ICT Notes

ICT stands for Information & Communication Technology.
It encompasses the infrastructure and components that enable modern computing.
ICT refers to technologies providing access to information through telecommunications.
It is similar to Information Technology (IT) but focuses primarily on communication technologies like the Internet, wireless networks, and cell phones.
Cambridge dictionary definition: ICT refers to technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications.
Techopedia definition: ICT refers to all the technology used to handle telecommunications, broadcast media, intelligent building management systems, audiovisual processing and transmission systems, and network-based control and monitoring functions.

Old Means of Communication:
- Letters
- Telephone
- Radio
- Television
- Mobile phones
- Newspapers
New Means of Communication:
- Chatting, E-mail, voice mail, and social networking.
- Cellular phones designed for communicating with people miles away.

ICT allows students to monitor and manage their own learning.
Provides students from remote areas access to expert teachers and learning resources.
ICT can impact student learning when teachers are digitally literate and understand how to integrate it into the curriculum.
Schools use a diverse set of ICT tools to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage information.
ICT utilizes approaches such as:
- Replacing chalkboards with interactive digital whiteboards.
- Using students’ own smartphones or other devices for learning during class time.
- The "flipped classroom model" where students watch lectures at home and use classroom time for more interactive exercises.

Employing staff with ICT skills is crucial in the employment sector.
Example: Pharmacies using robot technology to assist with picking prescribed drugs, allowing pharmaceutical staff to focus on jobs requiring human interaction and intelligence, such as dispensing and checking medication.

Social media has changed:
- How we find partners
- How we access information
- How we organize to demand political change
Young people can maintain social connections and support networks.
Social interactions young people have online can be invaluable for bolstering and developing their self-confidence and social skills.

Access to information:
- Better and cheaper communications, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Instant Messaging.
Improved access to education:
- E.g., distance learning and online tutorials.
New tools, new opportunities:
- ICT gives access to new tools like digital cameras, photo-editing software, and high-quality printers.
- Screen magnification or screen reading software enables partially sighted or blind people to work with ordinary text rather than Braille.
Communication:
- Cost savings by using:
  - VoIP instead of normal telephone.
  - Email/messaging instead of post.
  - Video conferencing instead of traveling to meetings.
  - E-commerce websites instead of sales catalogs.
- Access to larger, even worldwide markets.
Information management:
- Data mining of customer information to produce lists for targeted advertising.
- Improved stock control, resulting in less wastage and better cash flow.
Security:
- ICT solves or reduces some security problems.
  - Encryption methods can keep data safe from unauthorized people, both during storage and electronic transmission.
ICT allows people to participate in a wider, even worldwide, society.
Distance learning:
- Students can access teaching materials from all over the world.
ICT facilitates the ability to perform ‘impossible’ experiments by using simulations.
Creation of new more interesting jobs, such as systems analysts, programmers, software engineers, help desk operators, and trainers.

Job loss:
- Manual operations being replaced by automation.
  - E.g., robots replacing people on an assembly line.
Job export:
- Data processing work being sent to other countries where operating costs are lower.
Multiple workers being replaced by a smaller number who are able to do the same amount of work.
- A bar-code scanner linked to a computerized till is used to detect goods instead of the worker having to enter the item and price manually.
Reduced personal interaction:
- Most people need some form of social interaction in their daily lives; without it, they may feel isolated and unhappy.
Reduced physical activity:
- This can lead to health problems such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
Cost:
- A lot of ICT hardware and software is expensive to purchase and maintain.
Competition:
- Organizations may lose out to others that can offer the same service for less money nationally or internationally.