ICTs in education: The need to move up the gear (by Alemu Abebe)

Reform is the guiding principle for national policies in the area of economy and education. It is a vital step that countries need to implement in order to create a powerful growth. Actually, this is a common responsibility of every one of us. The job may be finished when every worker, every business, every citizen as a consumer enjoys the benefits of reforms.

In the education sector, these reforms can be expressed in terms of the use of modern technologies and in incorporating these technologies in to the curricula. These former refers to the application of modern technologies in education and training. The later implies the integration of ICT curriculum in the education system of a given country. Both the application and integration of the new technologies in to the system, scales up the development endeavour of a given country. The application, in this case, of the technologies also means electronic learning (e-Learning).Some people, some times, remove the letter “L” and name it “e-earning”. I think this works!

The application of e-Learning methods through the use of information and communication technologies in education and training changes the way of learning and teaching. It provides a grandiose contribution in the processes of reform, innovation and overall economic development of a given country. Through the integration of new technologies, education and training can become more accessible and more flexible, offering good opportunities to all and at all educational levels. That is why, these days, information and communication technologies and their integration in the education and training systems are no longer an issue of discussion. Rather, the focus now is placed on the methodological and pedagogical implications linked to their use for learning/training and teaching purposes. As a result of the advent of ICTs and their integration in to the educational system, learning/training is seen as a social process which offers better opportunities to collaborate with other learners/trainees, to facilitate interaction with the content, to receive guidance from teachers/trainers and tutors.

This new phenomena even makes it easy to give accessibility for people with disabilities having time, age, and space constraints. Many people including students and teachers have been benefted from several initiatives aimed at facilitating the teaching-learning processes. Teaching and learning is now becoming more and more interactive allowing people to interact with each other or with machines.
The integration of ICTs in education and training and their implications for active learning (of teachers and students) widen(s) up the importance of e-learning as a tool, to complement ongoing reforms in the education and training sector. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude, that in order to benefit from the application and integration of ICTs in the education and training system of our countries we need to move the gear up!

References:
1. White, Gerry. E-Learning: Australia’s achievements in education and Training. Unpublished.
2. Alemu Abebe [et al].(2004). Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education and training: An assessment of alternative content delivery methods for Ethiopian Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) , MoE, Unpublished
3. Darkwa,Osei and Mazibuko,Fikile. Creating Virtual learning communities in Africa: Challenges and prospects. Unpublished.