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Technology, New Technology or the Right Technology? |
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| While
the digital revolution offers real opportunities for education,
information and communication technology is a costly investment.
There is still much to be said for using a mixture of appropriate
technologies, including the less costly "old reliables",
radio and television. |
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The global spread of computers and the Internet is changing
the way people communicate and do business. Yet there is considerable
disagreement among experts over what the impact of the digital
revolution will be on education, particularly in developing
countries. Despite the enthusiasm of many proponents, new technology
is unlikely to be a “magic bullet” capable of solving problems
educationalists have been struggling with for years. On the
contrary, it may aggravate existing inequalities. Mark Malloch
Brown of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reminds
us that “even as science and technology continue to create new
wealth in rich countries, the conditions in developing countries
are in many instances worsening”. |
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| Professor
David Johnston of Canada’s Information Highway Advisory Council
(IHAC) is an enthusiastic proponent of information and communication
technology (ICT). IHAC’s national connectivity strategy has
already linked over 15,000 schools and 3,000 public libraries
to the Internet, as part of a public-private partnership. Johnston
explains that its goal is to prepare for a world in which “globalization
is pervasive, the information highway is reshaping business
and markets, there is a shift to knowledge workers in every
sector of the economy and innovation is the source of value-added
growth”. |
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| The
promise that ICT holds for education in such a context is undeniable.
Maris O’Rourke of the World Bank identifies three other ways
in which ICT can make a difference: it can include the excluded,
by developing open and distance learning options; it can decentralize
education administrations and increase community involvement;
and it can be used to teach about the technology itself, helping
people acquire the skills and competencies needed for the future.
“A nineteenth-century education is not going to get us a twenty-first
century future,” she remarks. |
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Programmes
such as IHAC require massive resources beyond the reach of most
developing coun-tries. The critical question is whether such
programmes are appropriate anyway. A thematic study for the
EFA 2000 Assessment by the International Research Foundation
for Open Learning assesses the feasibility of applying ICT in
the poorer countries of the world. It concludes that, whatever
the technology used, the imperative to build, maintain and staff
primary schools must remain a financial priority. As for secondary
and higher education, ICT has perhaps great potential but costs
are high. |
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Clearly, new technology presents both threats and opportunities
for education. One of the opportunities is the enormous scope
for co-operation among developing countries. Malloch Brown
believes that the South is perfectly capable of finding its
own solutions to the challenges of change. He cites the Republic
of Korea’s experience in promoting state-of-the-art research
and development, the policies that have worked for India in
establishing its “Silicon Valley” in Bangalore and the emerging
software industry in Costa Rica. All these initiatives, says
Malloch Brown, can provide adaptable blueprints for development.
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One of the threats is that the “digital divide” between those
who have access to computer skills and the Internet, and those
who don’t, may actually widen, rather than narrow. Indian
software specialist Venkatesh Hariharan points out that because
only 10 per cent of India’s population (of one billion) speak
English, some 900 million Indians are effectively excluded
from the “digital revolution” for the foreseeable future.
This is the case for speakers of minority languages everywhere:
the dominance of English on the Internet is in many ways as
much a barrier as the high cost of equipment.
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New
technology is unlikely to be a "magic bullet" capable
of solving problems educationalists have been struggling with
for years.
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Putting a computer in every classroom, besides being extremely
costly, may not necessarily be the best policy for a developing
country. The cost of delivering interactive educational radio
programmes has been estimated at somewhere between $3 and $8
per student per year, while the equivalent cost for computers
in schools is between $18 and $63 per person per year. |
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The EFA study lists alternative strategies for providing computer
access: “the use of mobile units, the sharing of computer facilities
with other agencies and mediated access where a third party
seeks information through computer networks on behalf of learners”.
All were “under-emphasized in early planning”, claims the report. |
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Many initiatives combine new and old technologies in imaginative
ways to deliver educational content. Chulie de Silva of Lanka
Academic Network (LAcNet), explains how an interactive radio
programme offers Sri Lankan villagers the possibility of requesting
Internet searches on subjects they are interested in. Telesecundaria
in Mexico has been offering television-based secondary education
for children in rural areas of the country for the last quarter
of a century, and educational television looks set to continue
for some time yet. |
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Some people question the way in which the technology discussion
is being framed. Jan Visser, president of the Learning Development
Institute, claims that proponents of the new technology often
tend to see education as a delivery process. He calls for reassessment
of traditional assumptions: the nature of pedagogy, the role
of learners and of those who facilitate learning, and the relationship
between school and community. |
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The uncertainties about the impact of ICT on education
will take time to be resolved. “Out with the old, in with the
new” is a stark choice: it is per-haps more useful to frame
the debate not in terms of old or new technolo-gies, but of
appropriate technologies applied in a cost-effective way to
the task of delivering education for all. |
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