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=== ICT for connecting and learning - Accessing the global digital library (GDL) ===
=== ICT for connecting and learning ===
One of the most common things that comes to our mind when we think of ICT is the internet.
One of the most powerful things about a computer is the ability to connect to another computer. The transfer of information through digital methods allows devices to be connected across time and space. It is not difficult to see the possibilities that this has for the way knowledge can be accessed and shared. The by-line of one IT company, Sun Micro-systems, was "The network is the computer". By connecting people to one another, ICT allow the sharing of knowledge with one another and allow collaborative work and creation.
The internet is the demonstration of this possibility; the most important thing about ICT today is the internet. The internet has changed the way we think of communicating. Talking to a friend through whatsapp or telegram chats, emailing or making a video call are just some of the ways in which the internet has changed the way we interact with each other in society. With the internet, you can connect to any computer in the world and access information. You can join other friends, form groups to learn about many things. Internet is also allowing new methods of learning through online courses and resource repositories.
==== What is the internet ====
If you want information about your bank balance, you can connect to your bank's computer from home and get the information that you want. There are many such computers in different organisations giving us different types of information. These computers are connected to one another, their network is called the internet. The internet is thus a physical network of millions of computers across the world, each of which has a unique identifier. Some of these computers act as 'servers', they store data which can be accessed by other computers. The millions of computers which are part of the Internet, is like a huge library with information on almost any issue. Apart from information, many of these computers also have applications or web tools, such as search engine, maps, translation, which have different purposes. The 'web-sites' we visit are nothing but folders of computers connected to the internet.
Internet is also allowing new methods of learning through on-line courses and resource repositories. Unit 1 will help you learn how you can use ICT to ''connect and learn''.
These computers communicate or share data with one another using the protocol called the [[wikipedia:Internet_protocol_suite|TCP-IP]], (transmission control protocol / internet protocol). As the name suggests, TCP/IP is the combination of TCP and IP protocols working together. Under TCP/IP each file being transported across the Internet is broken into smaller parts called "packets" by the server. Each packet is assigned an IP (Internet protocol) address of the computer it has to travel to. As the packet moves through the global network it is "switched" by a number of servers toward its destination, the requesting computer or "client" computer. These packets do not usually travel together on the internet. Packets from the same file may travel via different paths through different servers, but toward the same destination. This “splitting into packets” technology allows us to use the internet most efficiently. It means parts of a file can be shared across a number of phone lines instead of having to find one phone line to put a large file into. It is also hard to break the network, as the data will be routed around the trouble spot. In this respect TCP/IP can be likened to a group of cars which need to go to the same destination, but instead of all of them going on one road (which may be busy), each car can select a different road out of thousands of roads available. By picking the roads with least traffic, all cars can reach the destination in overall least time. The power of the internet to rapidly move information from any computer to any computer is because of the TCP/IP protocol.
The TCP/IP protocol was invented by [[wikipedia:Vint_Cerf|Vincent Van Cerf]], [[wikipedia:Bob_Kahn|Robert Kahn]] and [[wikipedia:Louis_Pouzin|Louis Pouzin]].
The internet is a physical network of millions of computers across the world, each of which has a unique identifier. Some of these computers act as 'servers', they store data which can be accessed by other computers. The Internet is thus like a huge library with information on almost any issue. The 'web-sites' we visit are nothing but folders of computers connected to the internet. Apart from information, many of these computers also have applications or web tools, such as search engine, maps, translation, which have different purposes.
==== World wide web ====
==== World wide web ====
Information can be accessed in multiple ways from the www and we need to know how to search for it. Sources of information, even if freely available on the Internet, needs to be acknowledged. Resources are available in different formats on the Internet- images, videos, audio files etc. We must be aware of Internet safety while accessing images, videos and other information on the Internet. We already saw that each website is a page on the Internet and has an address. We can either copy and paste the link directly in the address bar of a web browser.
Information can be accessed in multiple ways from the www and we need to know how to search for it. Sources of information, even if freely available on the Internet, needs to be acknowledged. Resources are available in different formats on the Internet- images, videos, audio files etc. We must be aware of Internet safety while accessing images, videos and other information on the Internet. We already saw that each website is a page on the Internet and has an address. We can either copy and paste the link directly in the address bar of a web browser.
This information network, called the World Wide Web, consists of web sites. A web site is a collection of related web pages. Web pages are identified by means of a URL (uniform resource locater), which is treated as the website address, usually beginning with “[http://%E2%80%9D http://”] (HTTP stands for hypertext transfer protocol, which is the method used for transferring web page information from the server to your computer. We connect to the Internet using a web browser and the browser opens one web page. This web page has links to other web sites / web pages which we can visit by clicking on the links. Each of the subsequent pages will also have many links which we can click on. Thus we can visualise the world wide web as a huge mansion with many rooms, each room having many doors. When we enter a room (open a web page), we can access the resources in that room. We can also go from that room to other rooms through the several doors that this room has (go from one web page to another web page by clicking on any of the links on the page we are in). The new room also would have many doors. Thus we can go through the mansion from room to room (web page to web page) through the door (web link) in each room. Thus though the entire web is very huge, we only access it one page at a time. We can connect to the web and go from web page to web page using a software called the web browser. Web browsers allow a user to quickly and easily get information provided on many web pages at many websites.
Initially the access to the www was only for downloading, this was called Web 1.0. Subsequently the second generation of www was evolved, called Web 2.0. , where ordinary users can create their own materials and publish on the Internet, using software tools like blog or wiki. A blog is like a e-journal and teachers can create their own e-journals for reflective practice using software tools such such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress WordPress].
We have moved further along now to collaborative creation of web pages, through online collaboration platforms. Now more and more processing can be done on the Internet, where the data, results and analysis is stored the Internet and we can operate/ add/ access through various web based applications. This is called [[wikipedia:Cloud_computing|Cloud Computing]].
==== Accessing the global digital library - connecting and learning ====
The emergence of the internet and the web has changed the way we are accessing information. The internet is a network of thousands of computers, many of which 'serve' the network by providing data and services. Getting data about something is not so difficult any more. All of these have a great impact on the way we learn. The world wide web with its millions of web pages is thus the "'''Global Digital Library'''", which has resources on many topics. However, making meaning depends on our skills to evaluate and organize these resources. The resources available in the Global Digital Library can be organized into a meaningful personal digital library on our own computer, enabling self learning. Resources are available on almost all topics that may be of interest to a teacher in English. However, teachers need and can contribute to on-line resources in Kannada, to increase the local language resources on the web.
==== Connecting with one another ====
Emergence of email has changed the way we think of communication, on-line communities are emerging in various interest areas.
The internet has changed the way we think of communicating. Talking to a friend through whatsapp or telegram chats, emailing or making a video call are just some of the ways in which the internet has changed the way we interact with each other in society. With the internet, you can connect to any computer in the world and access information. You can join other friends, form groups to learn about many things. Internet is also allowing new methods of learning through online courses and resource repositories.
For making teaching more effective, a resource rich learning environment is necessary. However, in many cases, teachers only have the text book for their subject. The text book is intended primarily for the student and the teacher needs to access resources that are a super set of the topic as dealt in the text book, so that the teacher is well placed to teach using different approaches and with multiple resources, based on the learning contexts and needs of the students. Teachers must also be resourceful to address any doubts or questions that may arise in class or elsewhere on the topic. However, learning resources other than text books are not easily available to teachers. Also significant part of materials available is copyrighted, meaning teachers cannot make copies of the same for their use and it may be expensive to purchase all the required resource materials.
The internet, a product of digital ICT, has changed the way we think of accessing information or communicating. With the internet, you can connect to any computer in the world and access information and resources. As a 'global digital library', the internet has information on almost every topic. This changes the way we can think of learning and the skills of learning. Skills of accessing information, organizing, evaluating information are very important. While the Internet is a continuous learning resource and there is a lot of content you can access, to make the resources useful, you need to evaluate the resources, organize it well, and have a clear unit plan on how to integrate multiple resources for teaching.
Internet is also allowing new methods of learning through on-line courses and resource repositories. Unit 1 will help you learn how you can use ICT to ''connect and learn''.
==== Navigating the Internet using a web browser ====
==== Navigating the Internet using a web browser ====
