Propósitos y Representaciones

Ene. - Jun. 2017, Vol. 5, Nº 1: pp. 325-347 ISSN 2307-7999

http://dx.doi.org/10.20511/pyr2017.v5n1.149 e-ISSN 2310-4635

Review article

Impact of ICT on Education: Challenges and Perspectives

Impacto de las TIC en la educación: Retos y Perspectivas

Ronald M. Hernandez
Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, Lima, Perú.

Received on: 06-01-17

Approved on: 10-03-17

Corresponding author How to cite:

Email: [email protected] Hernandez, R.M.. (2017 Impact of ICT on
Education: Challenges and Perspectives.
Propósitos y Representaciones, 5(1), 325-
347. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.20511/pyr2017.
v5n1.149

© Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola, Vicerrectorado de Investigación y Desarrollo, 2017.

This article is distributed under license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Internacional
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Impact of ICT on Education: Challenges and Perspectives

Summary

This paper sets out the main challenges and provides an overview of the future
of ICTs and their connection with education. It begins with a description of
the so-called knowledge-based society and how its evolution, an offspring of
technology, has encompassed different areas, paving the way for innovation
in education and prompting generation of new knowledge. It also outlines
the importance of each educational agent (teacher-student) and their role in
transforming the teaching-learning process.

Keywords: ICT, education, challenges, perspectives.

Resumen

El presente artículo define los principales retos y muestra un panorama

futuro de las TIC y su relación en el ámbito educativo. El inicio está
plasmado por la definición, de lo que actualmente se llama sociedad del
conocimiento y cómo su evolución, producto de la tecnología, ha abarcado
distintas áreas, permitiendo innovar a la educación, estimulando la creación
de nuevos conocimientos, de esta manera se describe la importancia de cada
agente educativo (docente-alumno) y su rol transformador en el proceso de
enseñanza-aprendizaje.

Palabras clave: TIC, educación, retos, perspectivas.

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Introduction

The Knowledge-Based Society and Technologies

Man’s need to explain and understand his universe has given rise to the pursuit
of knowledge in society, a necessary component to help him understand his
individual and social reality. Chaparro (2001) argues that man’s position
in society is emerging as one where the individual will have the ability to
develop and generate knowledge allowing him to adapt to a dynamic and
ever-changing reality.

Nowadays “information” available can be cataloged and accessed on

an unlimited and immediate basis, and transmission thereof occurs across
all areas of an individual’s life, including politics, economy, education, and
leisure.

The vast amount of information being now generated in our society has
prompted its designation as the knowledge-based society. Some scholars
go further and call it the digital society or the information society in their
attempt to connect it with technology; however, both concepts carry the idea
of living in an age where accumulation of information provides a boost for
social interactions and dynamics. (Aguilar 2012). Krüger (2006) defines the
knowledge-based society as the social transformation occurring in modern
society and provides a view of the future of the different sciences. Andalia
(n.d., as cited in Rodriguez, n.d.) states that a difference exists between
what is known as the knowledge-based society and the information society.
He views the latter as a media-based digital revolution being disseminated
through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), whilst
knowledge-based society bases its conception on conveying and stimulating
its resources through the use of technological tools, generating faster and
more effective products.

These concepts show that origins and development thereof stem from
technological innovation and advances that are closely tied to ICT in the

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Impact of ICT on Education: Challenges and Perspectives

fields of educational planning and training as well as in terms of organization

(knowledge management) and work (knowledge work) (Krüger, 2006).

But how do we come to these conceptions, differences and similarities?

Fernández and Panadeiro (2009) argue that convergence has occurred across
the various technological areas, where computing, coupled with electronics
and telecommunications, have seen their mutual relationship and support
grow, with development between both being fostered.

The factors deemed inherent in this transition between knowledge and

society is technology; such progress is evident in the different sciences,
creating opportunities for change and adaptation, but posing challenges too.
Chaparro (2001) identifies the convergence of three technological areas
that have led to the transformation of contemporary societies: (1) computer
science; (2) telecommunication and (3) data processing. Applications thereof
in the different sciences have generated changes in contemporary society.

This relationship may be first understood a social development (Tello,

2007). In this sense, the foundation of technology and knowledge has been
laid in such fashion that the connection of both play an essential role in
societal development and transformation, which is due to the rapid progress
and opportunities in practice, and its impact on the lives of human beings is
a fact (Valderrama, 2012).

According to Rodríguez (2003), the era of progress where a society

furthers its progress through capital and labor has come to an end. A
competitive society has emerged that relies on the acquisition, transmission
and application of knowledge. It is from these conceptions that, together
with the technological edge, school educational processes emerge.

It is here that education has been influenced by technology, which

has directly changed the way of interacting, communicating, studying and
investigating (Pescador, 2014). Thus, technology has become an engine for
opportunities, allowing the potential to innovate in education, where the

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results generated by this scientific development should seek to address such

social-educational issues as are useful for development.

Integration of ICT and Education.

The impact of ICT on the knowledge-based society has brought about major
changes. In terms of form and content, it has had a massive and multiplying
effect, to such an extent that the purpose of knowledge has come to permeate
the wider society, with education being among the broadest implications and
developments brought thereby. Parra (2012) claims that school is one of the
venues where technology has had the greatest impact, which in turn has had
an effect on the role of the teacher and become a part of the school everyday
life.

The integration of ICT into education has become a process whose

implications go far beyond the technological tools nurturing the educational
environment. The ideas of teaching construction and the way one can build
and consolidate meaningful learning based on technology are now being
discussed, or the technological use of education, in strictly pedagogical
terms (Díaz-Barriga, 2013).

The transformation of ICT has allowed these to become educational

tools that could further improve the educational quality of the student and
revolutionize the way information is obtained, managed and interpreted
(Aguilar (2012).

As part of the roles played by each educational agent, students currently

use technological tools to facilitate learning. This development began early
on with the emergence of calculators, TV sets, voice recorders, among other.
However, such has been the progress that technological resources have
become educational resources, where efforts to improve learning entail the
task of involving technology with education. And it is with teaching that
the teaching-learning process is being completed. According to Granados
(2015), the use of ICT means breaking with traditional media, boards, pens,
etc., and it has given way to a teaching role based on the need for training

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Impact of ICT on Education: Challenges and Perspectives

in and updating one’s knowledge of teaching methods based on current

requirements.

Cabero (2005) states that the emerging technologies were created

outside an educational context and were later integrated into it. Suárez and
Custodio (2014) state that education, as a relevant aspect in human life, has
combined with ICT to create a new learning environment where students take
responsibility for their own learning, where time and flexibility play a major
role, as education becomes increasingly digital, as digitalization has become
a revolution, and as new technologies converge into emerging educational
and pedagogical paradigms. (Suárez & Custodio, 2014)

Educational Challenges Facing ICT

The far-reaching changes brought to education by technology were discussed

above. Hence one should bear in mind that the main challenge now is how
to address this technological approach to the teaching and learning process.

Herrera (2015) states that technology and its contributions are evolving
and changing the fields of knowledge very quickly. It is here that it can be
appreciated that education, as a discipline, is taking on new challenges that
deserve a more detailed study.

Teachers, faced with the transformative vision of a society that needs

to integrate ICT into the classroom, have seen their role change into that
of agents with the ability to generate the necessary skills for a society
‘yearning’ for technological knowledge and the frequent use thereof in
various educational matters.

Successfully integrating ICT into education depends to a large extent

on the teacher’s ability to structure the learning environment (Unesco,
2008). There is much talk about giving the “leap” forward and “breaking
up” traditional formulas with cooperation and teamwork-based learning.
However, the use and involvement of ICTs in education has not yet been
understood as a tool through which meaningful learning can be generated.
Frequent mistakes at school minimize ICT as a tool allowing access to,
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and transmission of, information, a misconception that continues to plague

traditional education. (Mestres, 2008)

Teachers must structure their role by organizing the way students acquire
cognitive competences and manage to apply them in different situations
(Unesco, 2008). Classroom teaching will require new spaces so as to add to
current knowledge through the use of technological media by both students
and teachers. The emergence of ICTs easily fits into this process.

Students participate as new educational agents, who have become a

major element for communication and social interaction as a result of being
born in a high-tech society (Cabero, 2010).

The diversity of scenarios, contexts and trends in education currently

impose new roles on the training process, which brings challenges for future
professionals and the institutions and agents responsible for their education.
(Prieto, et al. 2011).

A Look at the Future of ICT in Education

The use of ICT in education has increasingly become an essential element

of the educational environment. Accompanied by technological tools, use of
ICT in education is to become an increasingly ever-present reality in society,
hence expansion to embrace students, teachers and educational institutions
will result in optimization of the teaching-learning process.

Undoubtedly, an analysis of different views in the education sector

shows the importance and growing perspective of technology, which would
advance social and collaborative learning, with a dimension capable of
fostering the liaison between current societies and an education that is both
transformative and adaptable.

Díaz-Barriga (n.d.) states that at present education may not be conceived

of separately from ICT or deny the support lent by ICT to education. From
this perspective it is hard to evoke any educational innovation that is not tied
to technological developments.

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Impact of ICT on Education: Challenges and Perspectives

The 2002 publication 2020 Visions, Transforming Education and

Training Through Advanced Technologies shows the different contexts in
which educational institutions will forge the use of ICT in education. A
collection of articles, the volume explores the feasibility of this technology,
where assessment of aspects such as physical space, materials, teaching
models, monitoring, evaluation and teacher training are some of the issues to
be addressed by education if the latter is to adopt a more objective approach
towards the importance of ICT in education.

According to Tapia y León (2013), integration of ICT in education must

be accompanied by a series of guidelines defining a framework for decision-
making regarding the actions to be taken during the process. It identifies three
dimensions: (1) Information related to access to, shaping and transformation
of new knowledge and digital environment information; (2) Communication,
connected with collaboration, teamwork and technological adaptability; (3)
Ethics and Social Impact, linked to the competencies needed to face the
ethical challenges of globalization and the rise of ICTs.

Coll (2004) mentions that based on the different material and personal
resources available to educational institutions,

It is not in ICT, but in such activities as carried out by teachers and

students thanks to the possibilities of communication and information
exchange, access and processing as those offered by ICTs, that we are
to find the key to understanding and valuing the scope of their impact
on school education, including their potential impact on improved
learning outcomes (2004 p. 5).

Conclusions

Current situation shows us that access to ICT is a major requirement for

participation in a technological society (Tello, 2007). Adoption of ICTs as a
means to provide access and continuity must begin by breaking up the digital
divides of a society that has not internalized adaptation dynamics yet.

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 Ronald M. Hernandez

There is talk of integrating ICT in education once the educational system

is in a position to design meaningful learning generated through experiences
and a reflective content, capable of having both students and teachers generate
knowledge. The above is focused not only on the classroom (Aguilar, 2012).
Every space and moment where learning occurs must conceive of the idea of
becoming this signal achievement.
ICTs, as technological tools, have increased the degree of significance
and educational conception, establishing new models of communication,
besides generating spaces for training, information, debate, reflection, among
others, as well as breaking up the barriers of traditionalism in the classroom
(Ayala, n.d.).
The teaching-learning process in the classroom, using ICT, requires
a set of skills to be developed by the teacher with a view to internalizing
a methodology to make the most of technological tools, in which teacher
training shall be deemed among the first options prior to facing new
educational challenges.
In the context of ideas above, the transition from traditional education to
a knowledge acquisition-based society has been no easy task. The functional
role of teachers within this approach not only requires a change in their
methodological practices, but a change of mind involving their beliefs in the
different environments where learning can be achieved.
The contribution of ICTs to education and society as such is undoubtedly
flexibility and adaptability to an increasingly changing environment. While
at the outset labor was mainly affected by this process, however, the passage
of time has shown that society depends on a technological approach to help
it build and acquire knowledge.
ICTs, in their role as tools added to pedagogical models, can become
valuable resources for learning and for equipping students with appropriate
personal and professional skills for a country’s development (Prieto,
Quiñones, Ramírez, Fuentes, Labrada, Pérez & Montero, 2011).

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