E-Content Development : Need and Significance

Introduction

The unprecedented advances in the field of ICT have impacted the field of education more than any other field. “Rapid advances in Information and Communication Technology have created unprecedented opportunities in the field of education and have had a profound effect on the way teachers teach and how learners learn. Mastering ICT skills and utilising ICT towards creating an improved teaching and learning environment is of utmost importance to teachers in creating a new learning culture” (Molly Lee, 2005).

With the speed at which technology is changing the world, it is impossible to imagine education in the year 2020 not being immersed in technology. As the new millennium unfolds itself, most people are by now aware that we are in the midst of one of the most dramatic technological revolutions in history that is changing everything, the way in which we work, communicate, transact business, spend our leisure time and what not. The technological revolution centres on computer, information, communication and multimedia technologies, is often interpreted as the beginnings of a knowledge or information society, and therefore ascribes education a central role in every aspect of life. This great transformation poses tremendous challenges to educators to rethink their basic tenets, to deploy the media in creative and productive ways, and to restructure education to respond constructively and progressively to the technological and social changes that we are now experiencing, as “teachers are the central forces in tapping the learning opportunities created by ICT” (Majumdar, 2004).

Framework for ICT in Teacher Education

UNESCO Planning Guide on ICT in Teacher Education proposed a generic framework for ICT in Teacher Education (Figure-1), which is composed of four clusters of competencies encircled by four supportive themes. The curriculum framework suggests that each teacher may be allowed to interpret the framework within his or her context and personal approach to pedagogy. This may always be related to the subject discipline or content area, rather than to the technology itself.

Figure 1. A Framework for ICT in Teacher Education

The holistic framework defines areas of ICT competency organized in four groups:

1. Content and Pedagogy focus on instructional practices of teachers and their knowledge of the curriculum. It requires that teachers apply ICT in their respective disciplines to support and extend teaching and learning.

2. Collaboration and networking showcase the communicative potential of ICT to extend learning beyond the classroom and necessitate the development of new knowledge and skills.

3. Social issues, which imply that teachers can acquire an understanding of social issues, including the recognition and understanding of legal and moral codes such as copyright and intellectual property rights; participation in debates on the impact of ICT on society; and the use of ICT in the promotion of a healthy society. Awareness of such issues will lead to suitable application of ICT in pedagogy and development.

4. Technical issues include technical proficiency and the provision of both technical infrastructure and technical support for ICT integration throughout the curriculum. These core competencies can be seen as ‘cluster objectives that are critical for the successful use of ICT as a tool for learning’. They can be developed and utilized in technology-pedagogy integration in the following four supportive themes:

• Context and culture identify social, cultural and other contextual factors to be taken into account in infusing ICT into teacher education curriculum. This will include the use of ICT in culturally appropriate ways with respect to pluralistic and diversified cultures and contexts.

• Leadership and vision are essential for the effective use of ICT in teacher education and will benefit greatly from the support of the administrations of the teacher education institutions concerned.

• Lifelong learning recognizes the nature of capacity building as a long-term process, rather than as a one-stop-for-all training course.

• Management of change signifies the importance of planning in effective management of the changing process involved in the use of technology for educational purposes.

As seen in the above framework (Fig.1), it is the ‘content and pedagogy’ that stands as the competency of prime importance in the process of technology-pedagogy integration. Such prime importance, given to ‘content and pedagogy’ underscores the change in the teacher’s role from that of a knowledge transmitter to that of a facilitator, knowledge navigator, co-learner and courseware developer, all rolled into one. The new role does not diminish the importance of the teacher but requires new ways of thinking that will culminate in ICT-enhanced pedagogy. The paradigm shift from traditional model of teaching to the new model of teaching and its technology implications (Table 1), as illustrated by Shirley et al. (2000) deserves a close study in this context.

Table 1: Implications of New Technologies

‘Traditional’ Model of Teaching	New Model of Teaching	Technology Implications
Classroom Lectures	Individual Exploration	Availability of networked Computers with guided access to online information and learning Materials.
Teacher as Deliverer of Information	Teacher as a Guide	Teaching via programme websites and online learning environments; access to external experts over the Internet
Individual Work	Collaborative Learning	Access to email and online ‘conferencing’ tools
Face-to-face Teaching	Flexible and Distance Learning	Student access to networked computers for materials delivery and support
Consistent Content	Fast-changing Content	Availability of networks, web space and web publishing tools; sharing of computer-based learning materials with other institutions

No wonder, the UNESCO Planning Guide (2002) nominates pedagogy, along with content, as “the most important aspect of infusing technology in the curriculum”.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Pedagogy cannot exist in isolation to contents. In fact, there is a new beginning to appreciate that the two intertwined into what is described as Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), and is an essential tenet in the current thinking about teacher education. The term content refers to far more than factual information. It encompasses all aspects of a subject: concept, principles, relationships, methods of inquiry and outstanding issues. The blend of content and pedagogical knowledge includes understanding why some learners experience difficulties when learning a particular concept, while others find it easy to assimilate knowledge about useful ways to conceptualize and represent a chosen concept. The basic principle of PCK is to make teaching and learning: (a) engaging and motivating; (b) interactive; (c) contextual; (d) reducing cognitive load; (e) scaffolding; and (f) collaborative. With ICT, there are better ways and opportunities to make above principles more realistic learning experiences. ICT encourages interactions, development of collaborative culture, utilization of active learning and introduction of feedback in proper context. ICT can bring abstract concept to life by bringing into the teaching and learning the real world experiences through simulating, modeling, capturing and analyzing real event.

E-Content Development

An essential condition for effective ICT enabled teaching and learning is that there must be access to high quality, culturally relevant content. Although it may not provide such content, the Web can be a powerful tool for teacher educators, teachers and others to develop and share content that meets cultural, linguistic and educational needs of the Indian education system. SchoolNet (Africa) and Four Direction Project (North America) are examples using the Web for indigenous and collaborative development and sharing of e-content that reflect the language, culture and resident knowledge of the community. In the process of developing a techno-pedagogy for the ‘new’ learner in the ‘new’ environment, learning ‘new’ things using ‘new’ technologies, the first issue to be addressed is the development of content. It is imperative to note that many corporate organizations have entered this domain which should be totally under the control of the teachers. The point of paramount importance is the fact that if teachers don’t create e-content, either no one else can or somebody else will. Of course, the task of developing e-content or Knowledge Packaging necessitates collaborative efforts by technologists and academics. In this context, the following observation of Vladimir Kinelev (2005) needs attention, “ICTs have not eliminated the most pressing of problems that education systems face. Attempts to improve education through ICTs suffer from the absence of sound education paradigms”. It is here that the teacher with clarity in content and depth in pedagogy assumes a pivotal role in creating the right instructional design and in creating appropriate content in effective manner. Indeed, Knowledge Packaging has always been there since the Gurukula days in different forms like conversations, lectures, songs, stories, manuscripts, print, audio and what not. Now, the need for digital convergence of these forms is imperative to provide quality education to greater quantities of learners for the simple reason that the reach and richness of e-content is quite high. Other salient features of e-content viz., bi-sensory learning experience, digital convergence of text, image, audio, video, animation etc. to create the effects of multimedia, accessibility, reusability, interoperability etc. are the supporting points in favour of the claim to give top priority to e-content development, among all academic endeavours. The question of content creation looms large in the backdrop of EDUSAT and exclusive educational television channels like Vyas, Gyandarshan, Ekalyva which are badly in need of content to telecast. Responding to the need, the UGC – Consortium of Educational Communication has taken up a mission of training the Higher Education teachers in the art and science of e-content creation. But, for a country like India with one of the largest higher education systems in the world, a single agency cannot serve the immediate purpose. The need of the hour is a policy decision to train the teacher educators and personnel of other teacher development agencies in the country as trainers in e-content development, who in turn would carry the message and continue the mission of providing e-content development training to scores of teachers across the nation. Of course the question of creating the necessary infrastructure comes up. The solution is to exploit the potentials of EMMRCs and to create departmental level studios, like the one at the Department of Educational Technology, Bharathidasan University. The cost involved will only prove to be an investment and not expenditure.

Conclusion

The global village has been reduced to the size of a nano-chip. VOIP and VOD have become the hot topics. Wi-Fi and WiMAX have become buzz words. India revels at Vijay Bhatkar’s idea of ETH (Education-To-Home). It is high time that the teaching community rose up to the occasion and exploit the advances of the Grey Revolution for the benefit of the learning community, for “India can become one of the developed countries in the world by 2020, if we adopt technology as our tool. For this, the teaching community should change its mindset and enthuse the students by means of technology”(Abdul Kalam, 2004).

References

[1] Majumdar.(Ed.). 2005. Regional Guidelines on Teacher Development for Pedagogy – Technology Integration. Bangkok : UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education.

[2] Shirley et al. 2000. Teaching with Learning Technology. Edinburgh : Napier University.

[3] Rest, P. (Ed.). 2002. Information and Communication Technologies in Teacher Education : A Planning Guide. Paris: UNESCO.

[4] Longmire, Warren. 2000. “Content and Context : Designing and Developing Learning Objects”. Learning Without Limits,Vol.3. Informania.