Educational Development Through Information and Communications Technology

Published in the Staff and Educational Development Series, and bringing together contributions from a range of higher educational settings in the UK and Internationally, this book explores the practical use that can be made of IT by educators

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has proved to be one of the key drivers of change in education. In higher education particularly, ICT is enabling educators, educational developers and institutions to ''reach out'' to learners, using innovative approaches based on the flexibility, accessibility and diversity that it offers.This book is based on the experiences of expert educational developers from the UK, United States, Canada, South Africa and Malaysia. It considers the ways in which ICT can be used to enhance learning both on and off campus, and how educators and institutions have tackled the issues associated with the adoption of new approaches and technologies. However, as the development of new technology is relentless, the book recognizes that ICT is not a panacea in itself -- good teaching remains crucial to good education. With this in mind, the contributors address issues beyond ''technology'', looking at the importance of teaching and at the skills of teachers themselves if ICT is to be truly successful. Coverage is grouped into four key themes:strategic issues for ICT initiativesintroducing ICT into the classroomusing ICT in practiceusing ICT in learning and educational supportInternational in scope, and written by educators and educational developers rather than by technologists, this book is intended to be accessible to anyone with a critical interest in improving education through the use of ICT. It will be of particular interest to staff and educational developers, ICT coordinators, course leaders and course developers.