Challenges in using ICT among the Challenged

Abstract

Educational reforms include successful designing and implementation of ICT in teaching learning process, which is the key to success. ICT stands for information and Communication, to create, disseminate, store and manage information. ICT in education helps in enhancing educational efficiency, effectiveness and productivity, diversifying teaching learning methods and practices and restructuring education system. ICT can support the learning of the challenged children in all the educational needs. It enables the challenged children to overcome barriers to learning by providing alternative or additional methods of communicating within the learning process. Most students with disabilities can and do benefit from technology in the classroom. Incorporating technology increases students motivation to learn and personalizes lessons to a students individual needs. Even the students with the most severe and profound disabilities can use assistive technology to join a classroom of typical students, and their potential can be reached in ways we didnt have before. Teachers in India need to be prepared to face the challenges of 21st century for imparting the new age education; hence education program in India should integrate ICT component in such a way that teachers are enabled to face the new demands in their profession. Thus, efforts must be made by the educationist to change the process of teaching- learning in order to prepare the students to adjust themselves to the society; this could definitely create a new learning environment and information rich society. 21st century is the age of Information and Communication Technology. All over the globe, there is a trend to use ICT in the teaching learning process. The Teacher and learner must gain access to technology for improving learning outcomes. Educational reforms include successful designing and implementation of ICT in teaching learning process, which is the key to success.  ICT stands for information and communication technologies and are defined as a set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, to create, disseminate, store and manage information. These technologies include computers, the internet, broadcasting technologies and telephones. ICT in education helps in enhancing educational efficiency, effectiveness and productivity, diversifying teaching learning methods and practices and restructuring education system. The use of technology in education plays a particularly vital role by enabling flexible curriculam development and assisting students with disabilities to participate as equal in the learning experience. It also helps to prepare them for life-long learning, recreating and work outside of school. The huge amount of information resources on accessible ICT that ate in existence and available to teachers was also evident. Frustrations remain at the low levels of awareness and implementation of accessible ICTs for the purposes of including more students more effectively in mainstream classrooms. This is particularly poignant as most technologies in use in schools today have features that enable users to customize the look and feel of the interface to sit their individual accessibility requirement. Personalized learning requires attention to the unique needs of all students of all abilities, acknowledging that each have different learning styles including students with mild, moderate or severe disabilities. ICT can support the learning of the challenged children in all the educational needs. It enables the challenged children to overcome barriers to learning by providing alternative or additional methods of communicating within the learning process. Moreover, it also helps teachers to create a supportive framework, which enable autonomous learning. ICT can enrich and ensure the teaching learning by motivating and engaging them in active learning. Use of ICT in teaching learning environment can bring a rapid change in society. It has the potential to transform the nature of education i.e where and how learning takes place and role of learners and teacher in the process of learning. It is essential that teachers must have basic ICT skills and competencies. It is for the teacher to determine how ICT can best be used in the context of culture, needs and economic conditions. Good teaching is not simply adding technology of the existing teaching and content domain rather it should cause the representation of new concepts and requires developing sensitivity to the dynamic, transactional relationship between the three components of knowledge: Content, Technology and Pedagogy.