Internet Usage: The no of active internet users in rural areas has increased by 29% from December 2011 to June 201 There were 31 million active rural internet users as on June

(IAMAI, 2012).The active users are defined as the one who have used internet at least once in a month by Internet and Mobile Association of India. The rural internet users are expected to reach 38 million by December 2012. Though 4.6 % penetration rate in rural India is not very high, but it growth rate (29%) is encouraging. Growing awareness, penetration of cyber cafes, cost effective mobile handsets with ability to access internet provides a supportive environment for the proliferation of the internet. There were 99 million urban internet users in India. Daily internet usage has increased from 28% of users to 54% in 2012. School going kids, college students and young men form the largest segment of internet users at 70% (IAMAI, 2012). Total internet users are expected to reach 150 million by December 2012. (IAMAI, 2012)

3. Recent Trends: NPTEL: National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning is an initiative of seven IIT‟s (Indian Institute of Technology- Bombay, Delhi, Guwahati, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee) and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The programme is funded by ministry of human resource development. The initiative is aimed at students of undergraduate engineering studying in different affiliated universities and colleges. The site provides good quality learning resources. The network is starting online courses from January 2013 (NPTEL, 2012). The mission covers 378 universities and 18,064 colleges, with the aim of digitization and networking of all educational institutions, develop low cost and low power consuming access to ICT, making larger bandwidth available for educational purposes (UGC, 2012). As a part of this mission The National Knowledge Network (NKN) has been launched to cover1000 institutions to provide digital campuses, video-conference classrooms, wireless hotspots, and laptops/desktops to all students of professional/science courses, and Wi-Fi connectivity in hostels (UGC, 2012).

Aakash: A low cost computing device (tablet) has been developed by IIT, Bombay called Aakash. The Aakash will be provided to 500 colleges for enhancing interactive sessions and promoting online learning environment. In first phase 14,000 aakash2 tablets are being tested in 250 colleges. The plan is to supply 1,00,000Aakash tablets to engineering college students to improve quality of education (Money Control, 2012). The proposed new versions of Aakash are planned to provide different range of functionalities from animations to scientific computing, and will encompass the entire educational spectrum covering schools, colleges, and professional studies (IIT, Bombay, 2012).

EDX: The world‟s renowned universities Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have jointly started offering online courses by the name of EDX. It will also allow institutions to use

National Level Seminar on Advanced Trends of ICT in Education

M. V. P. S. Adv. Vitthalrao Hande, College of Education, Nashik Page 37 edX to research how students learn and how technology can transform learning–both on-campus and worldwide (EDX, 2012).

Coursera: It is a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. (coursera.org, 2012). The initiative is supported by 33 participating universities.

Loud Cloud offers e-learning technologies. It has tied up with Centurion University of Technology and Management, Orissa to offer distance education from June 2013. The technology of the company is also being use at Career Education Corp, Grand Canyon University and Jefferson County School District in Colorado, USA. Presently the company offers its services to 1, 50,000 students in India and US (Economic Times, 2012).

Benefits of ICT in education to the c Stakeholder Benefits Student  Increased access

 Flexibility of content and delivery,  Combination of work and education,  Learner-centred approach,

 Higher-quality of education and new-ways of interaction.

Employers  High quality, cost effective professional development in the workplace,

 Upgrading of employee skills, increased productivity,  Developing of a new learning culture,

 Sharing of costs and of training time with the employees,  Increased portability of training.

Governments  Increase the capacity and cost effectiveness of education and training systems,

 To reach target groups with limited access to conventional education and training,

 To support and enhance the quality and relevance of existing educational structures,

 To ensure the connection of educational institutions and curricula to the emerging networks and information resources,

 To promote innovation and opportunities for lifelong learning. Source: UNESCO, 2002.

Potential Drawbacks-cum-Challenges to Using ICT in Education: While using ICTs in education has some obvious benefits, ICTs also bring challenges. First is the high cost of acquiring, installing, operating, maintaining and replacing ICTs. While potentially of great importance, the integration of ICTs into teaching is still in its infancy. Introducing ICT systems for teaching in developing countries has a particularly high opportunity cost because installing them is usually more expensive in absolute terms than in industrialized countries whereas, in contrast, alternative investments (e.g. buildings) are relatively less costly (UNESCO, 2009).

The four most common mistakes in introducing ICTs into teaching arei) Installing learning technology without reviewing student needs and content availability; ii) imposing technological systems from the top down without involving faculty and students; iii) using inappropriate content from other regions of the world without customizing it appropriately; and iv) producing low quality content that has poor instructional design and is not adapted to the technology in use (UNESCO, 2009).

Some risks of using ICT in education which have to be mitigated proper mechanisms:

1. It may create a digital divide within class as students who are more familiar with ICT will reap more benefits and learn faster than those who are not as technology savvy

2. It may shift the attention from the primary goal of the learning process to developing ICT skills, which is the secondary goal

National Level Seminar on Advanced Trends of ICT in Education

M. V. P. S. Adv. Vitthalrao Hande, College of Education, Nashik Page 38 3. It can affect the bonding process between the teacher and the student as ICT becomes a communication tool rather than face to face conversation and thus the transactional distance is increased

4. Also since not all teachers are experts with ICT they may be lax in updating the course content online which can slow down the learning among students.

5. The potential of plagiarism is high as student can copy information rather than learning and developing their own skills there is a need for training all stakeholders in ICT.

6. The cost of hardware and software can be very high.

Internal barriers to ICT implementation in schools in locations include: 1. Lack of trained teachers A major obstacle in the use of ICT in rural education is the lack of knowledge and skills. There is dearth of dynamic teachers formally trained in ICT. 2.Unfavorable organizational culture and poor attitude and beliefs often in developing nations, the educational organizations and school management fail to perceive the importance and seriousness of the role of ICT in education enhancement. 3. The teachers‟ attitudes and beliefs are outdated and orthodox. They are unaware and rigid and not willing to adapt to the change.4. Shortage of time In schools, teachers are usually burdened with multiple tasks other than teaching. 5.Issues of maintenance and upgrading of equipment Maintenance and upgrading of ICT equipment‘s in rural schools is subject to their limited financial resources. Largely, the government initiatives are restricted by budgetary constraints. 6.Insufficient funds Appropriate and latest hardware and software facility availability determines the effective and efficient usage of technology. In developing countries, technology implementation into education systems is a difficult task as it requires a magnum of funds, infrastructure and support facilities. 7. Challenge of language and content A large proportion of the educational software produced in the world market is in English. Majority of online content is available in English.

Crucial external barriers in the implementation of ICT in schools are: 1.Shortage of equipment‘s There is lack of computers and computer-related resources such as printers, projectors, scanners, etc. in government schools. The ratio of computer per student is insufficient. The option of private schools is very few or missing in these regions. 2. Unreliability of equipment Even the basic ICT equipment ‗sand computers possessed by schools are unreliable and undependable. The schools lack up-to-date hardware and software availability. Old and obsolete equipment‘s are major hindrances to ICT adoption and application. 3. Lack of technical support schools face issues related to technical know- how, absence of ICT service centers, and shortage of trained technical personnel. 4.Resource related issues and internet Rural schools usually face trouble with respect to the availability of ICT related resources such as supporting infrastructure, uninterrupted electricity, supplementary resources like multimedia, projectors, scanners, smart boards, and so on. 5. External factors inhibiting the usage of ICT in rural schools are social and cultural factors inherent to these regions, lack of initiative by community leaders, corruption and burglary.

ICT INITIATIVES IN EDUCATION IN INDIA : The government of India has announced 2010- 2020 as the decade of innovation with special focus on ICT enabled education and acquiring of ICT skills for students. The motive of the national policy on education is to create an environment of integrated development for education and economic empowerment of rural students. Important initiatives and strides have been taken in the sphere of education:1. Computer literacy projects for teachers and students. 2.Mobile classrooms through IT buses. 3. E-Learning centers and kiosks for enhancing online education for social and economic change in rural society. 4. Community Telecasters to meet the needs of ICT learning outside formal school setting 5.Bicycle-based connectivity in rural areas.6.National award for teachers using ICT in schools in the teaching.

National Level Seminar on Advanced Trends of ICT in Education

M. V. P. S. Adv. Vitthalrao Hande, College of Education, Nashik Page 39 Conclusion : The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs Although ICT has the potential to improve education system of a country to a great extent, yet it is not the case in the developing countries. There are multiple issues and challenges confronting the implementation of ICT education in schools and educational institutions in these countries and the problems are much more magnified in case of schools located in remote villages and rural areas. For rural schools in specific, the introduction of ICT faces hindrances in the form of internal and external barriers.

References:

1. Bhattacharya, I. & Sharma, K. (2007). India in the knowledge economy - an electronic paradigm, International Journal of Educational Management Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 543–568.

2. Cross, M. & Adam, F. (2007). ICT Policies and Strategies in Higher Education in South Africa: National and Institutional Pathways‘, Higher Education Policy 20(1), 73–95.

3. Mishra, S. & R. C. Sharma (2005). Development of e-Learning in India. University News, 43(11), March 14 – 20, 2005.

4. S. Neeru (2009). ICT in Indian Universities and Colleges : Opportunities and Challenges, Management and Change, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2009, pp. 231 – 244.

5. UGC (2011). Annual Report 2009 – 10, New Delhi, UGC.