Education policymakers and planners must first of all be clear about what educational outcomes (which is discussed above) are being targeted.These broad goals should guide the choice of technologies to be used and their modalities of use.The potential of each technology varies according to how it is used. Haddad and Draxler identify at least five levels of technology use in education: presentation, demonstration, drill and practice, interaction, and collaboration
Future of ICT in Education
”Teleconferencing refers to “interactive electronic communication a
mong people located at two or more different places.” There are four types of teleconferencing based on the nature and extent of interactivity and the sophistication of the technology: 1) audioconferencing; 2) audio-graphic conferencing, 3) videoconferencing; and 4) Web-based conferencing.
Radio and television have been used widely as educational tools since the 1920s and the 1950s, respectively. There are three general approaches to the use of radio and TV broadcasting in education:
- direct class teaching, where broadcast programming substitutes for teachers on a temporary basis;
- school broadcasting, where broadcast programming provides complementary teaching and learning resources not otherwise available; and
- general educational programming over community, national and international stations which provide general and informal educational opportunities.
The notable and best documented example of the direct class teaching approach is Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI).This consists of “ready-made 20-30 minute direct teaching and learning exercises to the classroom on a daily basis. The radio lessons, developed around specific learning objectives at particular levels of mathematics, science, health and languages in national curricula, are intended to improve the quality of classroom teaching and to act as a regular, structured aid to poorly trained classroom teachers in under-resourced schools.
Audioconferencing involves the live (real-time) exchange of voice messages over a telephone network. When low-bandwidth text and still images such as graphs, diagrams or pictures can also be exchanged along with voice messages, then this type of conferencing is called audiographic. Non-moving visuals are added using a computer keyboard or by drawing/writing on a graphics tablet or whiteboard.
Often deployed with print materials, cassettes and CD-ROMS, school broadcasting, like direct class teaching,is geared to national curricula and developed for a range of subject areas. But unlike direct class instruction, school broadcasting is not intended to substitute for the teacher but merely as an enrichment of traditional classroom instruction. School broadcasting is more flexible than IRI since teachers decide how they will integrate the broadcast materials into their classes. Large broadcasting corporations that provide school broadcasts include the British Broadcasting Corporation Education Radio TV in the United Kingdom and the NHK Japanese Broadcasting Station. In developing countries, school broadcasts are often a result of a partnership between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Information.
