Innovation in teaching supported by ICT.

A look at
future from the current conditions

Frida Díaz Barriga Arceo

National Autonomous University of Mexico

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 Innovation in teaching supported by ICT. A look at
future from the current conditions

Frida Díaz Barriga Arceo

National Autonomous University of Mexico

ICT in Education: A Look at the Immediate Future

Much has been speculated about the future of education in relation

with the possibilities of innovation linked to the incorporation of the
information and communication technologies (ICT). It has been claimed
that, in the context of the current dynamics of information societies,
one can only conceive a radical transformation of systems and processes
educational based on the incorporation of them into teaching. By
The above has been described as a megatrend in education supported by ICT.
and from this perspective it is hard to think of any innovation
education that is not linked to technological developments.

Some specialists on the subject have already put forth a perspective on the future.
mediator of education supporting this megatrend. In 2002, it was published
the report '2020 Visions, Transforming Education and Training Through
Advanced Technologies”, which includes a series of articles that propose
feasible scenarios for the year 2020 related to the uses of ICT in the
educational institutions. They propose the transformation of life
daily life of students in schools, the innovation in methods of
teaching, educational materials and assessment, as well as change
radical from what we today conceive as the physical space of the classroom and of course,
the emergence of new demands for training and functions of
teaching staff.

In this regard, Newmann and Kyriakakis (2004) highlight the possibilities

what remote immersion systems will offer, which allow experiences
interactive and stimulating for students, since they and their
teachers can investigate, play, explore, and learn together, all at the same time.
According to these authors, very dynamic learning environments will be created.
that will cover an unsuspected diversity of contents and
school projects. For their part, Chen and Arnold (2003:1) anticipate that the
school of 2020 "looks and feels like a hybrid between an office of
work, a public library and a film studio, with cubicles
individuals for the students, decorated with the expression of the
personality and interests of each one and ten major research centers
and multimedia production, sufficient to accommodate the entire class." The use
of special virtual reality devices, interactive videoconferences, the
consultation and preparation of multimedia material by the students themselves,
strategic navigation on the Internet, the use of digital bags, and contact
in real time with experts and students from other regions and countries would be
daily activities for students from basic level to
university student.

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 But these visions of the classroom and the models of teaching in the future, to
say from the specialists, they will only be possible to the extent that they change the
current educational paradigms and achieve a sort of integration between the
advances and innovative uses of ICT with disciplines such as pedagogy and
learning psychology.
However, it's not the first time that working through has been proposed
projects focused on the interests of the students or is discussed about the
importance of creating educational situations that lead to the
reflection, the solution of open problems, the situated construction of
knowledge, collaboration with peers and experts, or learning
strategic. A look at the history of pedagogical ideas makes us realize
Keep in mind that these proposals date back several decades, including
when one could not even imagine the surprising development of the
ICT and its potential uses in education.

In this regard, we agree with César Coll that the 'novelty'

The educational resources that ICT offers to teachers and students are not the resources
isolated semiotics that include (oral and written language, audiovisual languages,
graphical or numerical). It is from the integration of these symbolic systems
classics, that a new learning environment can eventually be created,
with unprecedented conditions to operate the information and transform it. In
words from Coll (2004-2005, p.5):

It is not in ICT, but in the activities carried out by teachers and

students thanks to the possibilities of communication, exchange,
access and processing of the information provided by ICT,
where to look for the keys to understand and evaluate the scope
of its impact on school education, including its eventual impact
about the improvement of learning outcomes.

ICT in education: Current conditions and challenges

How far are we from the educational scenarios of the classroom?

future previously raised? In terms of technology development, they are
entirely feasible. Nevertheless, if we assess the way those
technological developments have been introduced in the field of
education, whether in what is called distance education or as support to
education in face-to-face environments, the situation is different. If the criterion is
how much the introduction of ICT has significantly impacted the
education, in the sense of whether a deep change is being promoted in the
prevalent educational paradigms, in the way that one learns, one
teaching and being evaluated, the changes seem to be rather modest and few
generalized (Natriello, 2005). This leads us to think that the vision of the future
what was previously proposed is very far from the current educational reality.
less than what most Mexican students live. Still, there are
to acknowledge that the possibilities of employing technologies of the

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information and communication in education are much broader and
promissory notes that their current uses.

Particularly in countries with high technological development and

economic, in the last decade education supported by technologies
informatics, especially what is called virtual or distance education, shows
a strong expansion. Although in Latin American countries the expansion does not
it has been of such magnitude and we do not know precise data about this phenomenon,
It can also be affirmed that the most important educational institutions
and prestigious ones in the region are venturing into these modalities
educational. The problem is whether beyond this 'expansionist phenomenon' the
education supported by ICT is innovative, it is changing the way we
to teach and to learn.

In many projects where the aim is to innovate education through

the incorporation of ICT, the starting point is to recognize that the
knowledge becomes the central element of the current social dynamic
and is located in the heart of the design of the new educational models. No
however, the emphasis on innovative projects rests on how
powerful are the technologies used, not in a solid approach of their
educational uses. In the same vein, and based on what was found in some
work (Barrón, 2006; Natriello, 2005; Ojeda, 2005) is documented as
main trend in the incorporation of ICT in education and in particular
in online education, the extension of models or patterns
educational methods typical of face-to-face transmissive-receptive education.
Often, the students' experience in virtual environments is the
result of an adaptation of the regular courses that are taught in the
in-person modality, focused on the presentation of information, the reading of
texts and the resolution of questionnaires or exercises.

Thus, it must be recognized that the use of ICT in education does not
guarantees educational quality and innovation on its own, nor the
inclusion and social equity. Gerardo Ojeda (2005, p. 64) states that there is a
important digital gap that translates into the exclusion of important
sectors or human groups that could benefit from virtual education and
generally of the educational uses of ICT, and this directly affects the
underdeveloped countries. An illustrative example: at the end of 2003, 70% of
Internet users lived in the 24 richest countries on the planet, even though
they only account for 16% of the world's population. On the other hand, this
the same author documents that the failed experiences in online courses,
when the supposed innovation fails and expectations are not met
quality and user satisfaction are related to issues such as the
lack of skills to interact in a virtual environment, the lack of
motivation and skills for self-learning, the perceived absence of
human contact and the social and educational decontextualization of the
learning contents.

Conditions for innovation in teaching supported by ICT

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 In the changing and complex world we live in, where the
knowledge and therefore educational models are constantly expiring,
it represents a huge challenge to harmonize the culture of innovation with a
long-term vision, or at least a reasonable timeframe. According to the
UNESCO (2005: 62) innovation is not just the production of new
knowledge, but rather that "innovation requires the creation of new
needs in society, as it has to convince itself that the
the advantages that can be obtained from innovation are greater than the costs
cognitive generated in the transition period between the old and the new
"situation". An invention to become an innovation must respond to
a sensitive demand in society and find people who value it
impulses; therefore, an invention can lead to an innovation in
a given society but not in another. It also requires time for
to develop and certain conditions to yield the expected benefits. Or alternatively
it can benefit only a few, to the detriment of others.

The teaching task of innovating the classroom by incorporating ICT is complex.

due to facing the challenge of the multidetermination of the phenomenon
educational. By way of illustration, Zhao, Pugh, Sheldon, and Byers (2002)
they conducted a year-long follow-up of a group of teachers from
basic education that they tried to carry out in their classrooms projects of
educational innovation focused on the incorporation of technologies. As it was
To be expected, the biggest challenge was to achieve a real impact on learning.
students. The results were grouped into three domains and yielded some
factors that were shown to have the greatest contribution to success or
failure of educational projects. The first domain, referred to as innovative,
was related to the level of competence of teachers in the use of the
technologies and their strategic employment, as well as with the
compatibility between their beliefs and pedagogical approach with technologies
in question. The second domain, the nature of innovation, highlights the
importance of the distance of the teacher's prior educational practices and
from the school culture regarding the innovation to be introduced, as well as of the
available technological resources (software, hardware, connectivity, etc.). The
the third domain relates to the context in which innovation takes place:
human infrastructure, particularly the technical staff that provides support and
maintenance of technologies, but also includes the existence of
policies and facilitating processes.

This is why, in the face of the diversity of agents, actors, and contexts
educational, of opportunities and restrictions in relation to the latter, is not
surprising to find contradictory results in innovation efforts
teaching supported by ICT. And in relation to the actors, learning to use
technology turns out to be a challenge almost equal to that of generating it. At least that's how it
Cerf and Shutz (2003) think that teacher training is proposed.
basic and secondary education should provide these free content on
first-class line based on standards and focused on real application
of this in the classroom. The logic of such training must allow for the
teaching countless exchanges of information and exploration
cooperative of concepts and educational experiments, in which they are involved
sources and agents from other corners of the world.

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 In a similar direction, part of analyzing the educational uses of the
ICT and not only the potential of technological developments, other authors
They propose the desirable traits in a new educational paradigm, in accordance with the
knowledge society (Hannafin, Land, and Oliver, 2000; Reigeluth, 2000;
Díaz Barriga, 2005). Again, the bet is on the promotion of
complex learning, the collaborative construction of knowledge, the
problem-based learning and project management
situated in personal and social relevance, authentic assessment, among others:

• Students will be left with a strong initiative (self-directed learning)

and promotion of autonomy, development of agency and the
self-regulation) so models and strategies will be incorporated
empowering education and for life.
• Work will be done mainly in collaborative teams on real tasks.
everyday life or in a professional competitive environment
determined in close contact with users and in real scenarios
facing practical, concrete, and realistic experiences (training in the
practice, in real scenarios). Thus, the establishment of
communities of practice (in the sense that the authors of
sociocultural constructivism has given to the term.
• The curriculum and teaching will be organized in learning environments.
open, where divergent reasoning and the
multiple perspectives; students must be able to choose from one
variety of methods and activities.
• The teaching will adapt to personalized rhythms, flexible pathways and
alternatives; students will be able to work on an educational experience
until they reach appropriate levels of performance.
• Complex cognitive tasks and socially relevant tasks will be prioritized,
necessary to solve problems in complex fields,
changing, uncertain.
• Instructional systems that are in constant dialogue are required.
with the student and that they can continuously update the information
about their progress, performance, attitudes, and expectations.
• The evaluation (in line with teaching) will encompass knowledge, the
knowing how to do it; will focus on performance and competencies
acquired, in the evaluation of generative tasks and in the monitoring
of processes and mechanisms of self-regulation. It will be important
explore, beyond declarative information, if it has been achieved the
complex learning. Digital portfolios are emerging as a
suitable evaluation instrument to explore the above.
• Situations of self-assessment and peer assessment will be presented.
aimed at revealing what specific skills and dispositions or
attitudes are manifested in the form of socio-functional competencies
complex. There will be a strong expansion of instructional systems in
areas not only cognitive and disciplinary, but in development
emotional, of character (personal-moral) and social.

Conclusions

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 The use of ICT in education does not guarantee by itself the
inclusion and social equity, as well as quality and innovation
educational. Unfortunately, the vision that accompanies the introduction of
ICT often assumes that social and educational progress is based solely on
in technological progress, setting aside the issue of social exclusion
and inequity that arises when such incorporation does not take into account
a bet on a model based on human and sustainable development, the
respect for diversity and education for all.

One of the main challenges facing the strong expansion that is

foresees in the immediate future the use of ICT in education consists of
reverse the current trend of continuing in the logic of the models
educational methods characteristic of transmissive-receptive face-to-face education.
This raises the need for a change in educational paradigms.
current ones, leading to an integration between advances and novel uses
from ICT with approaches from disciplines such as pedagogy and
learning psychology.

Finally, the issue of innovative models is an open space for

educational research, where there is also a task of innovation that
to tackle. We cannot remain on the level of model development
idealized, but we also have to build an agenda at the same time
research that encompasses new objects of study, methods and
original instruments to study educational reality firsthand
around processes, systems and agents involved in experiences of
learning supported by technology.

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