This is when technology is used to aid, improve and broaden student knowledge. It goes beyond teaching students how to use computers. It is a means of improving education, ICTs can be used in schools to improve information literacy among students by supporting the ability to access, use evaluate information from different sources in order to enhance learning, solve problems and generate new knowledge. ICTs are not there to replace the educator but to supplement the educator for improved teaching and learning. ICTs can be used as a means to connect educators and students where distance physically separate the two. ICT integration can also be described as the utilization of computers, the internet, and communications networks in teaching and learning which include audio, video conferencing, synchronous and asynchronous online communication and collaboration tools, e-mail, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and online course management systems.
Published in Chapter:
Designing Effective E-Learning Environments in Gweru, Midlands Province, Zimbabwe: An E-School's Community Engagement Case Study
Beatitude Farikayi (University of South Africa, South Africa) and
Leila Goosen (University of South Africa, South Africa)
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 24
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-6829-3.ch015
Abstract
The purpose of the qualitative case study reported on in this chapter was to assess the extent to which a high school located in the Midlands province of Zimbabwe could be classified as an e-school by exploring which and how information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been integrated by educators and administrators. The main focus of the research study also included understanding the various community engagement activities that the school in Gweru was running, which supported them in designing effective e-learning environments using the school ICT infrastructure. However, educators were not adequately skilled to apply ICTs as work tools, and as a result, the school was still to implement a number of solutions and recommendations in order to attain the status of an e-school that had integrated ICTs in its teaching and were designing effective e-learning environments.