Reflection on ICT integration in education

                                                                       Reflection Paper

                   Article: ICT in Education: A Critical Literature Review and Its Implications 

                             Jo Shan Fu National Institute of Education, Singapore

This article is mainly based on answering what and why questions and also focuses on the barriers and the teacher's attitude and perceptions of integrating ICT. It says that school is an important environment in which students engage in a broad range of computer activities, while home serves as a complementary site for regular engagement in a narrower set of computer activities. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is considered as a powerful tool for a educational change and reform. As the world is driving towards technological advancement skills in ICT will be an indispensable prerequisite for the 21st century learners. 

It highlights the benefits of using ICT in education. Based on ICT, in this ever changing world teaching and learning no longer depends exclusively on printed materials whereby making knowledge acquisition more accessible. It also provides more creative solutions to different types of learning inquiries. For example, in a reading class, e-books are commonly used in reading aloud activities. Learners can access all types of texts from beginning to advanced levels with ease through computers, laptops, or iPads. Koc (2005) mentioned that using ICT enables students to communicate, share, and work collaboratively anywhere, any time. For instance, a teleconferencing classroom could invite students around the world to gather together simultaneously for a topic discussion. Students not only acquire knowledge together, but also share diverse learning experiences from one another in order to express themselves and reflect on their learning. Based on a constructive learning approach, ICT helps students focus on higher-level concepts rather than less meaningful tasks. 

Basically there are three important characteristics that are needed to develop good quality teaching and learning with ICT: autonomy, capability, and creativity. Autonomy means that students take control of their learning through their use of ICT. In this way, they become more capable of working by themselves and with others. With regard to capability, once students are more confident in learning processes, they can develop the capability to apply and transfer knowledge while using new technology with efficiency and effectiveness. They will have to browse several online dictionaries, and select the one that best meets their learning needs. In addition, finding good software to record their voice is another prerequisite for these learners. Therefore, the whole learning process enriches students’ learning skills and broadens their knowledge beyond what they already know. By using ICT, students’ creativity can be optimized. 

ICT is changing teaching and learning for the better in several ways, however this article has also identified some barriers. A lack of teacher collaboration and pedagogical support, as well as a lack of experience among cooperating teachers is one of the barriers of using ICT. A lack of appropriate course content and instructional programs, appropriate hardware, software, and materials are also the barriers for ineffective use of ICT. Capacity building, curriculum development, infrastructure, policy, and government support are required in order to lower  barriers and improve the effectiveness of ICT use in the classroom. 

Teachers’ attitudes toward technology significantly predict teacher and student technology use, as well as the use of a variety of instructional strategies.  Abbott and Faris (2000) examined pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward the use of computers before and after a semester-long technology literacy course. The results showed that positive attitudes toward computers increased after the course because of the instructional approaches, meaningful assignments requiring technology, and supportive faculty. Thus, the authors claimed that teacher education programs should teach pre-service teachers not only how to use hardware and software, but also how to incorporate computers into their teaching strategies and activities. In addition to the influence of teacher attitudes, Sang et al. (2010) further indicated that pre-service teachers with highly constructivist teaching beliefs have stronger intentions to integrate technology into their future teaching practices. 

School culture also plays an important role in successful technology integration. School culture encompasses the vision, plans, norms and values that are shared by school members. The effective ICT integration depends on the perceptions and vision of school leaders rather than teachers’ ICT skills which ultimately has a mediating role that influences teachers’ actions, beliefs, and attitudes. Therefore integration of ICT in teaching in learning has vast advantages which not only improves student's interest but also makes them competent in today's world where the technology plays critical role. We must give importance to ICT discipline considering the future aspects of the life.