I'm going to express my opinion
about ICT usage (according with John Daniel lecture). In the speech, there is
clearly a utopian vision of the integration of the ICT on education systems. I
think that ICT is only the 'tool'; I mean, the use of any technology won't be
the whole solution for the education context or in any other context. In this
case, I think that for talking about a solution, first the ICT must be
accepted, adapted and finally they shall be adopted.
But, What I mean
with this? Well I mean that all of this depends on the societies' behaviour.
Nowadays, there are several studies about the use of ICT in classroom or for
mobile learning (in anywhere) and there are several studies about the adoption
of these technologies too. But the questions is: What if the population does
not accept it?. It is well known that ICT developers are working on new and
better devices. They are focusing in young people in a marketing strategy for
personal use. But the major impact on marketing is focusing on enterprise and
academic institutions.
I agree that ICT
enables access to education. We can take a course via Internet from a distance
or we can participate in a workshop virtually. But we have to questioning (as
Noble point out) the others two points "Quality and Cost". Nowadays
there are a lot of free websites on the Web that "teach you" something,
but Who makes it a valid teach? Or who determine that the content on the
website is a quality content? In other way, Universities and academic
Institutions can offer courses with the most explicit quality content but the
cost could be expensive. However, there are Academic Open resources (like
mooc's) could provide this quality in a cheaper cost.
In developing
countries is always hard to have a whole access to technology. It will depend
on the financial status of each one. As I wrote is Hard but it is not impossible
to access to them. Statistics show that accessing ICT in countries grows up
with different rhythm... but grows!!! That means populations accept the new
technologies and adapt it to their activities. The ICT developers can take it
as a commercial advantage, and they can create a need of it (marketing
program).
In conclusion, I
think that ICT must be considered in both fields: Business and Education. Also
I think that ICT consumers must have the priority of use any technology. I
consider the ICT as a tool. Many Institutions and business adopt technology to
have competitive advantage. In the education context, I consider that
Universities must participate in creating Open Resources with high quality
using ICT to spread and build the knowledge
Lectures:
- Daniel, J. (2002). Technology is the Answer: What was the Question? Education, Unesco. Retrieved November 19, 2013, from portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=5909&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
- Noble, D. F. (1998). The automation of higher education. First Monday, 3(1), 1–8. doi:10.5210/fm.v3i1.569.
- Larreamendy-Joerns, J., & Leinhardt, G. (2006). Going the Distance With Online Education. American Educational Research Association, 76(4), 567–605.
