essay - futures of ict

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The Future of Information and Communication

Technologies in an Educational Context

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Jesse King

S193157

ETL 339

Charles Darwin University

The Future of Information and Communication Technologies in an Educational ContextWritten by Jesse KingCharles Darwin University 2010S193157

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) within education has changed dramatically in the

last decade. Wider access to broadband infrastructure, a multitude of manufacturers and products

and a strong Australian dollar have all combined to slingshot Australian society into the world of ICT.

This transition has been so swift in educational institutions and in some cases so well implemented

that there are a now a wide range of learning institutions whose whole curriculum is accessed,

delivered and assessed completely through ICT. Current teacher training programs across Australia

all have ICT components. The modern teacher would not be a modern teacher if they were unable to

implement ICT into their classroom.

Teachers currently use ICT in a wide range of settings in and out of the classroom. ICT is now used as

the primary planning tool for all teachers with many education systems across Australia providing

teachers with laptops or incentives to gain one. Having access to ICT’s for students allow teachers to

plan information rich lessons and give the children a variety of mediums to view this information.

When once a teacher was limited to resources within a library, now the only limit is the content

filters of just exactly what is deemed educational or not by the education department. However,

Divaharan & Lim (2010) argue that while teachers are expected to integrate ICT into classrooms,

time is an increasingly declining commodity with teachers not having enough time to plan

meaningful integration. The authors agree that access to ICT has given teachers opportunities to

develop new strategies on lesson delivery but highlight research that indicates the need of a whole

school approach to integrating ICT into curriculum. ICT raises a number of educational and ethical

issues in regard to the future of ICT’s and the practice of traditional teaching.

ICT’s in the classroom take on a variety of mediums in the modern world. There is an endless list of

software, digital media, handheld devices, websites, wikis and blogs to name a few that can be used

effectively as ICT in classrooms. Web based learning technologies (WBLT) have been embraced by

universities worldwide and are an effective tool for providing flexible access for lectures and

students alike (Preston et al., 2010). In a higher education setting, this variety of ICT’s has secured an

important area of educational delivery. Within primary and secondary schools however, the flow on

effect has been noticeably slower to adapt. In the last few years however, the teaching of ICT’s have


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shifted from explicit teaching units to becoming integrated across the curriculum. Teachers are now

expected in many systems to automatically integrate ICT’s into the curriculum.

Recently graduated teachers who been provided with ICT training at university and have used

WBLT’s in one form or another throughout their training period have a distinct advantage over long

term teachers who often have to acquire these skills in their own time. As mentioned by Divaharan

and Lim (2010), schools that are pro-active in their integration of ICT’s and support teachers

throughout are going to achieve desirable outcomes. Cope and Ward’s (2002) findings also indicate

that “the current support for and promotion of the use of learning technologies in classrooms, whilst

admirable, needs an additional focus – increased time release for experienced teachers to undertake

this professional development”. The Australian Governments Website (2010) www.edna.edu.au is

an online resource that gives teachers a range of resources and ideas on how to effectively integrate

ICT’s into the classroom. While this is a valuable resource for teachers, time and ICT resources must

be forthcoming to take full advantage of resources such as this.

With such a large and varying array of ICT’s available for teachers to integrate into the curriculum,

selecting the most valuable ICT can sometimes be daunting. Teachers however should not need to

reinvent the wheel to do it. While it is a relatively new way to deliver content, theoretical

underpinnings of the pedagogical strategies are all still relevant as argued by Nichols (2003). Nichols

(2003) hypothesises that “how technology is used is more important than which technology is used”.

He explains that the use of ICT’s in the classroom is a means of educating, not a mode. In essence,

Nichols (2003) explains that ICT’s should reflect the pedagogy, not determine it. So while a teacher

may feel overwhelmed with the variety of ICT’s available to use in a classroom, continuing current

practice and finding ICT’s that compliment current teaching strategies will achieve desirable

outcomes without having to redesign the mode of delivery.

There is no other time when ICT is more prevalent in a classroom then when students are using a

computer lab. In an ideal setting, each student has an individual computer to work on. This setting

provides a myriad of opportunities, as while it can be seen as individual work, group work through

social media is also an option.


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When using ICT’s teachers can facilitate meaningful student centred activities by using resources

such as blogs, wikis and podcasts. Students have much more control over the input into these

resources and group tasks of a high standard can be achieved. A blog or a wiki that has been created

for class use allows all students to have individual input and ownership into a class resource that can

be utilised for the remainder of the unit, term or year. Social ICT’s are beginning to gain more

recognition by educators as effective tools for delivering course content and while more research is

required there is an enormous potential for future pedagogical development (Hutchinson, 2009).

Selecting appropriate ICT’s are fundamental to successfully integrating ICT’s into the classroom.

Primary aged students are not going to understand how to operate a wiki much the same as

secondary students will fall asleep at best when confronted with childish digital media. Age

appropriateness, like in all other facets of teaching, still continues to be a defining law when using

ICT’s effectively in the classroom. With an increased emphasis on self centred learning, facilitated by

the teacher (Lee & Woods, 2010), ICT’s provide teachers with a wide scope and ever changing

medium to effectively foster student centred learning. Universities are leading the field currently

with a large portion of content available to all students to support, develop and critique their

learning. Many of these sites also have discussion areas where students who are separated by large

distances, time constraints etc. are able to communicate with like minded individuals. Universities

are leading in this area because of the need to effectively deliver such a wide range of courses to a

wide range of clientele. While some schools, particularly senior schools, are beginning to emulate

this procedure, more research, advice and professional development will be required before this

practise becomes the norm in schools across Australia.

Immersive Virtual Worlds have attracted the attention of educators over recent years, especially

since the release of Second Life, one of the most popular of several internet-based virtual worlds

(Littleton & Bayne 2008). Immersive Virtual Worlds (IVWs) are online worlds where users can create

an avatar and travel and interact with other users within the world. Mather and Middleton (2008)

explain that the value and attraction of IVW’s to students in schools is the ability to create authentic

simulations in an abstracted, immersive space involving other people, objects and environments.

Minocha and Roberts (2008) state that “research in online learning environments has shown that

socialisation is, in fact, a central element in the student’s experiences in collaborative activities”.


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With programs such as Second Life becoming more available throughout Australia, IVW’s are

possible future direction for ICT in Australian schools.

With a massive shift in schools towards integrated ICT throughout the curriculum, basic tasks of a

teacher are also changing. The majority of universities have students submit assignments online and

some schools are beginning to take this approach. One of the main reasons for this approach in

universities is to access software that can automatically screen each submission against a database

for any signs of plagiarism. One of the issues this raises is the difference in the mode of assessment

(paper based or screen based) will affect the student’s results. Johnson, Nadas and Bell (2010)

researched this particular problem after finding that while there was growing literature relating to

the mode of the topic there was in fact little research. “It was found that mode did not present a

systematic influence on marking reliability.” (Johnson et al. 2010)

With such an emphasis on integrating ICT into current curriculums across Australia, teachers are now

required to be more competent with ICT than ever. As Australia’s access to high speed internet

continues to expand and a federal government focus on an education revolution, teachers need to

understand ICT and the direction it is heading in the future. Many leading researchers and

commentators on the use of ICT within schools agree that without effective professional

development, teachers are at risk of failing to integrate meaningful ICT strategies within the

classroom. With the possibilities of virtual classrooms seemingly on the horizon, teachers must

continue to learn and develop as professionals throughout the changing times. With such a dramatic

change in the previous ten years, one can only wonder where the following ten years will lead to.

The most critical aspect is that a meaningful balance is developed between traditional teaching

methods and ICT’s within the classroom that will ultimately benefit all involved.


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References

Cope, C. & Ward, P. (2002). Integrating learning technology into classrooms: The importance of teachers’

perceptions. Educational Technology & Society,5(1), 67-74.

Divaharan, S. & Lim, CP. (2010) Secondary school socio-cultural context influencing ICT integration: A case

study approach. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26(6), 741-763.

Hutchinson, JK. (2009). Use of Social Software to Address Literacy and Identity Issues in Second Language

Learning. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 35(3).

Johnson, M., Nadas, R. & Bell, JF. (2010) Marking essays on screen: An investigation into the reliability of

marking extended subjective texts. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41 (5), 814–826.

Lee, KJ. & Woods SE. (2010). Using contemporary topics and Internet resources to stimulate student-centred

learning. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 26(6), 775-790.

Littleton, F. & S. Bayne. 2008. Virtual worlds in education. The Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for

Education, Newsletter No. 10, Spring 2008. http://escalate.ac.uk/4453

Mather, R. & Middleton, AJ. (2008). Machinima interventions: innovative approaches to immersive virtual

world curriculum integration. Alt-J, Research in Learning Technology, 16(3), 207–220.

Minocha, S. & Roberts, D. (2008). Laying the groundwork for socialisation and knowledge construction within

3D virtual worlds. Alt – J, Research in Learning Technology, 16(3), 181–196.

Nichols, M. (2003). A theory for eLearning. Educational Technology & Society, 6(2), 1-10.

Preston, G., Phillips, R., Gosper, G., McNeill, M., Woo, K., Green, D. (2010) Web-based lecture technologies:

Highlighting the changing nature of teaching and learning. Australasian Journal of Educational

Technology 26(6), 717-728.

The Australian Government. (2010). Resources and networks for teaching and learning. Retrieved from

www.edna.edu.au on 28th October, 2010.


http://www.edna.edu.au/

http://escalate.ac.uk/4453

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