“ICT as Medium for Advocacy”

 

1.      How Information and Communications and Technology (ICT) has transformed the educational methodologies when you were in grade school and now in Senior High School. 

Information and communication technologies (ICT) is defined as a diverse set of technological tools and resources used to transmit, store, create, share or exchange information. Although it is widely assumed that ICTs can empower teachers and students, encourage change, and nurture the development of 21st century skills, data to back up these claims is still lacking. There is widespread belief that ICTs can and will empower teachers and learners, transforming teaching and learning processes from highly teacher-dominated to student-centered, and that this transformation will result in increased learning gains for students by creating and allowing opportunities for learners to develop their creativity, problem-solving abilities, informational reasoning skills, communication skills, and other higher-order thinking skills. However, there is now very little indisputably strong data to support this notion. In general, and despite hundreds of impact studies, the influence of ICT use on student success remains difficult to assess and susceptible to considerable fair dispute. It is considered that specialized applications of ICT can have good impacts on student accomplishment when ICTs are applied effectively to supplement a teacher's current pedagogical philosophy. ICT in education enhances engagement and knowledge retention: When ICT is integrated into lessons, students become more involved in their work. This is due to the fact that technology allows for numerous approaches to make teaching the same subjects more engaging and pleasant.

It has been proven that the use of ICT in the classroom increases the motivation of the students, showing more interest and becoming more involved in the areas they study. ICT enables the use of innovative educational resources and the renewal of learning methods, establishing a more active collaboration of students and the simultaneous acquisition of technological knowledge.

Furthermore, ICTs are of great help in developing discernment. Being able to search for various sources and contrast them, as well as to structure information are some of the most notable skills that students develop thanks to the use of ICT. But there are more advantages:

1. Their interest in learning grows: the use of resources as varied as videos, websites, graphics, and games make traditional subjects more interesting. Multimedia content is a very useful tool to bring different subjects closer to students in a complete and entertaining way.
2. Interactivity: the use of ICT in the classroom promotes the student’s active and participatory attitude, which is involved in learning and is positioned as the protagonist.
3. Collaboration between students: Collaboration between students is clearly enhanced thanks to various digital tools. It is much easier for them to create team projects, cooperate and learn from each other.
4. They enhance creativity: ICT tools stimulate the development of the imagination, as well as the initiative of all class members.
5. Increased communication: close communication between students and teachers is encouraged through various channels, in a more spontaneous and less formal way.
6. Personalization and content up-to-date: digital environments allow real-time updating of all information and resources. In addition, it is possible to adjust the tools and content to local and nearby realities.