The Challenges for ICT in Education

Today, more than a decade into the 21st century, we live in world where there is unparalleled surge in the usage of ICT. However, despite all the technological advancements, we have not been able to end the prevalence of social and economic inequality, and poverty continues to be widespread. Now education is having the primary focus from the government and the private sector. This is because education is being seen a crucial tool for promoting economic and social development. With its ability to transcend space and time, and provide education on an anywhere, anytime basis, solutions from ICT are proving to be the great enabling factor in enhancing the scope of education.
Recently we had the World Education Summit 2012 (WES), in New Delhi. The event was a fantastic success. During the course of the two day event, a range of eminent speakers from around the world expressed their opinions on the current state of how ICT is being used in education and how it can bring better learning outcomes. One important point to emerge from the World Education Summit 2012 was that while everyone agrees about the great potential of ICT in education, the challenge we face today lies mostly in turning this potential into actual results. Many of the eminent speakers at the event raised the issues of infrastructure deficit and lack of adequate training of teachers.
In this issue of digitalLEARNING, we have presented a summary of the views expressed by several speakers at the World Education Summit 2012. There are a range of voices, many from India, few from other countries. The views are from corporate world, political leadership, government officials, leaders of schools and higher education institutions, and thought leaders. In fact, I would like to say that this issue of digitalLEARNING is timeless. It will never go out of date. This is because of the wide spectrum of the debate that we have endeavoured to package within the pages of this issue.
In going through the material you get to hear about many novel ideas on how ICT can engineer transformation in educational practices by providing better educational content and more effective teaching systems. On 15-16 November, 2012, we are having the eINDIA event at Hyderabad. As always, the two day eINDIA event will have a range of vibrant sessions on education. I hope to see you at eINDIA, where we can join hands for finding ways of dealing with myriad challenges that lie in the path of ICT implementation in education.

"Exciting news! Elets Education is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest insights!" Click here!
Be a part of Elets Collaborative Initiatives. Join Us for Upcoming Events and explore business opportunities. Like us on Facebook , connect with us on LinkedIn and follow us on Twitter , Instagram.