INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

The concept of ICT

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) — which include radio and television, as well as newer digital technologies such as computers and the Internet  — have been proven as potentially powerful tools for educational change and reform. When used appropriately, different ICTs can help expand access to education, strengthen the relevance of education to the increasingly digital workplace, and raise educational quality by helping make teaching and learning into an active process connected to real life.

MEANING OF ICT

Information and Communication Technologies refers to technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications such as the Telephony, Internet, wireless networks, cell phones, etc.

It is an  integration of tele-communications  such as telephone lines, wireless signals, computers, necessary software,   storage devices, audio-visual systems, etc. which enable us to access, retrieve, store, transmit, and manipulate information.

Information and Communication Technology in education is the processing of information its communication facilities and features that variously support teaching, learning and a range of activities in education.

DEFINITIONS

"ICT  is defined, as a "diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information."

"ICT implies the technology which consists of electronic devices and associated human interactive materials that enable the user to employ them for a wide range of teaching  - learning processes in addition to personal use." These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies, and telephony.

"Information and communications technology (ICT) in education is the processing of information and its communications facilities and features that variously support teaching, learning and a range of activities in education."

Characteristics of ICT

    Support teaching and learning process

    Enhancing teacher training

    Cater to individual differences

    Minimize psychological barriers

    Effective audiovisual effects

    Motivating to learn

    Uses of contemporary devices

    Brings about changes and reforms in education

    Educate both formal and informal settings

     Real time access to information.

    Connecting Geographically dispersed regions

    Facilitating acquisition of basic skills

    Wider range of communication media.

    Expanding learning opportunity  

    Facilitator of higher-order thinking skills  

SCOPE OF ICT

1.       Anytime, Anywhere learning… Now computers and web networks reduce the pace of imparting knowledge.   One can study whenever he wills irrespective of whether it   is day or night and irrespective of being in India or in US    because of the boom in IT.

2.       Authentic and up to date    information… The information and data which are available on the NET is purely correct and up to date.

3.       Access to variety of learning resources… In the era of technology ICT aids plenty of resources to enhance the teaching skills and learning ability. It facilitate easy and quick access to rich teaching and learning resources including ICT systems and services, computing resources, online learning materials,  e-learning, and other education centered applications.

4.       E-Learning… ICT encourage the use of eLearning and adoption of its tools and technologies to facilitate widening access to learning and improving educational achievements.

5.       Distance learning... Distance Learning, method of learning at a distance rather than in a classroom.  Home-based learning, and part-time learning…

6.       Online library…   Internets support thousands of different kinds of operational and experimental services one of which is online library. We can get plenty of data on this online library.

7.       Lifelong learning… Develop a framework for web enabled lifelong learning through continuous education and training.

8.       Multimedia approach to education… Audio-Visual Education, planning, preparation, and use of devices and materials that involve sight, sound, or both, for educational purposes.  It enhance and enrich learning with variety of individual needs.

9. ICT as an administrative tool… Different types of systems and software are useful educational management and school administration.    

10.     Better accesses to children with disabilities… Information technology has brought drastic changes in the life of disabled children. IT provides various software and technique to educate these poor peoples.

Needs of ICT in Education:

§  Population explosion

§  Knowledge explosion

§  Universal and compulsory education

§  Mass education

§  Adult education

§  Education equality

§  Improvement of Quality education

§  Appropriate learning environment

ADVANTAGES OF ICT

Benefits for teachers

Easier planning and preparation of lessons and designing materials

ICT facilitates sharing of resources, expertise and advice

Greater flexibility in when and where tasks are carried out

Access to up-to-date pupil and school data, any time and any where.

Benefits for students

Higher quality lessons through greater collaboration between teachers.

More focused teaching, tailored to students’ strengths and weaknesses.

Development of writing skills, language fluency, comprehension, etc.

Encouragement of independent and active learning

Flexibility of ‘anytime, anywhere’ access  of information

Development of higher level learning styles.

Develops self-confidence and self-esteem and self responsibilities

Benefits for parents…

Easier communication with teachers

Higher quality student reports  

Greater access to more accurate attendance and attainment information

Increased involvement of parents and improved self-esteem

Parents are more likely to be engaged in the school community

LIMITATIONS OF ICT

v Setting up the devices can be very troublesome and also expensive.

v Lack of confidence  and experience among teachers to use ICT devices.

v Over-reliance on ICT limits students’ critical thinking and analytical skills.

v Computers can be misused. Students may be easily distracted from their learning and may visit unwanted sites.

v Computers limit students’ imaginations and creativity.

v Computer-based learning has negative physical side-effects.

v Students tend to neglect learning resources other than the computer and internet.

v Students often have only a superficial understanding of the information they download.

v Students may have less opportunity to use oral skills and hand writing and tend to copying data from the internet.

v Use of ICT may be difficult for weaker students, because they may have problems with working independently and may need more support from the teacher.

THE CONCEPT OF INFORMATICS:

Informatics is the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. It studies the structure, algorithms, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, access and communicate information.

The term informatics is coined as a combination of "information" and "automatic" to describe the science of automating information interactions. It is used as a synonymous with the academic field of informatics, information science or computer science.

Education Informatics is a sub-field of informatics. It is based upon information science, computer science and education and particularly addresses the intersection of these broad areas.    It is distinctively used to refer information technology which relates more and to support the teaching learning process. 

COMPUTER NETWORKS:

A computer network is a collection of computers connected to each other and other hardware interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information.

Types of Networks:

LAN - Local Area Network

WLAN - Wireless Local Area Network

WAN - Wide Area Network

MAN - Metropolitan Area Network

CAN - Campus Area Network, Cluster Area Network, etc.

PAN - Personal Area Network

Local Area Network:

A Local Area Network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects two or more computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building using network media. There is a main computer called server and remote computers called clients.   It is useful for sharing resources like files, printers, games or other applications. 

Wide Area Network:

A Wide Area Network (WAN) is a collection of computers and network resources connected via a network over a broad geographic area such as a nation, a continent, etc. through private or public network transports such as the telephone system,  leased lines or satellites. The largest WAN in existence is the Internet.

Comparison between LAN and WAN

LAN   covers a small geographic area, like a home, office, or group of buildings.  Eg: Network in an organisation	WAN  covers a broad area like a metropolitan city , a region, a nation, etc. Eg: Internet
LAN is typically owned, controlled, and managed by a single person or organization.	WAN is not owned by any one organization but rather exist under collective or distributed ownership and management
LANs have a high data transfer rate	WANs have a lower data transfer rate as compared to LANs
LAN has fewer data transmission errors.	WAN has more data transmission errors as compared to LAN
Have a small geographical range and do not need any leased telecommunication lines	Have a large geographical range  and need leased telecommunication lines
LAN is easier to maintain at relatively low costs because of small geographical area.	WAN is difficult to maintain because of its wider geographical coverage.
LAN can be connected to other LANs over any distance via telephone lines and radio waves	Computers connected to a wide-area network are often connected through public networks, such as the telephone system.

INTERNET AND WORLD WIDE WEB

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. It carries an extensive range of various information resources and services to transmit and exchange.

It is a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols such as TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.

The World Wide Web, commonly known as the Web, is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet.  It is a worldwide collections of electronic documents,  spread across the internet, linked with each other through related topics, which contain text, pictures, graphics, sounds, videos, etc. It is a widely used information system on the Internet that provides facilities for documents to be connected to other documents by hypertext markup language system.

Web Server:  It is a mechanism in which a program and a computer are clubbed into one and responds to the requests from web browsers for internet resources.

Web Browser:  The software used to navigate the web is known as web browser. It is a program that allows a user to display and interact with a hypertext document.

Ex: Internet explorer, Netscape Navigator.

Web Site: A website or simply a site is a set of related web pages containing contents such as text, image, video, audio, etc. hosted on a web browser. A site is accessible via a network  through an internet address called Uniform Resource Locator.

It is a set of interconnected web pages, usually including a homepage, generally located on the same server, and prepared and maintained as a collection of information by a person, group, or organization.

Web Page: It is  a   document on the World Wide Web, consisting of an HTML file and any related files for scripts and graphics, and often hyperlinked to other documents on the Web and viewable by anyone connected to the internet who has a web browser.

Web Designing: Web design is a general term to describe any of the various tasks involved in creating a web page.  It encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. It refers to jobs focused on building the front-end -client side- of a web page.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)

It is a language for describing web pages.  It is standardised system for tagging the text files to achieve font, colour, graphics, and hyperlink effects on the web pages.

KompoZer:   It is a free and open source complete web authoring system which integrates web page development and web file management. It provides a web page editor which has simple graphical interface – WYSIWYG. It allows you to create web pages without learning HTML in normal mode. It is new version of Nvu editor based on the Composer component of Mozilla Application Suite.

Search Engine: A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. Search engines are programs that search documents for specified keywords and returns a list of the documents where the keywords were found.

WYSIWUG: "what you see is what you get".

A website or simply a site is a set of related web pages containing contents such as text, image, video, audio, etc. hosted on a web browser. A site is accessible via a network  through an internet address called Uniform Resource Locator.

It is a set of interconnected web pages, usually including a homepage, generally located on the same server, and prepared and maintained as a collection of information by a person, group, or organization.

Web design is a general term to describe any of the various tasks involved in creating a web page.  It encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. It refers to jobs focused on building the front-end -client side- of a web page.

It is a free and open source web authoring system. It allows you to create web pages without learning HTML in normal mode, which is WYSIWYG mode. It is new version of Nvu editor based on the Composer component of Mozilla Application Suite.