If ICTs possess all the potentials cited above, to improve the teaching/learning process significantly and revolutionise the education enterprise in the same manner they revolutionised business and entertainment, why have we not seen these improvements? If technologies are the solution they claim to be, then what or where is the problem?

1. Parameters

In attempting to answer the above questions, it is essential to make a distinction between potential and effectiveness. No ICT potential is realised automatically-not in education, business, or entertainment. Many computerised businesses are managed badly and go bankrupt, and many movies are a complete failure. Placing a radio and TV in every school, putting a computer in every classroom, and wiring every building to the Internet will not bring effective changes automatically. The problem is not strictly technological. It is educational and contextual; constraints must be alleviated and conditions met. Experience points to seven parameters necessary for the potentials of ICTs to be realised in knowledge dissemination, effective learning and training, and efficient educational services.

Parameter 1: Educational Policy

Technology is only a tool: no technology can fix a bad educational philosophy or compensate for bad practice. In fact, if we are going in the wrong direction, technology will get us there faster. Likewise, distance learning is not about distance; it is about learning. Just as we can have bad education face to face, we can have bad education at a distance. Therefore, educational choices have to be made first in terms of objectives, methodologies, and roles of teachers and students before decisions can be made about the appropriate technologies.

For instance, if teaching is demonstrating and telling, and if learning is memorising and reciting, using learning technologies and multimedia programmes for this purpose will not have the desired impact. Also, if students are not asked to search and work collaboratively, and if teachers function independently, investment in connectivity will not be cost-effective. The effectiveness of different levels of sophistication of use of ICTs depends to a large extent on the role of learners and teachers as practised in the educational process; see Figure 1.5.

Figure 1.5 Use of ICTs for different roles of teachers and learners

Source: Wadi D. Haddad and Alexandra Draxler (2002, 13)

Parameter 2: Approach

Classrooms are constrained environments, and conventional instructional materials are static. If technology-enhanced education programmes are taped classrooms, digital texts, and PowerPoint transparencies, then we are missing out on the tremendous potential of technologies that can animate, simulate, capture reality, add movement to static concepts, and extend our touch to the whole universe. Movies and TV programmes are not replicas of packaged theatres; they tell the same story in a more dramatic and multifaceted manner. With imagination and appropriate tools, we can make learning more effective.

Technology can be used in education in two different ways: one as an add-on to make the current model of education more efficient, more equitable, and cheaper, and two, by integrating technology into the entire education system to realise structural rethinking and reengineering. It is the difference between a marginal addition and a radical systemic change. It is in the second scenario that technology can provide the greatest impact.

Parameter 3: Infrastructure

There is a temptation these days to equate technology with computers and the Internet. As pointed out earlier, there is still an important place for other technologies, depending on how they will be used. The application of each technology falls over a wide spectrum, from the simplest to the most sophisticated. It is important, therefore, to identify the most appropriate, cost-effective, and sustainable technology and level of application for the different educational objectives. Then the whole prerequisite hardware infrastructure needs to be in place with the supporting elements, such as electricity, maintenance, and technical services. In the case of computer infrastructure, questions about what is appropriate are more complicated.

Parameter 4: Contentware

Contentware is one of the most forgotten areas, but evidently the most crucial component. Introducing TVs, radios, computers, and connectivity into schools without sufficient curriculum-related contentware is like building roads but without making cars available, or buying a CD player at home when there are no CDs.

Development of content software that is integral to the teaching/learning process is a must. The question of whether to acquire or create may be answered in different ways for different available materials and different instructional units. Ideally, the aim should be to:

1. Acquire, as is, when suitable and cost-effective.
2. Acquire and adapt when not exactly suitable but cost effective.
3. Create when no suitable or cost-effective materials are available.

Parameter 5: Committed and Trained Personnel

People involved in integrating technologies into the teaching/learning process have to be convinced of the value of the technologies, comfortable with them, and skilled in using them. Therefore, orientation and training for all concerned staff in the strategic, technical, and pedagogical dimensions of the process is a necessary condition for success.

Parameter 6: Financial Resources

As mentioned earlier, acquiring the technologies themselves, no matter how difficult or expensive, may be the easiest and cheapest element in a series of elements that ultimately could make these technologies sustainable or beneficial. Computers, in particular, need highly skilled and costly maintenance to operate most of the time. Yet, in almost all cases, schools invest in buying and networking computers but do not budget sufficiently for their maintenance and technical support. It is important, therefore, to plan and budget for the total cost of ownership (TCO). Elements contributing to TCO include:

1. Acquisition of hardware and software.
2. Installation and configuration.
3. Connectivity.
4. Maintenance.
5. Support, including supplies, utilities, and computer training.
6. Retro-fitting of physical facilities.
7. Replacement costs (in five to seven years).

Parameter 7: Integration

The success of ICTs in education depends on how they are introduced into the system. Here are some strategic options:

1. ICTs may be used as an additional layer of educational input, which leaves the current system intact but adds hardware and software for enrichment. The problem here is that both students and teachers may not take the additional materials seriously or know how to relate them to the current programme. Also, this may not realise the full potential of, and, consequently, returns from, ICTs.
2. ICTs may be treated as an integral part of the existing instructional system. Under this option, the process involves articulating learning objectives, translating objectives/standards into teaching/learning activities, producing multimedia curricular materials, training staff, establishing a distributive communication network, assessing learning achievement, and evaluating the programme. Here, ICTs are not a substitute for the classroom setting; rather, they enhance the role of the teacher as a facilitator and the role of the student as a learner.
3. ICTs may be introduced through a parallel system such as distance education or e-learning. This option may be used in situations where schools are not available or cannot be provided, or where individuals cannot enrol in regular schools because of lack of availability or for personal reasons, as in the case of working youth and adults.

From an instructional architecture perspective, technology enhanced materials may be designed in one of three ways:

1. They can be enrichment materials that may be used in addition to existing materials at the discretion of the teacher or learner, in the same manner as a library book is used.
2. They can be a structured multimedia programme that covers a particular course-similar to a textbook-plus that is followed by all students in all schools in the same way. Many publishers have evolved their textbooks into packages of printed (or digital) text plus related slides, videos, audiotapes, and CDs.
3. They can be multimedia modules that are constructed in a flexible way so as to serve as building blocks of different curricula and teaching practices. Here, each module is broken down into educational sub-objectives to be met by specific technologies, such as video, animation, simulation, real-life exploration, etc. Not only can the modules be put together in different ways, the sub-modules can be reconfigured to form different versions suitable for different teaching styles and learning needs.