Education is playing the most important role in all-round development of student. Teachers shape the students by providing them with various teaching- learning experience. Today’s era is a known as era of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). ICT has reached into the every aspect of life. Thus, to make individuals technology literate, ICT education should start from primary school. ICT enable users to create, access, store, transmit, and manipulate different information in audio and visual form with the help of different hardwares and softwares. ICT is useful for effective teaching-learning process, quality education and overall development of students, teachers and administrative staff. The main objective of this study was to examine computer related experience in primary school related to classroom teaching and administrative use, specifically in rural area of India.
Education is playing the most vital role in all-round development of student such as to develop understanding and application of concept, expression power, proper study habits, judgment and decision making ability, reasoning and thinking power, self concept etc. Swami Vivekanand said “Education can unlock all doors for a progress. A nation advances in proportion to education and intelligence spread among masses.” Overall education is nothing but getting knowledge and skills.
Learning is universal source of refinement and every human being needs learning to make the world a comfortable homely space. Proper knowledge leads to proper action which leads to progress, prosperity, peace and pleasure.
It is necessity to perform educational transformation of teaching contents to the students. It is very important thing that the relations between teaching contents and teaching aims lead to student’s achievements. The UNESCO report on education for 21st century pointed out four pillars of knowledge for improving the quality of education. They are
• Learning to know (Tools of Comprehension)
• Learning to do (To be able to interact with the environment)
• Learning to live with others (Participate and co-operate with others in all human activity)
• Learning to be (Essential way of integrating the aforesaid three)
By using traditional Lecture Method, it is not possible to achieve overall development of student. So for student’s achievement multiple methods should be used in an integrated fashion.
Today’s era is era of Information Technology (IT). To face the challenges in this era, one must have broad knowledge of IT. Because IT has influenced all aspects of human life in many ways with the promise of new and improved ways of thinking, living and working. Education is not an exception. Any person will become proficient in any field if the knowledge of that field is given from its childhood. Thus there is need to implement Information and Communication Technology (ICT) technique in primary schools.
Putting ICT into schools is to make tomorrow's work force competitive in an increasingly high-tech world. To achieve this, learning computer skills are claimed to be a priority. Instead of being 'transmitters of knowledge', teacher has to play a facilitating role in an environment where students using computers could become active learners.
2. What is ICT? : Technology comes in a range of forms in Primary Schools. It is used in education to improve or enhance the quality of a student’s education and improved academic opportunity and success. Included in this range the tools which are used by the teachers to deliver courses, develop course materials and manage classroom administration. Add to that list the office tools used to handle finances, maintain communication, and keep records and process documents.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is nothing but it includes computers, software, special hardware, Multimedia enabled devices and a wide range of communications facilities.
ICTs are used to creating new collaborating learning tools and having free and open access to world wide information. ICTs have the ability to effectively support student learning.
ICTs use in primary schools can expose students to additional resources, such as online encyclopedias, dictionaries, government-sponsored educational sites, learning games and online tutoring. ICT make possible following differences,
• New physical arrangements
• Effective interaction between the student and the teacher
• Efficiency of school will increase.
• Increasing achievement level of students.
• Students will able to learn individually.
• It will influence on student’s language.
• Students take joyful education.
Doing so will provide students with better education and understanding of how technology can benefit various aspects of their lives. It has potential to reiterate concepts learned in the classroom and allows students to think about these concepts in a different way. Use of ICT in primary schools is necessary to improve access to education, quality of education and reduce the cost of education.
ICT can be implemented in primary school by
1. Teachers
2. Students
3. Administrative Use
3. ICT for the teacher : Teachers can use ICT for improving quality of teaching and learning process. It is well known fact that not a single teacher is capable of giving up to date and complete information in his own subject. The ICT can fill this gap by providing access to different sources of information. It will also provide correct information in different formats with different examples. By using ICT teachers can fulfill high but realistic expectations of students. They can take care to explain the importance of ICT in day to day life.
Teachers can promote learning through ICT broadly by making use of it in a range of curriculum areas. Teachers can use a variety of teaching approaches to the whole class using a large electronic screen facility. They can design ICT based materials to meet the needs of individual student effectively which offer diagnostic, learning support, consolidation and extension tasks within curriculum areas and subjects or they can use commercial software for effective teaching. Also they can create presentation for effective teaching.
Teachers can use word processing programs to generate crossword puzzles or word searches. They can use educational video games and computer software to teach important concepts. Also they can include specific vocational topics to increase the attendance of children.
Teachers can set up tests and assignments online that can be automatically graded, which saves a lot of time doing correcting. After they can generate result by using ICT. Also they can set up websites and online portals for students to access assignments, especially V-VII standards students.
Totally we can say that ICT provides variety in the presentation of contents which helps students in concentration, better understanding and long retention of information which is not possible otherwise. It will also encourage the teaching process and students towards positive attitude to learning.
4. ICT for the student : ICT can be used to make maximum impact on students in learning the curriculum. ICT motivates to raise student attainment in coursework. Various skills are used in ICT to provide lifelong learning opportunities that can make powerful all learners to develop their own unique intellectual capacity and operate as effective members of a digital society.
ICT related activities involved in primary schools will generate high levels of interest, motivation and enjoyment in student. Students will take personal responsibility for their own learning. ICT will increase students overall development instead of curriculum centric. Students will co-operate when working in pairs or groups on shared tasks.
Students can be able to receive immediate feedback on their answers, observe multiple demonstrations of the same concept and increase interaction with that concept. Many of the concepts that students are learning, presented in the form of computer games, puzzles. But in reality they are learning important educational concepts which are helpful in the future. Due to this personalized learning environment will generate in primary schools. Primary school students who have computers in their classrooms are learning about various aspects of the technological world at an early age. This allows them to become comfortable with more advanced computer related concepts as they get older.
Primary school students can create graphs using mathematical data. Using the Internet, primary school students can access photographs of great art, isten to important recordings. They will get connected to whole world by using Internet.
Lastly ICT will enhance the achievement of all students, increase families’ involvement in their children’s schooling. For students in an environment of good teaching practice, along with the technology, there is improved academic opportunity and success.
5. ICT for the administration : Besides the teachers and students, the use of ICT is necessary for administrative use. Administrative staff uses office tools such as MS-Office, Tally etc. to handle financial work, maintain communication, and keep records and process documents. In Right to Education (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) teachers has to maintain all records of individual student (Port folio) in particular format. This port folio contains some of special work done by student in each subject. It also contains students’ cumulative record, formative evaluation and summative evaluation from first standard to eight standard.
By using ICT, Administrative staff can maintain pay sheet, balance sheet, audit reports, non salary grants and other financial work. Also they can maintain student presently report, student evaluation report and overall students record.
In summarization, when ICT is used for administration purpose, it can reduce office cost, time and man power and increase efficiency, correctness and reusability.
6. Conclusion : Today’s information era is expandable, so in school curriculum lots of information have to be enriched in huge way. Due to that, the basic concept as well as new ideas, innovations, thoughts and research related information; curriculum scope is going on in broad manner. Among this we have to search which information is basic knowledge based and short knowledge based. We have to teach the student how to acquire knowledge self. Making compulsion to the student to acquire all information, instead student has to get all knowledge, skills through self. ICT based education will play vital role for self learning in primary schools. If ICT is used effectively by the teacher, quality of teaching process will increase significantly. It will also fulfill realistic expectations of students. Overall if ICT is used in primary school, it will beneficial for teachers, students and administration. It will reduce time, cost and work.
7. Acknowledgment : We are thankful our President Mr. B. R. Gaikwad, Principal Dr. A. G. Pujari, HOD Prof. R. R. Tathe, Prof. S. V. Patil, Prof. V. V. Kulkarni and all staff member who helped and guided us to write this paper. Also we are thankful to all persons who directly or indirectly helped us.
8. References
1. In-service and pre-service primary school teachers' views and practices on ICT: a Greek case study by Athanasia Margetousaki and Andreas Kollias, Panagiotis Michaelides (University of Crete, Greece)
2. Computers in primary schools in the republic of ireland – use and ergonomics by S. DOCKRELL, E. FALLON, M. Kelly, B. Masterson, and N. Shields.
3. Explaining different types of computer use among primary school teachers by Johan P. van Braak, Jo Tondeur and Martin Valcke (Paper 551 European Journal of Psychology of Education)
4. The Impact of Technology on Primary Schools by Grant Warren Sherson August 1999
5. Primary School Teachers' Use of ICT for Administration and Management by Ian Selwood (The University of Birmingham, UK)
6. www.guardian.co.uk/education/2001
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8. Impact of ict in teaching learning process – a study by dr.paranjape v.g.,shri: mujawar i.n.,shri: pujari a.v. (research stream journal vol - i , issue - x [ november 2011 ] )
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