The Role and Impact of ICT in Improving the Quality of Education

Abstract

ICTs are making dynamic changes in society. They are influencing all aspects of life. Similarly, there is no doubt that ICT brings a massive change in the field of education also. It makes teaching- learning process effective and interesting. To know the impact of ICT in education we need to know two basic things- ICT and education. The ICT is an umbrella that includes any communication device or application, encompassing, radio, television, cellular phones, computer, and network hardware and software, satellite system and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them, such as video conferencing and distance learning. Such technologies are used for educational purposes, namely to support and improve the learning of student and develop learning environments. ICT can be considered as a sub field of educational technology. The paper discusses the role and effect of ICTs, and how they can promote future growth and development. In educational system, the inputs are teachers, students, classroom materials, equipment of teaching, methods of teaching and the outputs are quantity as well as quality of student learning. The proper integration of ICT with teaching/ learning environment increases the chance of gaining education along with increased productivity. Information communication technologies are influencing all aspects of life including education. They are promoting changes in working conditions, handling and exchanging of information, teaching-learning approaches and so on. One area in which the impacts of ICT is significant, is education. ICTs are making major differences in the teaching approaches and the ways students are learning. ICT-enhanced learning environment facilitates active, collaborative, creative, integrative, and evaluative learning as an advantage over the traditional method. In addition, the major promises of ICTs use in education systems of developing countries focus on training teachers in new skills and introducing innovative pedagogies into the classrooms, investing on ICT infrastructure for schools and creating networks among educational institutes, improving overall standard of education by reducing the gap in quality of education between schools in urban and rural areas, initiation of smart school with objectives to foster self-paced, self-assessed, and self-directed learning through the applications of ICTs, and developing ICT policy for education and training.