Challenges In Ict

CHALLENGES IN ICT BY NUR HIDAYAH BT TAIB –D20081032294Globally, the education sector has seen a shift from black boards to white boards with marker pens over the decades. But a much more powerful change in the last decade has been the emergence of classrooms without walls. In Malaysia, the education system was upgraded by the integration of ICT in teaching and learning to prepare students for a fast evolving knowledge. In the National Education Blueprint 2006-2010, a new curriculum that stressed on literacy in science and technology was introduced. E-learning became the culture in the education system and has been upgraded with the implementation of Smart school .However, in order to fulfill the vision, there are few issues and challenges to be solved. One of the greatest challenges in ICT integration is the ICT infrastructures. In order to integrate ICT in schools, infrastructure likes computers, computer lab, Internet service for online learning, telephony, and proper electrical wiring are very important. However, in our coutry, the failure to provide these infrastructures well in every school was created the digital gap among students in the urban and remote area. Although the government is giving priority to broadband connectivity and PC penetration to ensure maximum reach of Internet, financial constraints and geographical locations have made it difficult for many schools to access high speed bandwidth. Hence prioritising infrastructure rollout and its upgradation is essential in aiding successful implementation of e-Learning. The lack of skills in technology among teachers should be given attention. The problems occur when the teachers do not know how to use and apply the technologies. They might unable to choose the relevant resources, particularly software or websites. Then, they will fail to guide their students in selection of appropriate resources and the search skills. Therefore, regular training programmes for teachers need to be held to update them on teaching methods and IT competencies The lacks of technical support also become the obstacle in the ICT integration. In some extreme cases involving schools in remote areas, disabled computers take months to be repaired since no technician is available in the immediate vicinity and so the computers have to be sent to the nearest city hundreds of kilometers away. The technical support is really required in the installation, operation, maintenance of technical equipment, network administration, and network security. Technical support specialists are essential to the continued viability of ICT use in a given school The language and content also be pointed as the challenges. As we know, dominant language of the internet is English and so with the online content. In our country, language represents a serious barrier to maximize the educational benefits of the ICT since English proficiency is not high among students especially at the rural area. So, the using of English among students must be encouraged to get rid of this challenge. In conclusion, our vision to achieve fully developed nation that could compete in the global knowledge will be fulfilled if all the challenges could be solved wisely.