What ICT is

Information and Communications Technology (also referred to by writers as Information and Communication Technology) is an umbrella term that includes all technologies for the communication of information. It encompasses:
Ø any medium to record information (whether paper, pen, magnetic disk or tape, optical disks – CD or DVD, flash memory, etc.);
Ø any technology for broadcasting information - radio, television; and
Ø any technology for communicating through voice and sound or images- microphone, camera, loudspeaker, telephone to cellular phones.

Personal Computers (PCs) networked through the Internet through information technology can transfer information using satellite systems or intercontinental cables. Information technology has become a kind of a focal point for communicating information, most often using computers (The Wikipedia Foundation, 2008).

ICT is a major factor in shaping the new global economy and producing rapid changes in society. Within the past decade, the new ICT tools have fundamentally changed the way people communicate and do business. They have produced significant transformations in industry, agriculture, medicine, business, engineering and other fields. They also have the potential to transform the nature of education-where and how learning takes place and the roles of students and teachers in the learning process.

The pace of change brought about by new technologies has had a significant effect on the way people live, work, and play worldwide. New and emerging technologies challenge the traditional process of teaching and learning, and the way education is managed. This shift also demands new knowledge and skills in the work force. ICT has changed the nature of work and the types of skills needed in most fields and professions. While it has, on the one hand, created a wide array of new jobs, many of which did not even exist ten years ago, it has also replaced the need for many types of unskilled or low-skilled workers. For example, the new 'smart’ agricultural equipment, using advance digital and industrial technology, is able to do the work previously done with a large number of low-skilled agricultural workers. In addition, new manufacturing plants are requiring fewer low-skilled workers. A Canadian study notes, for example, that in high-tech companies only 10% of the work force is comprised of unskilled workers. These trends pose new challenges to educational systems to prepare students with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in a new and dynamic environment of continuous technological change and accelerating growth in knowledge production.

Education is at the confluence of powerful and rapidly shifting educational, technological and political forces that will shape the structure of educational systems across the globe for the remainder of this century. Many countries are engaged in a number of efforts to effect changes in the teaching/learning process to prepare students for an information technology based society. The UNESCO World Education Report (1998) notes that the new technologies challenge traditional conceptions of both teaching and learning and, by reconfiguring how teachers and learners gain access to knowledge, have the potential to transform teaching and learning processes. ICTs provide an array of powerful tools that may help in transforming the present isolated, teacher-centred and text-bound classrooms into rich, student-focused, interactive knowledge environments. To meet these challenges, schools must embrace the new technologies and appropriate the new ICT tools for learning. They must also move toward the goal of transforming the traditional paradigm of learning. To accomplish this goal requires both a change in the traditional view of the learning process and an understanding of how the new digital technologies can create new learning environments in which students are engaged learners, able to take greater responsibility for their own learning and constructing their own knowledge.

Thomas Kuhn suggests that revolutions in science come about when the old theories and methods will not solve new problems. He calls these changes in theory and methods a "paradigm shift." There is widespread concern that the educational experiences provided in many schools will not prepare students well for the future. Many educators and business and government leaders believe that creating a paradigm shift in views of the learning process, coupled with applications of the new information technologies may play an important role in bringing educational systems into alignment with the knowledge-based, information-rich society. Information technology, while an important area of study in its own right, is having a major impact across all curriculum areas. Easy worldwide communication provides instant access to a vast array of data, challenging assimilation and assessment skills. Rapid communication, plus increased access to information technology in the home, at work, and in educational establishments, is the order of the day.