ICT student textbook/Introduction

Why ICT

Society today is called the information society. Ability to gather information, methods of gathering information, processing it, analyzing it, communicating and making decisions to act on it are very important skills. Computers, cell phones, tablets - these are all words that are being used everywhere. As students, you have been introduced to some of these terms in your school, in your family or in your neighbourhood. The cell phone tower, your nearest ATM, your mother's mobile phone, games, whatsapp chats, email, the selfie, internet, videos and songs on your computer - all these are examples of a new kind of technology - a technology that has changed the way we are accessing information, the methods we are communicating and the ways we are working. The computer is becoming like a television, the phone is becoming like a computer, you can use the computer to make voice calls, you can speak to your phone- these and many such innovations are taking place rapidly. All these technologies - mobile, television, computers, tablets - are together called Information Communication Technologies (ICT). ICT refers to those set of technologies that help us create information, access information, analyze information and communicate with each other. This current set of technologies are also called Digital Technologies.

Chimpanzee using a stick to gather food

Driver less car

When it was first discovered that chimpanzees can make tools, which had been considered an activity restricted to the human species, Dr Louis Leakey, a noted primatologist said " We have to define what is a tool, or we have to define what is a human being or we have to accept that chimpanzees are human beings!". Do you think such a question can be asked about humans and computers? How will you feel about it?

Computers are no longer mere output devices but rather devices that can help us create, draw, compose music,communicate and do so much more; the idea of ICT has moved far beyond the mere computer. ICT and broadly digital technologies are changing the way we talk, we learn and we work.

This textbook will introduce you to the various possibilities of learning and doing and communicating that are possible now with ICT. As students, you are encouraged to explore this new area and make connections to your own daily life, the impact these ICT have on your life, how you would like to interact with this technology and how you can equip yourself to understand this new way of thinking, learning and communicating.

What can you expect to learn

In this new subject called ICT, you can expect to learn the following:

1. What is ICT
2. How did ICT develop
3. What effect ICT has on school, village, neighbourhood and family
4. How can use ICT to express your ideas
5. How to use ICT for your own learning, of school subjects and for general knowledge
6. How to use ICT for talking to your friends, for working together and for playing together
7. How to use ICT safely and responsibly
8. How to use ICT to help in the development of the local community

How is this book organized

This book will present ideas and activities at three different levels to address the classes 6-8 and your teacher will determine the appropriate level of activity. You will be required to work on projects - both individually and in groups - to explore a particular idea or a problem, by using appropriate digital methods, tools and processes.

There will be hands-on projects for working with different applications and this will be combined with classroom discussion as well as individual readings for students. Different groups in the class will work on different examples for a given theme and share their analysis, findings and creations. It is expected that students will learn together and teach the other, as they explore the different possibilities with digital technologies.