IT was limited only to the textual mode of transmission of information with ease and fast. But the information not only in textual form but in audio, video or any other media is also to be transmitted to the users. Thus, the ICT = IT + Other media. It has opened new avenues, like, Online learning, e-learning, Virtual University, e-coaching, e-education, e-journal, etc. Third Generation Mobiles are also part of ICT. Mobile is being used in imparting information fast and cost effective. It provides e-mail facility also. One can access it anywhere. It will be cost effective. The ICT brings more rich material in the classrooms and libraries for the teachers and students. It has provided opportunity for the learner to use maximum senses to get the information. It has broken the monotony and provided variety in the teaching – learning situation. The ICT being latest, it can be used both at school and higher education levels in the following areas:
- Teaching
- Diagnostic Testing
- Remedial Teaching
- Evaluation
- Psychological Testing
- Development of Virtual Laboratory
- Online Tutoring
- Development of Reasoning & Thinking
- Instructional Material Development
USE OF ICT IN TEACHING
Teaching at School as well as Higher Education, mostly, concentrates on giving information which is not the sole objective of Teaching. Along with giving information, the other objectives are:
· developing understanding and application of the concepts
· developing expression power
· developing reasoning and thinking power
· development of judgment and decision making ability
· improving comprehension, speed and vocabulary
· developing self-concept and value clarification
· developing proper study habits
· developing tolerance and ambiguity, risk taking capacity, scientific temper, etc.
With the present infrastructure, class size, availability of teachers, quality of teachers, training of teachers, etc., it is difficult to achieve all the objectives. Further, most of the teachers use Lecture Method which does not have potentiality of achieving majority of above mentioned objectives. The objectives are multi-dimensional in nature, so for their achievement multiple methods should be used in an integrated fashion. At present ICT may be of some use. It is a 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 because it can provide access to different sources of information. It will provide correct information as comprehensive as possible in different formats with different examples. ICT provides Online interaction facility. Students and teachers can exchange their ideas and views, and get clarification on any topic from different experts, practitioners, etc. It helps learners to broaden the information base. ICT provides variety in the presentation of content which helps learners in concentration, better understanding, and long retention of information which is not possible otherwise. The learners can get opportunity to work on any live project with learners and experts from other countries. The super highway and cyber space also help in qualitative improvement of Teaching – Learning Process. ICT provides flexibility to learners which is denied by the traditional process and method. Flexibility is a must for mastery learning and quality learning.
On INTERNET many websites are available freely which may be utilized by teachers and students for understanding different concepts, improving vocabulary, developing Reasoning & Thinking, etc. ICT can help in preparing students for SAT, GRE, TOEFL, etc.
USE OF ICT IN DIAGNOSTIC TESTING
The common observation is that the quality of teaching in the classroom is on the decline. More and more students are depending on the private tutorial classes. The private tuition also has become a business. This phenomenon is not only in India but in other countries too. There are about 800 students from USA who have enrolled themselves for Private tuition in Mathematics. It means tuitions are also being outsourced. This is being done through the use of ICT. There are students who fail to understand certain concepts or retain certain information. This can be assessed by introducing the diagnosis in the process of teaching – learning. Today, t his is not being done. The reasons might be large class size, non-availability of diagnostic tests in different subjects, lack of training, money and desire on the part of teacher, etc. This is the age of technology. These difficulties can be easily over come with the help of ICT. Sansanwal (2005) developed Computer Based Diagnostic Testing in Mathematics and Sansanwal and Lulla (2007) developed Computer Based Diagnostic Testing in Chemistry. Both these were tried out in CBSE affiliated schools situated in Indore. These developed Computer Based Diagnostic Tests work well and helped the teachers as well as students in identifying the gray area of each and every student. This can be put on the website of the school and the student can access it from home also. The student can prepare the topic / chapter and can take the test to find exactly what he has not understood? The teacher cannot do this manually. The student progress can be monitored and his performance can be improved. This will develop confidence in students and may change their attitude towards the subject. It may also help in reducing the suicidal tendency among students. Students may start enjoying learning. Further, the following are the main advantages of Computer Based Diagnostic Test.
· They do not require any special setting or arrangement. The only requirement is computer systems and software.
· The student can use it even from home if made available on school website.
· They do not need any special assistance from teacher. Unlike the paper-pencil test, it does not require paper setting and paper correction on the part of the teacher.
· It saves time on the part of the teacher and students.
· The feedback is given immediately after the test is over, which gives an intrinsic reinforcement to the student.
· The student finds it more interesting and motivating as compared to the paper-pencil diagnostic test.
· It can be updated from time to time.
· It is economical in terms of money as it requires only one time investment.
There are some limitations of Computer Based Diagnostic Testing (CBDT). These are as follows:
· The learner might find it uninteresting or monotonous as compared to paper pencil test.
· The teacher might find CBDT difficult to administer if he / she is not a computer savvy.
· It faces certain constraints, like, power cut, when it is being administered.
· The learner might not take it seriously as he / she is used to the traditional paper and pencil tests.
· The development of CBDT is costly and tedious as compared to paper and pencil test.
· The use of CBDT requires many computers which may not be available in all the schools.
· The learners who are not computer friendly might not feel at ease while giving the test on Computer.
· Certain technical problems might crop up which can distract the learner while giving the test.
· All teachers may not be competent to develop diagnostic test and especially CBDT.
· Teacher may not know computer languages that may be used for developing CBDT.
USE OF ICT IN REMEDIAL TEACHING
Once the ICT is used for diagnosis purpose, the next step is to organize Remedial Teaching Programme. The Remedial Teaching can be done by the teacher if some common mistakes are identified. It may not be feasible to organize Remedial programme for individual students. At this point, the ICT can be used for giving individual Remedial Programme. It may be Online or off line. The instructional material if designed specifically for meeting the individual needs of students and uploaded on the School website and then the ICT can be used for providing Remedial teaching Programme.
USE OF ICT IN EVALUATION
At present the paper pencil tests are conducted for evaluating the academic performance of students. These tests are conducted in the group setting. The content coverage is poor and students cannot use them at their own. These tests are evaluated by the teachers and they may not give feedback immediately to each and every student. It may be due to this that students are unable to know their weakness and do not make any attempt to improve upon them. The ICT can be made use in the evaluation. One such attempt has been made by Sansanwal and Dahiya (2006) who developed Computer Based Test in Research Methodology and Statistics. It has been titled as Test your Understanding: Research Methods and Statistics. This test can be used by individual student to evaluate his learning. The student can instantaneously get the feedback about the status of his understanding. If the answer is wrong, he even can get the correct answer. It goes a long way in improving the learning and teacher has no role to play in it. It is left up to students to use it. Such tests can be uploaded on the website for wider use. The students from other institutes can also make use of it. Not only the students even the teachers can also use it to assess their own understanding of the subject. If used by teachers before teaching the topic, they can prepare the topic properly. Such software can be used for internal assessment. Thus, ICT can be used to improve the quality of pre as well as in-service teacher’s training.
USE OF ICT IN PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
There are individual differences. Through research some correlates of academic achievement have been studied. Rarely this information is used by school / college teachers. Many of them even do not know about such researches. Even if they know, they do not make use of it at the time of forming the groups for different academic activities. One of the major reasons is that the school / college does not have a trained psychologists who can assess the students on some of the correlates of academic achievement. Further, the psychological testing is laborious and involves money and time. Even the appropriate psychological tests are not available. This is the age of digital technology. It can be used to digitalize all the psychological tests including the scoring and evaluation. The same may be available on the website and students and teachers can use them whenever required. Even student can use it individually and can share the result with the teacher who can help the student to improve his academic performance. The digitalized psychological tests will be easy to use and economical also. Thus ICT can be used in psychological testing also.
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