Disadvantages Of Ict In Education

One of the biggest changes in educational systems around the world has been integration of information and telecommunication technology (ICT). In concrete terms, ICT has the potential to accelerate, enrich, and deepen skills; motivate and engage students in learning; helps to relate school experiences to work practices; helps to create economic viability for tomorrow’s workers; contributes to radical changes in school; strengthens teaching, and provides opportunities for connection between the school and the world (Davis and Tearle, 1999; Lemke and Coughlin, 1998).However, many countries report the disparity between the policies and strategies introduced and the absence of actual implementation of this innovation into teaching practice. The

Some of the advantages of using ICT have been reported to include: the extension of cognition, improvements of efficiency and creativity for learners, interaction and collaboration as well as the provision of resources beyond the classroom walls (Mumtaz, 2000). According to the Report of the Seventh UNESCO-ACEID International Conference on Education (2001), ICT provides tools and “scaffolds” that enhance learning, and It provides teachers and students with feedback, through collaboration and reflection. However, in many developing countries ICT is introduced without considering the attitude and experience of teachers to ICT (Canvas 1999). The South African department of Education has made a substantial investment in the implementation of ICT (The Gauteng project is a living proof of this investment) but the uptake of ICT is still very

(2007) ICT policies in Education, teaching and learning in the classrooms in many countries particularly in Africa and Asia encounter a host of challenges in terms of inadequate infrastructure such as in the teaching of some ICT programmes and the manipulation of some software application packages, which is are difficult due to a lack of adequate computers for practical sessions and didactic materials that can help ICT learners cope. In many African counties, for example, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe the ICT curricula is yet another challenge because the development of the content for ICT teaching and learning as a school subject is still at an elementary stage and has not been clearly identified in response to a programme and time allocated for its teaching (Farrel et al.