ICT in Education

With open and affordable access to the internet, people can share and act on information to improve their health, education and livelihoods. Governments can provide more efficient services to citizens, fight crime and terrorism, and respond in emergencies. These are things you can do with connectivity that many take for granted. And that is on top of all the apps that tell you how your run went, where to buy whatever you’re looking for, where to eat, and of course, how to get from point A to point B.

In order to use technology effectively, educators need to be trained in using technology and they need to develop a good understanding of it. Technology is used to enhance learning, therefore it is important for educators to be comfortable using it to ensure that students get the full advantages of educational technology.^[2]

 

Technology training appears to focus mainly on technology knowledge and skills while overlooking the relationships between technology, pedagogy, and content.^[3] As a result, teachers learn about “cool” stuff, but they still have difficulty applying it for their students’ learning.Teacher candidates need opportunities to practice effective technology integration strategies in supportive contexts during technology courses, technology-integrated methods courses, and field experiences.

Teacher education programs can facilitate improvements not only in students’ technology skills but also in their beliefs and intentions regarding integrating technology into instruction.^[4]Technology training directly affects pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy and value beliefs, which in turn influence their student-centered technology use.^[5]

 

Information and communication technologies in education refers to teaching and learning the subject matter that enables understanding the functions and effective use of [[Information and Communication Technology|information and communication technologies]] (ICTs). As of 2004, a review and contexualization of the literature on teaching ICT as a subject implied that there was limited, systematically-derived, 

 

 

 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can contribute to universal access to education, equity in education, the delivery of quality learning and teaching, teachers’ professional development and more efficient education management, governance and administration.

UNESCO takes a holistic and comprehensive approach to promoting ICT in education. Access, inclusion and quality are among the main challenges they can address. The Organization’s Intersectoral Platform for ICT in education focuses on these issues through the joint work of three of its sectors: Communication & Information, Education and Science.

UNESCO’s global network of offices, institutes and partners provide Member States with resources for elaborating ICT in education policies, strategies and activities. In particular, the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE), based in Moscow, specializes in information exchange, research and training on the integration of ICT in education while UNESCO’s Bangkok office is strongly involved in ICT for Education in Asia and the Pacific