Plenary Session 1

KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Innovating with Technology: The challenge
to education policy, leadership, and management
by Gerry White

The promise of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has brought with it a breakthrough in communications capabilities and the ability to share information. These capabilities are paramount for education and can help to improve learning outcomes for reduced costs while at the same time increasing educational services.

However, the response by education authorities to harness ICTs needs to be both strategic and collaborative at national, regional, and local levels. Countries that do harness the use of ICTs in education will clearly benefit both economically and socially in the knowledge society.

This paper focuses on why ICTs are so important to education, with strong support needed from national, regional, and local education authorities. It outlines the conditions that are needed to implement ICTs successfully, such as flexibility, a shared vision, and collaboration at a variety of levels.

A number of examples of good practice using ICTs are demonstrated, including Education Network Australia’s online service EdNA (www.edna.edu.au), learning objects from The Learning Federation (www.thelearningfederation.edu.au), new and emerging services such as HotMaths (http://www.hotmaths.com), and career planning and exploration services for students such as myfuture (www.myfuture.edu.au).

A brief overview of the technologies available, including emerging technologies, and the methods for implementing ICTs in classrooms to improve learning outcomes are discussed.

Finally, a word of caution is sounded that ICTs need to operate in an open and collaborative environment for education to be advantaged. There is a need for open technical standards, open content, open services, and open networks in education for the advantages to be fully realized.

Championing Philippine ICT
by Ramon P. Sales

Information and communications technology (ICT) has been a widely utilized tool by many governments for greater efficiency, transparency, and governance. The Philippine Government itself aspires to capitalize on said resource towards achieving a “people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society” where peoples and communities have access to information and knowledge.

With the creation of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), the Arroyo Administration further emphasizes that ICT provides vast socio-economic opportunities that need to be optimized through more substantive and extensive public-private sector collaborations. The need for an ICT Roadmap becomes more pronounced—it lays down strategies and programs that reflect Government’s commitment to develop a world-class ICT sector. As a result of consultations with stakeholders, the ICT Roadmap recognizes the urgency of creating the Department of ICT and the passage of ICT-related laws such as those governing cybercrimes, data security and privacy, and convergence. It also provides for CICT’s programs, which are centered on the following strategies:

Ensure universal access to ICT. Citizens, especially the marginalized sectors and underserved areas, shall be accorded access to basic government services, information, and quality education. The Community e-Center Program, the Internet in Schools (iSchools) project, and PC ng Bayan are only some of the CICT initiatives serving this purpose.

Develop human capital for sustainable development. CICT’s ICT Competency and Standards Development Program ensures that our teachers, civil servants, and ICT professionals are further skilled to be competitive globally. The ICT for Education (ICT4E) Program aims to incorporate ICT in learning. Worthwhile endeavors, such as eSkwela, aim to benefit out-of-school youth by giving them ICT-enhanced alternative education opportunities.

ICT for e-governance. The eGovernment Fund continues to provide funding to frontline ICT projects that are citizen-centric, mission-critical, and cross-agency. Common applications for National Government Agencies are to be developed towards integrating processes and systems. This IP-based government network will not only provide data communications but also VOIP services to Government. 

Enhance competitiveness globally. The Cyberservices Corridor (CySCor) as a CICT flagship program envisions competent human capital and enabling infrastructure to meet the IT-enabled service requirements of investors from north to south of the country.

Defining a Philippine Master Plan for ICT in Basic Education
by Jesli A. Lapus

In an era where knowledge has become the basis of prosperity and competitiveness in a global economy, primacy is placed on accessible quality basic education. This is because the competitiveness of the nation and its people is achieved when its citizens can actively participate in national development and claim opportunities to improve their quality of life.

Since education is one of the sectors critical to spurring the country’s sustainable development, it has no other alternative but to capitalize on the opportunities offered by information and communication technology (ICT) in a world that is increasingly dependent on the ability of individuals to transform information into knowledge and to apply that knowledge in dynamic, cross-cultural contexts.

For the past ten years, the basic education sub-sector has taken up the challenge of evolving learning environments where resources are accessed through ICT. Several ICT for education initiatives are now being implemented with the aim of enhancing the teaching-learning process. These initiatives, involving a broad range of stakeholders from government, civil society, and the private sector, have resulted in improved access to technology in schools and have fostered experimentation and to some extent, model-building in technology-curriculum integration.

However, much work still has to be done to fully exploit the potentials of ICT in basic education. This paper presents the Department of Education’s framework and agenda for ICT in Basic Education, articulating goals, strategies and targets for the next five years.

UNESCO’s ICT in Education Policy project aims to build national capacities by helping policymakers and educational planners develop appropriate ICT in Education policies and plans. This paper articulates the core messages of UNESCO in relation to educational technology use: 1) information and communications technology (ICT) does not only mean computers and the Internet but includes telephony, broadcast radio and television, and playback technologies as well; and 2) technology is merely a tool for achieving education objectives. This paper argues that the use of ICT makes sense only if it promotes greater access to education and enhances teaching efficiency, if it is affordable, and if the use of the technology is already widespread. It concludes with some suggestions for improving ICT policy development in the region.

This presentation addresses three core themes: theoretical considerations of the connections between sustainability and partnership; a review of existing frameworks for sustainability and partnership; and an alternative framework for considering the implementation of ICT4E partnerships. It begins by exploring why the concepts of “partnership” and “sustainability” have become so popular in contemporary development practice, and suggests that this reflects key interests involved in promulgating such ideas. Five diverse examples of ICT4E partnerships are then briefly summarized: The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI), the Global Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI), the Information Society Partnership for Africa’s Development (ISPAD), and India’s Mission 2007.

Five dimensions of sustainability in ICT4E programs are often defined: educational, technological, social, political, and economic or financial. However, such a framework omits key dimensions such as environmental and cultural sustainability, and largely reflects an economic and accountancy framework. Within this, total cost of ownership principles have often been seen as being particularly important. The GeSCI model is explored in some depth to illustrate these ideas.

An alternative framework for considering sustainable ICT4E partnerships, published by UNESCO for the World Summit on the Information Society in 2005, is then presented. This framework examines three elements: the needs for successful partnerships, the importance of recognizing both demand and supply partners, and the distinction between benefits from and contributions to partnerships.

This presentation concludes with a review of the key principles of successful and sustainable ICT4E partnerships and of some challenges for the future.

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Governments and educational leaders face increasing challenges as they seek to transform their education systems to teach the new skills requirements of the 21st century and improve the overall quality of education. Evaluation and research on current and future programs and policies are fundamental to the successful transformation of our education systems.

This presentation describes the role evaluation research plays in advancing the effective use of educational technologies in education systems around the world. It argues that effective evaluation produces research-based knowledge of what technological applications work best in various educational environments, and practice-based knowledge of how the technology integration process is best designed to meet locally defined learning goals in education systems and schools.

Using the experience of the Intel® Teach to the Future programs, this talk touches on some of the relevant policy areas that the Intel® Teach evaluations suggest are crucial conditions for the success of information and communication technology (ICT)-focused professional development. The evaluation data identify three important areas where teachers will need support in order to effectively integrate ICT to create innovative, project-based learning environments: infrastructure, national curriculum, and institutionalization of a new culture of teaching. In relation to infrastructure concerns, for example, the data point to aspects of distribution and access that may facilitate teachers’ use of ICT with students, and for their own planning and preparation. There are also interesting and challenging ways in which teachers perceive conflicts between the new ICT activities and their required curriculum that often prove to be impediments to changing teacher practice. This finding is closely connected with the challenges many leaders face in trying to institutionalize new pedagogical practices and a new culture of teaching in classrooms. Program evaluations have been able to reveal some of these challenges, and identify solutions.

This presentation is informed by the rich 25-year history of the Education Development Center (EDC). Aside from being a part of Intel® Education’s external evaluation team for the past eight years, EDC has collaborated in U.S. and international ICT4E projects with USAID, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the International Development Research Centre-Canada, as well as many U.S.-based foundations and corporations.

Copyright © 2006 Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development, Inc (FIT-ED).