ICT IN EDUCATION

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Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) content in English enables students to develop and apply skills, knowledge and understanding of ICT in their composing, responding and presenting, and as part of the imaginative and critical thinking they undertake in English. The ICT content has been incorporated into the content of this syllabus to ensure that all students have the opportunity to become competent, discriminating and creative users of ICT and are better able to demonstrate the syllabus outcomes of English through the effective use of ICT.

In their study of English, students are able to apply their existing knowledge of word processing, multimedia, ways of formatting and presenting texts, simulation software, graphics and electronic communication and further develop their skills, knowledge and understanding of these technologies. They learn about the ethics of information communication through technology. (7-10 Syllabus, p9)

(source: www.englishteacher.com)

Educational ICT tools can be divided into 3 categories: Input source, Output source and Others.
　See the following graph：

(source:www.elmoglobal.com/en/html/)

Using ICT as a classroom tool has many other benefits because ICT :

• provides highly motivational activities for students …Initially computer-based activities can provide stimulus to undertake tasks that students may otherwise avoid
• links to other learning and to real-world situations and experiences that reflect gender & cultural diversity
• increases opportunities for student interaction and decision making…This interactive process has the potential to cater for individual learning styles
• makes complex tasks more manageable …in some cases these activities require the development of new skills
• makes repetitive tasks more interesting
• illustrates complex processes or concepts
• provides access to resources…increases the need for students to develop critical thinking and effective information processing skills
  (DET Computer Based Technologies in the English KLA, 1997, pps 6-7))

Research suggests that incorporating ICT into the English curriculum can:

• improve writing and reading skills
• develop speaking and listening skills
• support collaboration, creativity, independent learning and reflection (Becta,2003a, Becta,2003b, VTC,2003) (cited in Becta 2005)

ICT can enable students to:

• access information and respond to a widening range of texts
• organise and present information in a variety of forms
• broaden the range of audiences for their work
• compose a widening range of texts for a broad range of purposes
• compose for real audiences. ICT can support them in their choice of genre for audience and purpose.
• identify key characteristics and features of text
• develop understanding of language and critical literacy (Becta,2006,ICT in the Curriculum)

ICT enhances composing in English by allowing students to

• plan, draft, revise and edit their own and others’ writing using a word processor and other desktop publishing packages
• share and collaborate in the writing process
• use hypermedia to write up, lay out and present their work for publication on the Internet
• transform different media into one text
• email for a range of communication purposes
• design websites using informative/ persuasive texts
• publish writing in a variety of forms
• use video editing programs and programs such as Photo Story , Movie maker and animation software packages
• integrate digital photography and video into their texts
• integrate different media into one text
• communicate with a wider group of people in a range of forums (e.g. via e-mail, newsgroups, online conferencing raps) and hence promote collaborative learning .

 (source: www.englishteacher.com)

(source: www.gaia-tech.com)

3 Main advantages of ICT tools for education 1‧ Through ICT, images can easily be used in teaching and improving the retentive memory of students. 2‧ Through ICT, teachers can easily explain complex instructions and ensure students' comprehension. 3‧ Through ICT, teachers are able to create interactive classes and make the lessons more enjoyable, which could improve student attendance and concentration.

3 Main disadvantages of ICT tools for education 1‧ Setting up the devices can be very troublesome. 2‧ Too expensive to afford 3‧ Hard for teachers to use with a lack of experience using ICT tools (source:www.elmoglobal.com/en/html/)

Conclusion:

There are many benefits that we will get, if we use ICT in teaching and learning process. It will provide students many things that can support them in getting knowledge because it provides many resources of information through using internet. It also can help us to keep our file, document,or data, and records. Eventhough it has some disadvantages, but if we can use it well, it willgive us more advantages.