I have chosen a paper by the Global Alliance For ICT And Development (G@ID)
You can download the paper here: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/gaid/unpan034975.pdf
In the article from the Global Alliance For ICT and Development (G@ID) “White Paper Information Communication & Technology (ICT) in Education for Development (May 2009)” the authors describe the situation in developing countries as it is today. They look at what the different countries have been doing to implement ICT in education and examine some of the problems they have encountered, as well as the positive results that have been achieved.
They emphasise the need for a good ICT policy and make the following statement, which would seem to be applicable to any country hoping to improve their use of ICT in education:
“A key to success is to adopt a comprehensive, end-to-end, systematic approach, with a phased and learn-as-you-go implementation that can be adjusted to adapt to the specific needs and a changing environment”.
The also put forward recommendations which they hope will help to deliver long term success in bringing ICT to children around the world. These recommendations focus on the following areas: Access, teachers, costs, government and policy implementation and monitoring and evaluation
Comparing this report to the others from Activity 3, there are both similarities and differences. Countries such as the US and the UK already have a good ICT basis to build on in terms of access, budget and government policy. However, in their efforts to develop their use of ICT further they are still encountering many of the same problems as the developing countries ,
“teachers lack the skills to properly integrate ICT into their classrooms. In order for ICT to be effectively used in education, a sense of its value needs to exist as well as the expectation that its use will lead to success. Teachers’ education requires instructional design, a belief about computers needs to be present if all teachers are to use ICT in their classrooms, classroom practices need to change in order to have full effect of ICT, and attitudes of some who may be unwilling to move away from the traditional way of teaching need to betaken into consideration when training teachers for ICT use”
Cheers Eugene