Information and Communication Technologies for Education
-
Education
in Information Communication Technologies: Twin Opportunities and Challenges!
by Lishan Adam
Promoting Information
Technology for Development
Development
Information Services Division (DISD)
Economic
Commission for Africa (ECA)
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
With the increasing capacity of information and
communication technologies, there is a rise in new learning opportunities beyond
the traditional "book-teacher" model. Globally, the nature of
learning and teaching is changing rapidly due, in part, to increasing
interaction from more accessible global telecommunication networks driven by
the content of the Internet. New options for distance education are driving the
shift from traditional learning communities (schools, universities and
colleges) - constrained by proximity - towards unrestricted lifelong learning
possibilities. The shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered learning
means teachers at all levels need to embrace new information and communication
technologies and education and training need to keep up with the advances of
new technologies. As new technology is being accepted as the catalyst for new
learning environments, access to communication has become crucial. Access to
communication and information is indeed a fundamental human right. This is
easier said than done in developing countries. The challenges to access to
information and communication are tremendous.
A substantive progress in implementation of information and
communications and for that matter progress in quality of life and development cannot
be achieved without preparing people for a knowledge society* [1]. This
partially involves making an environment amenable for diffusing computers to
schools, training the population in computer application and a building a solid
national computer and communication science education. Advanced university
training in computer communication systems, computer systems, information
science, parallel and distributed systems, software engineering, simulation
techniques and tools and telecommunication systems and creation of campus and
nation wide network and information systems in education have no substitute for
national development. The challenge here is not to put computers on the desks
of schools but also to create the conditions for bright students to emerge with
solutions to actual problems – perhaps this could lead to a national industry comparable
to current agricultural production. This paper discusses some of the key
opportunity and challenges facing information technology applications in
education and computer science education in developing nations with particular reference
to Ethiopia.
* [According to an excellent account by Manuel Castells, the
impact of information and communication technology and development in information
society cannot be achieved by rhetorical statements. It is important to create
an enabling environment for the information and communication technologies for
them to diffuse into the social fiber of the society. The "industrial
society, by educating citizens and by gradually organizing the economy around
knowledge and information, prepared the ground for the empowering of the human
mind when new information technology become available." Woefully,
developing nations continued to grapple with poverty, war, population
explosion, etc. The irony is that developing nations are those that acutely
need to organize their people around knowledge and information to break away
from debt, destabilization, drought, desertification, demographic problems and
dependency [2]!]
Education is full of challenges. Education costs, it is
costly. Decision-makers often find themselves caught between conflicting
political and efficiency objectives [3]. From political and social points of
view they have to [4]:
· Give priority to increasing public access to education by reconstructing and enlarging school networks,
·
Ensure that there is a balanced regional development
within a country,
·
Introduce improvements in the curricula,
·
Create equal opportunity of access at all levels of
teaching, promoting greater participation of women by means of incentive
mechanisms of curriculum and materials, and integration into the educational
system of all children of school age, and those in difficult circumstances,
·
Support initiatives of groups of associations,
religious groups, private organizations and other social movements,
·
Increase the budget of the sector and improve the
quality of teaching by the development of executable schemes of training, both
initial and upgrading of the teachers.
From the efficiency point of view decision-makers are required
to ensure quality education, better job prospects based on future workforce requirements
of the economy. Well-educated, well-trained, motivated workers can produce
high-quality goods and services at low cost, enhance productivity and
competitiveness, and sustain high living standards. However, striking a balance
between educational efficiency and social and political pressure is not that
easy! The consequence of political and social pressure on education in Ethiopia
has for example led to a declining quality. Under the pressure to educate all
and at the expense of limited financial resources, many schools have continued
to operate badly managed infrastructure, low quality and standards in teaching
and learning - resulting in ineffective and often less motivated workforce. As
this conflict between public access to education and need for efficiency
deepens the gap between quantity and quality will continue to widen. Unless
actions are taken by all stakeholders Ethiopia will continue to suffer from
such a vicious circle.
This vicious circle is similar elsewhere in Africa and is
characterized by low numbers of qualified teachers and large numbers of
students per class; inaccessibility and inflexibility of schools and
universities; outdated and irrelevant curricula and lack of quality educational
materials. On another level, there is a tremendous gap between relationships
between schools and communities, teachers and learners, and learners and learners
as well as a lack of interest in the endeavor of learning, critically thinking
and reflecting. By all standard such education is vulnerable to obscurity and
obsolescence!
Already there are symptoms of lack of innovativeness in the
current education system. Schools and universities have remained conservative institutions
slow to adopt new practice and technology. They have remained less responsive
to actual needs of the society. The education system is largely textbook
driven. Absorption of textbook contents tends to be the measure of educational
success. Teachers and instructors use "chalk and talk" to convey
information. Students have remained bucket recipients of instruction rather
than active participants in learning. Obviously these cannot be problem solvers
or troubleshooters in a real life! There is limited link among schoolteachers
except in a few cases. Although distance learning tools such as radios and
television have been introduced these have not been used effectively. There is
virtually no school with an elaborate network in the country – telephones and
computers have not been seen by over half of the countries’ students.
While computers are becoming available in universities these
are only available in computer science classrooms and training sites; graduate students
and teachers usually use them simply as electronic workbooks. Interactive, high
performance uses of technology, such as networked teams collaborating to solve
real-world national problems, retrieving information from electronic libraries,
and performing scientific experiments in simulated environments are not in
practice!
The education crisis in Africa is deep and sometimes
disturbing. All of these problems are often attributed not to faults of the
bureaucracy and those involved in teaching and learning process but rather to
severe shortage of resources. It is not yet established whether lack of funds remains
the major source of declining educational quality!
Many governments in Africa, including Ethiopia, have
recently responded to these disturbing challenges. South Africa for example has
chosen the following strategies to deal with declining education [5]:
·
Placing premium on lifelong and continuing education
that enables continuos production and dissemination of knowledge.
·
Promoting the roles of public and private organizations
to share in knowledge production with institutions of higher education.
·
Adapting higher education to changes and sustaining its
role as a specialized producer of knowledge
·
Shifting from closed knowledge systems to more open
knowledge systems that interacts with interests of 'consumer' or 'client'
demands
·
Offering a greater mix of programmes, including those
based on the development of vocationally based competencies and skills.
·
Making educational system ready for new innovations and
new forms of accountability by linking higher education researchers to external
constituencies.
·
Improving interaction between researchers and
intellectuals and knowledge producers to promote accountability of education to
client/consumer regarding the cost-effectiveness, quality and relevance of
teaching and research programmes.
·
Responding to longer-term demands on education and
retaining a sense of the more universal, wide-ranging nature and role of knowledge
within human affairs.
·
Developing strategies for new forms of management and
assessment of knowledge production and dissemination specially in the areas of
content, form and delivery of the curriculum.
·
Promoting development, equity, quality, accountability
and efficiency in all levels of education and research.
The Ethiopian government has also taken various measures to
reshape the education system to meet pressing national needs and to respond to a
context of new realities. However, these initiatives seldom refer to global
issues and new ways of learning. The strategy subsumes information and
communication technology to a peripheral technical support activity instead of
a central element of the solution to the crisis in education [6].
Information and communication technologies have a major role
not only in improving existing learning but also extending opportunities for lifelong
learning. In many countries in Africa, there are few opportunities for second
chances, and learning is conceived of as a discrete activity that one engages
in only during the early years of life. Very little provision exists for
lifelong learning opportunities. Many learners are not reached by the system.
Today, there are 900 million illiterates in the world and 130 million children
unable to attend primary school. Their access to education is limited by time
and space, age, socio-cultural environment, work schedules and physical or
mental handicaps [7]. Information and communications technologies could help to
adapt teaching strategies and modes of delivery to the needs of larger student
intakes and the diversity of lifelong learners.
However, information and communication technology is not a
panacea. Development should not be framed simply on access to technology and information
but rather on changing the attitude and preparing the population and
institutions for knowledge. Layering the new technologies on existing processes
or "old ways of doing things" and bureaucracies will not achieve
development goals. It is important to understand where the opportunities of new
information and communication technologies lie for national development and
grab those opportunities quickly.
III. Opportunities in Applications of Information and
Communications Technologies for Education
Successful in the past, the classroom model has reached its
limits in a world where knowledge becomes rapidly obsolete. It is also
increasingly challenged by new ways of learning, in particular new multimedia
based on the merger of text, sound, still pictures and video as well as virtual
reality (CD-ROM, Internet, software, video games, etc.)[8]. The use of
information technology to offer education programs over long distances is
becoming an increasing necessity. Generally there are four key areas for
information and communication technologies application in education. These
include Information and Communication Technology Mediated Learning, access to
information and communication via the Internet/Intranet, Education Management
Information System (EMIS) and education office automation to support the
education planning and management and the support of information and
communication technologies to distance and lifelong learning.
Information
and Communication Technology Mediated Learning
Information and Communication Technology Mediated Learning
(ICTML) covers Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) for teachers and the use of
multimedia technologies for producing course materials and Computer Aided
Learning (CAL) for students. Computer assisted instructions have been in use
elsewhere in developed countries especially at early years of learning. They provide
ample opportunities for students to broaden their learning skills and for
teachers to develop better multimedia and interactive courseware. Studies
indicate that learning takes place through communication. This is generally
poor in the classroom model. Classroom models are largely "one-way
teaching models" in which the teacher plays the acting part whereas pupils
and students are merely reacting. Computer assisted instructions can greatly complement
traditional teaching techniques to help students to learn much more much
faster.
Access to
information and communication via the Internet/Intranet
Internet and
Intranet have become a source of vast amount of information and interactive
tools. Intranet is a closed user-group Internet. An example of Intranet could
be a school campus network where students and teachers share to local
information such as teaching materials and course schedules while at the same
time accessing the Internet. The Internet is a set of linked computers
characterized by protocols that allow it to be used across a wide-range of
hardware platforms. Each machine on the Internet contains information to be
shared across the globe – (the content of Intranet is only available to a small
closed community such as schoolteachers and students). Information on the
Internet could be accessible from any location regardless of the type of
computer system being used. It also means one can have access to and/or publish
information regardless of the subject, location, age, race and time limitation.
Internet is thus an empowering tool for all that are involved in education.
Denial of access to the Internet to schools compares to denial of vitamins and
proteins but carbohydrates to someone!
A wide array of
techniques have been developed to access to information on the Internet ranging
from logging onto a remote server, chatting over the Internet with colleagues
on specific subjects, sharing information via mailing lists and user groups,
file transfer protocol to get files on servers to the World Wide Web - an
interactive multimedia based information access tool. The World Wide Web has
now gained the momentum due to its ease of use and its multimedia capability.
Other techniques
have also been developed to work for those that do not have access to the
Internet. One such technique is the use of "offline browsers" where
the valuable information on the Internet is downloaded on high capacity storage
media such as Digital Video Disk (DVD) and distributed to remote schools. The
Internet is accessible in around 150 countries including Ethiopia. However, the
Internet is being under-utilized for education in Africa in general and no use
of it reported in Ethiopia except by researchers at university level. The key
obstacle is lack of adequate communication infrastructure throughout the country.
Lack of resources, fear, apathy, lack of encouragement and ignorance are other
significant impediments.
Education
Management Information System (EMIS)
Education
Management Information System (EMIS/or EDMIS) is a multi-user, interactive
information system and a planning tool for storing and retrieving education
information on students, student grades, test results, courses, personnel,
finances at school, district or regional levels. Student information such as
demographics and attendance, subject, program, and performance, staff information
such as demographics, employment related data, classroom schedule, vocational
education course taken by the staff and staff performance report could be
gathered in a standard format and entered at school, district and national
level to inform decision-making. The EMIS financial data include information on
budgets, cash balances, expenditures, receipts, schedule of indebtedness and
miscellaneous financial reports for higher level management and others such as
building profile information.
Although it has
been in use elsewhere in developed world EMIS use in developing countries is often
limited to offices of the Ministries of Education. Data on education planning
is usually gathered using manual techniques and is often prone to errors and inconsistency.
At school level
EDMIS could allow its users to schedule educational events, notify key
personnel/organizations of the events and ultimate outcomes, print a calendar
of events, and schedule counseling sessions for classes. EDMIS provides
education staff members with a standard set of reports that can be used for
managing education activities or reporting to installation or external organizations.
Staff members can also perform standard and special purpose (ad hoc) queries to
obtain data not available through existing functions. Coupled with office
automation and networks EMIS promises efficient allocation of resources and centralized
planning as well as resources management at national level. The application of
computer as a tool for communication and problem solving in schools would
provide schools to see its continuous impact on education and day to day
activities of the staff.
Information
and communication support for distance education and lifelong learning
Information and
communication technology support to distance and lifelong learning is one of
the most exciting opportunities to developing countries that face two major
challenges. These countries are facing a sociopolitical demand for access from
larger cohorts of school leavers, and from population groups and social classes
largely excluded from higher education and a socioeconomic demand for highly
trained human resources with wider ranges of skills and competencies. Ethiopia
for example is one of those countries that have been facing considerable gap in
refreshing school leavers and its trained workforce. A quick observation shows
that the majority of the workforce in the country is highly ineffective
partially due to lack of up to date training, refreshment and inability to keeping up with new
developments in their areas of expertise. At extreme some "experts" have
not touched or read books or articles ever since they left schools or colleges.
The problem of lack of refreshment is sever specially in decision making
process where middle and senior management have not been able to keep abreast
with new developments in their fields or other related areas. Knowledge doubles
itself faster than the capacity of an average person. Human understanding of
the area gets outdated within 2-5 years if this has not been refreshed
continuously – thus it is clear that Ethiopia has one of the most exciting opportunity in
using information and communication technology for distance and lifelong learning. In the face of limited
resources and time, distance education seems the only alternative for bridging
the knowledge gap of the workforce
that has limited time and convenience. Data in the most developed countries
shows that only two out of five
college students fit the traditional learning profile [9].
Problems facing
the spread of distance education in developing countries are not technical but
rather political and administrative. Distance education faces a number of
difficulties such as, money, staff, equipment and time and a number of underlying problems such as resistance to
distance education by educators, different learner characteristics and needs,
the influence of media upon the
instructional process, equity of access to interactive education delivery
systems, and the new roles of
teacher, site facilitator, and students. Its spread in Ethiopia has been
hampered by all these difficulties. A qualitative assessment undertaken in 1997 [10] shows that in Ethiopia:
·
the open learning concept is far less recognized and
heavily depends on correspondence courses
·
policies regarding accreditation, students and learner
support have not been put into action although they have been "under-construction".
This has delayed expansion of distance learning and impaired activities of
institutions that have intentions to setup distance learning schools.
·
until recently, there has been a high resistance to
distance education by educators - limited endorsement of distance education and
overall confusion about its effectiveness among traditional educators.
·
broadcast radio and television have been in use for a
long time, however these media have not been fully exploited by learners and
conventional teaching institutions.
·
there is limited understanding of the impact of new
technologies on the delivery education. Resource limitation and bad telecommunications
infrastructure are two main obstacles.
·
the culture for motivation, limited incentives to
growth, inadequate reading culture have made considerable blockage to distance
learning.
·
there is considerable difficulty by the learning
centers to develop more interactive student-centered curriculum due to lack of
experience, incentive and limited understanding of new high and low bandwidth
interactive communication technologies.
Another concern of distance educators is the economic
standards of learners. Most learners cannot afford new tools and technologies
such as computers and telephones. These tools are not accessible to students in
remote areas. However, community-centered broadcast technologies such as
digital radios and low cost computer mediated communications such as the Internet
and World Wide Web, are opening new opportunities for distance education to
reach students at a distance and also to serve students who need flexibility.
Compression technologies combined with improved computer speeds at reduced
costs are making interactive, multimedia instruction readily available to the
desktop.
Internet access (the WWW) has become the most popular media
for distance education. Telephone-based audio-conferencing; videoconferencing
with one or two-way video and two-way audio broadcast using cable, telephone,
fiber optics, satellite, microwave and closed-circuit or low power television
are around as menu of choices for distance education planners.
A mix of these technologies centered-around "multipurpose community learning centers (telecenters)" will continue to dominate the next wave of distance and lifelong learning in Africa. The following table shows some of existing technologies and their suitability to Ethiopia.
Table 1. Various communication technologies for distance education and their suitability to Ethiopia
|
Information and communication Technology |
Areas of application and components |
Feasibility in Ethiopia |
|
Correspondence courses |
Traditional method where students write or call their teachers |
It is being applied in Ethiopia and believed to continue to exist until more high-tech methods arrive |
|
Computer mediated communication |
Computer sends materials, lectures notes and messages, computer conferencing, electronic mail, bulletin board systems, phones, modems, computers are required, two-way communication, costly. Computer conferences can be implemented in IRC format, Multiple User Domains, etc. |
It is the easiest tool to implement in Ethiopia where-ever
computers exist, low cost communications opens various opportunities whether this is on LAN or WAN |
|
Interactive video network |
Video and audio being transmitted on the same network on ISDN, Fiber, T-1 (cooper, microwave) networks |
Except copper that has poor quality, it is very expensive to have this in Ethiopia. Microwave connections are obsolete and costly although they provide comparable results to Fiber. |
|
Low- power television network |
Sending education materials using regular television signals, not interactive, student often telephones |
This is being used by Ministry of Education, easy to implement, requires more work towards packaging than infrastructure |
|
Satellite |
Provides full motion video and audio, sometimes two way audio |
A one way audio and video mode is being implemented by the African Virtual University project. Lacks interactivity |
|
Audio conferencing |
Two-way telephone based discussion |
Limited applications, easy to implement locally, international implementation costs high |
|
World-Wide-Web |
Interactive multi-media, communications can be initiated to make it two-way, possibility for on-the fly interactive pages (virtual classrooms) |
Easy to implement in universities, learning centers, costly for individuals, requires a high speed leased line and development of local loop |
|
Pool of low cost technologies audio cassettes, CD-ROM, DVD ROM, video cassettes, telephone, fax |
Relatively simple, but lacks interactivity of the best magnitude requires |
Planned to be implemented by the National Vocational Correspondence Enterprise. |
|
Broadcast
radio |
Involves digital
radios that incorporate both as text and video |
Very attractive for mass education World Space is planning to launch these tools next year. Ethiopia has not signed agreement for operation of Worldspace in the country |
Computer education covers a wide range of areas from
understanding the computer itself (running it for day to day application) to
using it for the development multimedia teaching courseware using a fairly
straightforward graphic user interface tools to software development, software design
and engineering using complex object technologies. Education in information and
communication technologies covers branches such as hardware or interface
design, assembly languages, networking and a growing area of information
systems design in a complex organizational environment. While learning basic
application is very useful, the benefits of a solid computer, information and
communication science education remains fundamental for competitiveness in the
next century.
In Africa, education in computer application and learning to
use it for day-to-day activities has improved significantly over the last few
years through active participation of the private sector and improving user
interface. Computer support centers providing basic training in applications
such as world processing, spreadsheet, database management and electronic use
of communications technology have been growing. Qualitative assessment
elsewhere in Africa including Ethiopia shows that the impact of this training
is often limited due to little motivation of the students and inadequate
teaching techniques to impart basic concepts that help individual users to
experiment and expand their knowledge [11]. A current survey that analyzed
African Regional Informatic Networks states that " most people only use a
tiny portion of the available features of software packages and even do not
know how to use the help facilities [12].
Except in most advanced countries in southern and northern
Africa the situation of computer sciences education in the region leaves much
to be desired. The urgency of expansion of solid computer science education is
significant for countries like Ethiopia. Software development is one of a
growing industry worldwide and it does not require more than a few hundred
thousand dollars investment and solid training and focused brain to produce
millions of dollars worth industry. Anyone with good programming skills in new
object oriented tool can now get a job without moving from his home or lining
up for vacancy announcement. The world has a very few skilled programmers to
cover a vast array of problems ranging from maintaining network reliability to
cleaning year 2000 bugs. The good news is that software development capacity does
not require economic strength. India for example is one of the most advanced
countries in exporting billions of dollars worth software. The success of India
is a result of the availability of high quality personnel, English-speaking
technical work force, low cost of labor and the presence of high quality
satellite links helps maintain strong communications links between India and
foreign clients [13].
Ethiopia needs to broaden its research and development
capacity in computer and information science as much it needs better quality of
education, health to the community or telephone access in urban and rural
areas. Communication engineering, network studies, network design research are
almost in non-existent in the country and are very much desired to compete in
the global information society. It is as if the country has to start from a
scratch.
A few strategies that would enhance computer education that
would create a new industry for Ethiopia include:
·
Setting up computer and information science schools
in major universities and strengthening existing ones. This could be
achieved through the development of a comprehensive curriculum that brings
graphics, animations, and interactive visualization of algorithms and data
structures and object oriented design and programming into lectures, labs, and
into student projects. Although three intellectual paradigms: design (of
programs, algorithms, and hardware), theoretical analysis of algorithms (and
its supporting mathematics), and experimentation interact in the practice of
computer science, the current trend seems to concentrate only on programming.
·
Match computer science education to the realities of
the market. This could be achieved by (1) introducing students to key
software development concepts such as modularization, abstraction, information
hiding, separation of concerns, and software reuse, as well as object-oriented
concepts such as objects, entities, classes, inheritance, encapsulation,
polymorphism, and dynamic binding, early in the programming sequence; (2)
enable students to develop moderately large and realistic group projects that
emulate application development in industrial settings; and (3) provide
students with contemporary application development environments and graphical toolkits,
appropriate to their areas of specialization. teaching of a new design, analysis,
and programming paradigm, integration of modern software engineering principles
at an early stage. Ethiopia is lagging generations behind in this area.
·
Furnishing computer laboratories with state
state-of-the-art hardware and software. The current laboratories in all
universities are very much outdated and inadequate. Students often queue for
over 24 hours to touch computers. All efforts should be made to build state-of-the
art laboratories for students to work together through a series of exercises
designed to encourage teamwork and brainstorming. Exercises should then be
based on large hardware/software systems, incorporating actual
industrial/corporate hardware and software problems into account.
·
Introducing computer programming concept at high
schools. High schools could provide basics of programming that would allow students
to seek employment opportunity and participate in life long learning and
distance education and that could lead to a solid background for college
education.
·
Restructuring of undergraduate curricula in
universities to add introductory computing courses for all students whether
these are attending social sciences, business and pure sciences or not. It is
also essential to acquaint the student with the fundamentals of digital technology
through the use of multimedia-based lectures such as that advanced by the
African Virtual University, electronic course ware, and a highly interactive
classroom structure.
·
Mount a national computer Odyssey through the
popular media. This would help (1) to illustrate the major themes of
computer science and engineering using popular topics relevant to the
activities of the society (2) encourage students to undertake careers in
computer science and engineering; (3) foster technological literacy among the
population; (4) promote the concept that computer science and engineering are
fields open to minorities, women and the physically disabled.
However, the future of growth of digital technology and a
national information and communication industry cannot be realized without introducing
computers to the younger generations. Efforts should be mounted to encourage
children in elementary and high schools to use computers. A number of countries
in Africa including South Africa, Kenya and Mozambique have already begun to
experiment with school networks that bring elementary and high school students
from these countries together with their counterparts elsewhere. Although K12 networks
in developed nations have show considerable impact on teaching and learning,
cultural and social exchange, globalization of concepts, infrastructure
challenges (human resources, adequate computers, content, etc.) make it
difficult to benefit from school network. The potential of school-nets and
introducing computers to schools is obvious even where basic infrastructure
such as roads is unavailable. Computers are one of the tools that empower both
teachers and students equally.
Obviously there will be high cost of these technologies that
often lead to the expression "we do not have chalks and proper bench, how
do you dare thinking of computers". Experts agree that although the cost
of information and communication technologies is high the cost of not applying
them to social and economic development is much higher [14]. The cost of not
using information and communication technology in education is by far higher
because denial of access to information, communications and innovativeness
means keeping the next generation in the same cycle of poverty, war, civil
strife. It also means losing one of the easiest ways of supporting employment.
Since Africa is equidistant between North America and Asia there is a
possibility for employment to process mundane data entry or complex tasks using
high speed networks, computers, hands and brains!
Various models have been developed to deal with raising cost
of information and communication technologies. These include using a mix of technologies
such low access to Internet and more reliance of CD-ROM, and the emerging Digital
Video Disc (DVD) format, setting up community access points for all to
contribute and benefit from new information and communication technologies and
use of low cost reconditioned computers.
Internet is a window to the world. It opens a vast store of information
and communications. Connectivity has become as important as building a new
school for community advancement. Schools that do not link to the Internet will
continue to be marginalized both in terms of resources to improve physical
infrastructure and in content of education. Universities, schools and
businesses should integrate new telematic technologies into their teaching
methods. Teachers and trainers should learn how to use and integrate the new
technologies. Teachers should be encouraged to develop curiosity in new
technologies. The best educational technology applications are the result of
collaboration among universities, businesses and government agencies.
Networking is here to stay and education has no choice but
embrace it. The primary barriers to the deployment of new learning environments
such as limited institutional inertia, recalcitrance of teachers, lack of
appropriate infrastructures, and lack of funding are also here to stay [15]. The
beginning of the next millenium is a time to strike a balance between
opportunities provided by information and communication to education and these
challenges! It is time to pay price for education and connectivity!
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