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.
