> INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION
> PROGRAMME IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
>
> 1. INTRODUCTION/RATIONALE
> This Asia and Pacific programme on the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) in education is based on the premise that the innovative and appropriate use of ICT can both help reach those excluded from learning and improve the quality of learning for all. Through ICT, disparities in educational access and quality can be reduced, and education systems can enhance the knowledge and skills of their learners and promote creativity, critical thinking, and learning how to learn.
> Through this programme, ICT will ultimately have an impact on the structure, content, and outcomes of learning, both inside and outside of school. The locus of this programme is in the "classroom", in both formal and non-formal settings, where teachers/facilitators and learners interact on a regular basis. Providing context to this teaching-learning process are elements which can maximize the potential of ICT in bringing about educational change. These factors are reflected in the core components of this programme, to be carried out at country and sub-regional levels within the framework of this programme. This programme will be coordinated by UNESCO's Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok in cooperation with its Regional Bureau for Communication and Information in Delhi. The Regional Bureau for Science in Jakarta and the Regional Unit for Social and Human Sciences and the Regional Advisor for Culture, both in Bangkok, will also contribute to this programme.
> These core programme components are:
> · The development of national policy environments -- including enlightened decision-makers, ICT-friendly policies, and adequate ICT accessibility and connectivity -- which promote effective, affordable, and sustainable use of ICT in education;
> · Successful models which demonstrate the appropriate use of ICT and of relevant ICT-based curricula and teaching-learning materials in both formal and non-formal educational settings;
> · Policies and programmes which promote the training and professional development of teachers and other educators in the use of ICT in education;
> This programme will promote and develop the above elements so that they together act as levers both for system-wide reform at the macro-level and for change in teaching and learning processes at the micro-level.
> Three additional activities to support these core components will be implemented in this programme, coordinated by the Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, again in cooperation with the Regional Bureau for Communication and Information. These include:
> · A meta-survey of existing reviews and research on the current situation of ICT use in education in the Asia-Pacific region;
> · A regional clearing house on ICT in education which supports a viable system of information sharing, networking, communication, and dialogue; and
> · The development and use of appropriate performance indicators and monitoring procedures related to ICT use in education.
> The programme is based on the fact that the rapid development of ICT presents UNESCO with a unique opportunity to make a major - and multi-sectoral -- contribution to the expansion and reform of education in Asia and the Pacific and therefore help to achieve the overarching goals of Education for All (EFA). It is this region of the developing world which has particularly great potential to use ICT to build new learning environments and develop new ways to learn. The policies and programmes, models and materials, networks and indicators that this programme will develop will help achieve this potential. They will also be a valuable input from UNESCO to the World Summit on the Information Society to be organised in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis in 2005.>
> But shaping education in the new Information Age to meet the needs and demands of learners and of society at large is held back by the challenges of the so-called "digital divide". The majority of the world's peoples are without the means to learn in cyberspace. The information revolution has only just started, and while it is indeed true that its networks are spreading wider every day, its penetration is not yet comprehensive. In many parts of the world, there is either no access to networks or the cost of access to these networks is prohibitive. In this context, the mandate of UNESCO requires that it play a major role in ensuring that the exponentially increasing rate of change brought on by ICT does not exacerbate existing disparities within countries and does leave less developed nations and their peoples in an increasingly disadvantageous position.
> Aggregate statistics on the rapid deployment of telecommunication infrastructure and facilities within Asia and the Pacific are misleading; the region is vast and diverse with heights and depths in terms of ICT. For example, apart from spectacular progress made in China, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan, the rest of the countries in Asia-Pacific are languishing. At the present rate of development, Bhutan, for example, would take until 2050 to achieve the teledensity that Singapore has today. The International Telecommunication Union reports that fewer than two in ten thousand Cambodians and Vietnamese use the Internet, while nearly 3,000 out of every 10,000 Singaporeans do so. Of the more than 300 million people connected to the Web in the world today, only 3.2 million or just over one percent live in Southeast Asia. Worldwide, UNDP reports that more than three quarters of Internet users live in high income countries which contain 14 percent of the world's people. The digital divide is also found w
ithin countries. In China, the 15 least connected provinces, with 600 million people, have only 4 million Internet users, while Shanghai and Beijing, with 27 million people, have 5 million users. Among India's 1.4 million Internet connections, more than 1.3 million are in the five states of Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai.
>
> What this programme will focus on, therefore, is how to use ICT to help reduce disparities in both educational access and quality and, ultimately, bridge the digital divide. The task will be to harness ICT to provide greater access to relevant knowledge, learning experiences, and materials; introduce new educational content both about and through ICT; improve both the professional development of teachers and teaching-learning processes; and link up educators and learners to break the isolation they so often experience.
> This programme also contributes directly to achieving the objectives set in the draft 31 C/4 and 31 C/5 documents which recognize the challenges that the digital divide brings in widening knowledge disparities within and between societies and calls upon all of UNESCO's sectors to help bridge this divide by promoting wider and more equitable knowledge sharing. To address this issue, a programme called UNITE (UNESCO's New Information and Communication Technologies and Education Programme) seeks to strengthen an understanding of how ICT can be used in a cost-effective way to expand and improve learning opportunities. This regional in Asia and the Pacific programme will go in tandem with UNITE in trying to use ICT as a lever for educational change and as a means of reaching out beyond the classroom to provide learning opportunities when and wherever required throughout life.
> Ultimately, of course, this programme will also help to achieve the targets of Education for All declared in the EFA Framework for Action adopted at the World Education Forum held in Dakar in April, 2000. This programme will support the achievement of the Framework's goals through its focus on improving access to basic education both for the primary school-age target group and for youth and adults and on improving the quality of> education for all. The programme's special concern for gender issues in ICT use in education will also help promote the Framework's call for gender equality in education by the year 2015.
>
> II. OBJECTIVES
> General Objective
> To contribute to bridging the "digital divide" and promoting "digital inclusion":
> 1) by exploring and demonstrating how ICT can be used to reach those excluded from learning and to improve the quality of education for all, and
> 2) by developing innovative models of ICT use and of ICT-based teaching education, teaching-learning methods, and curriculum/materials development in schools and in other places of learning.
> Specific Objectives
> The specific objectives of the core components of this programme are the following:
> 1. To help create an enabling and supportive policy environment towards increasing ICT connectivity for education and towards the systematic integration of ICT in educational policies and programmes in order to contribute to a system-wide ICT strategy in education and to educational renewal and reform.
> 2. To promote the integration of ICT in both formal and non-formal education programmes in order to increase access to a wide range of relevant information and networks, enhance educational quality, and improve learning performance, especially among populations traditionally most excluded from education.
> 3. To strengthen the training and professional development of teachers and non-formal education facilitators in the integration of ICT in education.
> In addition, supporting activities will implemented in order
> 1. To ascertain the current situation of ICT application in the Asia-Pacific region in the field of education, the factors which limit the dissemination of ICT and increase disparities in their use, the extent of the integration of ICT into national educational sector policies and plans, and the extent to which ICT are used in curriculum development, the training and professional development of teachers and other educators, and learning processes.
> 2. To create, collect, analyse, and provide quick access to knowledge and information to support policy formulation, management and monitoring, teaching and learning, community outreach, networking, and programme implementation through Web-based clearing house services.
> 3. To develop and use a set of performance indicators which can measure the outcomes of ICT use education and provide a basis for policy planning and programme improvements.
> In all of the above activities - in dealing with policies, content and methods, training, and impact assessment - special attention will be paid to how ICTs can promote the greater participation and achievement of girls and women in education.
>
> III. DESCRIPTION OF CORE PROGRAMME COMPONENTS
> To contribute to the above-cited framework and objectives, this programme will consist of the three core components described below. UNESCO field offices will identify components and activities for support through this programme which fit within this framework and are of particular priority to their clusters and countries. The Education Sector of UNESCO will provide major technical input to this programme related to policy and model development, curriculum development, and teacher training. Other sectors of UNESCO will also contribute to this multi-sectoral programme in areas such as the following:
>
> Communication and Information - identify and put in place innovative, affordable, and sustainable methods of, and infrastructure for, connectivity appropriate to the school and learning centre models developed
>
> Culture - assist in analysing cultural constraints to the wider and more equitable use of ICTs in education and develop culturally-based content and teaching tools (e.g., using local languages and intercultural dialogue for world heritage education and art and music education)>
>
> Science and Social and Human Sciences - provide relevant and up-to-date content for dissemination through activities supported by the programme and identify interactive networks which can be used to disseminate this content
>
> Component 1: The development of an enabling environment and policy support
> The successful use of ICT in education depends to a large extent on a supportive policy environment and framework at the national level. This programme will help ensure that educational policy-makers, administrators, and practitioners are acquainted with the multi-faceted opportunities, challenges, and constraints of integrating ICT into education - to recognize, in other words, the socio-cultural dimension of the use of ICT in education and to understand that the use of ICT in education goes beyond buying a computer, plugging it into a school, and thinking that things will improve. Too often in the Asia-Pacific region computers have been bought en masse for use in education but are lying on ministry desks and in school cupboards because the reasons for their procurement and plans for their ultimate use have not been clearly defined in advance. Too often, too, of course, groups traditionally excluded from education - for reasons of poverty, gender, minority status, geography, etc. - continue to be excluded
from the use of ICT.
> This component will promote the development of policies which will not only integrate ICT into educational policies and programmes in a more systematic and cost-effective manner but also take into consideration the various factors - social, cultural, economic, etc. -- which both hinder and promote successful use of ICT in improving the teaching/learning process. Policy makers and administrators will ultimately be assisted to ensure that a programme for promoting ICT use in education results in technologies being used not to extend or replicate, in already advantaged areas, the traditional classroom model but rather to fundamentally change the instructional paradigm and serve as levers for system-wide curricular reform and educational change.
>
> Objectives
> a) Assist policy makers and educational administrators in selected countries to understand the potential of ICT as a driving force in educational reform and to develop strategies to integrate ICT in educational policies and programmes in a more systematic, cost-effective, and culturally appropriate manner.
> b) Enhance the capacity of policy makers and school administrators to formulate policies, regulatory frameworks, guidelines, and plans for the use of ICT in education in order to promote equity in educational access, opportunity, and quality.
> c) Document and share experiences in innovative strategies and good practices in the integration of ICT in national education policies, plans, and programme implementation.
> Activities
> a) Case studies of national strategies, policies, and programmes on ICT use in education -- what exists, what works, and what doesn't -- leading to a comparative synthesis report of major issues
> b) A series of national and/or sub-regional seminars/workshops to increase awareness and understanding of policy makers on the use of ICT in education and their impact on educational renovation and reform. Participants will develop skills in formulating policies, regulatory frameworks, guidelines, and plans for the use of ICT in education
> c) Provision of technical advice to countries in formulating or upgrading their strategies and policies on ICT use in education (e.g. on cost implications of ICT development, links between the public and private ICT sectors, and means to increase connectivity for excluded populations)
> d) Collection and analysis of experiences which highlight innovative strategies and good practices in the planning, management, and implementation of ICT use in education programmes/activities>
>
> Component 2: The modeling of ICT use and materials in schools and community learning centres
> To contribute to bridging the digital divide, this component will provide opportunities for learners in both schools and community learning centres to use ICT to gain greater access to education and information of good quality. The present situation in the region is alarming in terms of the use of ICT in education. An initial cursory survey has shown, for example, that countries which have launched School Nets either at the primary and secondary/tertiary levels include Australia, New Zealand, China, South Korea, Japan, India, Malaysia, and Thailand. The rest are far behind. Even within countries, ICT have generally been introduced first to the formal school sector and largely in elite, urban areas while neglecting schools and non-formal education centres usually located in rural areas, a situation which clearly aggravates the digital divide.
> This component will develop models in the use of ICT in teaching/learning in both formal and non-formal education programmes in areas traditionally excluded from good education. In the first case, selected primary and secondary schools, already or relatively easily equipped with appropriate ICT (internet and/or CD-ROM-based), will be helped to develop locally-relevant educational software and teaching/learning materials. Administrators and teachers will be trained in the integration of ICT in school subjects and school management. To the extent possible, this ICT component will be integrated into already existing projects focused on educational quality improvement.
> In more non-formal education programmes, various kinds of community-based learning centres (Community Learning Centres, Community Multimedia Centres, etc.) will be used as model sites as they provide a direct link to rural villagers and to those excluded and disadvantaged in terms of fewer opportunities for education, e.g., out-of-school children, women and youth, and the elderly. Such centres will be empowered, through innovative ICT (radio and multimedia approaches, internet and CD-ROM technologies), to develop locally-relevant materials in local languages, taking into account indigenous cultural information, instead of relying on externally-produced learning materials. Many community learning centres have generated a wealth of experience in a variety of development and learning activities such as promoting literacy and post-literacy, introducing and marketing cash crops and local crafts, optimizing loan schemes, involving the community in development planning, adopting new farming or health practices, e
tc. These experiences and innovative practices will not only be enhanced through appropriate use of ICT but will be shared systematically by setting up an electronic networking and discussion forum among centres and a database of good practices accessible through appropriate media.
> In both formal and non-formal education settings, the Communication and Information Sector of UNESCO will contribute to this programme by helping to develop and put in place innovative, affordable, and sustainable methods of, and facilities for, connectivity appropriate to each model.
> Much of the current use of ICT in the classroom still focuses on the drill and practice type of learning, where computers are seen as tutors rather than as tools towards engaging students in critical and interactive learning. If ICT are to be used effectively in learning, curricula and teaching/learning materials and methods developed have to optimize the full potential of ICT. Such materials should also be based on local content; this can enhance community participation in the learning process and community relevance of the final product, promote a stronger sense of ownership, and strengthen traditional culture and heritage. ICT-based curricula, teaching/learning materials and educational software should therefore maximize the learning potential of open-ended environments and put the locus of control on the learner's side, enabling her/him to engage> much more in the construction of content and the solution of problems related to local values and environments.
> Educational software and ICT-based teaching/learning materials may be developed both on the topic of ICT and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes which support it (i.e., ICT literacy) and on specific subject areas. For example, traditional curriculum areas such as science, history, and geography can be redesigned with a more interactive and critical focus on issues such as environmental sustainability, human rights, conflict resolution, and social inclusion. Newer curriculum areas such as life skills and healthy life styles, work-related skills, and AIDS education can be transmitted through ICT-based programmes. In the area of culture, materials related to heritage studies, traditional wisdom, and inter-generation skills transfer can also be promoted through ICT as can existing handbooks and training materials for community learning facilitators in areas such as literacy materials development, learning centre management, and continuing education.
> Objectives
> a) Integrate appropriate ICT activities into existing primary and secondary school quality improvement projects among excluded populations in selected countries in order to improve educational outcomes in both access and quality.
> b) Assist community learning centres in selected countries to use ICT to implement effective literacy, post-literacy, and continuing education programmes and other development activities.
> c) Enhance the capacity of school teachers and administrators and community learning centre personnel to integrate ICT into learning processes and to formulate, manage, and monitor ICT programmes in education.
> d) Develop interactive educational software and ICT-based teaching/learning materials - in local languages -- for use in model schools and learning centres.
> e) Establish collaborative projects and networks among schools and learning centres and collect and disseminate good practices and innovative experiences.
> Activities
> a) The development and implementation of models of innovative and appropriate use of ICT in schools and community learning centres, preferably through integrating an ICT component into existing quality improvement projects. Such model projects should include the following activities:
> · Planning workshops to bring stakeholders together to formulate the framework, objectives, strategies, workplan, hardware, and software required to implement the testing of the model
> · Ensuring the availability of appropriate, affordable, and sustainable methods of ICT connectivity at project sites
> · The training of teachers and learning centre staff in using ICT for teaching selected subjects and in developing local materials in local languages, sharing information and networking, and accessing useful information resources
> · The development of interactive, multimedia approaches and ICT-based teaching/learning templates, materials, and software for use in selected school subjects and learning centre activities
> b) The documentation of good practices through case studies in the planning and implementation of ICT use in schools and learning centres
> c) The development of guidelines/parameters for school and learning centre administrators on how to formulate, manage, and monitor an ICT programme in education
> d) Organizing face-to-face and electronic (Internet-based) networks of schools and learning centres to share experiences, raise problems, provide solutions, and derive lessons learned
>
> Component 3: Training and professional development
> Ensuring the effective use of ICT in education are the teachers and facilitators in both formal and non-formal education settings. With the advent of ICT and the development of a more knowledge-based society, the role of the teachers/instructors needs to be redefined to cope with the challenges and opportunities that ICT have brought about. The teacher is no longer a dispenser of knowledge but rather a proactive facilitator who promotes collaborative k> nowledge building and guides students to learn in a variety of environments, to navigate within and process a multitude of information resources, and to use these resources in solving problems and making decisions on their own.
> Many countries in the region have realized this need to change and have responded by launching professional development programmes to train teachers in the use of computers. However, most of these training activities are crash programmes which focus on computer literacy per se and do not enable teachers to return to their classrooms able to use the computers in teaching their assigned subjects. Learning to use e-mail and access the Internet is a relatively simple task, but mastering its use as an effective tool to improve teaching and learning is certainly not.
> What teachers require in order to exercise this role effectively is training not only in computer literacy but also in how to apply various educational software in teaching and learning and how to integrate this resource into their classroom activities and school structure. Starting from what teachers already know and feel they need to know, programmes can be developed which train teachers not to use ICT for teaching the same things in the same way but rather to make available new and better ways of teaching - which ICT, with all of their interactive and multimedia features and potential for simulation and virtual manipulation, can help happen.
> This component will therefore aim at helping upgrade knowledge and skills of teachers and facilitators in genuinely integrating educational technologies in their work. More broadly, it will also aim at tapping the potential of new ICT (including distance education methods) for more easily accessible and better teacher education and professional development, supporting teacher education reforms taking place in many countries, and reducing the gap between and within countries in terms of qualified teachers trained in new learning environments.
> Objectives
> a) Identify the most appropriate uses of ICT in teacher/facilitator education and professional development.
> b) Strengthen national capacity for developing and implementing policies and programmes in the use of ICT for such education and professional development.
> c) Enhance the ability of teachers/facilitators in using ICT as a tool, as a subject, and as an educational resource.
> d) Develop and put in operation regional and international on-line curriculum centers and networks for teacher training and courseware information in order to promote partnerships and networking for Web-based teacher training.
> Activities
> a) Support to the formulation of national policies to expand and improve the use of ICT by teachers and learning centre facilitators
> b) Development of course materials on ICT as a subject and as an educational resource in initial teacher/facilitator education and of modules/materials and 'best courseware' for use in in-service training
> c) A series of national/sub-regional workshops to plan programmes for the training of trainers and curriculum planners concerned with the training of teachers and facilitators in the use of ICT in education
> d) Development of ICT software and of appropriate mechanisms for large-scale teacher/facilitator training in the use of ICT
> e) Regional and international partnerships and networking for on-line Web-based teacher education
>
> IV. SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES
> To complement these core programme components, the following supporting activities will be organised through this programme:
> Activity 1: A meta-survey of ICT connectivity, penetration, and use
> In order to understand and address the multifaceted problems of the "digital divide" in the field of education as well as provide baseline/benchmark data for the detailed planning of the various programme components, a rapid meta-survey will be undertaken to obtain an accurate picture of the current state of relevant aspects of ICT use. An important area for analysis will be the factors (economic, political, socia> l, cultural, geographic, gender-based) which contribute to the exclusion of populations from the application of ICT. Considerable information is available based on research and surveys undertaken by international agencies, governments, universities, and the corporate sector.
> Among other things, there is a need to know to what extent countries in the region have:
> (a) established connectivity and access to ICT in education;
> (b) formulated and implemented policies on ICT use in education and "roadmaps" for the future development and management of ICT;
> (c) undertaken professional development programmes to train teachers and other education personnel in the use of ICT; and
> (d) developed ICT-based educational software and teaching/learning materials. Individual core components of this programme will also need to include stakeholder and problem analyses specific to the objectives of the proposed activities. A programme of dissemination will be developed to ensure that data collected and integrated through the meta-survey will be used as benchmarks in policy making and programme implementation at the country level. The data will also be used to support the development of complementary initiatives and strategies for funding by other donor agencies.
> Activities
> a) An initial planning workshop to develop a framework, workplan, and mechanism for the conduct of the meta-survey, including identifying topics for sub-surveys and modalities of data collection, analysis, and dissemination
> b) Collecting of relevant literature and studies and consolidating and synthesising of data from available sources in order to provide benchmark information on the following areas:
> · ICT connectivity and penetration in education (e.g., on the access of teachers to computers and the Internet)
> · National policies and programmes/strategies with regard to the use of ICT in education
> · Constraints to the wider application of ICT in education systems and schools
> · Professional development programmes (education personnel covered, objectives, content, delivery methods and modules used, views of teachers on ICT use in education, etc.)
> · Educational software and ICT-based teaching/learning materials already developed in the region
> c) Where there are gaps in existing information, surveys in selected countries to fill in the gaps and collect additional information
> d) The storage of collected data in the Clearing House for processing and repackaging into electronic formats and hard copies (e.g., websites, wall charts, statistical catalogues, policy papers).
>
> Activity 2: Clearing House
> As more educators in the region are becoming electronically connected, information and data on the use of ICT in education should be made quickly accessible through the creation of a web-based Clearing House that can be relied upon to deliver information and materials adaptable to local needs and contexts. Such information can be processed into searchable databases (bibliographies, research and case studies, collections of good practices, innovative teaching/learning materials, educational software, etc.) which can be uploaded on a website. Links to a wealth of databases (e.g., the Asia-Pacific Literacy Database) and resources that already exist on various areas of interest can also be provided. These web-based resources should also be made available to rural schools and community learning centres to help reduce the disparities in ICT access and application found in the region.
> A most important Clearing House service is to help policy makers plan, support, and maintain ICT-based education through access to good practices and innovative experiences and strategies in policy making, planning and monitoring ICT-based education. The collection of such material produced in the Asia and the Pacific will contribute to the expansion of the knowledge base from the region and make accessible to the global community outstanding/innovative educational experiences and materials never before compiled, much less shared. >
> A Clearing House can also:
> (a) assist teachers in improving their teaching through access to databases of successful experiences in the use of ICT as well to educational software and online and offline teaching/training resources;
> (b) promote learners' independent learning by providing access to databases, electronic libraries, school networks, and online learning materials;
> (c) promote the updating of professional skills through consultations with experts and access to free training courses online, discussion forums, e-mail, chats, and bulletin boards; and
> (d) develop learning communities and promote social interaction and collaborative projects/learning among students through access to various Internet tools.
> Activities
> a) Establishment of a web-based clearing house where data and information from ICT in education programmes in the region are collected, processed, analysed, repackaged and disseminated
> b) Creation of databases in order to facilitate faster access and retrieval of the collected Asia-Pacific data and information; the data will be derived from the meta-survey and other research studies conducted for the various programme components (e.g., country profiles on ICT connectivity, national policies on ICT in education, professional development programmes and materials, and educational software and ICT-based teaching/learning materials)
> c) Development of web-based and electronic information resources, eLearning portals, online databases, and virtual libraries that can be searched and accessed both online and offline through CD-ROMs
> d) Creation of electronic and virtual libraries at the national level to provide information support to national programmes of ICT use in education
> e) Establishment of an electronic platform for professional discussion and networking to promote information exchange, stimulate debate and innovation, reduce isolation of teachers, and introduce new educational methods, contents and techniques.
> f) Creation and maintenance of an ICT in Education Website which will offer a portal that will make accessible all of the above-cited databases online as well as link to other existing websites and networks on the same topics (e.g., APSSSNET - the Asia Pacific Social Science School Network -- and existing science education networks).
> g) The development of national capacity in information repackaging, ICT use and setting up of electronic libraries through technical advice, attachments, and training courses
>
> Activity 3: Performance indicators
> As ICT become increasingly widespread, schools and other learning settings as well as education systems as a whole need to develop performance indicators to monitor the use and outcomes of the technologies and to demonstrate accountability to funding sources and the public. These indicators are needed specifically to monitor the types of ICT resources available and their accessibility, the extent and nature of professional development efforts, changes in teaching/learning practices, and improvement in what is learned by students. While the need to measure change in ICT use in education - and the impact of such change -- is accepted as an integral part of any ICT programme, several issues need to be carefully explored:
>
> (a) the development of indicators which can represent both quantitative and qualitative improvements in education as a result of ICT use;
> (b) the measurement of ICT usage with a focus on equity which refers to widespread and equal access to ICT (e.g., between genders); and
> (c) methods of collecting data on the selected indicators.
> An initial assessment of the indicators already developed by others shows their largely quantitative nature. While data that can be collected from these indicators can provide an overall view of infrastructure support and ICT penetration, this component should strive to examine more closely indicators that will show how ICT have been used not only as a basic operational tool but also as a communications process which promotes the development of cre> ativity, interactive and collaborative learning, and critical thinking and problem-solving. Eventually, educational policy makers and administrators should mainstream the use of these indicators into their national educational policies and management information systems.
> Activities
> a) A situation analysis to determine what initiatives and projects have been undertaken to measure ICT penetration, connectivity and use in the region and what indicators have been used
> b) An Experts' Group meeting from among UNESCO sub-regions to review existing indicators, identify the most salient indicators to measure both quantitative and qualitative impact, organize a mechanism for collecting data and identifying network nodes, and prepare a workplan for information processing, repackaging and dissemination
> c) Establishment of a systematic mechanism for the collection, storage, analysis, and dissemination of indicator data, based on a network of sub-regional and national focal centres
> d) Collection of indicators at national level through sub-contracts. This will entail identification of countries which will be included in the survey and, in each country, the identification of the organization that will collect the initial data and update these data as necessary
> e) Storing of the data in a database to be maintained in the Clearing House and repackaged into fact sheets, policy briefs and ICT tools for policy makers, administrators and implementers both in hard copy and in electronic versions for dissemination
> http://www.unescobkk.org/news/projects/2002/prn0201ict_in_education.htm
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