COMMON NEW INFORMATIONAL AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY TOOLS USED IN TODAY’S EDUCATION FIELD AND COMMON 21st CENTURY LEARNING COMPETENCIES: ABILITIES, SKILLS AND ATTITUDES
Like we know, everything in life has changes; we will be focusing on education and the skills needed for this day in age. Our world has had an increase in advantages with the use of technology. These haven’t just appeared today, but have been around for the past decade. It is very important to use all these advantages to improve our education, learners are immersed in technology. The use of computers is part of their daily life; they are part of a new era. Children nowadays are born using technology and have a vast access to information in real time. In the present, the use of computers and access to internet is not only available to young people or people with a certain economical status, but it is now in the reach everyone. Of course you must have good reading and comprehension skills in order to acquire knowledge through the use of it. Learners by their own interest, end up developing many skills that they unconsciously acquire with the interaction and use of it. The knowledge they acquire should be monitored by educators, to prevent learners in acquiring bad habits, but it is essential to use all those skills in the development of their personal and professional life. We must always keep in mind that we educate our students to be good citizens, because they are our present and most importantly our future.
Our ability to compete as a nation and for states, regions and communities to attract growth industries and create jobs demands a fresh approach to public education. We need to recognize that a 21st century education is the bedrock of competitiveness. Economic success is increasingly based on the effective utilization of intangible assets, such as knowledge, skills, and innovative potential as the key resource for competitive advantage.” knowledge-based resources, particularly in science and technology, advanced economies, innovative industries and firms, and high-growth jobs require more educated workers with the ability to respond flexibly to complex problems, communicate effectively, manage information, work in teams and produce new knowledge. Companies have also changed their way of working. Workers have more responsibility and contribute more to productivity and innovation. Studies have found that productivity increases with changes in business practices, including self-management, reengineering, up skilling of workers and computer use by front line workers. Now in days information workers earn more money than those on material products and services. The world is different nowadays; new jobs have been created in the last few years. In order to be hired in any of these positions - even in jobs that have been around for a long time- you must have skills for the digital age we are living in.
As described in the books: Building the foundation of the networked world and Exploring your future Living, learning, and working in the Information Age. Farmers now check the moisture in soil using a hand held computer, teachers are serving as facilitators as they explore with their students a world of ideas and in health care, more efficient systems are linking together county, state, and federal facilities, accelerating the study, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases through networked applications and medical databases.
Our children are growing up in a different age then us even at a different speed, this has to do with the access they have to information and the use of internet. However, schools haven’t been able to keep up with the increase of technology or teaching the skills needed in the 21st century. The work field demands employees that can solve problems, be analytical, have logical thinking, make analysis, and can manage data. We as teachers must learn to teach our students these skills and we can do so using practices that help optimize our students learning. The Key Building Blocks for Student Achievement in the 21st Century, mentions the following as the 21st century skills:
Digital-Age Literacy
• Basic, scientific, economic, and technological literacies
• Visual and information literacies
• Multicultural literacy and global awareness
Inventive Thinking
• Adaptability and managing complexity
• Self-direction
• Curiosity, creativity, and risk taking
• Higher-order thinking and sound reasoning
Effective Communication
• Teaming, collaboration, and interpersonal skills
• Personal, social, and civic responsibility
• Interactive communication
High Productivity
• Prioritizing, planning, and managing for results
• Effective use of real-world tools
• Ability to produce relevant, high-quality products
In order to have competent workers, citizens and students, we must introduce these skills in our teaching plans. Let’s not forget that with these skills our graduates will have bigger and better opportunities to get a high paying job.
We also can state what we know about the effective uses of information and communication technology in education in developing countries:
IMPACT:
- Use of ITCs promotes student-centered learning.
- Still more importance to technology than to educational applications.
- It is difficult to measure the impact of ITC use on students’ achievement.
- Not specific goals, not effective results.
- ITCs users are more effective learners, leads students to do more and motivate, feel confident, autonomous
- Age for effective ITCs use is not clear.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION:
-Few international evaluations of impact of ITC use in education,
-Qualitative indicators have focused to a large report on self-reported data.
-Monitoring and evaluation work if ICT if evaluated at less cost..
.
EQUITY ISSUES: GENDER, SPECIAL NEEDS AND MARGINALIZED GROUPS:
- Marginalization in the use of ITCs can occur to certain groups or environments.
- The use of ITCs can be very useful to people of special needs (cognitive and physical)
- ITC use can have a positive impact on student motivation
COSTS:
-Few cost -studies-effectiveness-ITC education initiatives-varies
-More investments to higher levels of education.
-Less costs ITCs in common areas than in every classroom-less effective; higher costs: distance
education-maintenance and training.
CURRENT PROJECTS AND PRACTICES:
- Uses in education are increasing-limited contact time
- Internet: access available-exposure to inappropriate material-nor access available
- Students use ITCs in more sophisticated ways than teachers
- No standard coding for ICT components in World Bank
SPECIFIC ICT TOOLS:
-Radio-TV: greater penetration than the internet-lower costs-wider range of connection-access to remote areas.
-Handheld devices: widespread attention.
TEACHERS, TEACHING AND ICTs:
Teachers: facilitator-leader/lesson planning/learner-centric/reinforce pedagogical practices/successful integration/extensive exposure/ still use ICT for administrative tasks/use of ICT depends of teachers styles/ few are confident ICT users/many are reluctant to use ICT/need incentives/subject mastery reflects on ICT use and on students achievement/professional development is a process.
CONTENT AND CURRICULUM ISSUES:
ICTs use in education benefits: Access to information/content linked to curricula/internet dissemination-higher costs/radio dissemination-cost savings-wider/digital content-intellectual property uses.
SCHOOL-LEVEL ISSUES:
ICT initiatives at school level: information of what/what doesn’t work.
POLICY ISSUES:
Issues impacting ICT in education/effect on equity/changes and innovations comes so fast/different parts of the government responsibility/scaling up and schoolnets-useful mechanisms/helps anti-corruption efforts/decentralization.
CONCLUSION
As an agent of immense change, technology has heralded our present knowledge economy and giving rise to a generation of students who had never known life without a computer.
These changes will have a significant ripple effect on higher education. Over the next decade, advance technologies will put education within the reach of many more individuals around the world, and will allow greater specialization in curriculum and in teaching methodologies than ever before. With these benefits comes the challenge of ensuring that university infrastructure and operations are in place to support the adoption of technology on campus. As ever, administrators will need to weigh carefully how budget funds are spent, decide what emerging technologies show the most promise, and determine how best to support these technological advances while avoiding the ever-present risk of obsolescence.
But perhaps the most critical question facing the academic world is something far more fundamental: namely what it will mean to be an educated person in the 21st century. As our essay indicates, these sweeping technological changes will effectively change the skill-sets of the future workforce, as well as its approach to work in general. As a result, societies around the world will need to consider how to make the most of these new opportunities and thus ensure that they remain competitive in the global marketplace.
