New roles of teachers in the ICT environment, and how ICT supports teachers and students new ways of teaching and learning
Introduction
ICT was initially anticipated to serve as a means of improving efficiency in the educational development. Numerous research and development has been conducted in order to bring Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to its present state of art .In addition it has been revealed that the use of ICT in education can help perk up memory retention, generally intensify understanding, and increase motivation. ICT can also be used to encourage collaborative learning, as well as role playing, group problem solving activities and articulated projects. Commonly, ICT is promoting new strategies to working and learning, and new ways of interacting. Accordingly, the introduction of ICT into UK and US schools has provoked a mass of new questions about the developing nature of pedagogy (William, Wilson, & et al, 1999).
New Role of the Teacher
Different teachers have different views about ICT. Some of the teachers have been careful in their acceptance of ICT, some have already integrated it as part of their classroom lessons, and some have just totally rejected it. Paradoxically, some teachers have unconsciously damaged the reputation of ICT by poor classroom practice. They use the technology for the sake of its uniqueness value, or failing to reflect through the issues before implementing the technology (Schon, 1987).
In the midst of the unavoidable proliferation of ICT in the classroom, the role of the teacher must change. This should take place because firstly the role of the teacher has to change since ICT will cause certain teaching resources to become out of date. For example, teachers do not have to use the chalkboards and overhead projectors if all students have the access to a shared network resource. With this all students can access on which the teacher is presenting. In addition, if students are dispersed all through several classrooms and which is becoming more common place, localised resources such as projectors and chalkboards turn into redundant and new electronic forms of disseminated communication must be employed (Schon, 1987).
Secondly, ICT might also create several assessment methods outmoded. For example, low level of factual knowledge has been conventionally tested by the use of multiple choice questions. Within an ICT environment, on-line tests can effortlessly be used which instantaneously give the teacher with a broad range of information linked with the learner's score. An individual action plan can be created by the teacher to make comparison between previous assessment scores and this can be stored in electronic format which can be easily accessed (Schon, 1987).
Thirdly, the teachers should promote information literacy, nurture collaborative working practices, and encourage critical thinking skills in order to prepare the students for the real world where things change very rapidly. These students should also be prepared to venture into the working world life where competitions are high. Therefore it is no longer adequate for teachers simply to pass on content knowledge. The internet offers entrance to an exponentially rising storehouse of information sources. There are almost boundless networks of people and computers, and unprecedented learning and research opportunities (Schon, 1987).
The Internet is a network of networks which provides opportunities for inquiry-based education where teachers and students are able to access some of the world's biggest information library. Students and teachers are able to collaborate with others around the world, to hook up with each other, and learn flexibly. Geographical distance is no longer an obstacle and education is now turning into borderless (Schon, 1987).
With the use of ICT, teachers can communicate and share ideas and thoughts of teaching strategies and resources and may be incorporated across the curriculum. The Internet provides prosperity of information to the degree that it is now impossible to expansively track the sum of information accessible. Sadly, misinformation and inaccuracies are likewise present in large numbers on the Internet so one of the new roles of the teacher inside the electronic classroom will be to divide out quality information from misinformation. Recognition, organisation and verification of electronic information sources will be critical new tasks for teachers (Schon, 1987).
Finally, teachers have to start to reappraise the methods by which they convene students learning needs and match curricula to the requirements of human thinking. The Internet can be an exceptional method to acclimatise information to meet the characteristics of human information processing. Conventional methods of imparting knowledge, such as conference paper, lectures, and books are characterised by a linear development of information. Human minds are more adjustable than this, by means of using non-linear strategies for problem solving, representation and the storage and reclamation of information .Hypertext software enables teachers to give their students with the non-linear means to match non-linear human thinking processes (Schon, 1987).
At present teachers are very much focused about their role in the classroom. Therefore their views of the importance and potential of ICT tend to be focused around its application with students. Therefore an effective teacher plays different roles. He or she is a planner, a manager, a leaner, and a classroom practitioner (Wheeler, 2000).
The role of life-long learner is predominantly essential in supporting all other roles. To be a professional teacher they have to keep up to date with the latest information’s, to take on board innovation, and to seek evidence of best practice. This will help them develop themselves. As teacher, he or she has to be up to date about knowledge and skills of new approaches to planning, managing, and teaching and also up to date about their subject knowledge. In order for a teacher to be an effective teacher, they will also need to be an effective learner. However not many teachers see ICT as a personal learning tool for their own development (Wheeler, 2000).
In relative to their roles as managers, planners and teachers articulate some interest in developing knowledge associated to the selection and general management of ICT resources. However the focus of it is on how ICT resources may be better managed, selected and purchased for use in the classroom context. There is very little indication that teachers use ICT to develop their professional lives (Wheeler, 2000).
This narrow sight of the impending of ICT might be due to a comprehensible need to prioritise requirements and aspirations in support of the role which lies at the heart of the teaching vocation. .This might also be due to the simple lack of understanding with the wide range of ICT. With both of the scenarios above, it can be expected that by giving more training related to ICT can make teachers develop their own use of ICT (Wheeler, 2000).
If, on the other hand, this greatly focused vision of ICT as an instrument for students are suggestive of teachers’ lack of reflection on themselves as learners, as decision-makers, and information seekers, this has other disturbing implications for developments such as the National Grid for Learning. The notion of the Grid assumes that teachers will perceive its significance as a basis of information, development, administrative support, and teaching materials. It assumes so as to teachers will be keen to contribute and that schools will be involved in committing resources to access the Grid. However there is very few data that shows that teachers assume of ICT in this way. In fact, latest studies of student teachers and teachers point to the detail that many teachers lack self-belief in terms of discovery and using information, find it hard to reflect on themselves as learners, consistently rely on a comparatively constricted range of information sources to keep themselves up-to-date, and lack skills in evaluating the quality of resources (Wheeler, 2000).
