ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

Educational Technology

The significance of Educational Technology (ET) as a

site for curriculum planning has been widely recognised,

but detailed guidelines and strategies for its educationally

optimum use have not yet been worked out. Generally,

technology has been used as a medium to disseminate

information, and as a way of addressing the scarcity

of good teachers—usuallythe consequence of poor

recruitment policies.ET, which is used toredress the problem

of quality of teaching, can only exacerbate the disillusionment

of teachers withteaching. If ET is to become a means of enhancing

curricular reform, it must treat the majority of teachers

and children not merely as consumers but also as active

producers. There must be widespread consultation

regarding use during development and implementation.

ET facilities need to be used at all levels of schools —

cluster and block resource centres, district, state and

national level institutions — in order to provide handson

experience in using ET. Such experiences provided

to children, teachers and teacher educators, could

include something as simple as the audio-recording of

an interview with a village elder, to making a video

film or a video game. Providing children more direct

access to multimedia equipment and Information

Communication Technology (ICT), and allowing them

to mix and make their own productions and to present

their own experiences, could provide them with new

opportunities to explore their own creative imagination.

Such an experience of ET production, rather than

only watching and listening to programmes in a passive

way, can lay the foundation for far better utilisation of

the country’s enormous ET facilities. Interactive,

Net - enabled computers, rather than only CD-based

computer usage, would facilitate a meaningful

integration of computers and enhance the school

curriculum in rural and remote areas by increasing

connectivity and enhancing access to ideas and

information. It is such two-way interactivity rather than

one-way reception that would make technology

educational. Rather than trying to reproduce and mimic

classroom situations, orteaching the textbook

content, or animating lab experiments, ET could

realise far better potential if topics are taken up but

developed into non-didactic explorations, leaving

learners free to relate to the knowledge web

progressively, and learn at their own levels of interest.

Such access to knowledge in regional languages is still

very limited, and is one of the main reasons for the

persistent and growing divide between learners from

urban and rural schools, and learners from regional -

language and English - medium schools. The potential

of such encyclopaedias and documentaries for children

is still underdeveloped. Materials such as textbooks,

workbooks and handbooks for teachers can be

designed with the awareness of existing stocks of

good-quality audio or video material and sites where

extra resources are available on the Net. Classics of

cinema need to be made accessible through such

measures. For instance, a child studying about village

life should have easy access to Satyajit Ray’s classic,

Pather Panchali, either as a CD to be borrowed from

the CRC or to be viewed on a nationally managed

website. Future textbooks need to be conceptualised

For primar y school children, video simulations and

demonstrations cannot substitute for hands-on

experiences and learning.

and designed in ways that might integrate knowledge

in different subjects and experiences, thus facilitating

the assimilation of knowledge. For instance, a middle

- school textbook that discusses the history of Rajasthan

and mentions Meera should be able to offer the text

of a bhajan composed by her, and also refer to a

source where that bhajan has been archived, so that

children can listen to M.S. Subbulakshmi singing it.

Integration of knowledge and experience along

these lines would take away the sense of burden and

boredom that our present-day education induces. In

science and mathematics, and in teaching children with

disabilities , the potential of ET, including IT, is widely

appreciated. It is important to realise this potential in

achieving curricular goals, with more age-specific

planning on the use of ET. Governments and other

agencies responsible for financial planning need to take

this fuller range of ET’s demands and benefits.

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