Role Of ICT & Positive and Negative Effects of ICT [ICT Homework]
Role of ICT in learning
We are living in a constantly evolving digital world. ICT has an impact on nearly every aspect of our lives - from working to socialising, learning to playing. The digital age has transformed the way young people communicate, network, seek help, access information and learn. We must recognise that young people are now an online population and access is through a variety of means such as computers, TV and mobile phones.
As technology becomes more and more embedded in our culture, we must provide our learners with relevant and contemporary experiences that allow them to successfully engage with technology and prepare them for life after school.
It is widely recognised that learners are motivated and purposefully engaged in the learning process when concepts and skills are underpinned with technology and sound pedagogy. Learning and Teaching Scotland aims to provide resources for practitioners, parents and pupils to engage with these technologies in order to inform and enhance the learning experience.
INDIVIDUALS, POSITIVE EFFECTS
ICT can have a positive impact on people
Access to information. Possibly the greatest effect of ICT on individuals is the huge increase in access to information and services that has accompanied the growth of the Internet Some of the positive aspects of this increased access are: Better, and often cheaper, communications, such asVoIP phones and Instant Messaging.
Improved access to education, e.g. distance learning and on-line tutorials. New ways of learning, e.g. interactive multimediaand virtual reality. New job opportunities, e.g. flexible and mobile working, virtual offices and jobs in the communications industry.
In addition, the use of ICT to access information has brought new opportunities for leisure and entertainment, the facility to make contacts and form relationships, social networks, with people around the world, and the ability to obtain goods and services from a wider range of suppliers.
New tools, new opportunities. The second big effect of ICT is that it gives access to new tools that did not previously exist. A lot of these are tied into the access to information mentioned above, but there are many examples of stand-alone ICT systems as well: ICT can be used for processes that had previously been out of the reach of most individuals, e.g. photography, where digital cameras, photo-editing software and high quality printers have enabled people to produce results that would previously required a photographic studio. ICT can be used to help people overcome disabilities. e.g. screen magnification or screen reading software enables partially sighted or blind people to work with ordinary text rather than Braille.
A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE OF POSITIVE EFFECTS
Access to information and new opportunities.
This is a practical experiment which I hope you will take part in. It should only take a couple of minutes of your time.
Earlier this year, my wife and I were able to have a day on a tall ship run by the Morvargh Sailing Project.The project is set up to give young people, aged 14 - 25, the opportunity to go on voyages in a tall ship. Despite being a lot older that 25, we had a great day out and think the project is worth supporting.
The project needs publicity, money, young people to go on voyages, help with looking after the ship, etc. One way of achieving these things is to get as many people as possible to hear / read about the project, visit their web site etc.
I'm assuming that most of you who are reading this are: 1. young people 2. fairly knowledgable about ICT, especially social networking.
So, how about you helping to produce some positive effects of ICT for individuals and organisations, young people and the Morvargh Sailing Project? It doesn't matter if you don't live anywhere near the project, or if you don't fancy the idea of going sailing. This is to get the word out so that other people can find out about it. Click this link to go to the Tall Ships Sail Training lens and then read it and spread the word.
Job loss. One of the largest negative effects of ICT can be the loss of a person's job. This has both economic consequences, loss of income, and social consequences, loss of status and self esteem.
Job losses may occur for several reasons, including: Manual operations being replaced by automation. e.g. robots replacing people on an assembly line. Job export. e.g. Data processing work being sent to other countries where operating costs are lower. Multiple workers being replaced by a smaller number who are able to do the same amount of work. e.g. A worker on a supermarket checkout can serve more customers per hour if a barcode scanner linked to a computerised till is used to detect goods instead of the worker having to enter the item and price manually.
Reduced personal interaction. Being able to work from home is usually regarded as being a positive effect of using ICT, but there can be negative aspects as well. Most people need some form of social interaction in their daily lives and if they do not get the chance to meet and talk with other people they may feel isolated and unhappy. Of course, it is possible to overcome the lack of social interaction, but this usually involves deliberate planning and the active pursuit of relationships which might otherwise dwindle away.
Reduced physical activity. A third negative effect of ICT is that users may adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. This can lead to health problems such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Many countries, including the UK, have workplace regulations to prevent problems such as repetitive strain injury or eyestrain, but lack of physical exercise is rarely addressed as a specific health hazard. Of course, this must be balanced against the effect of having to travel to work. The stress of travel can itself give rise to health problems.
EFFECTS ON ORGANISATIONS, POSITIVE EFFECTS
ICT can have a positive impact on organisations
There are three main areas in which organisations are affected by the use of ICT, communications, information management, and security. The three areas have considerable overlap.
Communication using ICT has brought a number of benefits to organisations, such as: Cost savings by using e.g. VoIP instead of normal telephone, email / instant messaging instead of post, video conferencing instead of traveling to meetings, e-commerce web sites instead of sales catalogues. Access to larger, even worldwide, markets. Web sites can be seen from all parts of the world and orders can be taken wherever there is a compatible banking system to process payments, e.g. credit / debit card, PayPal, bank transfer facility. Web sites also have 24 hour opening and are available every day of the year. Flexible response. Organisations with good communications can respond to changes quickly. This may mean better customer relations, an improved supply chain for goods and services, faster development of new products to meet a new opportunity, etc.
Information management. Organisations can benefit from using ICT for information management. e.g. Data mining of customer information to produce lists for targeted advertising. Improved stock control, resulting in less wastage, better cash flow, etc. Mangers are better informed and will have more reliable and up-to-date information on which to base their decisions.
Security. Although the use of ICT can bring its own security issues, see next section, it can also solve or reduce some security problems, e.g. Encryption methods can keep data safe from unauthorised people, both while it is being stored or while it is being sent electronically. This is important for reasons such as data protection legislation or commercial secrecy. ICT enables physical security systems such as fingerprint, iris or facial recognition, although these are not always secure.
EFFECTS ON ORGANISATIONS, NEGATIVE EFFECTS
ICT can have a negative impact on organisations
The use of ICT by organisations can have drawbacks as well as poitive effects. Some of the main problems are cost, competition, and security.
The cost of using ICT may cause a number of problems for organisations. A lot of ICT hardware and software is expensive, both to purchase and to maintain. An ICT system usually requires specialist staff to run it and there is also the challenge of keeping up with ever-changing technology. These extra costs should be offset by the poitive effects of using ICT, but if an organisation gets its cost-benefit analysis wrong it may lose money.
Competition is usually thought of as being a good thing, but for some organisations being exposed to greater competition can be a problem. If the organisation is competing for customers, donations, or other means of funding nationally or even internationally, they may lose out to other organisations that can offer the same service for less money.
Security is always a problem for any organisation that uses ICT. Data must be kept secure, Internet connections must be protected from attack, new viruses and other forms of malware are released nearly every day. Organisations will usually have legal obligations to protect data such as customer information. Even if the organisation does not have to comply with a specific data protection law it will usually be in the organisation's interest to protect data from rivals. In view of the international nature of my readers, I have used the OECD guidelines in my data security module. The guidelines are given in full here. Different countries have different laws, but the UK and all other EU countries' laws comply with the OECD guidelines. The USA has signed up to the guidelines but has not implemented them. Data protection laws for many countries are summarised here.
EFFECTS ON SOCIETY, POSITIVE EFFECTS
ICT can have a positive impact on society
Probably the largest effect that ICT use has on on society is allowing members of society to have greatly increased access to information. This can have numerous positive effects, such as: increasing opportunities for education improving communication allowing people to participate in a wider, even worldwide, society.
Many of these effects may also be seen as effects on individuals but they are considered here in a wider context where society as a whole benefits.
Available material. The fact that you are here, reading this, illustrates an increased opportunity for education. In the days before computers and ICT, if you had wanted me to teach you about a subject you would have needed to have been in one of my classes, or at least to have written to me or telephoned me. assuming that is, you knew I existed and how to contact me. And I'm only one person. There must be millions of others who have written useful material that has only been made available by ICT. It's not just the amount of material either, it's also the cost. It's not quite free for the user, you still have to pay for electricity, computers, Internet access, etc. but most of those costs are spread over all the things which you do online, so the education part is probably quite cheap.
Access to teachers. People have had ways of getting access to non-local teachers for a long time, e.g. by correspondence courses and radio and TV programmes. Since the development of computers and the Internet, distance learning courses have proliferated at all levels. It is now possible to gain qualifications up to doctorate (PhD) level from well know institutions around the world. e.g. U.K. The Open University, USA, Harvard. Many institutions have made some of their online courses available at no charge, further increasing opportunities for education. e.g. The Open University Learning Space, courses from various US universities,
Improving communication. A society which has good communications is more likely to be economically successful than one that has poor links.
For most of history, communicating over a long distance has been slow and expensive. Messages had to be written down, or possibly memorised, and then physically transported to the recipient. A message might take days, weeks or even months to arrive. The telegraph and telephone improved matters in terms of time, but they remained expensive and still are in comparison to Internet based communications. Early forms of Internet based communications were email and newsgroups. These were followed by forums, chatrooms and instant messaging. Voice and video communications were available as well, but in the early years they required specialised hardware and software and were expensive. It wasn't until around the year 2000 that technology improved enough for voice and video communication to become cheap and widespread. There are now several systems, e.g. Skype, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, which enable free voice and video connections over the Internet.
Allowing people to participate in a wider, even worldwide, society. An educated society which has good communication links is more likely to interact with other groups of people and spread societal benefits.
Of course, there will be groups and individuals who have an interest in preventing such benefits from spreading in their country and this can lead to repression, violence and even war. However, overall it appears that ICT, with it's accompanying communication and education tends to drive a society towards more freedom for its members. This study is a brief and readable overview from 2011. This is from 2012. It is a fairly short summary with lots of links to further information if you wish to explore the subject in depth.
EFFECTS ON SOCIETY, NEGATIVE EFFECTS
ICT can have a negative impact on society
Probably the largest effect that ICT use has on on society is allowing members of society to have greatly increased access to information. This can have numerous negative effects, such as: causing a digital divide between those who can access information and those who cannot reducing levels of education and understanding due to the vast amount of incorrect and misleading information that is available causing moral and ethical problems due to the nature of some of the material available.
Many of these effects may also be seen as effects on individuals but they are considered here in a wider context where they affect society as a whole.
Causing a digital divide. The digital divide is often represented as being a difference between rich and poor nations, with the rich nations having better facilities because they are able to pay for hardware and data access that poor countries cannot afford. It should be appreciated however that this is a fairly simplistic view, A digital divide can occur within a nation as well as between nations and the cause is not always money. No matter what the cause of the digital divide, the results are similar for the less enabled group. They have less opportunities for: education, which often leads to disadvantage in employment and having poorer health and economic status. communication, which can cause isolation, leading to a deepening of the divide. improving their social and / or economic status. They don't get noticed as much if they do not have an Internet presence.
Some factors which cause groups to be on the wrong side of the digital divide are: money. Hardware and Internet access costs money. gender. In many societies women / girls are less likely to be allowed Internet access than men / boys. They may also have less access to education in general, further increasing the divide between them and the men. politics. Some groups / governments take the view that their members / citizens should not know anything about other groups except what they are told by those in control. This means that Internet access has to be restricted, filtered or even totally prevented. religion. Some religious groups / leaders of groups see the Internet as a bad influence and therefore restrict the group's access to it. This may involve anything from simple discouragement to an outright ban.on access.
Reducing levels of education and understanding. One of the great things about the Internet is that just about anyone, me for example, can publish their ideas. One of the bad things about the Internet is that just about anyone can publish their ideas. Don't forget, anyone can put up a web site, publish an e-book, make a Youtube video or post to a forum. They do not have to be truthful, sensible, or even sane. Unfortunately the information on a very large number of sites is mistaken, biased, deluded, lies, propaganda, or just weird, The trick is being able to tell the difference between them and the useful ones. The problem is that many people are not good at telling the difference and can be misled into behaviour which is bad for themselves and the society in which they live.
Causing moral and ethical problems. This is covered in the lens about ICT Legal Issues.
THE EFFECTS OF ICT ON EDUCATION
The impact of ICT on education gets mixed reviews
The effect of ICT on education is not given as required content in the IGCSE specification, but it is a useful example for discussing the effects of ICT on individuals, organisations, and society.
The individuals affected are not just students and teachers. There is a significant ICT industry built around supplying hardware and software for education. There is also a wider effect on parents, future employers of students, and those who supplyInternet services.
On the positive side, the use of ICT in education can provide opportunities that might not otherwise exist, such as: 1. distance learning, where students can access teaching materials from all over the world, 2. the ability to perform 'impossible' experiments' by using simulations, 3. the possibility for students to have individual learning programs within a topic, rather than everybody having to do the same thing at the same time at the same pace. More able students can be given more challenging work, less able students can access remedial lessons.
On the negative side: 1. there are large costs involved and poorer students / educational establishments can end up being disadvantaged. This is often referred to as being a factor in the digital divide 2. students, and sometimes teachers, can get hooked on the technology aspect, rather than the subject content. Just because a topic can be taught via ICT, does not mean that it is taught most effectively via ICT.
Even if a subject can be taught effectively via ICT, and there is the money available, it does not always follow that there is any advantage to it. There have been a lot of studies / assessments carried out, looking to see if ICT usage improves learning. The results are mixed. Much simplified, it would appear that: 1. there is some initial impact of using ICT in that students get a wider range of resources and experience some extra motivation. 2. the motivation effect soon fades as using ICT becomes the new normal 3. the wider resource range remains a positive factor 4. there are some well documented positive effects in specific cases. e.g. simulation and modelling is effective in improving science standards, use of word processing and communication software is effective in developing language skills, but there is concern that large areas of the curriculum are not benefiting.
The manner in which the subject is taught probably has a larger effect than the mere use of ICT. i.e. if the teacher does not adapt their methods in order to make best use of ICT, the students do not gain from that use. The attitude of the educational establishment also seems to have a greater effect. i.e. the people running them may not have the knowledge and experience, or often the money, to enable widespread and effective use of ICT in their schools. The attitude of society / government can have a large impact of how ICT is perceived and thus how effectively it is used. Countries where the government encourages ICT usage and where the majority of the people use ICT on a daily basis are likely to make better use of ICT in education as well as in the larger society. On the other hand, in countries where some uses of ICT are restricted because of e.g political or religious reasons, the use of ICT in education becomes less effective and may even be seen as a threat to those in power and thus actively discouraged.
THE EFFECTS OF ICT ON THE ENVIRONMENT
ICT has both positive and negative impacts on the environment
The effect of ICT on the environment is not given as required content in the IGCSE specification, but it is a useful example for discussing the effects of ICT on individuals, organisations, and society.
There is a common perception that ICT has had a negative effect on the environment due to four main factors: The use of energy in producing and running ICT equipment, with its associated production of Carbon Dioxide. This UK government report gives a useful discussion of the problem and of ways of reducing it.
The use of rare earth elements in the production of ICT equipment and the problems arising from mining, processing and usage of these elements. Actually, most of them are not all that rare, it's just that they are usually found in low concentrations and associated with radioactive minerals. This means that large quantities of rock must be mined and processed in order to obtain the required elements.
The rapid development cycle of most ICT equipment, which means that large amounts of it becomes obsolete and must be disposed of even though it is still able to fulfill it's original purpose. Basically, people don't want to use old computers when new and improved ones are available, even if they don't actually need all the improvements. Obsolescence can be a particular problem for organisations. They may find that a large amount of equipment, such as a complete set of PCs may need replacing at the same time due to external circumstances that make the PCs obsolete. A recent example of this is the decision by Microsoft to end support of Windows XP.This will force some organisations to buy new PCs so that they can make the move to the Windows 7 operating system. This Australian government report looks at the management of obsolescence within state-run education and police departments.
These perceived negative effects should however be looked at in conjunction with the positive effects of ICT on the environment. Some of these are: ICT has enabled engineers and designers to produce more efficient machines. This has saved much more energy than has been used by ICT equipment.
ICT has enabled the, at least partial, replacement of wasteful and polluting technologies. e.g. the use of electronic documents instead of paper, the use of digital cameras instead of silver based photographic film.