Use of ICT in Higher Education

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT), being the building blocks of modern society, has fundamentally changed the practices and procedures of nearly all forms of endeavor within academics and governance. The revolutionary change which is taking place in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has dramatic effects on the way universities carry out their functions of teaching, learning and research, particularly on the creation, dissemination and application of knowledge.  This requires a shift in the delivery and pedagogy used in the current education system. For India to emerge as knowledge super power of the world it is imperative to convert our demographic advantage into knowledge powerhouse by nurturing and honing our working population into knowledge enabled working population. Thus ICT integration is a crying need for capacity building efforts of educational institutions. Research has suggested that using ICT in instruction enables students to take a more active role in their learning rather than their more traditional role of passive observer and listener. With all parameters it acts as a change agent in education and society by promoting a proper balance between content generations and research in critical areas. Therefore it is pertinent to pay attention to the ICT implementation in educational system for imparting easily accessible, affordable and quality higher education.