1. Week 4 - Policies and Issues on the Internet and Implications to Teaching and Learning (Part 1)
Definition of ICT Policy
The Oxford English Dictionary has defined” policy” as a
course of action, adopted and pursued by a government, party,
ruler, statesman. It is any course of action adopted as
expedient or advantageous. Its operational definition of
policy is a plan of action to guide decisions and achieve
outcomes.
Thus, ICT Policies are needed to put a roadmap or course
of actions to be pursued and adopted by various governments,
organizations, entities involving ICT. These include
principles and guidelines in the use of ICT which cover three
main areas: telecommunication (telephone), broadcasting
(radio and television) and Internet.
The New ICT Technologies
1. Information Technology- include the use of computers,
which has become indispensable in modern societies to
process data and save time and effort. What re needed
will be computer hardware and peripherals, software and
for the user, computer literacy.
2. Telecommunication technologies – include telephones
(with fax) and the broadcasting of radio and television
often through satellites, Telephone system, radio and TV
broadcasting are needed in this category.
3. Networking technologies- The best known of networking
technologies is Internet, but has extended to mobile
phone technology, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)
satellite communications and other forms of
communications are still in their fancy. In addition to
Internet, this category also includes mobile telephone,
cable, DSL, satellite and other broadband connectivity.
Information Technology
2. • Computer hardware and peripherals
• Software
• Computer literacy
Telecommunications Technology
• Telephone systems
• Radio and TV broadcasting
Networking Technology
• Internet
• Mobile telephones
• Cable, DSL, satellite and other broadband connectivity
The DICT Roadmap
In our country, the Department of Information and
Communication Technology (DICT) has formulated a roadmap to
guide all agencies in the utilization, regulation and
enhancement of ICT.
The ICT for Education (ICT4E) is a program under the
DICT that supports all the efforts of the education sector in
incorporating the use of ICT as well as in determining and
gaining access to the infrastructure (hardware, software,
telecommunications facilities and others) which are necessary
to use and deploy learning technologies at all level of
education. Among the policy recommended programs that have
applications to education teaching-learning are:
1. ICT in Education Master Plan for all levels, including
a National Roadmap for Faculty Development in ICT in
Education. A National Framework Plan for ICTs in Basic
Education was developed.
2. Content and application development through the Open
Content on Education Initiative ( OCEI) which converts
DepED materials into interactive multi-media content,
develop applications used in schools, and conduct
students and teachers competitions to promote the
development of education- related web content.
3. PheDNET, is a walled garden that hosts educational
3. learning and teaching materials and applications for use
by Filipino students, their parents and teachers. All
public high schools will be part of this network with
only DepEd approved multi-media applications, materials
and mirrored internet sites accessible from school’s
PCs.
4. Established Community eLEarning Centers called eSkwela
for out-of-school youth (OSY) providing them with ICT
enhanced alternative-education opportunities.
5. eQuality Program for tertiary education through
partnerships with state universities and colleges (SUCs)
to improve quality of IT education and the use of ICT in
education in the country, particularly outside of Metro
Manila.
6. Digital Media Arts Program which builds digital media
skills for government using Open Source technologies.
Particular beneficiary agencies include the Philippine
Information Agency and the other government media
organizations, the Cultural Center of the Philippines,
National Commission for Culture and Arts and other
government agencies, State Universities and Colleges and
local government units.
7. ICT skills strategic plan which develops an inter-agency
approach to identifying strategic and policy and program
recommendations to address ICT skills demand-supply
type.
Week 5 - Policies and Issues on the Internet and Implications to Teaching and Learning (Part 2)
Some Issues on ICT and Internet Policy and Regulations
Global Issues
Access and Civil Liberties are two sets of issues in ICT
Policy which are crucial to the modern society. The other
concern is civil liberties which refer to human rights and
freedom. These include freedom of expression, the right to
4. privacy, the right to communicate and intellectual property
sights.
Access to the Use of Internet and ICT. Access means the
possibility for everyone to use the internet and other media.
Infringement to Civil Liberties or Human Rights. What
are specific internet issues on internet policy that have
relationship to civil liberties or human rights?
Issue No.1: Freedom of Expression and Censorship
The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights provide
that everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion, likewise the right to freedom of opinion and
expression. However there are practices that violate these
provisions in the use of internet.
Some examples are the following:
1. Individual rights are given up in order to have access
to electronic networks. Microsoft Network’s (MSN’s
contracts provide protection of individuals like “upload
or otherwise make available files that contain images,
photographs or other materials protected by intellectual
property laws, including but not limiting to copyright
or trademark laws, unless your own or control the rights
thereto or have received all necessary contents to do
the same.” However Microsoft reserves the rights, in its
sole discretion, to terminate access to any all MSN sites
or services.
2. Censorship restricts the transmission of information by
blocking it or filtering the information. Blocking is
preventing access to whole areas of internet based upon
the “blacklist” of certain Internet address, location or
email addresses while filtering is sifting the packets
of data or messages as they move across computer networks
and eliminating those considered “undesirable”
materials. The selection of sites that are blocked or
filtered has been considered as an issue.
Issue No. 1: Privacy and Security
5. Privacy policies are an issue. Most commercial sites
have a privacy policy. When someone uses a site and clicks
“I agree” button, it is as if you have turned over private
information to any authority that may access it.
There are several types of privacy as known by the
following examples:
1. For most, privacy means “personal privacy” the right of
individuals not to have their homes, private life or
personal life interfered with.
2. Private of communication refers to the protection from
interference with communication over the phone or
internet. Respect for privacy of communications is an
essential prerequisite for the maintenance of human
relationship via technological communications media.
3. Information privacy is related to the use of computers
and communications system which are able to hold and
process information about large numbers of people at
high speed. It is important to ensure that information
will only be used for purposes for which it was gathered
and will not be disabled to others without consent of
the individuals.
Issue No. 3: Surveillance and Data Retention
The use of electronic communications has enhanced the
development of indirect surveillance. In the indirect
surveillance, there is no direct contact between the agent
and the subject of surveillance but evidence of activities
can be traced. The new and powerful form of indirect
surveillance is dataveillance. Dataveillance is the use of
personal information to monitor a person’s activities while
data retention is the storage and use of information from
communication system.
Issue No. 4: E-pollutants from E-waste
Large amount of e-waste is generated by ICT. These are
in particular, terminal equipments used for computing (PC’s,
laptops), broadcasting (television and radiosets), telephony
6. (fixed and mobile phones), and perpherals (fax machines,
printers and scanners).
The accumulated e-waste is due to rapid turn -over of
equipment due to rapid improvement of software. While
material waste can be destroyed by crushing, toxic material
brought about by the different equipment requires utmost
management.
Remedies include standardization and regulatory measures
to increase the life cycle of equipment before they become
obsolete. Efficient extraction of toxic components and
requiring the recycling by both consumers and equipment
vendors are selling must be required.
If not controlled then, e-waste will tremendously affect
climate change, damage human lives, and overload the earth
carrying solid waste.
Week 6 - Topic: Safety Issues Including Digital Safety Rules
Some Risks in the Use of ICT and e-Networking
Technology is a phenomenon that seems to be
uncontrollable. Despite the so many benefits for teaching and
learning, there are also negative effects or influence on the
learners.
There are so many risks that we have to be aware of in the
use of digital technologies. These may include the following.
1. Exposure to inappropriate content, including on-line
pornography, extremism ( exposure to violence associated
with racist language);
2. Lifestyle websites like self-harms and suicide sites,
and hate sites;
3. Cyber bullying in all forms, receiving sexually explicit
images or messages;
4. Privacy issues including disclosure of personal
information.
7. 5. Health and well- being (amount of time spent on-line,
internet gaming and many more;
6. Prolonged exposure to online technologies, particularly
at an early age;
7. Addiction to gambling and gaming;
8. Theft and fraud from activities such as phishing;
9. Viruses, Trojans, spyware and other malware; and
10. Social pressure to maintain online networks via
texting and social networking sites.
Minors Misuse of ICT
In school, some minor misuse made by learners include the
following:
• Copying information into assignment and failing to
acknowledge the source ( plagiarism and copyright
infringement)
• Downloading materials not relevant to their studies
• Misconduct associated with subject logins, such as using
someone else’s password.
• Leaving a mobile phone turned on during class period.
• Unauthorized taking of pictures or images with mobile
phone camera, still or moving
e-Safety
With all of the above concern and many more, how do we
confront all of these so as to protect our future generation?
e-safety takes care not only of internet technologies
but also of electronic communications via mobile phones,
games consoles and wireless technology. It highlights the
need to educate children and young people about the benefits,
risks and responsibilities of using information technology.
Here are some issues of e-safety:
• E-safety help safeguard children and young people in the
digital world
• E-safety emphasizes learning to understand and new
technologies in a positive way
• E-safety educates children about the risks as well as
8. the benefits so we can feel confident online; and
• E-safety supports young learners and adults to develop
safer online behaviors, both in and out of school.
