International Journal of Academic Research Reflector Vol. 3, No.4, pp.50-54., July-Aug., 2014 Available online at http://www.ijarr.com ISSN 2277-7342 (Online) CAPACITY-BUILDING AND ICT IN HIGHER EDUCATION G.S. Shivakumar * and T. Manichander ** *Assistant professor, Kumadvathi College of Education, Shikaripura, Shimoga, Karnataka, India. ** Research Scholar, Faculty of Education, IASE, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. (Received 19th June 2014, Revised 26th June 2014, Accepted 1st July 2014, Published 1st July 2014) Abstract Integration of technology in teaching and learning requires changes in attitudes of teachers. There is a need to continually equip teachers with knowledge and skills that will enable them benefit maximally from the use of ICT. There is a need to equip teachers with such skills. However, effective integration of emerging ICTs in traditional education models is impeded by many factors. A key retardation factor relates to the lack of proper ICT competencies on the part of teachers. The need for trained personnel who will implement technology integration in schools is also a key area that policymakers need to pay attention to, and they must do so from the outset. Teachers who successfully complete professional development programs and implement technology-supported teaching and learning innovations should be given public recognition to give them a sense of achievement and encourage them to continue, as well as to encourage others to participate in such programs. As governments in the region embark on large-scale adoption of ICTs in education, it is important to move away from techno centric planning and implementation approaches to models that focus on establishing sound policy and support strategies leading to capacity development and empowerment. Keywords: Integration of technology, ICT, Capacity-Building Introduction cultural contexts. ICTs are a means for The education sector in India is still in meeting these twin challenges. Teachers must its infancy in the inclusion and use of ICT. To be prepared to empower students with the integrate ICT appropriately in order to advantages technology can bring. Schools increase the quality of education, technology and classrooms, both real and virtual, must and teaching methods and education should have teachers who are equipped with go hand in hand. Government of India technology resources and skills and who can pursues an integrated approach and we effectively teach the necessary subject matter simultaneously work with several national content while incorporating technology institutions that have mandates to strengthen concepts and skills. Real-world connections, the capacity of education managers at primary source material, and sophisticated different levels, as well as that of teachers. data-gathering and analysis tools are only a The shift to a ‘knowledge-based few of the resources that enable teachers to economy’ requires that educational provide heretofore - unimaginable institutions develop in individuals the ability opportunities for conceptual understanding. to transform information into knowledge and Integration of technology in teaching and to apply that knowledge in dynamic, cross- learning requires changes in attitudes of *Corresponding Author Email :[email protected] 50 ©Published by IJARR International Journal of Academic Research Reflector Vol. 3, No.4, pp.50-54., July-Aug., 2014 teachers. And also ICTs can enhance the students to apply strategies for solving quality of teaching and learning by providing problems and to use appropriate tools for access to a great variety of educational learning, collaborating, and communicating. resources and by enabling participatory The problem is not necessarily lack of funds, pedagogies. but lack of adequate training and lack of Definitions understanding of how computers can be used Anderson and Baskin (2002 online) to enrich the learning experience. comment: the addition of communication to The need for trained personnel who previous terms such as information technology will implement technology integration in (IT) emphasizes the growing importance schools is also a key area that policymakers attributed to the communication aspects of need to pay attention to, and they must do so new technologies. Information and from the outset. Technology by itself is not communication technology (ICT) generally enough to transform education processes and relates to those technologies that are used for improve educational outcomes. As Haddad accessing, gathering, manipulating and (2007) puts it, ‘appropriate and effective use presenting or communicating information. of technologies involves competent, Moursund (2003 online) accepts this committed interventions by people. definition of ICT but details more Capacity-Building in ICT Integration for comprehensively the range of technologies Teachers embraced by ICT. ICT includes the full range Teacher professional development has of computer hardware, computer software, been shown to be a particularly important and telecommunications facilities. component of educational improvement but Need of the Study only if professional development is focused There is a need to continually equip on specific changes in teacher classroom teachers with knowledge and skills that will behaviors and particularly if it is aligned with enable them benefit maximally from the use other changes in the educational system. of ICT. There is a need to equip teachers with According to a UNESCO publication such skills. ICT can also help to accelerate on teacher education through distance teacher training as the world is facing an learning (Perraton et al. 2001), integrating acute and growing shortage of teachers with ICT in teacher education refers to two sets of currently 60 million teachers in the world, activities or roles. One is training teachers to but another 15-35 million needed to achieve learn about ICT and its use in teaching as Education for All by 2015. computers are introduced to schools.… The However, effective integration of other role of ICT is as a means of providing emerging ICTs in traditional education teacher education; either as a core or main models is impeded by many factors. A key component of a programme, or playing a retardation factor relates to the lack of proper supplementary role within it.The goal of the ICT competencies on the part of teachers. “ICT Competency Framework for Teachers” Traditional educational practices no longer (ICT-CFT) project is to improve teachers’ provide prospective teachers with all the practice. However, the Framework do not necessary skills for teaching students, who merely focus on ICT skills. By combining ICT must be able to survive economically in skills with emergent views in pedagogy, today's workplace. Teachers must teach curriculum, and school organization, the *Corresponding Author Email :[email protected] 51 ©Published by IJARR International Journal of Academic Research Reflector Vol. 3, No.4, pp.50-54., July-Aug., 2014 framework is designed for the professional teachers and learners learning how to use development of teachers who want to use ICTs can be mapped on to thefour stages. ICT skills and resources to improve their 1. At the first stage, teachers and learners are teaching, collaborate with colleagues, and discovering ICT tools and their general perhaps ultimately become innovation functions and uses, and the emphasis is leaders in their institutions. usually on ICT literacy and basic skills. Passi (2003) reports that, since Discovering ICT tools is linked with the teachers cannot obviously be withdrawn emerging stagein ICT development. from classrooms for long periods in order to 2. The second stage involves learning how to update their skills. He suggests that an online use ICT tools, and beginning to make use of training model would be useful which would them in different disciplines. This involves then allow professional development to be the use of general as well as particular conducted in parallel with regular teaching. applications of ICT, and it is linked with the Key principles underlying the applying stagein the ICT development model. effective use of computers in learning include 3. At the third stage, there is understanding curriculum integration, continuity of of how and when to use ICT tools to achieve learning, empowerment, equitable access and a particular purpose, such as in completing a participation, supportive environment, given project. This stage implies the ability to teacher education (pre-service and in- recognize situations where ICT will be service), and resource management. helpful, choosing the most appropriate tools (Queensland State Education 2003, online). for a particular task, and using these tools in ICT Role in Teacher Education can be combination to solve real problems. This is pointed as follows: linked with the infusing stage in the ICT o Representation, manipulation, exercising, development model. applying 4. The fourth stage is when the learning o Have a dynamic representation enabling situation is transformed through the use of the understanding of the complexity ICT. This is a new way of approaching o Add a dimension to the enactive teaching and learning situations with representation; e.g. a downloaded film specialized ICT tools, and it is linked with the o Let students see the relevance of a transforming stage in the ICT development topic/issue model. o Reinforce and enhance teacher activity Progression through the stages takes (NOT replacement) time. And the transformation of pedagogical o Make the content of the teacher richer. practice requires more than ICT skills Even with a coherent and detailed training for teachers. Too often the approach policy and careful planning, ICT integration taken to teacher training in ICT integration is in education is a complex and protracted the one-off crash course on computer literacy. process. Various studies in both developed This approach does not enable teachers to and developing countries point to four broad integrate ICT in their day-to-day activities stages of ICT adoption and use those and master the use of ICT as an effective tool educational systems and individual schools for teaching and learning. typically go through. To overcome by these long process The experiences and behaviors’ of following approaches can be followed in *Corresponding Author Email :[email protected] 52 ©Published by IJARR International Journal of Academic Research Reflector Vol. 3, No.4, pp.50-54., July-Aug., 2014 teacher training in ICT integration: Integrating ICT in Teacher Education ØTraining teachers on ICT-related skills Negative attitudes towards ICT use by within the context of classroom objectives most teachers in the region. Teachers need to and activities ensures the development of have a clear understanding of why ICT is skills in the integrated use of ICT in useful and, most of all, they need time to teaching. explore general applications software (like ØSchool-based training of teachers by their word processing, databases and more experienced peers from other schools spreadsheets) in order that they may feel or senior instructors from the MoE comfortable with ICT applications. Few (Ministry of Education) ensures that challenges in integrating ICT in teacher teachers are trained in the context of their education as mentioned below: workplace. · Curriculum: There is no prescribed ØNeeds-based just-in-time learning and curriculum for in service training of the peer coaching ensure further development teachers in the area of “ICT in Education”. of teachers’ ICT and pedagogical skills. Presently, the IT literacy modules have With the use of ICT, emphasis is been used to provide basic IT literacy placed on practical activities and learning by training. active participation, with good · Teacher trainers: The Teacher Trainers are communication maintained between lecturers not exposed the academic and pedagogical and learners. Through an integrated practices hence the trainers are not able to approach that utilizes traditional contextualize the training for the teachers. instructional media like textbooks and If the trainers move to next phase i.e., “Use overhead projectors together with ICT, of ICT in Teaching and Learning” the students learn about theory and practice trainers needs to be capacitated. communication skills. To train the in-service · Improper Training: Due to the lack of teachers in the area of ICT in Education, the maintenance / technical support by the Teachers Service Commission has partnered vendors / suppliers, the teachers have been with Regional ICT Training Centre to train trained on “hardware maintenance” which the teachers on basic IT literacy as well as use has resulted in loss of instructional time for of ICT as tool for teaching and learning the schools. Even the training provided to practices. teachers grossly in-sufficient to carry out Thus, teacher training in ICT trouble shoot when problem occurs. integration involving the application of skills · Ongoing Pedagogical support: Once learned (through formal training) in the teachers trained, there is no follow up classroom over an extended period of time. support to teachers at the cluster / school This in turn means that the teachers need level. This has resulted in wastage of access to technology resources (computers, trained skills and knowledge in using ICT training materials, educational software), in schools. support from technology managers (i.e. the · Monitoring and Evaluation: The computer lab manager or ICT coordinator), Monitoring & Evaluation has been very and support from colleagues and school weak in this system. The Inspectorate administrators. General is keen in collecting the Challenges for Capacity-Building in administrative data. The lack of school *Corresponding Author Email :[email protected] 53 ©Published by IJARR International Journal of Academic Research Reflector Vol. 3, No.4, pp.50-54., July-Aug., 2014 based support for the teachers is evident · Enable ongoing pedagogical support that the teachers are not able to fully use through the Open Distance Learning / the deployed ICT infrastructure for school based / cluster based support. Teaching and Learning. Facilitate the National Level Institutions to Suggestions / Recommendations start this initiative. · Providing teachers with access to Conclusion technology resources within the school post As governments in the region embark training is one motivational strategy. on large-scale adoption of ICTs in education, · Giving teachers time and recognition for it is important to move away from techno innovation is essential. Teachers need to be centric planning and implementation given time to participate in training approaches to models that focus on activities and they need to be given time to establishing sound policy and support try out what they have learned in the strategies leading to capacity development classroom. and empowerment. A sound policy and · Teachers who successfully complete holistic plan for ICT integration recognizes professional development programs and the critical role that teachers play in ensuring implement technology-supported teaching the appropriate, effective, and sustainable use and learning innovations should be given of ICTs to provide quality education for all. public recognition to give them a sense of Thus, such a policy and plan give priority to achievement and encourage them to teacher professional development that continue, as well as to encourage others to empowers teachers not just to implement but participate in such programs. also to lead educational innovations that will · Having them work with colleagues in transform schools and ultimately, all of technology-supported instructional design society. projects. References · An important incentive for teachers to 1.Carlson, S. and C.T. Gadio. (2002). Teacher upgrade their knowledge of and skills in professional development in the use of ICT integration is formal certification of in- technology. service professional development leading 2.W.D. Haddad and A. Draxler (Eds), to a degree (UNESCO Bangkok 2004). Technologies for education: Potentials, Action on this point clearly goes beyond parameters, and prospects. Paris and the school level and even the district or Washington, DC: schools division level, to the level of the 3.UNESCO and the Academy for Educational Ministry or Department of Education, since development.http:// portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php it is the latter that should certify teacher 4.Gaible, E. and M. Burns. (2005). Using training programs. technology to train teachers: Appropriate · Design the scientific tools to collect in depth uses of ICT for teacher professional information on the need, capacity gaps and development in developing countries. areas of intervention to make the more http://www.infodev.org/en/. effective in the area of ICT in Education. 5.Trucano, Michael. 2005. Knowledge Maps: · Build a capacity building workshop to ICTs in Education (e-book). sensitize the Teacher training curriculum 6.UNESCO 2008, ICT Competency Standards developers, teacher trainers (pre/in service). for Teachers. *Corresponding Author Email :[email protected] 54 ©Published by IJARR