What is ICT?
Information and Communication Technology is defined in the document "Interactive Education: An Information and Communication Technologies Strategy for Schools" (Ministry of Education, 1998) as: "Information Technology (IT) is the term used to describe the items of equipment (hardware) and computer programs (software) that allows us to access, retrieve, store, organise, manipulate and present information by electronic means…". Examples include: scanners, computers, projection equipment (hardware) and database, spreadsheet, and multimedia software programs (software). "Communication Technology (CT) is the term used to describe telecommunications equipment through which information can be sought and accessed…". Examples include; facsimile (fax) machines, teleconference phones, and modems.
Information and communication technology has a role in the learning and teaching process as a teaching tool. This role is of less significance than the potential of ICT to enhance the inquiry and problem solving processes, and should be transparent to the learner in much the same as the whiteboard or chalk is. Never the less ICT can be a powerful teaching tool. For example, the concept of how data can be represented in different ways can be easily taught by using graphing software. By making a pie graph and a bar graph linked to the same data, a teacher can change the values for different data categories and ask students to predict what will happen to each graph. The outcome is instantaneous and the concept is grasped with comparative ease. Similarly interactive cdroms, such as the PM range of talking books add another dimension to a classroom’s reading programme, while contemporary distance education initiatives would be unfathomable without powerful teaching tools such as audiographics and the Internet. These are only some of the many ways in which ICT can be used as a teaching tool.
ICT can also enhance the administrative functions of learning and teaching, which in turn has a direct impact on pedagogy. One key administrative area in which ICT is becoming more and more important is recording and analysing student achievement. The process from planning classroom programmes, through to implementation, through to assessment, through to planning again can all be managed effectively with ICT. Schools can either create their own databases or use commercial software, which allows teachers to plan their classroom programmes, design their assessment tasks and then record student achievement against their chosen criteria. The identification of next learning steps for individual students or cohorts of students then becomes easier and more efficient, leading to more effective decision making about individual, class and school wide initiatives.
ICT can also enhance the administrative functions of learning and teaching, which in turn has a direct impact on pedagogy. One key administrative area in which ICT is becoming more and more important is recording and analysing student achievement. The process from planning classroom programmes, through to implementation, through to assessment, through to planning again can all be managed effectively with ICT. Schools can either create their own databases or use commercial software, which allows teachers to plan their classroom programmes, design their assessment tasks and then record student achievement against their chosen criteria. The identification of next learning steps for individual students or cohorts of students then becomes easier and more efficient, leading to more effective decision making about individual, class and school wide initiatives.
One further key use of ICT at an administrative level is resourcing the learning process. More and more resources are becoming available to teachers through initiatives such as Te Kete Ipurangi. Teachers can utilise the Internet to access resources in support of their classroom programmes, such as graphic organisers available through Curriculum Integration Online, or assessment exemplars from the NZCER assessment resource bank, or English units available through English Online, or problem solving activities from NZ Maths. Teachers into the future will use the Internet for resource based learning in the much the same way as they currently use services such as the National Library interloan programme.
SUMBER: www.lea.co.nz
