ICT4E: The Backstory | Dr. Alexander G. Flor
Summary
TLDRThe speaker delves into the origins and evolution of ICT for Education (ICT 4e), tracing its roots to the concept of the information society introduced by Austrian economists in the 1930s. Highlighting the significance of knowledge and technology in economic growth, the discourse shifts to the modern context, emphasizing the role of ICT in shaping economies and societies. The talk discusses the transformation of the Philippines from an agricultural to an information society, influenced by the classification of overseas Filipino workers. It explores the impact of information and communication on economic markets, the rise of open educational resources, and the emergence of mega universities. The speaker concludes by reflecting on the challenges and potential of ICT in education, urging the sector to harness technology for lifelong learning and sustainable development.
Takeaways
- 📚 ICT 4e stands for Information Communications Technology for Education, which is a branch of the larger discourse on the information society.
- 🌐 The concept of the information society has roots in the 1930s, with Austrian economists like Friedrich Hayek and Fritz Machlup contributing to the early development of knowledge economics.
- 🚀 The transformation of Germany into a major economy was attributed to Science and Technology, highlighting the importance of knowledge and information in economic growth.
- 🌟 The term 'information society' was popularized by Fritz Machlup, who also introduced the trichotomy of agricultural, industrial, and information societies.
- 🌍 The Philippines was reclassified from an agricultural to an information society due to the classification of overseas Filipino workers as information or service workers.
- 📈 The volatility index graph illustrates the impact of information and communication on economic markets, showing how media coverage can influence stock market behavior.
- 📉 A real-time example of information's impact on the economy was observed during a Senate hearing in the Philippines, where the stock exchange index fluctuated with the testimony and questioning.
- 💡 The foundation of the information society discourse is the idea that information is a commodity with value and should be incorporated into economic equations.
- 🔓 The open access movement and Creative Commons promote the concept of freely accessible knowledge, contrasting with the idea of information as a commodity.
- 🏛 The UK Open University's success demonstrates the potential of open and distance learning institutions, which are part of the trend towards mega-universities with large enrolled student populations.
- 🔑 ICT for education (ICT 4e) is seen as a key component in meeting the challenges of scale and quality in education, as emphasized by the Paris message and the sustainable development goals for 2015 to 2030.
Q & A
What does ICT 4e stand for and what is its significance?
-ICT 4e stands for Information Communications Technology for Education. It signifies the application of ICT in the educational sector to enhance teaching, learning, and management processes.
What is the origin of the concept of the information society?
-The concept of the information society traces its roots back to the 1930s, with Austrian economists like Friedrich Hayek, who introduced knowledge economics, and Fritz Machlup, who introduced the trichotomy of agricultural, industrial, and information societies.
How did Germany recover economically after World War II?
-According to Friedrich Hayek, Germany's economic recovery was attributed to Science and Technology, and the knowledge that was gained, rather than economic policies or the actions of political figures like Hitler.
What is the significance of the volatility index graph mentioned in the script?
-The volatility index graph shows periods of high market volatility, indicating a loss of trust in the stock market leading to people selling their stocks. It illustrates the influence of information and communication on economic behavior.
What is the impact of media coverage on the stock market as illustrated by the 2016 Senate hearing example?
-Media coverage can significantly impact the stock market. During the 2016 Senate hearing, the Philippine Stock Exchange index dropped drastically as the media covered the testimonies, showing how information dissemination can dictate stock values.
What is the Paris message and its relevance to ICT in education?
-The Paris message, delivered in 2015, calls on governments to recognize the contribution of online, open, and flexible systems in addressing the challenges of scale and quality in higher education and lifelong learning from 2015 to 2030.
What is the role of open educational resources in the information society?
-Open educational resources are part of the open access movement within the information society, advocating for the free and accessible dissemination of knowledge and information to all users.
What is the concept of a mega university and how does it relate to ICT for education?
-A mega university is an institution with a minimum of 100,000 actively enrolled students. The concept is related to ICT for education as it represents the trend towards large-scale online learning platforms that can accommodate a vast number of students, leveraging ICT to deliver education.
What were the structural issues identified in the Philippine education system regarding ICT integration?
-Structural issues included a lack of organizational readiness, stymied information and communication flows, excessive channels and paperwork, and a culture possibly averse to knowledge sharing and reuse.
What policy instruments were proposed to improve ICT integration in the Philippine education system?
-Proposed policy instruments included defining the coverage of ICT to include traditional media, establishing an appropriate use policy, and promoting donor coordination, harmonization, and public-private sector partnerships.
What is the significance of the quote by T.S. Eliot in the context of the script?
-The quote by T.S. Eliot reflects on the paradox of gaining knowledge through technology and information, yet potentially losing wisdom and deeper understanding. It serves as a reminder to balance technological advancements with the pursuit of wisdom in the educational sector.
Outlines
📚 ICT 4e: Origins and Impact on Education
The speaker introduces the concept of ICT 4e, which stands for Information Communications Technology for Education. The term is rooted in the larger discourse of the information society, tracing back to the 1930s and the works of Austrian economists like Friedrich Hayek, who introduced knowledge economics. The speaker discusses how the information society is characterized by a workforce primarily consisting of information workers, as opposed to agricultural or industrial workers. The Philippines' transition from an agricultural to an information society is highlighted, particularly due to the classification of overseas Filipino workers as service or information workers. The importance of understanding the information society is tied to the role of ICT in education, suggesting that knowledge and technology play a significant part in shaping economies and educational policies.
📉 The Influence of Information on Economic Volatility
This paragraph delves into the impact of information and communication on economic markets, using the volatility index graph from the Chicago Board of Economics as a reference. The speaker illustrates how high volatility periods, marked by significant peaks in 1987 and 2007, are influenced by media coverage and public trust in the stock market. Two examples are provided: the 2007 financial crisis and a specific event in 2016 where the Philippine Stock Exchange index reacted to live media coverage of a Senate hearing. The speaker emphasizes the power of information in shaping market behavior and the value of stocks, thereby demonstrating the essence of an information society where media coverage can dictate economic outcomes.
🎓 Information Society and Its Relevance to Education
The speaker explores the foundational concepts of the information society, such as the commodification of information and the contrasting open access movement, which advocates for free and accessible knowledge. The paragraph discusses the rise of open educational resources and the significance of institutions like the UK Open University, which ranks highly in research despite being an open institution. The concept of mega-universities, with at least 100,000 enrolled students, is also introduced, highlighting the growth and importance of online, open, and flexible learning systems. The speaker connects these concepts to the educational sector, emphasizing the need for ICT in education to meet the challenges of scale and quality in education, as outlined in the Paris message of 2015.
🌐 ICT in Education: Development and Challenges
The speaker discusses the integration of ICT in education, starting from the pioneering efforts of the University of the Philippines Open University and the influence of international figures and organizations like UNESCO. The paragraph outlines the ICT for Education (ICT4E) strategy in the Philippines, which was developed to address the need for technology in education. It also touches on the challenges faced, such as technology-driven programs, donor-driven initiatives, and the need for social relevance. The speaker mentions various projects and databases that were part of the ICT4E initiatives, as well as the structural and political issues that needed to be addressed for effective implementation.
🛠️ Structural and Programmatic Issues in ICT for Education
This paragraph examines the structural and programmatic issues within the Department of Education in the Philippines regarding ICT integration. The speaker points out the lack of organizational readiness, the issue of independent databases that do not communicate with each other, and the absence of a culture that supports knowledge sharing. The paragraph also addresses the programmatic issues, such as the lack of appreciation for the impacts of ICT and the tendency for program design to be driven by assessment needs or external agendas rather than real needs. The speaker concludes by highlighting the policy instruments and proposals that were introduced to improve the situation, such as defining the scope of ICT, promoting appropriate use policies, and encouraging donor coordination and public-private partnerships.
🌱 Reflections on Knowledge, Wisdom, and Information
In the concluding paragraph, the speaker reflects on the broader implications of the pursuit of knowledge and information in society. They quote a passage from T.S. Eliot's poem 'The Rock,' written in 1934, which questions the loss of wisdom in the quest for knowledge and the loss of knowledge in the abundance of information. The speaker uses this to provoke thought on the educational sector's role in balancing the acquisition of knowledge with the deeper understanding of wisdom and the essence of learning. The paragraph serves as a poignant reminder of the human element in education amidst the technological and informational advancements discussed throughout the script.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡ICT 4e
💡Information Society
💡Knowledge Economics
💡Information Workers
💡Volatility Index
💡Open Access Movement
💡Creative Commons
💡Mega Universities
💡ICT for Development (ICT4D)
💡Paris Message
💡UP Open University
Highlights
Introduction of ICT 4e, which stands for Information Communications Technology for Education.
The roots of the information society concept trace back to the 1930s and the works of Austrian economists like Friedrich Hayek.
Hayek's introduction of knowledge economics as a discipline, highlighting the impact of science and technology on economic growth.
Fritz Machlup's contribution to knowledge economics and the concept of the information society.
Mark Pora's 1976 dissertation on the information economy of the US, discussing different types of economies.
The Philippines' shift from an agricultural to an information society due to the classification of overseas Filipino workers.
The Volatility Index graph illustrating the influence of information and communication on economic markets.
The impact of media coverage on stock market behavior, as exemplified by the 2007 financial crisis.
The correlation between media coverage of a Senate hearing and the fluctuations of the Philippine Stock Exchange index.
The foundational assumption of the information society discourse that information is a valuable commodity.
The open access movement advocating for the free and accessible nature of information and knowledge.
The rise of open educational resources and the Creative Commons movement within the information society.
The success of the UK Open University as a model for open and flexible learning systems.
The concept of mega universities and their role in accommodating the increasing demand for higher education.
The establishment of the UP Open University and its pioneering role in ICT for education in the Philippines.
The Paris Message of 2015 emphasizing the importance of online, open, and flexible systems in higher education.
The challenges faced by educational institutions in accommodating the projected increase in college enrollees by 2030.
The structural, political, and programmatic issues affecting the implementation of ICT in Philippine education.
Policy instruments proposed to address the challenges in ICT for education, including defining coverage and appropriate use policies.
The creation of the ICT for Education (ICT 4e) strategy by the Department of Education in the Philippines.
TS Eliot's poem 'The Rock' reflecting on the relationship between knowledge, information, and wisdom.
Transcripts
today I would like to talk about ICT 4e
the back story ICT 4e meaning
information communications technology
for education and this is the back story
sort of a background er of other
sessions that would follow on ICT for a
policy and standards now the ICT for a
discourse is actually based or it's an
offshoot of a larger discourse on the
information society now many of us think
that this discourse started very
recently maybe around 10 or 15 or 20
years ago but actually the information
society traces its roots in economics
actually during the thirties no post
depression thirties we could trace it to
three Austrian economists Friedrich
Hayek was the first one if you google
his name you will be provided with a
link which leads to this information
that is more in austria-hungary spree
Drake August von Hayek and he's
frequently referred to as FA Hayek an
Austrian economist and philosopher best
known for his defense of classical
liberalism but actually he was the
person who introduced knowledge
economics to the discipline the
economics discipline now again the
background er consider Germany during
the Depression it just
it was being humiliated by the allies
and it lost during the Second World War
and it had to pay outrageous reparations
to the allied countries but then just
prior to the war it became one of the
top ten economies now how did that
happen was it because of economic
policies or Hitler no this fellow
Friedrich Hayek submitted that it was
because of Science and Technology it was
because of knowledge that Germany earned
its place in well in in as one of the
major economies in the world and one of
his associates Schumpeter's also from
Austria another one of his associates or
actually students is a person by the
name of fritz machlup now fritz machlup
emigrated to the United States and at
the United States knowledge economics
began to be referred to as information
economics now he was the person who
introduced the trichotomy of the
agricultural society the industrial
society the information society the term
information society actually came from
him but it was one of his students
mark pora whose 1976 dissertation a 20
volume dissertation described
information the information economy of
the US during for its time he talked
about information economics information
based economies
Industrial based economies agricultural
based economies okay now how is this
related this concept of information
society how is this related to ICT for
II well as I said the ICT for II
discourse is an offshoot of this larger
discourse called information society
what makes society and information
society what makes a country and
information based economy well according
to Bora if the larger number of your
workforce are information workers then
your country is an information-based
economy it's an information society if
you're if the larger portion of your
workforce are agricultural workers or
farmers than your countries and have
your cultural society okay now it's the
Philippines and information society well
that just happened to be the subject of
my dissertation in 1983 when I found of
course given secondary data as well as
other sources that the Philippines is an
agricultural society but in 2007 somehow
our classification was changed from an
agricultural to an industrial to an
information society that is because our
overseas Filipino workers were
classified as we were classified service
workers many of them were put into the
category of information workers for one
reason or another now again what is what
makes an information society I will show
you a graph now this graph is called the
volatility index the CDO
the volatility index see the OE meaning
the Chicago Board of Economics if I'm
not mistaken now this graph shows times
when volatility is very high volatility
meaning markets economic markets tend to
sell ok to sell people have lost trust
in their stock so they sell their stocks
okay in this graph you would see Peaks
in 1987 and 2007 or 2008 now a large
part of that picking up was due to media
coverage of this behavior in the stock
market in 2007 if you're not too young
to remember people watched as their
people watched CNN or A&C while there
the value of their stocks fell and as
this was being covered by media they
started selling selling selling so this
is you know the influence of information
and communication in our economy another
example a more recent one in 15
September 2016 I was on my way to Los
Banos along Adso I was caught in a
traffic and so I switched on the radio
this is at around 10 a.m. and lo and
behold the voice that I heard was the
voice of Lila de Lima and Edie our motto
motto J and the resource person it was a
Senate hearing the resource person was
giving out details of heinous crimes in
the bowel and at that time I was
checking the Philippine Stock Exchange
index on my phone ok so this is a
picture of the Philippine Stock Exchange
index at 10 to
10:38 10:00 to 10:30 now at around 10:00
the witness was giving his testimony and
at that time the PSA index dropped
drastically okay not around 10:30
he was interpolated by senator Tito
sotto and at that time when a Tito sort
of started putting or was punching holes
into his testimonies it was that the
stock index was going higher it went a
bit higher and then the Lima interjected
and served lawyer to hook a witness
again it went down now immediately after
that I got home I watched TV and then
also monitored the pse index on my phone
and this is the image that I got okay
now if you look closely the ebbs and
flows the speaking and diving of our
index coincides with interpretations of
Senators and and gara
and Senator cotton actually ending with
cayetano's interpretation after his
after his questioning the witness the
index was at the same level as it was
before 10 so you could just imagine how
coverage how media coverage how
information and communication could
actually dictate no are the value of
your stock such is an information
society how is this relevant to us in
the education sector now one of the
foundations one of the found or the
basic assumptions of the information
society discourse is that information is
a commodity that has value it should be
factored into our economic equations
information is something that can be
sold or bought counterpoint to that is
the open access movement now what you
see is the universal symbol for open
access how does it look like it looks
like a bad lock doesn't it okay an open
padlock with an O in the middle and an A
so that's for open access open access
submits that information is free
knowledge is free okay it should be
accessible to all its users along that
comes the open educational resources
along the same line this is what is
known as the Creative Commons stamp okay
the universal symbol for Creative
Commons if you have copyright then you
would have copy left within the
information society discourse is the
concept of yeah openness in sharing
knowledge and what you see now is the
coat of arms of the Open University
which refers to the UK Open University
okay note that it's motorists learn and
live in 2011 a ranking was made to
determine the top 10 research
universities at the UK and according to
Sir John Danielle the UK Open University
was ticked in that Frank
number one was Cambridge number three
was the London School of Economics the
fifth was the UK Open University it
without ranked even Oxford which was
number six okay and this Open University
actually it's becoming a trend
what you see is the serial of the
University of Michigan the University of
Michigan all right the University of the
Philippines has its Open University okay
and they call their Open University Open
Michigan okay so perhaps we should call
ourselves open to the people or open U P
there is also this Nottingham University
has it's open
Nottingham now these chains are all
offshoots of an information society you
must have heard of the concept of mega
universities a mega university is a
university with a minimum of 100,000
actively enrolled students okay this
term was again coined by Sir John Daniel
in 1995 only 11 such institutions
existed by 2011 there were almost 50
mega universities worldwide and an
example of an open of a mega university
is the University of Phoenix in Phoenix
Arizona are perhaps or arguably the most
successful open university in the United
States
and of course we have our upo pin
universities fifth constituent unit of
the University of the Philippines system
it's U P cyber campus and we believe
strongly that we pioneered an ICT for
education we established a faculty of
information and communication studies in
2004 ok and 100% of our courses are
offered online also as educators we
should be aware of what is known as the
Paris message in 2015 49 countries
converged in Paris to deliver
this so-called Paris message to agree
first and then deliver part of the Paris
message reads we call on governments to
recognize the important contribution of
online open and flexible systems to meet
the challenge of scale and quality in
the provision of higher education and
lifelong learning for the period 2015 to
2030 consider that this was the Paris
message was drafted the same month as
the release of the sustainable
development goals 2015 2030 which has as
one of its major goal lifelong learning
and education for all the countries who
participated in drafting the Paris
message believed that higher educational
institutions will not be able to
accommodate the uptake of college
enrollees by 2030 or even the years
towards 2030 there will be a deficit of
something like 13 million our students
would want to take college they will not
be able there our educational
institutions will not be able to
accommodate them because of the lack of
facilities the lack of space and this is
the reason why we have to go online we
need to explore or mainstream
online open and flexible systems yes ICT
is an offshoot of the information
society ICT meaning information and
communication are they say
communications technology or
technologies information and
communications technologies it's a new
generation of technologies brought about
by the merger of computers and
telecommunications a internet the world
wide web so on multimedia now
in the late 90s somebody felt that it
should be applied for the development
agenda and so we have ICT 4d meaning
information and communication technology
for development this was this movement
originated in the World Bank and
eventually UN agencies adopted it such
as UNESCO and UNESCO and as a
subcategory or sub field under ICT 4d
ICT for e information and communication
technology for education in the
Philippines the pioneering institution
that went into this is it edy
now the U P Open University was quite
fortunate that to up it adds thought
leaders in the early part of the 21st
century were actually part of our
faculty I'm referring of course to dr.
loaded soup Lidl who introduced
eLearning to you pou and dr. Patel intro
who is now the Dean of the Faculty of
Education okay at around the same time
the CIC tea was stablished by the
Philippine government now how did ICT
for e get into the Philippine education
scene since the time of fit ed and C ICT
among the intentions of the basic
education sector reform agenda in 2006
was to develop an ICT for East strategy
for the Philippines and there were a
number of studies that were conducted
that led to this ICT 4G strategy some of
which assumed these propositions that
ICT 40 programs in the Philippines
during that time tended to be technology
driven ICT 40 programs tended to be
donor driven
and social realities necessitate the
appropriate use of ICTs for education ok
then I see t4e had three functional
areas ICT for pedagogy okay there was a
deathbed computerization program the DTI
pieces for public schools project high
schools escuela community centers ok the
asean Schoolnet considered this was from
the period of 2004 to 2007 the APEC ICT
model school project and so on and so
forth
there was systematic exploration of the
feasibility of e-learning for basic ed
which was yet to be initiated the next
functional area was ICT for teacher
development okay there was the Chad
initiative on standards for ICT teacher
competencies I think which is part of
this of this program that is developing
this open educational resource intel's
teach to the future
it adds instructional design workshops
etc etc a third functional area is ICT
for governance and management a debt ed
then had a number of databases the basic
education information system and others
now there were structural issues then
that had had no organizational readiness
the current organizational structure of
debt and may not be very conducive to
networking information and communication
flows were stymied instead of flowing
freely horizontally vertically and
radially I understand that nowadays
there is a move to improve this the
internal communications within
that edy and the symptom was that there
were too many channels for too much
paperwork the organizational culture of
the department was possibly averse to
knowledge sharing and reuse
there were also political issues such as
interfacing and coordination among the
different bureaus one project would
develop its own database another project
would develop its own database in this
database do not communicate with one
another they cannot exchange data they
cannot merge data there are also
programmatic issues there is very little
appreciation of primary secondary and
tertiary impacts of ICTs in the
developing development setting what
determines current ICT program design
it's actually assessment needs or donor
agendas it's based on social agendas or
technologies the relevance and
sustainability would be enhanced if
impetus for the project came from a real
and felt need the conclusion of these
different studies then among these
studies were one which was funded by CID
as the Center for Integrative and
Development Studies now is that in spite
of clear visioning among ICT for he
advocates probe programs tend to be
insensitive to social realities because
of the lack of proper appreciation of
higher order impacts of ICT donor agency
country agendas industry agendas
structural issues with independent
there were a number of policy
instruments that were introduced or
proposed the first one was defining the
coverage of ICT to include traditional
media not only those where computers and
telecommunications merge another policy
instrument was an appropriate use policy
they the rationale of which was that
with the adoption of the above
definition what follows is an
appropriate use policy that sets
efficient and effective utilization
guidelines the next policy instrument
that was proposed then was doner
coordination and harmonization and
public-private sector partnerships now
all of these studies these policy
options all contributed to an ICT for
East rata G of the Department of
Education which will be one of the
topics in a future session okay so I
will end with my favorite point or
stances from a very old point endless
invention endless experiment brings
knowledge of motion but not of stillness
knowledge of speech but not of silence
knowledge of words and ignorance of the
word or all our knowledge brings us
nearly to are ignorant all our ignorance
brings us nearly to death but nearness
to death no nearer to God where is the
life we have lost in living where is the
wisdom we have lost the knowledge where
is the knowledge we have lost in
information the cycles of heaven in
twenty centuries brings us nearer or
fiber from God and near to the dust TS
Eliot a poem which he wrote in the 1934
The Rock okay where is the wisdom we
have lost in knowledge where is the
knowledge we have lost information we
hope that the educational sector will
not be asking these questions to itself
thank you very much
the
you
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