The document discusses the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in teaching and learning. It begins by outlining how ICT can complement and strengthen instruction by making vast amounts of educational material and tools available. ICT also facilitates participation, exploration, and collaborative learning. However, the status of ICT infrastructure in most Indian schools is inadequate, with few computers available on average per school. Teachers also lack training in effectively integrating ICT into their pedagogy. While ICT has great potential to improve education, more investment is needed to develop ICT capabilities in Indian schools.

1. 94 RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0975-3486, (Print), E- ISSN -2320-5482, Aug- Oct, 2013 (Combind) VOL –V * ISSUE- 47-49
Introduction
The focus of ICT in school education is to
complement, strengthen and reinforce teaching and
learning,primarilythelearning. Italsomakestheteach-
ing learning process engaging, interesting and interac-
tive. It makes available vast amount of educational
material as well as software and tools that can be used
forprocessing,analysisand presentationofmaterialas
well as its use in teaching learning. ICT facilitates
participation by the learner in the teaching learning
process.Itprovides greateropportunitiestothelearner
to explore, observe, enquire and construct knowledge.
It promotes collaborative learning. It helps explain
abstract and complex concepts and phenomena. It ex-
tends learning beyond classroom.
It can be used to strengthen problem solving
ability. It can be used to make education available and
accessible regardless of location, social status or fi-
nancial condition of the learner. ICT has a lot of scope
inteachinglearning.AccordingtoNationalCurriculum
Framework(NCF2005) providingchildrenmoredirect
accesstomultimediaequipmentandInformationCom-
municationTechnology(ICT),andallowingthemtomix
and make their own productions and to present their
own experiences, could provide themwith newoppor-
tunities to explore their own creative imagination
(NCERT,2005).
Although it is very easy to use yet the ICT has not been
adequately, appropriately and effectively utilised in
teaching-learning. Further, it has not been properly
integratedinthepedagogicalprocesses.Availabilityof
Research Paper— Education
Aug- Oct ,2013
Role of ICT in Teaching- Learning:
AContemporary Perspective
* Research Scholar, Singhania University, Pacheri Bari (Raj.)
** Supervisor
* Naresh Kapoor ** Dr. Satya VeerYadav
A B S T R A C T
Role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in all aspects of present day life in the globalised village, the
world, cannot be overemphasised. ICT has tremendous potential to facilitate carrying out of various activities efficiently. ICT
provides quick and easy access to enormous resources, material and updated information related to almost all the areas.
It provides real time access to phenomena, events and programmes. It facilitates participation and interaction in the teaching-
learning process. ICT can be used to provide conducive learning environment and better learning experiences to the learners
to enable them to achieve the learning outcomes. It can be used to facilitate the development of various skills. ICT can be
used to improve the quality of education. Capabilities of ICT can be used to concretise and transact abstract concepts. ICT
facilitates constructivist approach to teaching-learning. The present study attempts to explore from a contemporary
perspective the potential of ICT and its role in facilitating and making teaching-learning more effective.
The present study also tries to find out the status of ICT in school and its use in teaching-learning. ICT offers opportunities
for individualised learning at the same time facilitating cooperative learning and group controlled instruction. Video
conferencing and communication tools facilitate interaction among learners and between teachers and learners.
Key Words : ICT, teaching, learning, status ICT infrastructure to teachers and learners is not ad-
equate in India. Wherever it is being used, it is largely
being used in a tutorial mode as a tool for presentation
ofmaterialtoeasetheteacherbyrelievinghim/herofthe
labour of having to write on the blackboard and having
to bring the books, pictures, charts, etc. to the class-
room.Despite ICT theclassrooms areasdull and class-
room transaction as boring and as non-participative as
ever in conventional teaching in majority of situations
with learning being a burden for many of the learners
who neither learn nor are skilled for work or life.
2. ICT and Access to Material and Resources
ICTsmakeenormouslearningresourcesavail-
able to the learner. Material on virtually all the areas of
study is available in digital format. Internet is a vast
repository of material. Besides, many individuals and
organisationsdevelopdigitalmaterialonvariousareas.
Sitting at his / her place the learner can access material
generated and available at another place. Enormous
material is being continuously added and the existing
material updated. ICT makesit possible to add, update,
modify,deletematerialandmakeitavailableandacces-
sible to learner very easily and quickly.The learner can
view the live videos of events, programmes and phe-
nomena as they happen. The learner can search for the
materialrequiredveryquickly. LCD/LEDProjectorscan
be used to disseminate material to a large group and
facilitate large group instruction. Wi-Fi campuses of
educational institutions enable teachers and students
to access and use the material on the web within the
classroom or anywhere else in the campus. Tablets
further enable teachers and students to develop, read

2. 95RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0975-3486, (Print), E- ISSN -2320-5482, Aug- Oct, 2013 (Combind) VOL –V * ISSUE- 47-49
and share material anywhere. Smart phones enable a
person to remain connected to the web and other per-
sons, interact and collaborate anywhere.Applications,
tools, material, etc. can now be downloaded and used
to enhance learning at any time and place. ICT greatly
facilitatesdevelopment,dissemination,sharinganduse
ofmaterialtimely. ICTprovidesthelearnerwithalotof
flexibilityin accessing and engaging with material, de-
veloping own material, doing project work, preparing
assignments at one's own pace, place and time.
3.ICTandTeaching-Learning
ICT can be used to transact abstract and com-
plex concepts, processes and phenomena using simu-
lationtechnique,graphicsandmultimedia.Forexample,
photosynthesis,DNA, mitosis,fission,chemicalbond-
ing,etc.canbeexplainedveryclearlyusingICT.Using
techniqueofsimulation,multimedia and animationab-
stract concepts can be explained.
ICTs facilitate collaborative learning by pro-
viding communication tools such as email, chat, blog,
discussionboards,videoconferencing,socialnetwork-
ing, groups that enable learners to interact, share mate-
rial, discuss, evaluate and learn together. Discussion
boards or forums can be formed, which allow the stu-
dent to post questions online, which are read and re-
sponded to by the teacher, experts and other students
who are the members of the discussion board. The
teacher may use discussion boards to ask students to
solve certain problems or present cases that challenge
the thinking skill of the students. ICTs can be used to
provideguidelinesorframeworkforstudentstoprepare
projects on different areas.
These boards engage the students. The stu-
dentsmaybe asked to carryout variousactivities.Thus
the discussion boards can be used to extend learning
beyond the classroom. They provide an opportunity to
every student to participate. They help students over-
come low self esteem and freely discuss on different
areas. They free the teachers and the students from the
rigidity and constraints of time and adequate availabil-
ity of effective teacher, typically associated with tradi-
tionalclassroom.Usingvideoconferencingtheteacher
or the expert or a panel of experts can transact quality
content effectively using appropriate pedagogy, while
maintaining the standard of teaching. It can be used to
overcome the constraints of time, availability of infra-
structureandmaterial andgeographicaldistances. The
experts can demonstrate, show how to use TLM in
teaching . The students get an opportunity to interact
withtheexpert,askquestions,seekclarifications,share
their views and get immediate answers, clarifications
and feedback.
The teacher can assign a common task to a
group of students such as preparation of a project and
the students may carry out the task together using the
communication tools provided by ICTs. ICTs can be
used to supplement face to face interaction. The stu-
dentsmaymeettoworktogetherontheprojectandthen
interact using ICTs as they progress. Naone, E. 2007.
Unrealmeetings:SecondLife'svirtualconferencerooms
mightbemoreusefuliftheydidnotresembletheirreal-
world counterparts.TechnologyReview,July11. ICTs
provide tools that enable other members of the group
to see, give feedback and even make modifications on
the work done on the project by some members of the
group. ICTs enable students at geographically distant
locations to work together and learn together. ICT en-
ables quick and accurate processing of data.
This helps a person to analyse, establish rela-
tionships, explain and understand phenomena and in-
fer.ICTsprovideteacherandthestudentsampleoppor-
tunity to access, explore, refer to and utilize material
other than the text books, work books, etc. The learner
maycompile,collate,group,classify,analyse,evaluate
anddrawinferencesfrom materialandresources using
ICT tools. The teacher can use ICTs to design lessons
thatrequirethelearnertoexplore,observe,gatherinfor-
mation, collect data, analyse, infer and in the process
learn.ThusICTsfacilitatedevelopmentofhigherorder
thing skills. Using ICTs teacher can give regular and
timely feed back to the students.
Besides, ICTs may encourage learner to rea-
son and think logically. It can be used to develop prob-
lem solving skill. ICTs can be used to make education
inclusive.ICTfacilitatesthelearnertoengageinanarea
more intensively by managing the learning environ-
ment. It enhances the learning experience. Using mul-
timedia and the technique of simulation ICT provides
reallifeexperiencestothelearner.Threethemesemerged
across all six schools as the teachers spoke about what
they found to be valuable for their teaching: (a) their
beliefs about howstudents learn were shifting; (b) they
had a deeper understanding ofnewteaching strategies;
and (c) they had improved their knowledge of how to
useICTasalearningtool,aswellasstrengtheningtheir
ICTskills.(Light,D.2009)
4.Statusof ICTinSchoolsand inTeaching-
Learning Inasurveyofinformationand com-
munications technology in schools carried out in En-
gland, it was found that on an average, number of
computers used for teaching and learning per school
was 28.6 at primary level, 192.7 at secondary level,
primary schools had on an average 25.4 desktop com-
puters per school, 6.1 laptop computers per school,
secondary schools had on an average 190.6 desktop
computersperschool,28.8 laptopcomputersperschool,
48% ofprimaryschools and 82% ofsecondaryschools
hadelectronicinteractivewhiteboards,43%of primary

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International Indexed & Refereed Research Journal, ISSN 0975-3486, (Print), E- ISSN -2320-5482, Aug- Oct, 2013 (Combind) VOL –V * ISSUE- 47-49
schools and 91 % of secondary schools had digital
projectors,7% of primaryschoolsand 33%ofsecond-
ary schools had video conference facilities, practically
all the primary and secondary schools i.e. >99% of the
schools were connected to the Internet
In a survey of schools of Delhi it was found
that on an average, number of computers per school
was11 in Govt.Schools,32 inpublic schools,no Govt.
School had a laptop, 9.55% of Govt. Schools had a
digital camera, 1.91% of Govt. Schools had an LCD
Projector;19.35%ofprivateschoolshadalaptop,18.28%
ofthemhadadigitalcamera,36.56%ofthemhadanLCD
Projector; overall, of all types of schools, 7.12% had a
laptop,12.62%hadadigitalcameraand12.94%hadan
LCDProjector;7.64%ofGovt.Schoolscovered,19.35%
of private schools and 11.33% of all types of schools
covered had an Interactive white board.
Findings
Only 13% of the 1.2 million schools in India
have computers. These are not equally distributed
among differentgeographical areas and different types
ofschools.Onanaveragethereareveryfewcomputers
per school. There are very schools in India which have
laptop,LCDProjector,Interactivewhiteboardorvideo
conferencefacilities. InmostoftheschoolsICTsarenot
appropriately used to achieve desired educational
outcomes. A vast majority of schools in India do not
have adequate, functional ICT infrastructure which is
accessible to teachers and students. Many schools do
notevenhavepower.Theylackfinancialresourcesand
trained human resources, have very high pupil teacher
ratio, ill-equipped classrooms. Theydo not have a plan
to teach ICT, to integrate ICT in teaching-learning.
Teachers lack adequate ICT competencies. They are
not trained in the use of ICT in teaching-learning. Ap-
propriateeducationalsoftwarehavenotbeenadequately
developed.
Conclusion
ICT has a very important role in facilitating
teaching-learning. It can be used to develop various
skillsandmaketeaching-learninginteresting,engaging
and learner centred. It can be used to give real life like
learning experiences to the learner and extend learning
beyond the classroom. In India there is inadequate ICT
infrastructure in majority of the schools. Teachers are
not adequately trained in ICT and its integration in
teaching-learning. Attitude of the HOS, teachers and
the environment are not conducive to effective use of
ICT in teaching-learning. Potential of ICT can be har-
nessed to meet some of the challenges facing education
-educationofalargepopulation,multilingualandmulti
culturaldiversity,inaccessibilityofpeopletogoodedu-
cational infrastructure, individualising instruction to
theneedsofthelearnerhelpinghimrealisehispotential.
Suggestions
Smartclassrooms,ICTresourcecentres,com-
puter labs should be established, other classrooms
should be equipped with adequate ICT hardware and
softwareresources. Thereshouldbefacilitiesforvideo
conferencing. Curricula should be redesigned to have
ascopeforICT-mediatedclassroomtransaction, useof
appropriate e-learning resources, ICT enabled evalua-
tioninvariouscurricularareas.Thereshouldberegular,
professional development of Heads of schools and
teachers to develop, enhance and upgrade their ICT
skills as well as to develop pedagogical and ICT skills
requiredtointegrateICTinteaching-learninginvarious
areas effectively. Time table should be prepared keep-
ing in mind organisation of ICT education and integra-
tion of ICT in teaching-learning.
Classroom transaction should be reorganised
to be more interactive and participative, to focus on
giving life-like learning experiences to learners, devel-
oping higher order thinking skills, inculcating spirit of
enquiry, exploration, cooperation, collaboration and
working in a team using the potential of ICT. It should
be based on constructivism. There should be such a
classroom environment that facilitates effective use of
ICT in teaching-learning. Teachers should be encour-
aged to observe ICT driven teaching in different areas,
give their feedback, carryon meaningful interaction on
how to integrate ICT to make teaching-learning more
experiential, joyful, engaging and effective.
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