Literature Review on "Is Opportunities or Challenge to use ICT in Mathematics Education?"

 _­Introduction

This is the study entitled "Is Opportunities or Challenge to use ICT in Mathematics Education?" This work is done on the half of reviewing related literature regarding the issue on Opportunities or Challenge to use ICT in Mathematics Education. The only the aim of reviewing the this literature is to explore  policy, opportunity and challenges to use icts in mathematics education. And draw the concept and make framework for further research. Therefore  the fulfillment of the objectives of the research I have gone through some of the literature review  Seminar Paper (Second National Conference on Mathematics Education 10-5-2015, Pokhara, Nepal, Bibek Dahal), ICT Master Plan, SSRP Report, SSDP Report and National Information and Communication Technology Policy, 2015,  Article  in  International Journal of Innovative Research in Computer and Communication, April 2018 .

Information and communication technologies in education refer to teaching and

learning of subject matter that enables understanding the functions and effective use of

information and communication technologies (ICTs). ICT is a dynamism that has changed many aspects of the way we live. The impact of ICT across the past decades has been enormous. When we look at education, there seems to have been lack of influence and far less change than other fields have experienced. A number of people have attempted to explore this lack of activity and influence even we have more opportunities.

Here, Opportunities means getting a chance to learn and teach using ICT. Learning depends on the learners‟ opportunity that means if the learners do not get the opportunities to construct new knowledge then they cannot achieve the goals of learning. Therefore, in teaching learning activities, using ICT is an opportunity for learners as well as facilitators to develop, construct, innovate and explore the new ideas and knowledge of Mathematics. We cannot focus only on opportunities because we have numerous challenges to use ICT. In this paper, the challenge means such types of factors that discourage to use ICT in education especially in mathematics classroom. We are trying to analyze the discouraging factors that hinder the use of ICT in mathematics classroom in the context of Nepal.

Literature Review

Nepal has developed and implemented numbers of policy and programs provision that heavily emphasis on ICT on education, like National IT policy (2010, 2015), 10thplan (2002-2007), Three Years Interim Plan (TYIP, 2007-2010, 2010-2013), School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP, 2009-2015).The implementation of the Information and Communication Technology in Education Master Plan (2013-2017) has increased access to computers and the internet in schools, which allows for the scaling-up of the use of ICT in school education.The recent national educational plan is School Sector Development Plan, SSDP (2016–2023). Following these policy and program provisions, MOE/DOE is implementing the policy of supporting four computers and one printers to L/Secondary school under matching fund of NRS 200,000(school’s share 40,000). To the date, there are numbers of L/Secondary schools benefited from this ICT Support program.Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education has been considered as one of the strategies to achieve the broader goals of education. The Government of Nepal, Ministry of Education, through National Curriculum Framework (NCF), has introduced ICT as a subject as well as ICT as a tool for instruction in school education.Computer in Nepal came into existence only in 1972 for utilization of it in public census on rent, monthly NPR 1, 25,000 which was installed in Electronic Data Processing Centre under Central Bureau of Statistics and this Bureau was, turned into National Computer Centre (NCC) in 1975 in autonomous capacity, which collapsed right after establishment of ministry of science and technology. In education, computer was first utilized for publication of SLC results in 1981 in collaboration with National Computer Centre and continued until in-house computer system was established in Office of Controller’s Examination in 1998. However, these efforts were only using ICT for smooth office operation rather than use of ICT for pedagogical purposes.Right after restoration of multiparty democracy system in the country, new curriculum 1992 was implemented, this provisioned the access to those who were willing to learn computer science as a subject from the list of optional subjects, to be started in grade 9 and to be terminated in SLC examination. The provision of studying computer science as subject from elective area still exist in school curriculum and first SLC graduates with computer science appeared from SLC examination of 1995 and onwards. However, the efforts for integrating ICT in teacher preparation and professional development programs seems to be not encouraging that limits up to trainer develop programs with provision of multi-media labs in training centre under National Centre for Educational Development(NCED) system of Ministry of Education (MOE). However, government programs for supporting computers provisions for school got low priority until implementation of EFA program (1999- 2004). But DOE developed the programs for support of school computer with the provision of matching fund of NRS 100,000 with 40% school share and 60% government share during implementation of EFA II (2004-2009). Now, at the moment in the implementation process of SSRP, 2009 onwards up to now government has committed to support school computer program with a matching fund of NRS 200,000 per school if they claim that they have computer infrastructure and government provides 80% of committed sum as their share and provide computer training to teachers.One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) was another government’s effort in utilizing ICT in school education in 2007. OLPC was pilot program in 26primary schools of 6 districts, implemented in collaboration with Open Learning Organization (OLE), an NGO in Nepal. This OLPC program could not 20 satisfy clientele needs and government did not expand it in national scale. However, innovative works done by OLE are considered to be e-library. Presently, Government has made ICT program provision in supporting those schools who claim they have computer infrastructure through matching grant of NRS 200,000, of which school share is to be NRS 40,000, for buying 4 computers and one printer.Computer as a medium of instruction is being utilized in the form of multimedia classroom (a projector, screen or large LCD, speaker and a classroom computer), computer lab (single seat or multiple seat) and single station having personal computer (PC, microcomputer, laptop or notebook, and small personnel devices such as tablets, smart/mobile phone, and e-readers) in one-to-many and one-to-one approach.

Policies on ICT in Education

Education has been considered as a fundamental right of the people by the Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007. Nepal has developed and implemented numbers of policies and programs provision that heavily emphasis on ICT on education, like National IT policy (2010, 2015), 10th plan (2002-2007), Three Years Interim Plan (TYIP, 2007-2010, 2010-2013), School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP, 2009-2015). The Government of Nepal (GON), Ministry of Education (MOE) has introduced various interventions in order to achieve the goal of education in Nepal. Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education has been considered as one of the strategies to achieve the broader goals of education. The Government of Nepal, Ministry of Education, through National Curriculum Framework (NCF), has introduced ICT as a subject as well as ICT as a tool for instruction in school education. The implementation of the Information and Communication Technology in Education Master Plan (2013-2017) has increased access to computers and the internet in schools, which allows for the scaling-up of the use of ICT in school education. The recent national educational plan is School Sector Development Plan, SSDP (2016–2023).

Challenges to use ICT (information and communication technology) in government school education in Nepal

The development of information and communication technology in government education is faced with many challenges. So far, ICTs have not been used as a way of acquiring new knowledge and skills in schools of Nepal due to inadequacy of curriculum content and limited access to ICTs. Other challenges include inadequate funding, lack of basic infrastructure, lack of qualified personnel and lack of policy formulation and implementation.  The major challenge in our context is the required physical infrastructure for implementing ICT. Nepal still experiences a lag in its implementation. This continue to widen the digital divide and the access to ICT facilities as a major challenge facing in Nepal. The following are challenges facing in implementation of ICT in government schools of Nepal

A number of studies in developed countries have emphasised the need of internet for effective use of computer technologies in instructional activities. For instance, Armstrong (2014) contended that a classroom with the most advanced technology but without powerful bandwidth (internet) to support the available technologies is insignificant. Selinger (2001) stated that the internet can link the school culture with the culture of the students’ community, and beyond. Bjerede et al. (2010) affirmed that the internet, in the form of email, blogs and web pages has made possible offline sharing of experiences, feelings, ideas and issues with colleagues beyond the classroom and outside time frames. They argued that when the potential of the digital curriculum is recognised, the students will have personalised access to the digital resources at their own pace and style of learning without the restriction of time. 

CONCLUSION

In Nepal, the initiation for ICT in school education is progressing. The implementation of the Information and Communication Technology in Education Master Plan (2013-2017) has increased access to computers and the internet in schools, which allows for the scaling-up of the use of ICT in school education. The recent national educational plan School Sector Development Plan (2016–2023) integrates and focuses on use of ICT in government schools. This demonstrates the commitment on the part of the government. Until now, the program is not in a stable position. The roadmap has been clear but the travel still takes a long time

Reference

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