have sound knowledge and knowhow of ICT tools so that he may meet the standards of any company where he wants to be hired. Thus if ICT is not used in the field of education, then it will take loads of time for the teacher to cover his lecture and the students will not be able to learn much. The conventional method is good but it is very time consuming and teacher has to write everything on the board in order to convey his point. Thus ICT is used not only on the field of education but also in various other fields as well.ICT has somehow change the way we do things and has changed the human lifestyle in some way.
4. Main Section
The usage of ICT in education is a very diversified and vast subject. First of all in this project report, it was necessary to define what ICT really is and what does it constitute. Then considering the objectives in our mind we tried to find how ICT is being used for enhancing the quality education in different universities and colleges. The students also have a very important role in this project .Thus it was really necessary to express how ICT is helping the students to clear their thoughts and concepts of any lecture that is taking place in the university/college .Thus we also enlightened our thoughts on what would happen if there were no ICT tools and the teachers would have to teach by conventional way. The role of teachers is also very vital as they are using these tools in order to clear the thoughts of the students saving their own time during the process. We also tried to compare the conventional teaching system with the system in which ICT tools are used. We also mentioned the different tools of ICT that are being used for increasing the quality of education and how these tools are taught to the students to increase their productivity as engineers. We divided these tools in different parts like productivity and communication tools .In the last section we tried to elaborate the role of government in the productivity of ICT and to see where government has made an effort and has given funds to different universities/colleges. We also tried to find where government is not doing its job properly and that government should invest more on education than it has been doing in the past. There are two main topics discussed in the main section and these are how computers and IT is used in development of education.
Computers for development of education
Computers can be used in improvement of education if they are used in right way. Computers are machines; they work as we told them to do. They can play an important role in development of education. In fact the use of computer made education easy.
Computers for Teacher
Teachers should also use computers for all of their applications. Teachers should use computers for their administrative tasks. They should use computers to produce documents because it saves time. Computer is necessary for teachers to prepare lectures.
The use of computer enhances manipulating information, creating the list of data of students. The use of computer increases the efficiency of the teacher. The use of computer by a teacher helps him to keep the record of the class.
The teachers can make presentation on different software. Teachers can add graphical attraction in their presentation to attract the attention of the students.
Computers for research
Computers can be used for the research purpose of the students. There is small amount of data in college or school libraries. This data is not enough for the need of students. The computers provide students with access to data and information.
The internet facility provides the students access to data for class projects and assignments. The computer also provides students to share the work done by the other students and other people. The computers provide the facility to see and download the e-books from the internet. The computers allow the students to see the thesis, projects and research papers online. In fact research without computer is impossible.
Computers for exploration
When students study new things, there are many questions in their minds. For example there are questions in a student mind if he studies the evolution of man. The student confuses about how the Big Bang occurred? How we are generated from microbes. They cannot ask all questions to the teachers.
The students can solve their problems through computers. Students can explore the entire world through computer. They can study all the things not given in their text books. The computers can take the student to the place he wants to see. In fact the computer provides the student with a self directed thrilling journey to acquire knowledge.
Computer as a training tool
Computer can be used as a training tool. There are different kinds of software for the training of the student. The student can increase his knowledge through vocabulary software. The computer can be used to study different problems and their solutions in different subjects. Computer can also be used to learn different languages without any tutor. Computer can be used for the word processing. Students can make their assignments with different word processing software. The teachers can make papers on the word processing software Computer software will be future workplace for all the students.
Computer use for the young children increases their intellectual skills. The video games enhance their thinking abilities. By playing games the children know how to use computer. The research about these video games has shown that these video games increase the intellectual abilities of the young students.
Computer networks
The use of computer allows a student to communicate with his class mates and teachers through emails. Students can get help from the teachers by communicating with them through emails. The teachers can also communicate with the students through emails. The teacher can upload lectures on the Internet. The students can also communicate with one another through chatting.
If we enhance the networking we can improve the education. By the use of World Wide Web the student can get the resources from everywhere. Students can transfer files from one place to other. They can upload files on different sharing sites. The computer can also be used for the video conferencing.
Online education
Today the students can get the education online. The students who cannot go to the education institutions can get education online.
The tutors teach the students via mails or by sharing notes. The student can learn many things by just sitting in his home. Today the online education is spreading very fast. The students did not have to go anywhere to study. They pay their tutors through credit cards.
Education software
The students can use different software for simplifying their problems. The students can solve difficult problems by just putting the data into the software. The engineering students can solve matrices and graph them on software called Mat Lab. The Economics students can use the Microsoft Excel for manipulating data. The electronics students can use software like Circuit Maker. In short there are many types of software which simplify the work for students.
The teachers can also use different kind of software to simplify his work. The teachers can use word processing software for making of papers. Teachers can use presentation software like Microsoft Power Point to make presentation slides. Teachers can also use the software which solves the problem instantly to check the answers.
Building intellectual skills
The research has shown that the use of computer increases the intellectual skills of the user. Actually when the user is using the programs he is exploring new things. These exploration increases his knowledge.
The use of encyclopedias increases the general knowledge and thinking abilities of young student. It is usually thought that the video games make the young students dumb but the recent research has shown that the games are helpful for the thinking skills of students.
How IT is used in development of education?
IT has many advantages in education as IT has made learning easier for the students. There are several advantages discussed in this portion of the project.
Lectures
The lectures are given using the computer presentation soft wares like Microsoft power point or any other presentation soft ware.
LABS
The use of IT in labs is also very necessary as labs of some subjects like ICT, C++, numerical analysis and engineering circuit analysis (1&2) cannot be conducted if the labs are not equipped with the proper IT equipment and tools. Thus by using IT in labs, students are able to learn about many soft wares like:
- Microsoft office (word, excel, PowerPoint etc).
- Programming languages (like C++, C, and JAVA etc).
- Complex mathematical soft wares like mat lab etc.
- Drawing soft wares like AutoCAD 2000.
IT for teachers
Teachers have a very important role in providing education to the students by using IT. Teachers can make their lectures and prepare the slides in order to convey their point during lectures and the advantage of using this technique is that the teacher would not have to write everything on the board manually.
How have radio and TV been used in education?
Radios and televisions have been used in the field of education since 1920s and since then have been an important source of providing education to the masses. On radios the programs are broadcasted in order to provide education and the most appropriate example of this is interactive radio instruction (IRI). This consists of “ready-made 20-30 minute direct teaching and learning exercises to the classroom on a daily basis. The radio lessons, developed around specific learning objectives at particular levels of mathematics, science, health and languages in national curricula, are intended to improve the quality of classroom teaching and to act as a regular, structured aid to poorly trained classroom teachers in under-resourced schools.”(Taken from www.wikibooks.com). This project has been implemented in different parts of the world like Latin America, Africa, Thailand in 1980 and Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal prepared their own IRI projects. Using this project had many benefits for the field of education and for learning as well. Televisions also have the same usage and some programs are also aired on the television in order to provide education to the people.
What is teleconferencing?
Teleconferencing can be said as “interactive electronic communication among people located at two or more different places.”(Wiki books).
There are four types of teleconferencing namely
- Audio conferencing.
- Audio graphic conferencing.
- Video conferencing.
- Web-based conferencing.
Audio conferencing can be said as the transfer of voice messages in any communication network. When text messages and still images can be sent as well along with voice messages then this term is called audio graphic conferencing.
When moving objects are also sent by a communication network then this type of teleconferencing is called video conferencing .This technology uses satellite or television network.
Web-based technology is a type of teleconferencing in which the data is sent and received on the internet. The data can be in the form of still or moving images like videos and thus needs the use of a computer and internet browser like Mozilla or Google chrome.
How has teleconferencing been used in education?
Teleconferencing is used in teacher-learner as well as in learner-learner discussions. If the people are far away from each other, then they can communicate with each other using teleconferencing. With this the learner cannot remain isolated with the rest of the world and can keep track of the latest developments happening in different areas of the world. Teleconferencing is also being used in many institutions as well in Open University of United Kingdom and in Open University of Hong Kong.
Advantages of I.T in education
Time Saving
Time will be saved when there will be usage of IT in education and thus more time will be given to the students to understand the point of view of the teacher.
Levels of education
IT can be advantageous in all levels of education i.e. from primary to higher education in order to train the students for the coming future.
Learning
When the lectures are covered by the teacher in less span of time then more time can be given to the learning and to the concept that what is taught to the students is understood by them or not.
Websites
Teachers can make websites of their course. This will be helpful for the students as they can access any material of the course through this website and they will be able to view the recent activities online through this website. All the assignments and lectures can also be placed on the website for the access of the students.
5.Applications of the Project
- Computer can be used in development of education in different aspects.
- They can be used by teachers.
- They can be used as media for using and learning software of education.
- Computers can be used as a communication tool between teacher and student.
- Computer can also be used for online resources.
- They can be used for file transferring and research.
- IT can be used for the delivery of a lecture by the teachers.
- IT can also be applied in labs by the students and they will be able to share data and information online or on the network while they are working in their labs.
- Radios and TVs can be applied for the delivery of the lectures and audio lectures can be given on radio while audio as well as video lectures can be given on television.
- Teleconferencing can be applied in various universities so that the several students are able to have a conference and this can also include a teacher where the students can ask questions from the teacher online. Video Teleconferencing is more beneficial than other types of teleconferencing as video is also displayed as well as the audio.
6. Conclusions
- ICT has a very integral role in education as it is used in almost every classroom of high-tech universities/colleges.
- ICT has been beneficial for both teachers and students as it has minimized the workload of both students and the teachers as lectures can be delivered by teachers and understood by the students in a small span of time.
- Television, radio and internet are also the Medias through which education can be provided besides the classrooms.
- ICT has improved the education by better Communication between students and teachers.
References
http://www.elec.gla.ac.uk/TILT/ITEDEDIT.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ICT_in_Education/The_Uses_of_ICTs_in_Education
