The Role of ICT in Higher Education for the 21st Century:

ICT as A Change Agent for Education

Dr. Ankur Kumar Agrawal and Dr. Girish Kumar Mittal
Associate Professor, Institute of Business Management, Mangalayatan University, Aligarh.
Associate Professor, Faculty of Commerce, S V College Aligarh

Introduction
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be utilized for the education
sector. Education includes online, distance and part time education. There are
unlimited applications of ICT in the real world. In his paper emphasis is on the online
education field. Traditional Non-formal education system process includes activities
like admission, Personal Contact Programmes, Exam for any course in a University or
Institution. In this process ICT can play a great role in all the activities by providing a
lot of benefits to students, teachers, parents and Universities itself. ICT can be used
for providing education to the people who are not able to come to school due to
various constraints. ICT can play great role in formal and non formal forms of
education. The paper examines certain important issues related with the effective
implementation of ICTs in all levels of education and provides suggestions to address
certain challenges that would help in the implementation of ICTs in education and
simultaneously increasing Quality of education.
Introduction: IT has become a buzzword while talking about technology and its
applications. IT is used in various business and management functions but not in the
improving the quality of education. Quality of education has been issue of concern in
the absence of standard parameters of to measure the quality. The hardware, software,
the methods and know how required or used in acquiring, storing, processing and
displaying data and information is collectively known as Information Technology
(IT). Also on other hand, many developments and achievements took place in
communication technology sector after and Second World War.
Hardware, know how, programs and the methods used in ensuring that message is
transmitted correctly, efficiently and cost effectively are collectively known as
Communication Technology (CT). Both of these technologies became complementary
to each other means progress in one alone is not much beneficial. Hence IT and CT
started moving together and a new term was coined named as Information and
communication Technology (ICT). Convergence of these two technologies gave birth
to ICT. Education system includes formal and Non-formal forms of education at
various levels of education. Teaching is imparting knowledge or skill whereas
learning is skill acquisition and increased fluency. Usage of ICT is one of the way by
which India‘s large population base can be effectively reached.

©Swaranjali Publication, 2018 76

 Multidisciplinary Higher Education, Research, Dynamics & Concepts

Moreover in enhancing the quality and delivery of services through ICT-especially in

case of developing relations with citizen- Government will be better positioned
.Passive learning occurs when students use their senses to take in information from a
lecture, reading assignment, or audiovisual. Traditional lecture is not an effective
learning environment for many of our students because so many students do not
participate actively during a traditional lecture. This is the mode of learning most
commonly present in classrooms whereas active learning involves the student through
participation and investment of energy in all three phases of the learning process
(input, operations, and feedback). This type of learning is more apt to stimulate higher
cognitive processes and critical thinking. In the past few years there has been a
paradigm shift in curriculum where teacher acts as a facilitator in a student centered
learning.
In Student centered learning focus is on the student's needs, abilities, interests, and
learning styles with the teacher as a facilitator of learning. Here students have to be
active responsible participants in learning process. Teacher has key role in the whole
process whereas in case of ICT based education, various ICT tools are supplemented
to make the teaching-learning process effective. With the help of blended learning,
total time devoted to teaching can be decreased. A survey says that there was a sense
of pride created and interest generated among the teachers and students for gaining
ICT and its privileges. ICT has the potential to remove the barriers that are causing the
problems of low rate of education in any country. ICT as a tool can overcome the
issues of cost, less number of teachers, and poor quality of education as well as to
overcome time and distance barriers.
ICT tools:
Many ICT tools are available in the modern world that can be used to create and
disseminate knowledge. Tools include radio, TV, internet, mobile phones, computers,
laptops, tablets and many other hardware and software applications. Certain ICT tools,
such as laptops, PCs, mobile phones and PDAs, have implications for education.
These devices can be used to provide education and training for teachers and students.
Most ICT tools are exaggerated, but until now they did not go well. The use of radio
for educational practices has been very popular in the past and is still used by IGNOU
in India.
However, one-to-one broadcasting technologies such as radio and television are
considered less revolutionary 'ICT' in education because they are used to reinforce
traditional teachers-oriented learning models, in contrast to computers that are
considered to be an important tool for training pupils, Centered education model.
Successful ICT initiatives meet three objectives: availability, access and demand.
Educational ICT tools are not intended for teachers to acquire ICT skills directly, but
for teachers to create a more effective learning environment through ICT. Teachers
can use ICT tools to take advantage of the use of these tools in content, curriculum,
training and assessment. ICTs must be accessible to the rural population at their
request, such as landline telephones, mobile phones, newspapers, radio, television,
radio ports, miniatures (VSAT), computers and the internet.

©Swaranjali Publication, 2018 77

 The Role of ICT in Higher Education for the 21st Century

ICT Applications For Quality Improvement Of Formal And Informal Education:

ICT applications have become an indispensable part of modern culture that is
spreading throughout the world through traditional and vocational education. In India
there are mainly three levels of educational systems (including day care and pre-
school education), high school or secondary education (upper and secondary
secondary education) and university and higher (including university and university
level). At all levels of education ICT can be used to improve the curriculum and
improve the quality of education. The use of multimedia in education increases
productivity and retention. 20% of what people see, 40% of what they see and hear,
and about 75% of what they see and hear at the same time. Interactive whiteboards
help teachers build lessons, support collaborative learning, develop cognitive skills of
students and enable more integrated use of ICT in the classroom.
The Government of India has announced 2010-2020 as a decade of innovation.
Inference and critical thinking are needed for innovation. The basis of this technology
can only be achieved at the primary level. Students who enter the school are very
curious, creative and can learn a lot. At this level, the statement 'photos are worth
more than a thousand words' is very true in the course of the course. By getting
acquainted with ICT at an early stage of education, young people can share their
thoughts about the future. Students who study at this stage have a lot of interest in
cartoons. They understand more via animated photos. For example, the use of ICT to
create the same environment for the education of children in primary school can
significantly change the educational scenarios. Nursery students can teach by showing
pictures, animals, fruit, etc. Students at this level can use ICT tools to listen to voices,
sounds and movements of different animals and to learn many things. Language
learning is also at this level. To know a new language at this age is easier than other
levels. Multimedia projectors and computers can be used to learn pronunciation and
pronunciation.
Classes, poetry and lectures by leading scientists who are stored on computers or other
ICT tools can easily be presented to students at any time and anywhere. Such types of
teaching and learning have long remained in the memories of children. At secondary
school level, subjects such as history, geography, political science, physics, chemistry,
biology and physical education are taught. The lesson on this subject is easy to
understand by showing a video about the subject. This type of films and related
multimedia material is easily available on the internet through academic archives and
various related sites. The internet is a basic tool for teachers and students to find
information about each subject. This type of lecture makes the environment very
interactive and students like it. Educational and practical CDs that are sold on the
market make this task easier. At university level you can easily use various functions,
such as computers, electronic boards, Edusat facilities of various state governments,
MM projectors and other peripherals related to the learning and learning process.
The "Aakash" tablet is easy to use, so you can provide more education and deliver it
to both teachers and students. The repository is the library in which these digital
sources are stored and provides information to teachers, students and parents, so that
they can easily find and use learning materials, regardless of their source location.
©Swaranjali Publication, 2018 78
 Multidisciplinary Higher Education, Research, Dynamics & Concepts

Various EDUSAT programs are also very useful for students. Soft skills programs can
help you with the implementation of reputable multinational companies (MNCs).
Country-level quizzes and seminars can be performed using the EDUSAT
infrastructure and can be transferred from any institution. EDUSAT can be used to
train teachers in the latest topics and skills and can save a lot of government time and
money. In Haryana the EDUSAT project is implemented at school and university
level and is used to give lectures in accordance with the lesson plan. With informal
learning, pupils have access to information and learning material anytime and
anywhere. This includes distance learning and other open learning systems.
There are various functions that can be performed when registering students in
distance learning courses at all universities or research institutes. Features include
assigning a unique number (reference number / role number), providing books,
providing information on rate issues and entering data. Some of these activities can be
properly executed using ICT tools. In distance learning, ICT can be used to improve
records management by creating a complete database of all students in different
courses. When a student is registered, a unique number with the name a reference
number is generated and provided to the specific student. For this purpose, SMS
(Short Message Service) of mobile phone can be used. Mobile phones are one of the
most important ICT tools and can be used for purposes. Other information regarding
the PCP, test data can easily be sent by SMS to students of the university / institution
concerned. Enrolled students can also be provided with user names and passwords to
use various online services and resources in the form of institutional academic
repositories.
All this material can be uploaded to the university portal and the CD of this course can
be provided to the student instead of printed or printed material. The online payment
system can also be implemented on the portals of the relevant universities or research
institutes. Students will be saved from many difficulties, including paying, attending
PCP, taking exams, and so on. In these cases, the results of the online and entrance
exams can be provided online on the same day. This will help you to solve the delays
in announcing the results of various examinations at different universities. But
everything has to be in the case of a non-formal education system. The use of these
tools saves a lot of paperwork and makes the environment free of pollution. This will
also bring the transparency of the complete functional system.
ICT for the Development And Management Of Content:
ICT is not sufficient in the education sector, so there is a growing need to develop
relevant, high-quality content. ICT can be used in essential areas of content and
administration. Specific initiatives have been taken at the level of the state and the
center in this area. Specific initiatives have been taken to create digital repositories
and learning objects for the development of Indian content. These companies include
the Sakshat portal of Govt. (GOI), the National Technology Improvement Program
(NPTEL) and Multimedia Education Resources (MERLOT) for learning and online
education. We have also taken a step forward to ensure transparency in the education
system through ICT. it also took a step further from behind by offering a specific
machine that marked the presence of the teacher at the school. The biometric
©Swaranjali Publication, 2018 79
 The Role of ICT in Higher Education for the 21st Century

attendance system really helps teachers to go to school, where attending is always a

hot issue.
The government of Delhi was a pioneer in the use of ICT to better manage the
education system. Ministry of Delhi government has many schools, teachers and
apprentices under the administrative authority has developed a comprehensive,
functional and effective web-based GIS Based Management Information System
(MIS). Employee Attendance Report also facilitates objective inspections, because the
attendance at all schools is shown for the suitability of departmental staff. To all
people through a transparent system, including citizens, schools and various branches
of branches, offices, regional offices and headquarters are using the web-enabled
software allows you to share information. All those involved - students, teachers and
administrators - Information about can be obtained online via the website of witnesses
(edudel.gov.in).
This includes information about admission, signing, attendance of teachers, transfers
and payment receipts. Can be implemented in all communication initiatives, the
electronic, attendance of the employees can be written to the administration online,
information about the execution of large announcements, different government
institutions can easily be applied and can be shared with other departments. . This type
of initiative offers transparency, an important requirement for people in today's
society. While there may be more examples of such initiatives, there is a need for time
to duplicate relevant interoperable projects that have a significant impact on society.
United Nations for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) is a summary of a case
study conducted in nine countries around the world known, most of these studies
reflects the need to improve the professionalism of necessity and versatile strategies
for teacher training.
Traditional open and distance learning systems use a variety of technological options
such as EDUSAT and other TV and radio channels. All these options use ICT. On
LAN at school level you can automate a variety of processes. The library automation,
the local cache stored for offline access, office automation, records management,
student tracking, resource planning, including the existing ICT infrastructure of the
Internet resources and improve efficiency. At the same time you can benefit from
savings in costs, time and effort.
ICT and teacher training:
There is decentralization of knowledge in the modern ICT world. Technology is only
a tool and should only be used to remove obstacles and problems existing in existing
systems. ICT offers possibilities to supplement vocational education and lifelong
learning of teachers in a convenient and flexible way. To use ICT for training, the way
in which content is designed and delivered must be significantly changed. Unless
teachers and students can understand these fundamental changes, new technologies
can not be applied. Instructors from institutions and organizations involved in the
design of the curriculum, teaching materials and the ICT-based education offer must
be continuously trained. ICT not only offers this training, but also applies to
educational practices. In order to implement an ICT-based distance learning program,

©Swaranjali Publication, 2018 80

 Multidisciplinary Higher Education, Research, Dynamics & Concepts

the teacher first has to understand the technology and feel comfortable with it. They
must be given the opportunity to gain new knowledge. This can be started by
promoting a computer training program for teachers.
The use of ICT for teacher training has been recognized by most South Asian
governments and teacher training programs such as Intel Teach in India, Pakistan and
Sri Lanka. Microsoft Shiksha of India; Several other initiatives in Nepal and Bhutan
focus on the use of ICT to train teachers. The ISTE has created the most
comprehensive ICT standard for teachers, students and administrators. The SSA
looked at the benefits of ICT in education to achieve the goals of the SSA and then
worked with many private organizations to take initiatives to strengthen computer-
assisted learning (CAL). Under SSA, provisions for providing computer education at
local level are provided for each state under the CAL of the PPP model. ICT can be
applied to pre-service and teacher training. Haryana has several BRC offices (Block
Resource Center) through SSA and RMSA. With these centers and infrastructure you
can effectively provide service training in these centers. Instead of inviting teachers to
school, you can ask every day to collect a teacher from each school to get a basic
knowledge of ICT and its application in the school curriculum.
The training batch period can be done every week or every two weeks by ICT and
training implementation specialists. Teacher training colleges and universities can
later gain access to material available in the classroom via computers and the Internet
to raise the level of basic skills and acquire relevant knowledge. Visualiser is easy to
use and easy to use by teachers who are cost-effective, easy-to-use and time-saving
tools for teaching at school and at college. The preparation time of the teacher is
reduced and the interaction between student and student increases in complex
problems. It can be used without a computer and it fits within your budget. For
interested teachers you can prepare a small training on the use of the new tools in
school education.
Challenges and solutions for the application of ICT for learning:
There are specific challenges for ICT-based education and learning. One of the major
challenges to quality control in education is the lack of standards for parameters that
measure the quality of education. To address this, all certification bodies, such as
NAAC, NBA, AICTE, CBSE and other organizations, must jointly distribute a list of
standard parameters to determine the quality of education. The development of ICT
has changed the epic knowledge center and in many cases the student gets more
information than the teacher. Teachers have insufficient qualifications and education
and curricula are often outdated or inadequate. Installing an ICT device can be
cumbersome. It is economically significant that teachers can not use ICT tools
because of their lack of experience. For this reason, the available quality of education
is destroyed. Distance learning through ICT can largely solve this problem. One of the
main obstacles is the lack of skilled teachers who can use IT skillfully.
Most teachers do not first want to introduce new technology to themselves, and then
students. In principle, I refuse to apply ICT to teachers in comparison with older
teachers and younger teachers. Teachers need to update their knowledge and skills as

©Swaranjali Publication, 2018 81

 The Role of ICT in Higher Education for the 21st Century

a curriculum and technological change. ICT is currently limited to a handful of elite

schools. In addition, it is a computer lab that distinguishes itself from the existing
curriculum. Although computers came to the classrooms of India in 1984-85, the level
of adoption of modern technology in education and learning was limited and uneven.
Different ICT tools must be available and accessible when needed. Many schools have
limited resources to buy books, stationery, furniture and other textbooks. The role of
the private sector in providing services in such areas can be considered. The rural
population may not be able to pay large sums to use such ICT resources for education.
One of the biggest challenges in the implementation of ICT in education is early
technological thinking.
ICT hardware and software are designed for general purposes, not designed for
training purposes. We first try to think about the available technologies and then apply
them to education, but when we look back, the results are more useful and the results
are good. According to the latest tradition, only special topics such as IT and ICT are
possible and optional, so a basic knowledge of computers and IT is required to use
different ICT tools to learn learning. Only a computer teacher can not fulfill the
mission of agent of change. Schools can split the screen vertically into two parts to
classify infrastructure problems to provide ICT training, and two sets of applications
can be displayed and used simultaneously by two users (students). Because a student
can use the keyboard and another student can use the mouse, each student can work
independently of the other student. A 2007 study of two ICT-enabled provinces in
Gujrat and Karnatka showed that pupils from public schools and access to ICT tools
outside the school are generally low. Access to these devices by private school
students is relatively good. One of the challenges we have to meet is the digital divide
between private and public schools, as well as the digital divide between rural and
urban schools. A major challenge for teachers and instructors is to develop learning
materials that are offered to the available ICT tools, including mobile devices.
Learning materials must be a manageable learning bin and use multimedia. The use of
learning objects for mobile delivery has the added advantage that you can reuse and
change learning objects without influencing other learning objects and save them at a
distance from anywhere. Barriers include expensive support infrastructures, and
online resource development can be costly and time-consuming. Lack of flexibility in
the quality, validity and already prepared learning materials of online materials. Much
of the information available online may disrupt students' learning. Students can feel
isolated if there is no class like the environment. Computer programs use rigorous
discipline on the campus to manage, manage and manage the campus through the use
of computer applications for curriculum development, training and learning, research
and expansion, governance and leadership, infrastructure facilities and expert systems
with quality parameters at various levels.
Conclusion:
The quality of education through awareness among ICT and stakeholders will
positively influence society. ICT can help with the quality and standards of education
by implementing it at different stages of education. ICT can be hired for both formal
and informal forms of education and will ultimately make the pupil a viable and
©Swaranjali Publication, 2018 82
 Multidisciplinary Higher Education, Research, Dynamics & Concepts

socially useful part of society. The use of ICT for teacher training can save a lot of
government money. In addition, many qualitative improvements can be made, since
the resources for training can be at the highest level in the world. The acceptance of
ICT by the administration can help solve problems in the absence of students and
teachers. Good quality content is one of the most important issues and has a direct
impact on training and quality standards. Overcoming specific problems related to the
curriculum can help you a lot. In short, many quality improvements are possible after
careful and conscious implementation of ICT by the various stakeholders in education.
References:
1. www.gvctesangaria.org/websiteimg/publications/jdarticle.pdf
2. icehm.org/upload/8262ED0115098.pdf
3. www.soeagra.com/ijert/vol1/ijert13.pdf
4. www.nuepa.org/New/download/.../CPRHE/.../CPRHE_Research%20_%
20Paper-1.pdf
5. uphed.gov.in/
6. uphed.gov.in/directorate
7. Indian Higher Education: Envisioning the Future by Pawan Agrawal
8. Internationalization of Higher Education in India by Gauri Tiwari

©Swaranjali Publication, 2018 83