Information Technology in Education
View(s):Today knowledge and information are the main keys of obtaining the productivity, competition, wealth and comfort. So countries have concentrated on approaches for increasing the gaining of better-quality education.
In order to develop the human capital, it is necessary to look at our schools & education & see if our education is progressing in step with the world that is changing and developing quickly. The problem is that if we compare the modern world with the last century, we are confronted with dazzling developments of sciences, business, medical services, communications and many other fields.
But visiting the schools, we surprisingly, see no difference between the contemporary classrooms and the last- century ones, students sitting in rows, holding pencil and paper, noting down hurriedly what the teacher is saying and writing so that they know them by heart and give them back at the time of test quickly.
This is while many matters have been changed through the sciences and technical development, but education and the students learning methods and the teachers. Teaching methods have remained unchanged.
The international society for technology in educational emphasizes that the teachers of today should prepare to provide technology- based learning opportunities for the students. In fact, preparation for applying the technology and awareness of technology to enhance the quality of the students learning should be one of the teacher’s basic skills. In most parts of the world, the most effective forward leap has been for applying IT (information technology) in the higher education since 1990.
In today’s world education needs modern, moderate and simple technologies in order to meet its needs for its arrival and correct use. Education should perform policies, most important ones are:
1. Expanding human sources of IT through educational programs and promoting skills for increasing work force efficiency in education.
2. Using IT for increasing educational institution efficiency for better education accompanying creativity.
3. Supporting IT, for example supporting costs related to research and expansion in education.
4. Establishing proper atmosphere and participation morale in education by the use of IT.
5. Expanding the culture of using IT through providing and encouraging its consumption in education. In evaluating kinds of information technologies education should consider matters such as need, properties of scientific efficiency, economy and facilities and skill potentials existing in this case.
(K.L.S.C WICKRAMARATHNE) EASTERN UNIVERSITY, SRI LANKA)