Information and Communication Technology in Secondary School

Introduction

ICT is the set of techniques used by equipment to treat information automatically. The software is the process of treatment meanwhile the hardware are detached parts of the equipment. The teaching of ICT in secondary schools has taken a global dimension been

introduced as a discipline in the school curriculum. To teach and learn ICT, you have to first of all reflect on the domain to apply it, whether it has the available infrastructures to implement ICT. Personal relationship in work, policy goals and strategies as well as staff consistency has to equally be considered. ICT teaching has as a prime objective to prepare students for work. Students with ICT competence can easily integrate themselves in the job market since the society is moving towards the use of New Information and Communication Technology in all fields of work. The constant changing of the content of

ICT exposes it to a series of handicaps that will be discussed later in this work.

Objectives of ICT in Secondary Schools

The general objective to begin ICT as a discipline in secondary schools in Cameroon is to meet up with the country’s goal to train students who will be professionals in Information and Communication Technology in future to change the socio-economic state of the country to tie with globalization. ICT as a school subject will help students develop skills that will permit the students at the end of their studies to be self-employed and easily integrated into the working population for better products. This objective is also confirmed by NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa Development) which recognizes that, the key issue in Africa is the development of human

resources. It is also to prepare the students to fully use technologies in their daily life;

- to select appropriate Information and Communication technology tools for a given task;

- to identify specific strengths and weaknesses of technology resources;

- to communicate to a variety of audiences using ICT tools;

- to use a variety of technological tools for data collection and analysis;

- to present and publish information with interactive multi-media features ;

- to be able to use on line information resources for collaboration and communication with

others to build content- related knowledge bases;

- to develop strategies to find relevant and appropriate electronic information sources.

 ICT Pedagogy

The studying of Information and Communication Technology is not only perceived as a catalyst for change but also need a change in teaching style, in learning approaches and change in access to information. Research indicates that teachers are both threatened by change and easy adaptations to these changes as time evolves with material content of ICT subjects. ICT being a discipline that faces a continuous change in the subject content as time evolves therefore cannot be taught and learned as other disciplines whose content and pedagogy is almost fixed. This needs different pedagogic approaches and didactic materials to be applied at each stage of teaching since content of application and exploitation software also change from one version to another. This change requires a modification of the curriculum, the teaching and learning methods to meet up with the evolution. There are two main types of pedagogy, namely instruction and construction. The former approach is the traditional method, while the latter refers to a way of teaching that demands a

redefinition of the traditional teacher-student relationship. The teaching of ICT can contribute to a movement towards constructive teaching approaches, and constructive teaching processes can lead to greater use of ICT in education. These pedagogies are associated with communication and information technology. One with the delivery of information (predominantly the pedagogy of the lecture or the book, and emphasizes the information technology. The other is based on the tutorial dialogue and involves conversation between teachers and students, mainly emphasizes on communication.

The introduction of the teaching of ICT in our secondary schools therefore needs a suitable approach to teach students which will
enable us to fully involve the students during lectures. The need for this innovative pedagogic approach will enable the teacher to easily

incorporate the constructive approach of teaching to assist them develop a particular competence awaited from them at any given lesson. Despite the importance of ICT as a school subject in secondary education, the lack of appropriate ICT pedagogy has reduced it implementation within a broad framework of educational practice. The focus is still on technicalities and reproduction of knowledge rather than conceptual understanding of ICT. To realize the potential inherent in ICT, there is a need for innovative ICT pedagogic approaches in secondary education. Presently, traditional ICT teaching is most prominent in secondary educations which do not provide understanding of ICT on a deeper level than students memorizing details of the software, reproducing information about buttons, menu commands, and dialogue boxes. This call for training on how to teach and learn ICT, and ICT pedagogy should vary in order to help students satisfy their needs as demonstrated in Maslow’s pyramid of learning theory objectives.

Also there has been a significant shift from the traditional didactic style of teaching to a more interactive constructivist style of teaching. A pedagogic style adopted in any class lesson or age of students is due to the perceived lectures prepared to be delivered (Davis et al 1989).

Techno-Pedagogy

In techno-pedagogy, there are three areas of knowledge, namely: content, pedagogy, and technology. Teaching with an aim to develop skills should integrate these concepts;

a) Content (C) which is the subject matter that is to be taught.

b) Technology (T)

c) Pedagogy (P)

The  course content should tie with the technology that has to be used to study the content and the pedagogy used should depend on the content to teach or learn. Technological pedagogical knowledge is used to apply different technology with each pedagogic style and technology pedagogical content knowledge refers to the use of appropriate technology in teaching and learning certain contents.

Some ICT Pedagogic Methods

a) On line teaching

In this style of teaching, the students and teachers are not in the same environment like in the face-to-face classroom. The teacher prepares his/her lessons and exercises, sends them through internet to the students who get the material with instructions on how to go about with the programme. The students on the other hand study and ask questions, give answers to the teacher’s questions and send through the mail to be evaluated. He also uses webcam, video conference etc.

b) Statement oriented

The method makes use of certain elements to teach a particular topic which ties with the ideas to be learned. For example this method was used to teach programming in which certain statements of the language were used to teach students programming in a coherent order. The problem which this method faces is that it does not emphasize on what is important or not.

c) Applied tool method

This method is used to teach students how to use a particular tool in relation to other general knowledge acquired in studying that tool which helps the students to use this knowledge to study other related tools. This method is good for students beginning a career in ICT.

d) Task Type-oriented method

In this method, basic notions are introduced to students to enable them solve problems given to them in relation to the subject in future. A set of tasks makes them discover new skills. This method ties with the subject-centered method of learning, a philosophical approach to education through which the instructor and the students get in contact with the subject and both work together to explore the subject. The instructor is a participant and act as a guide in the classroom in the discovery of the subject studied.

e) Action-oriented

The prime objective of this method is to perform certain tasks for students to see such that, they can execute certain tasks after the teacher to develop skills in the work given them to realise. This method can be used in an ICT practical lesson whereby a teacher demonstrate a particular task in the computer in an application software to realise a particular task and later ask the students to do same so that in carrying out the action after the teacher, they will be able to understand how to resolve a problem given to them as an assignment.

f) Sample task-based method

This method involves the use of many examples to teach ICT subject content. If a particular content taught is accompanied with examples, the students understand it better than just giving the notions with out examples. Students need to practise the examples given in order not to forget in future what was taught.

g) Learners or students-centered approach to teach ICT

To teach with this approach in secondary school, one has to first of all be capable to identify ICT learning as a school subject (or school informatics) and the various objectives of ICT in secondary schools. To successfully use this method, teachers and students need to be familiar with the topics treated in order to acquire digital competency in ICT and develop ICT skills such as using application software like Excel, Word, and Access to solve problems as well as gain Internet skills. Teachers are expected here to act as facilitators in classrooms to direct students on what to do meanwhile the students go ahead with the greater part of the work and

exchange ideas with the teachers. This approach is contrary to that in which the teacher used to be a master of his/her subject and comes to class to give knowledge that took practically a vertical dimension. With the learner-centered approach, there is horizontal movement of information in which both the teachers and students are actively involved in the teaching/learning process. In this approach, during practical lesson the teacher can use an instruction sheet for the practical use of software which will permit the students to work with their initiatives and construct knowledge. The teacher here acts as a mentor and not as a transmitter of knowledge. This suit well with the constructivist learning theory that uses ICT teaching method that is considered in a practical

lesson.

According to (Herskin, 2004) teaching ICT to develop certain skills involves two major steps. First, the teacher gives an overview and demonstrates the functionality of the software; second, the students do hands-on exercises using the software.

During the overview the teachers may use a video projector to present the material and demonstrates how the exercises should be solved. Students are later left on their own to try to remember the procedures to solve similar problems. This approach faces some problems such as memory problems in which the student is obliged to remember a detailed procedure, understanding problem whereby the student has not understood the principles of how to solve the exercise and dependence problem in which the student is not able to work on his own to solve the problem. One of the solutions to these difficulties listed is to teach in small groups, break down the

lessons into smaller parts to provide the students with detailed manuals showing how the exercise should be solved step-by-step. For this purpose, the concept of instruction sheet is

proposed to assist students understand the tools used to solve exercises. A pedagogic strategy therefore suggested from this method to teach ICT comprises of the following phases;

- presentation phase which gives an overview of what has to be done and enable the

student to understand the problem;

- exercise phases which deals with problems to be solved;

- instruction phase which gives clear indication on how to go about with the problem in an

instructional sheet;

- summary phase which briefly explain the whole process;

- evaluation phase which evaluate the method and students understanding through

questionnaires at the end of the teaching sessions.

One could realise that, the presentation process had two different learning effects depending on the complexity of the software functions. According to (COX & Marshall, 2007), the instructional strategies of teachers have been shown to have a significant impact on students’ learning of ICT. Therefore students’ digital literacy can promote or inhibit the potentialities of innovative ICT pedagogies.

Advantages of ICT in teaching and learning

- ICT teaching has introduced a new approach in teaching whereby the teacher is not looked in class as a master of the subject but as a facilitator to assist students follow up their lectures, that is from teacher-centered to student-centered approach of teaching. ICT
teaching has help students and teachers to develop a creative spirit during practical lessons and increased communication channels through email, group discussions and chat rooms;

- Learning ICT subjects through manipulation of some ICT tools and software motivate students to be more engaged with the learning activities;

- use of Web course tool (web CT) online for virtual learning to deliver e-learning to students. It has a lot of benefits for both students and teachers for effective communication of material. E-mail exchange online discussion and general course management. (Goldman et al,1999) argued that computer usage has numerous benefits as it primarily assist students learning, (Chavez, 1997) in the same light affirms that internet and computer usage can also impact positively solving problems, prompt feedback and collaborative instruction. Use of Web CT also assists students to access digital contents of a course independent of place and time. The learner who has attended face-to-face sessions can use this digital course material for further review and reinforcement. It can help users to keep track of learning process, download learning material and link them to

relevant resources. Hence it encourages learners to better assimilate their material,

encourage independent and active learning, and self-responsibility for learning (Passey,1999);

- ICT also give an opportunity to rethink, re-localize with time and space exchange between persons and continuous training of  
teachers  whose activities respond to the needs of educational actors;

- if conditions are favourable, that is access to the use of ICT are reunited there is gain of time as regards students learning. The teachers has to assist them in their activities to first of all understand the software taught or studied;

- Information technology provides students with greater rescheduling, flexibility, unlimited access to information in a variety of formats, respect diverse learning styles, supports students to become more autonomous and take greater responsibility for their own

learning;

The teaching and learning of ICT in secondary schools since its initiation has faced a lot of difficulties at the level of infrastructures, curriculum, teachers, content as well as teaching/learning methods.

Difficulties faced in teaching and learning ICT

- at the level of the teachers training, there is still lack of well-structured training

programme for ICT pedagogy;

- most students don’t yet know the importance of learning ICT in our secondary schools;

- the curriculum for ICT subject is still at the initial stage and not well-defined to meet up with school programme and the time allocated for the teaching of ICT does not tie with that of the programme which makes it difficult for the teacher to fully give out what they

prepare resulting to low assimilation rate. ICT is being taught using the traditional teaching methods which need to integrate new ICT pedagogy;

- insufficient infrastructure is one of the serious problem the teaching and learning of ICT faces, for example the teaching of some programmes and manipulation of some application software is difficult because of lack of enough computers for practical lessons

and didactic materials which can assist students out of school to learn ICT ;

- lack of textbooks and pamphlets to assist teachers and students to work with causes a lot of problems since almost everything taught is gotten from the internet. This may mislead one because not all material could be valuable and correct;

- despite the recognized roles of Information and Communication Technologies to improve the quality and quantity of education, ICT remains a low policy or financial priority in

most educational systems especially in Africa. Most countries in the region lack the local

capacity and finance essential for a sustainable teaching and learning of ICT;

- most rural areas lack electricity and those that have suffer from constant current shortage which hinders the effective use of computers to do practical work;

- lack of multimedia centers to assist students and teachers to carry out research in schools and low maintenance rate of the few equipment available also prevent students to develop technological and manipulating skills;

- another difficulty faced is the cyber teaching of ICT which counteracts a times the students ideas with that of the ICT curriculum and the methods used to teach the content. The above-mentioned difficulties have led to some challenges in ICT pedagogy.

ICT Didactic

ICT didactics consist of two things

“didactics” and “software”. ICT didactics are programmes (interactive software) and tools that can assist teachers and students to learn ICT to develop skills. It could be a document (paper or numerical support), aimed to train oneself using software. It could be software that permits one to teach a precise content to know assisted by a tool. It is thus material used by the teacher to prepare and deliver lectures as well as tools used by learner to assimilate their lectures. Didactic of informatics and information and communication technology use computer and other technological tools to teach and learn. These materials consist of CD-Rom, flash, diskette, multimedia projectors, white boards, bold markers to prepare and deliver lectures in secondary schools. So far most secondary schools in Cameroon use the same didactic materials (blackboard, chalk, textbooks though limited) used in the traditional style of teaching to deliver lectures of ICT. As of now, for the student-centered approach the common didactic material used

is the computer and application software.

Competence

Competence is defined as the skills developed that can permit one to effectively perform a given task. Skill is a task or group of tasks performed to a specific level of competency or proficiency which typically require the manipulation of instruments and equipment.

The development of competence is not an abrupt process in teaching and learning but it is developed with time as the individual tries to practice what he/she has learned. UNESCO has defined certain competences that students and teachers should develop to conveniently use ICT in secondary schools. To learn and work in a complex, information-rich and knowledge based society, students and teachers must learn ICT and how to use technology effectively within a sound educational setting to enable students to develop the following competences:

- to be able to use information technology;

- to be information seekers, analyzers, and evaluators;

- to solve problems and take decisions;

- to be able to create tools and effectively use them;

- to communicate and collaborate with one another to come out with products;

- to be informed, responsible, and contribute to nation building.

Other Skills and competences expected from ICT teachers

- surfing the internet and locating useful information from the internet for the development of lesson plans;

- developing lessons plans incorporating student use of technology in the learning process;

- evaluating and selecting appropriate software for a particular subject and per student needs;

- generating printed documents like student assignments, newsletters, communication, etc. utilizing a variety of applications software  like word processing and desktop publishing;

- managing student data; using data management tools for efficiently managing learning;

- using technology to gather, organize, and report information about student performance like Excel and Access for database management;

- developing tools to evaluate technology-based student projects including multi-media,word processing, database, spreadsheet, PowerPoint, desktop publishing, and internet/telecommunications;

- using the internet to support professional development including locating professional organizations communicating with other teachers electronically, and participating in online workshops and seminars;

- to develop assignment and project work for students, give them broader and deeper knowledge in a field of study, develop critical thinking and infuse creativity among students.

Methods used to Develop Competence

Students can develop cognitive skills by effective use of technological applications which support higher order thinking by engaging themselves in authentic tasks within collaboration learning contexts (Jefferies, 2003). For example, if a student is not able to send electronic mail and is asked to do so, he/she is posed with a problem to solve and he/she has to think with the available source, such as a computer connected to internet he/she has to think on how to manipulate the internet. First, the student will like to know how to create an e-mail if he/she does not have one, next he/she will then learn how to type and send mails. These activities will help the student to develop a technological and information skill.

Cooperative learning which is an intermediate learning technique that requires interdependence, individual accountability and interpersonal skills can help students to develop a common competence working together to solve a particular problem given to them in class. This is done through take home assignments given by a teacher. The students here carry out research on the assignment and write a report to be presented. This activity permits them to develop information search skill, technological skill in manipulating the tools and in writing report, the students has to organize the text to be presentable which enables them to be good in text formatting which ties with part two of this work. Cooperative learning encourages students with disability in learning to participate in more learning activities to develop a particular skill.

Competence can also be acquired through coordination learning in which the students and teachers integrate theory and practical work to facilitate learning. The key persons who have to assist students to acquire these skills are the classroom teachers who have to act as facilitators. The teacher in this light has to prepare the classroom environment and learning opportunities to help students use technology to learn and communicate. They also have to give the advantages technology can bring because many students do not understand the importance of ICT in educational system today. Various approaches can be used to assist teachers realize their task as will be discussed below;

Other Approaches used to Develop Competence

After having cited certain competences above, these additional approaches can help teachers and students to develop these
competences.

a) Technology literacy

This is to prepare learners to take up new technologies to improve ICT literacy skill by the use of hardware and software resources and tools. Teachers are called up to be aware of this goal and identify components of educational reform programme that correspond to this policy goal.

b) Knowledge deepening approach

This approach enables students to apply school knowledge on subjects to solve complex high priority problems encountered in real world situation of work, society and life. With this approach, the teacher should understand the policy goal, social priority and identify, design and use specific classroom activities that address this goal. This may need a change in curriculum to suit the policy. Teaching here is student-centered and the teacher has to define the problem task for students to solve that will be helpful to develop a skill of problem solving. The teacher also has to develop the competence of the ability to manage information, structure problem task and integrate software tools and subject specific application in student-centered teaching methods and collaborative project in support of student deep understanding of key concepts and application to solve complex problem. To assist teachers teaching ICT to meet up with the development of Competence, competence development training programmes could be organized where they can discuss issues that will help them. The Competence development programme is aimed at providing teacher trainers, pre-service and in-service teachers with integrated collaborative software environment for attaining then an ability to teach ICT-enhanced competences (Stefanova & all, 2007). The following stages can be

put in place; information search, presentation, working on a project and working in a team, all these are interwoven in a natural way with the acquisition of ICT competences.

Evaluation

Evaluation can be defined broadly as providing information to make decisions about the product or process. This definition is difficult to be applied in ICT effect on students because we try to ask questions to what is the product of the learners because human beings are complex and learning is a multifaceted process. This therefore leads one to carry out research on the use of a particular method to evaluate in the usefulness of ICT in an educational context. Different evaluation approaches can be used; for example questionnaires which confine us to a particular environment in which the result may not actually reflect the real situation, but use of a systematic

evaluation, which gears towards a clear purpose that goes beyond perceptions. Evaluation being an integral, inevitable feature of all aspects of education, it is commissioned, conducted, disseminated and used to help improve education in general and specific programmes, products and material in particular. It can play a vital role to upgrade and ensure a quality and quantitative education.

In any educational lesson and activity, the teachers are call up to self evaluate and evaluate the students to know whether they have attained their objectives set out at the beginning of the activity. There are various forms of evaluations; formative evaluation which can be carried out during a lesson or at the end of the lesson or semester to see whether the teaching process or methods used have helped students to assimilate what they have been taught as well as develop the competence awaited. This could be done by oral or written questions and answers sections in class or take home assignments to be handed later for corrections. Meanwhile summative evaluation which is an end product evaluation can be oral or written to grade students at the end of a course.

Evaluation and Educational Design

There should be a link between what you design in a learning environment and what you evaluate. Evaluation is a part of design, development, and evaluation cycle of production. For example a learner-centered evaluation frame work could be carried in the phases as discussed below;

a) Analyse and design phase

This phase needs a researcher to analyse the curriculum, teaching and learning activities and specify the behaviour of the innovation.

b) Development

This phase helps to find out if the innovation of ICT works in the way it was developed and what is needed to improve it (closely related to formative evaluation).

c) Implementation

Evaluate the effect and viability of the finished product (summative). For example, the use of survey questionnaire, interview observations are forms of summative evaluation. Evaluation of ICT therefore may involve objectives, methods of teaching, tools use for teaching and the evaluation methods used to bring out the competence learners have developed. This can be designed thus;

which describes the collected practices, processes, strategies, procedures, and

methods of teaching and learning. It also includes knowledge about the aims of instruction,

assessment, and student learning.

These three concepts interaction proposed by (Koehler.M.J and Mishap.P.2005)  in that,

which encompasses modern technologies such as computer, Internet, digital

video and common place technologies including overhead projectors, white boards,

blackboards, and books.