Rationale to the Integration of ICT into Teaching

In our present society, Information and Communications Technology has become an integral and accepted part of everyday life for many people. Technology is increasing in importance in people’s lives. Technology is pervasive and is driving changes on a global level in communications, economics, business enterprise and everyday living. Therefore, education cannot afford to take a back seat to the rest of the societal sectors. On the contrary, it is  job of educators to prepare students to take the lead in future markets (School Board of Broward County Curriculum and Instruction/Student Support Education Technology Services, 2003).

We no longer live in a world in which information is scarce, and the teacher’s role is to hand deliver content to children. Overwhelmed by information from a wealth of sources, students desperately need the skills to create new knowledge, not just consume the old. Problems never come neatly packaged, defined-in-advance, and amenable to the rote application of familiar strategies— except in school. The old certainties of a world defined by four classroom walls and impermeable boundaries have disappeared forever, replaced by global interdependencies and complex systems that require flexibility, responsiveness, and imagination (Jacobsen, Clifford, & Friesen, 2002). In that kind of world, the schooling needed is schooling where the learners   actively constructing instead of just an expert instructing (Goldman-Segall in Jacobsen, Clifford, & Friesen, 2002).

The integration of ICT into teaching benefits both student’s presence and the future. The student’s presence regards to academic achievement in formal school. Student’s future regards to entering the world of job after leaving formal school.

ICT Integrated Teaching Improves Students’ Academic Achievement

The technology changes the behavior of people particularly young learners. Children today are different. They study, work, write, and interact with each other in ways that are very different from the ways that we did growing up. They read blogs rather than newspapers. They often meet each other online before they meet in person. They probably don’t even know what a library card looks like, much less have one; and if they do, they’ve probably never used it. They get their music online—often for free, illegally—rather than buying it in record stores. They’re more likely to send an instant message than to pick up the telephone to arrange a date later in the afternoon. They adopt and pal round with virtual Neopets online instead of pound puppies. And they’re connected to one another by a common culture. Major aspects of their lives—social interactions, friendships, civic activities—are mediated by digital technologies. And they’ve never known any other way of life (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008).

Over the past decade, many articles have appeared in popular and educational journals providing anecdotal evidence of changes that educational technology can make in schools (Baylor & Ritchie, 2002). Technology can help schools achieve such desirable outcomes as improved test scores, reduced failure rates, lower absenteeism, fewer student withdrawals, increased graduation rates, improved job placement rates, and overall improvement in motivation (Duffy & Jonassen, 2005; Coffey, 2012; Kleiman, 2000; Saglam & Sert, 2012).

Hanover Research (2014) as quoting a 2009 report by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), found that incorporating technological tools in the classroom led to “positive academic results” and increased technological literacy for students. The study notes that student performance improved across a number of academic content areas, including mathematics, science, reading, and writing.

In her action research study, Souter Melissa (2015) compares the effects of technology-enhanced algebra instruction and traditional algebra instruction in terms of student academic achievement, student motivation, and student attitude towards algebra. She found that integrating technology into the mathematics classroom can increase student achievement, increase student motivation, and foster positive student attitudes. However she also stated that seeing positive results and having positive beliefs concerning using technology do not guarantee immediate technology integration.

ICT Integrated-Teaching Equips Student Entering World of Job of 21st Century

During the past decade there has been an exponential growth in the use of communication and information technology that has brought pervasive impacts on society. The communication and information age has progressed in ways never used before in society, work environments, institutions and people’s lives through the use of mediums such as laptops, iPhones and iPods. The information age has led to an increase in the use of technology ithin all spheres of society, resulting in education institutions mainstreaming programmes which prepare learners to be compatible with the use of technology into their curriculum (Joseph, 2006).

Corporations have become multinational and their workers can be anyplace and work at any time. Fast connections and standardized software link these corporations with workers wherever they are, and some members of this workforce live in parts of the world where salaries are low and benefits are unheard of.  Technology is driving force that created this environment. Technology makes people in remote locations viable employee who are eager to have the jobs. Companies use technology to become lean and efficient. They can track their goods and services from point of origin to delivery and at every step along the way. They know what they need at any moment and can make adjustments to the supply flow in real time using technology from distance. They trim expenses including worker costs (Solomon & Schrum, 2007).

The continuing evolvement of technology in fact continues to impact the evolvement of the jobs. Schrum & Levin (2009) stated that the kinds of work opportunities our students will have in the 21st century will continue to evolve. Some jobs available today will disappear altogether, and other as yet to be imagined jobs will emerge. We know there will continue to be jobs in the service sector because many of these types of jobs cannot be outsourced, but nearly all service-producing jobs already require at least some computer skills.

It is clear, from explanation above, that there is competition in search for job. Only those with skills that fit the recent nature of jobs will win the competition. What does it mean for teaching? It is obvious that educators through their teaching have to equip the young people with new skills which are often referred to as 21st skills. Because the main purpose of education is to prepare the young learners to enter the world of work. In fact, technological-enhanced teaching can equip students with skills essential for work and life in a 21st century global society (The Nellie Mae Education Foundation, 2011).