>>>AN ICT APPLICATION IN EDUCATION<<<

The course employed ICT in a number of different ways. The introductory part of the course was held in a specially designed video-conferencing
facility that had a range of ICT capabilities. The design of the room is
critiqued as is the use that was made of it. Throughout the paper the authors
emphasize the point that ICT is a powerful tool for teaching and learning but
failure to plan, deliver and assess ICT-based courses on sound pedagogicalgrounds merely means that poor teaching and learning practices are disseminated more widely and more quickly. On the basis of our evaluation we propose a simple set of questions that can be used to evaluate the best use of ICT in engineering education.
A last time ago the use of computers as a teaching and learning tool was limited. Teachers used personal computers (PCs) to prepare or store lecture notes, create databases for exam questions or keep up with administrative matters that were formerly handled by a faculty secretary. As with many other inventions the PC looked, and was used like, the thing it had replaced—the electric typewriter. In university settings, and particularly in the humanities, it became a sophisticated word processor. Academics only use a fraction of the modern PC’s capacity. After barely a decade of development the power of the PC is extraordinary. Linked to powerful servers (super computers), the PC has the capacity to send and receive high-quality sound, pictures, diagrams, animations and text. The Internet acts as a clearing house for the data that are generated but also as a potential challenger to older forms of transmitting and developing knowledge and skills. In the West, governments and companies are committing huge amounts of money to digital systems that use bre optic cable. Such systems speed up and improve the quality of Internet access. Because of it, a modest PC coupled to a small camera can do the job of a sophisticated video-conferencing facility. The revolution in PC development and the Internet is matched by related developments in other forms of informationcommunication technology (ICT), including mobile telephones. Besides that, ICT is so powerful that it could transform traditional educational provision. The rapid growth of off-campus courses using this technology is an indication of things to come. ICT will almost certainly create a paradigm shift from institution-based, on-campus, teacher-centred education to learner-centred education, where students using PCs at home. Already these can send and receive text and able to access the Internet.