ICT in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges

ICT in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer, and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them,

such as videoconferencing and distance learning. When such technologies are used for educational purposes, namely to support and improve the learning of students and to develop learning environments, ICT can be considered as a subfield of Educational Technology. ICTs in higher education are being used for developing course material; delivering content and sharing content; communication between learners, teachers and the outside world; creation and delivery of presentation and lectures; academic research; administrative support, student enrolment etc.

Introduction

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an umbrella term that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer, and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and distance learning. When such technologies are used for educational purposes, namely to support and improve the learning of students and to develop learning environments, ICT can be considered as a subfield of Educational Technology. ICTs in higher education are being used for developing course material; delivering content and sharing content; communication between learners, teachers and the outside world; creation and delivery of presentation and lectures; academic research; administrative support, student enrolment etc.

WHAT IS ICT?

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are referred to as the varied collection of technological gear and resources which are made use of to communicate. They are also made use of to generate, distribute, collect and administer information. ICT is a force that has changed many aspects of the way we live. Information and Communication Technologies consist of the hardware, software, networks, and media for collection, storage, processing, transmission and presentation of information (voice, data, text, images), as well as related services. ICTs can be divided into two components, Information and Communication Infrastructure (ICI) which refers to physical telecommunications systems and networks (cellular, broadcast, cable, satellite, postal) and the services that utilize those (Internet, voice, mail, radio, and television), and Information Technology (IT) that refers to the hardware and software of information collection, storage, processing, and presentation. The concept of a “Digital Divide” has been around almost as long as ICT has been publicly available. While traditionally it has come to mean a division in society, based on socio-economic factors, this does not ‘paint the entire picture’ Introducing ICT as a tool to support the education sector has initiated substantial discussions since the late 1990s. A decade ago the emphasis was on Technical and Vocational Education and Training and training teachers. During the last few years an increasing number of international development agencies have embraced the potential of ICT to support the education sector. UNESCO has played a major role in spearheading the Education for All initiative to harness the potential of ICT. The widely subscribed Dakar Framework for Action recognizes that, ‘these technologies (ICTs) have great potential for knowledge dissemination, effective learning and the development of more efficient education services’. When looking at the integration of ICT to support the achievement of educational objectives, it can be found that after almost a decade of using ICT to stimulate development, it is not yet fully integrated in development activities and awareness raising is still required. The main objectives of the paper are to evaluate the importance of ICT in higher education and to analyse the government initiatives for development of ICT in higher education.

ICT AND HIGHER EDUCATION

The major teaching and learning challenges facing higher education revolve around student diversity, which includes, amongst others, diversity in students’ academic preparedness, language and schooling background. Education is perhaps the most strategic area of intervention for the empowerment of girls and women in any society and the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) as an educational tool in the promotion of women’s advancement has immense potential. The application of ICTs as a tool for effective enhancement of learning, teaching and education management covers the entire spectrum of education from early childhood development, primary, secondary, tertiary, basic education and further education and training. Integrating ICT in teaching and learning is high on the educational reform agenda. Often ICT is seen as indispensable tool to fully participate in the knowledge society. ICTs need to be seen as “an essential aspect of teaching’s cultural toolkit in the twenty-first century, affording new and transformative models of development that extend the nature and reach of teacher learning wherever it takes place” (Leach, 2005). For developing countries like Vietnam, ICT can moreover be seen as a way to merge into a globalizing world. It is assumed that ICT brings revolutionary change in teaching methodologies. The innovation lies not per se in the introduction and use of ICT, but in its role as a contributor towards a student-centered form of teaching and learning. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) curriculum provides a broad perspective on the nature of technology, how to use and apply a variety of technologies, and the impact of ICT on self and society. Technology is about the ways things are done; the processes, tools and techniques that alter human activity. ICT is about the new ways in which people can communicate, inquire, make decisions and solve problems. It is the processes, tools and techniques for:

1. Gathering and identifying information

2. Classifying and organizing

3. Summarizing and synthesizing

4. Analyzing and evaluating

5. Speculating and predicting

Enhancing and upgrading the quality of education and instruction is a vital concern, predominantly at the time of the spreading out and development of education. ICTs can improve the quality of education in a number of ways: By augmenting student enthusiasm and commitment, by making possible the acquirement of fundamental skills and by improving teacher training. ICTs are also tools which enable and bring about transformation which, when used properly, can encourage the shift an environment which is learner-centered. ICTs which can be in the form of videos, television and also computer multi media software, that merges sound, transcripts and multi coloured moving imagery, can be made use of so as to make available stimulating, thought provoking and reliable content that will keep the student interested in the learning process. The radio on the other hand through its interactive programs utilizes songs, sound effects, adaptations, satirical comedies and supplementary collections of performances so as to induce the students to listen and get drawn in to the training that is being provided. The use of online pedagogy within universities and management institutes is increasing. The introduction of the Wi-Fi system too has led to the growth of hi-tech education system, where accessibility and accountability of subject matter is made readily available to the students. The students can now study and comprehend the related information at their own convenient time.

                                                                                                                                

Higher Education in India

Higher education plays a pivotal role in the development of a country, as it is viewed as a powerful means to build knowledge based society. In India, higher education imparted by universities is facing challenges in terms of Access, Equity and Quality. The Government of India has taken several initiatives during the Eleventh Five Year Plan period to increase access to higher education by adopting state specific strategies, enhancing the relevance of higher education through Curriculum reforms, Vocational programs, Networking, Information Technology adoption and Distance Education along with reforms in governance. However in terms of Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER), India still lags behind the worldwide average and emerging countries like Brazil and China.

The Indian Higher Education System has established itself as the largest system in the world in terms of number of institutions and third largest in terms of student enrollment (after China and USA). While several new institutions have emerged due to significant increase in private sector participation over the last few years, concerns remain regarding the quality of education being imparted to students. The main governing body at the tertiary level is the University Grants Commission, which enforces its standards, advises the government, and helps coordinate between the center and the state. Indian higher education is decentralized with separate councils responsible for the regulation of different institutions.

Challenges in Indian Higher Education

Higher Education noted the following as some of the key challenges for India in terms of Access, Equity and Quality of Higher Education.

1. Insufficient infrastructure to meet the growing demand for higher education. In 2011, 14.6 million students enrolled in higher education in India. By 2020, 40 million students will have to be enrolled if GER target of 30% has to be met. This implies an additional capacity of over 25 million seats would be required within the next decade.

2. There is wide disparity in Higher Education GER across states, urban vs. rural areas, gender and communities that have to be bridged.

3. Faculty shortage (45% professor and 53% lecturer positions were vacant in 2007-08), Deficient physical infrastructure, ill-equipped libraries and outdated curricula continue to plague our higher education system.

Today ICTs – including laptops wirelessly connected to the Internet, personal digital assistants, low cost video cameras, and cell phones have become affordable, accessible and integrated in large sections of the society throughout the world. It can restructure organizations, promote collaboration, increase democratic participation of citizens, improve the transparency and responsiveness of governmental agencies, make education and health care more widely available, foster cultural creativity, and enhance the development in social integration. It is only through education and the integration of ICT in education that one teaches students to be participants in the growth process in this era of rapid change. ICT also allows for the creation of digital resources like digital libraries where students, teachers and professionals can access research material and course material from any place at any time (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007). Such facilities allow the networking of academics and researchers and hence sharing of scholarly material. This avoids duplication of work.

In view of ICT, education can be classified in three main categories:

Ø  E-learning

Ø  Blended Learning, and

Ø  Distance Learning

E-Learning or Electronic learning is a general term used to refer to computer-enhanced learning. It is commonly associated with the field of advanced learning technology (ALT), which deals with both the technologies and associated methodologies in learning using networked and/or multimedia technologies. It is also known as online learning. Distance education provided the base for e-learning’s development. E-learning can be ‘on demand’. It overcomes timing, attendance and travel difficulties. E-learning allows delivery, dialogue and feedback over the internet. It allows mass customization in terms of content and exams. E-education can provide access to the best gurus and the best practices or knowledge available (UNESCO, 2002). It is possible to leverage the online environment to facilitate teaching techniques like role-play across time and distance. It can also facilitate the development of scenarios, which can be rarely witnessed in practice. ICT can play a valuable role to monitor and log the progress of the students across time, place and varied activities. E-learning allows higher participation and greater interaction. It challenges the concept that face-to-face traditional education is superior to it (Bhattacharya and Sharma, 2007). The web and the internet is the core ICTs to spread education through e-learning. The components include e-portfolios, cyber infrastructures, digital libraries and online learning object repositories. All the above components create a digital identity of the student and connect all the stakeholders in the education.

E-learning has the following advantages:

Ø  Eliminating time and geographical barriers in education for learners as well as teachers.

Ø  Enhanced group collaboration made possible via ICT.

Ø  New educational approaches can be used.

Ø  It can provide speedy dissemination of education to target disadvantaged groups.

Ø  It offers the combination of education while balancing family and work life.

Ø  It enhances the international dimension of educational services.

Blended Learning is the combination of multiple approaches to learning. It is usually used to define a situation where different delivery methods are combined together to deliver a particular course. These methods may include a mixture of face-to-face learning, self-paced learning and online classrooms.

Face to face Learning refers to learning that occurs in a traditional classroom setting where a faculty member delivers instruction to a group of learners. This could include lectures, workshops, presentation, tutoring, conference and much more.

Self paced Learning provides the flexibility to learn according to the availability of learners’ own time and pace, it occurs in a variety of ways such as : reading specific chapters from text book, studying course material presented through web-based or CD based course, attending pre-recorded classes or sessions, reading articles referred by faculty member, working on assignments & projects, and searching & browsing the internet.

Online Collaborative Learning involves interaction between learners and faculty members through the web; this interaction can occur in one of the following modes:

Ø  Synchronous interaction.

Ø  Asynchronous interaction.

Synchronous, means ‘at the same time’, it involves interacting with a faculty member and other learners via the web in real time using technologies such as virtual classrooms and / or chat rooms. On the other hand, Asynchronous means ‘not at the same time’; it enables learners to interact with their colleagues and faculty member at their own convenience, such as interacting through email.

Distance Learning

It is a type of education, where students work on their own at home or at the office and communicate with faculty and other students via e-mail, electronic forums, videoconferencing, chat rooms, instant messaging and other forms of computer-based communication. It is also known as open learning. Most distance learning programs include a computer based training (CBT) system and communications tools to produce a vital classroom. Because the Internet and World Wide Web are accessible from virtually all computer platforms, they serve as the foundation for many distance learning systems.

ICTs also allow for the creation of digital resources like digital libraries where the students, teachers and professionals can access research material and course material from any place at any time. Such facilities allow the networking of academics and researchers and hence sharing of scholarly material and leads to quality enhancement in teaching and learning. Benefits of ICT in education to the main stakeholders

Students

Ø  Increased access,

Ø  Flexibility of content and delivery,

Ø  Combination of work and education,

Ø  Learner-centred approach,

Ø  Higher-quality of education and new-ways of interaction.

Employers

Ø  High quality, cost effective professional development in the workplace,

Ø  Upgrading of employee skills, increased productivity,

Ø  Developing of a new learning culture,

Ø  Sharing of costs and of training time with the employees,

Ø  Increased portability of training.

Governments

Ø  Increase the capacity and cost effectiveness of education and training systems,

Ø  To reach target groups with limited access to conventional education and training,

Ø  To support and enhance the quality and relevance of existing educational structures,

Ø  To ensure the connection of educational institutions and curricula to the emerging networks and information resources,

Ø  To promote innovation and opportunities for lifelong learning.

In absence of ICT, most of the responsibility of teaching and learning lies on the teachers. However, with the help of ICT one can transfer the responsibilities to the students so that they can self manage. It helps to individualize the teaching or guidance method as per the student’s need. It also boosts the confidence level and the self-esteem of the students who acquire the ICT skills through the process of being exposed to such kind of learning also puts forth the view that ICT-based registration, evaluation, and administration help to link different levels of information and facilitate an overall view of the whole educational setup. It facilitates the evaluation and examination of the learning process and results by the students and the parent’s in a flexible and convenient way. The globalization process has also created a large market of offshore students. To reach them, information technology is the only convenient medium, which can offer education as a service. It increases education provision substantially and can contribute to mass education. It also creates competition among the institutions for providing education and hence improves the quality.

Initiatives of Use of ICT in Education

India is making use of powerful combination of ICTs such as open source software,

satellite technology, local language interfaces, easy to use human-computer interfaces, digital libraries etc. with a long-term plan to reach the remotest of the villages. Community service centers have been started to promote e-learning throughout the country. Notable initiatives of use of ICT in education in India include:

Ø  Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) uses radio, television and internet

technologies.

Ø  National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning : a concept similar to the

open courseware initiative of MIT. It uses internet and television technologies.

Ø  Eklavya initiative : Uses internet and television to promote distance learning.

Ø  IIT-Kanpur has developed ‘Brihaspati’, an open source e-learning platform (Virtual

Class Room).

Role of ICT in Higher Education

Swift growth of ICTs is taking place all over the world. They have emerged as powerful tools for diffusion of knowledge and information. Their introduction and unprecedented use in the higher education has generated varied response. The opportunities can be categorized as the aspects relating to role of ICT for access and equity in education, their role in pedagogy for quality learning and teaching at higher education level and in inducing innovations in approaches and programmes.

Access and Equity in Higher Education

Presence of ICT in education sector is increasing steadily. In spite of the fact that education is a social enterprise and teachers are the traditionally mainstay of teaching learning process, ICTs are very powerful tool for diffusing knowledge and information, a fundamental aspect of the education process. ICTs can play enormous role for improving access and equity in education sector in general and higher education sector in particular. 11th Plan proposed to achieve the target of 15 percent GER by 2012 through the increase in institutional capacity and increase in ‘intake capacity’ of existing educational institutions. These efforts are also experiencing the push created in this direction through the consistent rise in enrolment at elementary level and secondary level. The demand for higher education is expected to rise steeply in the forthcoming years under these influences. ICTs lend themselves as an ideal mechanism to bridge this gap by complementing both formal education system as well as distance learning systems (Neeru, 2009). E-learning is emerging as an important strategy to provide widespread and easy access to quality higher education. E-learning is a generic term referring to different uses and intensities of uses of ICTs, from wholly online education to campus-based education and through other forms of distance education supplemented with ICTs in some way. Although, presently the initiatives for development of e-learning in India are continuing in a sporadic manner, UGC is advocating and making efforts to enhance the quality of higher education by framing policy

guidelines for their integration in classroom and other activities.

CHALLENGES OF ICT

Ø  It may create a digital divide within class as students who are more familiar with ICT will reap more benefits and learn faster than those who are not as technology savvy.

Ø  It may shift the attention from the primary goal of the learning process to developing ICT skills, which is the secondary goal.

Ø  It can affect the bonding process between the teacher and the student as ICT becomes a communication tool rather than face to face conversation and thus the transactional distance is increased.

Ø  Also since not all teachers are experts with ICT they may be lax in updating the course content online which can slow down the learning among students.

Ø  The potential of plagiarism is high as student can copy information rather than learning and developing their own skills.

Ø  There is a need for training all stakeholders in ICT.

Ø  The cost of hardware and software can be very high.

Conclusion

The integration of ICTs in higher education is inevitable. The very high demand for higher education has stimulated significant growth in both private and public provision. ICTs in the form of Management Information Systems are increasingly universal. The strength of computers in teaching is their power to manipulate words and symbols - which is at the heart of the academic endeavour. ICT has also led to the emergence of Open Educational Resources (OERs). The use of ICT creates an open environment which enables the storage and the reuse of information materials as also it enables the interface among the teachers as well as students. Apart from having enabling telecommunications and ICT policies, governments and higher education institutions will need to develop strategies for effective ICT and media deployment and sustainability.

REFERENCES

1.      Information and Communication Technology, retrieved from http://www.unctad.org/en/docs//iteipc20031_en.pdf

2.     Bhattacharya, I. & Sharma, K. (2007). India in the knowledge economy - an electronic paradigm, International Journal of Educational Management Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 543–568.

           

3.     Cross, M. & Adam, F. (2007). ICT Policies and Strategies in Higher Education in South Africa: National and Institutional Pathways’, Higher Education Policy 20(1), 73–95.