Information, Media and Technology Skills: Today we live in a technology and

media-suffused environment with: 1) access to an abundance of information, 2)

rapid changes in technology tools, and 3) the ability to collaborate and make
individual contributions on an unprecedented scale. To be effective in the 21st
century, citizens and workers must be able to create, evaluate, and effectively
utilize information, media, and technology.
Here we are to talk about technology and the role it plays in 21st century education . Technology is by far the
most popular topic concerning 21st century learning and education and many of the videos on Youtube are
about just that. Although some of these videos cover other ideas, technology still seems to be the central focus.
So the purpose of this article is two-fold: One is to address some of the misconceptions out there about
technology and also is about how to implement technology effectively and use in practical pragmatic way.
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So lets get the negatives out of the way first. Firstly I would make this point very clear that technology is not
the solution to 21st century education, technology is simply a tool to aid education and learning, also
technology should not be told as a separate schools subject, but as a tool, technology should be used in all
classrooms. Any learning concerning technology should be based around the theme and objectives of the
class.The place of technology in pedagogy is based on various factors and questions of effectiveness, time
saving, increased outcomes etc.
Another issue up with technology at the moment is the poor investment in such technology without the support
and consultation of EdTech staff. Schools are spending money on technology but they dont know what it's for
how to use it. And because they spent so much money on the technology they lack in spending more on
training teachers properly on how to use it. So the end result of this is that things such as interactive
whiteboards end up being glorified TV sets in the classroom or simply used as regular whiteboards.
When schools cut corners in terms of spending on technology the result of this is that the things that they do
buy are already outdated before they have bought them. For technology to be relevant, constant investment has
to be made in that technology, its replacement and updating. I think that any investment in technology has to be
made very consciously of the reasons why and how it's going to be implemented within the school, otherwise
its money down the drain. Here is where role of edtech professionals comes into play.
I would like to give an example of this, firstly one of the key aspects of 21st Century is to promote student-
centered learning , however if all you invest is in the interactive whiteboards all this leads to is the exact
opposite it comes back to teacher-centered learning because that interactive whiteboard becomes the teachers
gadget and because of that it leads to more and more teacher talking time.
Although I do believe interactive whiteboards extremely useful within classrooms and within education I also
think that an equal amount of investment needs to go into the other technologies for students because even
though you have these touch screens that you can have multiple people using the boards at the same time you
cant have a class of thirty kids all interacting with the board directly. They need to have some alternative
technology to interact together.
Quite often technology is too expensive for any school to buy, and the functionality of the technology could
very limited too. And my second example of this is also my second reason why I have an issue with technology
as it is used at the moment. While many teachers think 21st century education consists of using interactive
games and quizzes , so it's like taking the paper-based test and then making it digital. But all this gives teachers
and students immediate feedback on student performance it just maintains the status quo on fact-based learning
and completely ignores this higher-level thinking skills
21ST CENTURY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION
Ubiquity, Volume 2008 Issue June | BY SANJAY KUMAR PAL

Full citation in the ACM Digital Library

The computing power in the few micro processors that are now in a Ford Motor Car is much
more than all the computing power that was put in the space vehicle that landed the first men
on the moon and brought them back. In today's do-more-with-less business environment, with
increasing demands from customers, shareholders, and regulators, the IT organization is not
only asked to work harder and smarter, but is being asked to take on the role of assuring the
business.

Humanity has progressed from agricultural revolution to the industrial revolution and is now
moving to an information revolution. It is this awesome computing power at continuously
falling prices and the computers being networked over global telecom highways that is leading
to the use of Information Technology in every sector of human activity be it communication,
banking, trading, learning and teaching, entertainment, socializing, government, management
and librarying. Just as machines have extended man's mechanical power and his convenience
and comfort, Information Technology as commonly picturized by computers, is extending
man's mind or brain or intellectual power. The term information technology has ballooned to
encompass many aspects of computing and technology, and the term is more recognizable
than ever before.

Objective:

Looking at the present scenario, one can easily predict the dominance of Information
Technology in daily life. Despite of hectic schedules and lots of burdens, IT always wins in the
long run. Globalization and Liberalization has expanded their wings in the world and even
beyond that in terms of bringing the global space on to a common platform. Ranging from
magnificent infrastructures to wearable transmitters, IT manages it all. On the contrary, there
are negation points of the same for different cases. A brief research has been portrayed in this
article.

Thoughts:

Just as chemical or metallurgical or electrical technologies enable the processing of raw

materials into usable goods, to satisfy man's and societies' needs so does information
technology (IT) help the storage, processing, transmission and exploitation of information to
satisfy a person's, company's, society's or government's needs for information. The invention
of printing was the first big breakthrough in Information Technology. It enabled literacy and
education to go up from 10% to over 80% within 50 years by making available vast amount of
reading material. That reading also led to the Reformation in Europe. Other break-through for
Information Technology were the inventions like telegraphy, telephony, wireless or radio,
television, broadcasting, computers (from room size to desk top to lap top to palm top and very
soon, wearable ones.)

There had been breath-taking inventions in electronics and photonics, micro-miniaturization,

super and mega-scale integration; optical fiber and communication satellite transmissions,
electronification and digitization of all information, storage and display devices and the
transport of electronified information on worldwide telecommunication networks, increasingly
under the control of the sender and the receiver. Information covers voice as in telephony, text
as in fax, images as in video and data as between computers. The limitation for transmission
and reception of information only from instruments connected to wires and therefore only
from particular places, has been dramatically overcome by earth-based cellular mobile, radio
telecoms and now by satellite based globe wide mobile systems like the Iridium.

Information Technology devices like microprocessors are becoming mass appliances from
pace makers for the heart, hearing aids, and efficiency enhancers in automobile engines and
devices to steer space vehicles on the moon.

Technology is an enabler for more effectively managing the business, but does not solve the
problem unless it is tied directly to business and governance objectives. There is an urgent
need for IT in underdeveloped areas where access to even the smallest bits of knowledge can
have far-reaching, long term effects. The use of technology has a great many effects; these
may be separated into intended effects and unintended effects. The implementation of
technology influences the values of a society by changing expectations and realities.
Technology, throughout history, has allowed people to complete more tasks in less time and
with less energy. However, work has continued to be proportional to the amount of energy
expended, rather than the quantitative amount of information or material processed.

In countries like India, which undertook government-centered development since

Independence, government has become obstreperous, taking in the largest fraction of the GDP
as taxes and the largest amount of their savings as loans. Government is not confined to its
primary role of defense, internal security, justice, primary education, primary health, irrigation
and roads, but it encompasses production, industries, services and businesses. It is commonly
known that most of government's money is spent very inefficiently and much of it, on the
salaries and establishment of the Government servants them selves and yet every service is
inefficient. And the delays and the non-transparency and controls breed corruption.

Talking about IT, Information technology (IT), as defined by the IATA, is, "The study, the study,
design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information
systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of
electronic computer and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit and
securely retrieve information.

Technology has had profound effects on lifestyle throughout human history, and as the rate of
progress increases, society must deal with both the good and bad implications. Technology
often enables organizational and bureaucratic group structures that otherwise and heretofore
were simply not possible. Technology enables greater knowledge of international issues,
values, and cultures.

Due mostly to mass transportation and mass media, the world seems to be a much smaller
place. The effects of technology on the environment are both obvious and subtle. The more
obvious effects include the depletion of nonrenewable natural resources (such as petroleum,
coal, ores), and the added pollution of air, water, and land. The more subtle effects include
debates over long-term effects (e.g., global warming, deforestation, natural habitat
destruction, coastal wetland loss.) Each wave of technology creates a set of waste previously
unknown by humans. Humanity at the moment may be compared to a colony of bacteria in a
Petri dish with a constant food supply: with no way to remove the wastes of their metabolism,
the bacteria eventually poison themselves.

Today, the term information technology has ballooned to encompass many aspects of
computing and technology and the term is more recognizable than ever before. The
information technology umbrella can be quite large, covering many fields. IT performs a variety
of duties that range from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and
information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data
management, networking and engineering.

When computer and communications technologies are combined, the result is information
technology, or "InfoTech". Information Technology (IT) is a general term that describes any
technology that helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and/or disseminate
information.

There are mixed consequences of IT on environment. As previously discussed, each wave of

technology creates a set of waste previously unknown by humans. Talking of life, about fifty
years, back the line, no one was familiar with what is called Cyber Waste, but we are now.

So, the point is, despite of higher achievements, there are major drawbacks that IT has failed
to rectify during course of its evolution.

Most modern technological processes produce unwanted byproducts in addition to the desired
products, which are known as industrial waste and pollution. While most material waste is re-
used in the industrial process, many forms are released into the environment, with negative
environmental side effects, such as pollution and lack of sustainability. Different social and
political systems establish different balances between the value they place on additional
goods versus the disvalues of waste products and pollution. Some technologies are designed
specifically with the environment in mind, but most are designed first for economic or
ergonomic effects. Historically, the value of a clean environment and more efficient productive
processes has been the result of an increase in the wealth of society, because once people
are able to provide for their basic needs, they are able to focus on less-tangible goods such as
clean air and water.

The effects of technology on the environment are both obvious and subtle. The more obvious
effects include the depletion of nonrenewable natural resources (such as petroleum, coal,
ores), and the added pollution of air, water, and land. The more subtle effects include debates
over long-term effects (e.g., global warming, deforestation, natural habitat destruction, coastal
wetland loss).

Each wave of technology creates a set of waste previously unknown by humans: Toxic waste,
radioactive waste, Electronic waste.

One of the main problems is the lack of an effective way to remove these pollutants on a large
scale expediently. In nature, organisms "recycle" the wastes of other organisms, for example,
plants produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis, and oxygen-breathing organisms use
oxygen to metabolize food, producing carbon dioxide as a by-product, which plants use in a
process to make sugar, with oxygen as a waste in the first place. No such mechanism exists
for the removal of technological wastes.

Impacts of Technology

Technology, throughout history, has allowed people to complete more tasks in less time and
with less energy. Many herald this as a way of making life easier. However, work has continued
to be proportional to the amount of energy expended, rather than the quantitative amount of
information or material processed. Technology has had profound effects on lifestyle
throughout human history, and as the rate of progress increases, society must deal with both
the good and bad implications.
In many ways, technology simplifies life:

The rise of a leisure class

A more informed society can make quicker responses to events and trends

Sets the stage for more complex learning tasks

Increases multi-tasking (although this may not be simplifying)

Global networking

Creates denser social circles

Cheap price

In other ways, technology complicates life:

Pollution is a serious problem in a technologically advanced society.

The increase in transportation technology has brought congestion in some areas.

Techniques

New forms of danger existing as a consequence of new forms of technology, such

as the first generation of nuclear reactors.

New forms of entertainment, such as video games and internet access could have
possible social effects on areas such as academic performance.

Increases probability of diseases and disorders, such as obesity.

Social separation of singular human interaction. Technology has increased the

need to talk to more people faster.

Conclusion

Concluding from the aspects stated above, the only line which comes to mind is "In one line of
thought, technology develops autonomously, in other words, technology seems to feed on
itself, moving forward with a force irresistible by humans. Information is knowledge and
knowledge is power. Knowledge plus experience is wisdom and it is the wise use of
information that gives advantage to those who have information."

Source: Ubiquity Volume 9, Issue 24 (June 17 - 23, 2008)

COMMENTS
Concluding from the aspects stated above, the only line which comes to mind is "In one line of
thought, technology develops autonomously, in other words, technology seems to feed on itself,
moving forward with a force resistible by one human. Information is knowledge and knowledge is
power. Knowledge plus experience is wisdom and it is the wise use of information that gives advantage
to them who has all the information. This human person must be the good king. His intuition will -
connected with all the knowledge of the IT machines - rule the world, the universe. Human being is
saved by him.

http://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=1399619

Technology in education is less about the toolset and skillset and

more about the mindset. The teachers most prominent role in the
digital age is that of lead learner.

Technology has become an integral part of our life and learning patterns in the
21st century. The internet, blogs and smart phones are some examples of tools that we
use to grow in our knowledge and understanding. Using technology like this in the
classroom requires more than knowing how to use the tool. Teachers need to
understand the role of technology in the learning process, and the principles behind
integrating it in a way that it promotes learning without it being a distraction.
This course teaches concepts and ideas behind using technology in the classroom. It also helps teachers to
understand the various skills that students need to develop in order to use technology in the most effective way. It
equips teachers to help students use technology intelligently and responsibly.

Computer games are the most popular entertainments in modern societies and they target a
variety of people in different ages. The addiction to the rivalry and excitements of the games
make them the most common recreational programs for today's teenagers, so that they do
anything to reach a higher level of the game, they immerse in the game so much that they
completely separate from their surroundings. Challenging with the obstacles and reaching a
higher level in the game, make the players excited and losing the game make them anxious.1
Computer games started in 1972 with Pang, a computer tennis game, and then developed in
hardware and software systems. Improvement of quality and variety of games increasingly
spread it in the society especially adolescences.2 It is believed that computer games like
watching TV provides opportunities for visual learning. Especially because these games are more
active compared to watching TV, they are considered more effective.3 Since these games are
known as the second entertainment after TV, opponents of these games emphasize on their
negative effects such as stimulating anger and violence, costing a lot of money and having
negative effects of physical and mental health, which are much higher than the positive effects of
the games such as increasing the coordination of eyes and hands.4 As Klein and Keepers
mentioned in their research reports in 1990, students who prefer computer games to other
entertainments have more behavioral problems that other students (cited from Patton).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905489/#CIT0001
INTRODUCTION

A network isn't just a bunch of computers with wires running between them. Properly
implemented, a network is a system that provides its users with unique capabilities, above and beyond
what the individual machines and their software applications can provide. As technology rampantly
growing, it has been a part of our daily lives and yet many are still left behind. Information technology
must be applied to every systems of education to maintain a high standard competency thus it will also
provide advancement in different aspects of business and studies.
Network architecture is the design of a communications network. It is a framework for the
specification of a network's physical components and their functional organization and configuration, its
operational principles and procedures, as well as data formats used in its operation.
In telecommunication, the specification of a network architecture may also include a detailed
description of products and services delivered via a communications network, as well as detailed rate and
billing structures under which services are compensated