Technology can improve learning levels only when it is deliberately integrated with current pedagogical practice
Introducing ICT is not just a matter of providing hardware and some software. Equally important is facilitating the manner in which it is integrated into this web of interactions.
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Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is being increasingly seen as a panacea for the ‘learning crisis’ affecting public schooling. Massive investments are underway (estimates presented to the 15th Finance Commission are about Rs 56,000 crore during 2021-22 to 2025-26 for school education alone). Most of this investment will be in infrastructure. However, in order to realise the purpose of using ICT—improved learning—we need to pay more attention to how technology gets used by teachers to support a variety of pedagogical methods. That is, we must see technology as only one element in a complex web of interactions among educational, cultural, and institutional practices that determine learning. Introducing ICT is not just a matter of providing hardware and some software. Equally important is facilitating the manner in which it is integrated into this web of interactions. Unfortunately, public educational systems do not seem to be paying enough attention to this element of ICT deployment. True, teachers are being trained in the ‘use’ of technology, but that is the problem—the focus is on operating a system or implementing a learning ‘package’ that has been provided. If public systems have to take technology integration seriously, what do they need to do?