CHAPTER II

ICT POLICIES AND ISSUES: IMPLICATIONS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
1. Discuss some ICT policies and explain their implications to teaching and learning;
2. Explain some issues that relate to ICT policies; and
3. Identify safety concerns on the internet, including digital safety rules.
INTRODUCTION
Globalization is a reality, and ICT has become a fundamental part of the process. A networked
society is one in which the entire planet is organized around telecommunicated networks of computers.
The powerful use of the network has broken boundaries, provided opportunities for inclusion and
collaboration. However, there will also be a struggle for those who do not have access or those who are
excluded, marginalized, and powerless. Thus, a need to establish in the use of ICT is imperative.
As the Department of Information, Communication and Technology (DICT) says: “The future
has arrived. Now we have to ensure that we have a place in it.”
LESSON 4: POLICIES AND ISSUES ON INTERNET AND IMPLICATIONS TO TEACHING
AND LEARNING

LESSON OBJECTIVES
1. Name examples of ICT Policies which are applicable to teaching and learning; and
2. Discuss some issues that relate to the ICT policy.
LESSON OVERVIEW
New technologies have become central to the lives of every individual on this planet. Whether
you are talking on the phone, sending electronic mail, going to the bank, using the library, watching the
news on television, going to the doctor, catching a flight, or seeing a movie, you are using ICT. Almost
everything that we do in the modern world is influenced by the new technologies.
Would your life as a teacher also be influenced by the new technologies?
Should we leave our lives to be controlled by technology, or should we control the utilization
of technology in our lives? How?
LESSON CONTENT
One way of enhancing and regulating the use of ICT is to formulate and implement policies to
guide appropriate decisions.
Definition of ICT Policy
The Oxford English Dictionary has defined “policy” as a course of action, adopted and pursued
by a government party, ruler, statesman. It is any course of action adopted as expedient or advantageous.
Its operational definition of policy is a plan of action to guide decisions and achieve outcomes.
Thus, ICT Policies are needed to put a roadmap or course of actions to be pursued and adopted
by various governments, organizations, entities involving ICT. These include principles and guidelines
in the use of ICT, which cover three main areas: telecommunications (telephone), broadcasting (radio
and television), and internet.
The New ICT Technologies
More recent technological innovations increased the reach and speed of communications which
can be grouped into three categories:
1. Information Technology - includes the use of computers, which has become indispensable in
modern societies to process data and save time and effort. What are needed will be computer
hardware and peripherals, software, and computer literacy for the user.
2. Telecommunication technologies - include telephones (with fax) and the broadcasting of radio
and television often through satellites. Telephone systems, radio, and TV broadcasting are
needed in this category.
3. Networking technologies. The best known of networking technologies is the internet but has
extended to mobile phone technology, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) satellite
communications, and other forms of communications are still in their infancy. In addition to
the internet, this category also includes a mobile telephone, cable, DSL, satellite, and other
broadband connectivity.
The DICT Roadmap
In our country, the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) has
formulated a roadmap to guide all agencies in the utilization, regulation, and enhancement of ICT. Each
project has corresponding policy statements and guidelines.
The ICT for Education (ICT4E) is a program under the DICT that supports all the efforts of the
education sector in incorporating the use of ICT as well as in determining and gaining access to the
infrastructure (hardware, software, telecommunications facilities, and others) which are necessary to
use and deploy learning, technologies at all levels of education. Among the policy recommended
programs that have applications to education teaching-learning are:
1. ICT in Education Masterplan for all levels, including a National Roadmap for Faculty
Development in ICT in Education. A National Framework Plan for ICTs in Basic Education
was developed.
2. Content and application development through the Open Content in Education Initiative (OCEI)
which converts DepEd materials into interactive multi-media content, develop applications
used in schools, and conduct students and teachers competitions to promote the development
of education-related web content.
3. PheDNET, is a “walled” garden that hosts educational learning and teaching materials and
applications for use by Filipno students, their parents, and teachers. All public high schools will
be part of this network with only DepEd-approved multi-media applications, materials, and
mirrored internet sites accessible from the school’s PCs.
4. Established Community eLearning Centers called eskwela for out-of-school youth (OSY)
providing them with ICT-enhanced alternative education opportunities.
5. Quality Program for tertiary education through partnerships with state universities and colleges
(SUCs) to improve the quality of IT education and the use of ICT in education in the country,
particularly outside of Metro Manila.
6. Digital Media Arts Program which builds digital media skills for government using Open
Source technologies. Particular beneficiary agencies include the Philippine Information
Agency and the other government media organizations, the Cultural Center of the Philippines,
the National Commission for Culture and Arts and other government art agencies, State
Universities and Colleges, and local government units.
7. ICT skills strategic plan which develops an inter-agency approach identifying strategic and
policy and program recommendations to address ICT skills demand-supply type.
All the seven programs were guided by the roadmap that embeds policy statements that relate
to education, specifically in the enhancement of human development for teaching and learning.
Some Issues on ICT and Internet Policy and Regulations
Global Issues
Access and Civil Liberties are two sets of issues in ICT Policy which are crucial to the modern
society. The other concern is civil liberties which refer to human rights and freedom. These include
freedom of expression, the right to privacy, the right to communicate, and intellectual property rights.
Access to the Use of Internet and ICT. Access means the possibility for everyone to use the
internet and other media. In richer countries, basic access to internet is almost available to all with faster
broadband connections. There are still countries where internet access is still a challenge.
Infringement to Civil Liberties or Human Rights. What are specific internet issues on internet
policy that have a relationship to civil liberties or human rights? Let’s study the examples that follow.
Issue No. 1: Freedom of Expression and Censorship
Under international human rights conventions, all people are guaranteed the rights for free
expression. However, with the shift from communicating through letters, newspapers, and public
meetings to electronic communications and online networking, a need to look into how these new means
modify the understanding of freedom of expression and censorship.
The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that everyone has the right to freedom
of thought, conscience, and religion, likewise the right to freedom of opinion and expression. However,
there are practices that violate these provisions in the use of the internet.
Some examples are the following:
1. Individual rights are given up in order to have access to electronic networks. Microsoft
Network’s (MSN’s contracts provide protection of individuals like “upload, or otherwise make
available files that contain images, photographs or other materials protected by intellectual
property laws, including but not limiting to copyright or trademark laws, unless you own or
control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consents to do the same.” However,
Microsoft reserves the rights, in its sole discretion, to terminate access to any or all MSN sites
or services.
2. Censorship restricts the transmission of information by blocking it or filtering the information.
Blocking is preventing access to whole areas of the internet based upon the “blacklist” of a
certain internet address, location or email addresses while filtering is sifting the packets of data
or message, as they move across computer networks and eliminating those considered
“undesirable” materials. The selection of sites that are blocked or filtered has been considered
as an issue.

Warning!
When you are surfing the web, you may think you are anonymous, but there are
various ways that information about you or your activities can be collected without your
consent.
3. Defamation actions may be used to silence critics. This action deters the freedom of expression.

Issue No. 2, Privacy and Security

Privacy policies are an issue. Most commercial sites have a privacy policy. When someone uses
a site and clicks “I agree” button, it is as if you have turned over private information to any authority
that may access it.
There are several types of privacy, as shown by the following examples:
1. For most, privacy means “personal privacy,” the right of individuals not to have their homes,
private life, or personal life interfered with.
2. Privacy of communication refers to the protection from interference with communication over
the phone or the internet. Respect for the privacy of communications is an essential prerequisite
for the maintenance of human relationships via technological communications media.
3. Information privacy is related to the use of computers and communications system which are
able to hold and process information about large numbers of people at a high speed. It is
important to ensure that information will only be used for purposes for which it was gathered
and will not be disclosed to others without the consent of the individuals.
Issue No. 3: Surveillance and Data Retention
The use of electronic communications has enhanced the development of indirect surveillance.
In the indirect surveillance, there is no direct contact between the agent and the subject of surveillance
but evidence of activities can be traced. The new and powerful form of indirect surveillance is
dataveillance. Dataveillance is the use of personal information to monitor a person’s activities while
data retentions the storage from and use of information communication
There is very little that can be done to prevent surveillance. What can be done is to change the
methods of working to make surveillance difficult. This is called “counter-surveillance” or “information
security” if it refers to computers and electronic communication.

Issue No. 4: E-pollutants from E-waste

A large amount of e-waste is generated by ICT. These are, in particular, terminal equipment
used for computing (PCs, laptops), broadcasting (television and radio sets), telephony (fixed and mobile
phones), and peripherals (fax machines, printers, and scanners).
The accumulated e-waste is due to a rapid turnover of equipment and due to the rapid
improvement of the software. While material waste can be destroyed by crushing, toxic material brought
about by the different equipment requires utmost management. The quantities of e-waste are increasing
in both developed and developing countries. A very dismal state is that there is a significant amount of
electronic waste that has been shipped from industrial countries to developing countries, using less
environmentally‑responsible procedures.
Remedies include standardization and regulatory measures to increase the life cycle of
equipment before they become obsolete. Efficient extraction of toxic components and requiring the
recycling by both consumers and equipment vendors are selling must be required.
If not controlled, then e-waste will tremendously affect climate change, damage human lives,
and overload the capacity of the earth in carrying solid waste.

Implications to Teaching and Learning

How do the policy guidelines, projects and issues relate to the teaching and learning?
There are great implications of this lesson to both the teachers who are teaching and the learners who
are learning. A few of theses are as follows:
For the Teachers and Teaching
1. Guide the teachers on what they should teach that relates to ICT, and how to teach it. Since ICT
development comes so rapid and fast, teachers might be overwhelmed by its rapid speed.
Temperance in its use is a caution that should be looked at.
2. Technology should never replace any human teacher. The tools are support instructional
materials for the teachers which are available for use. The teacher should learn how to
appropriately use them. The human touch of the teacher is still a vital component in teaching.
Teachers should always be reminded that there are always limitations in the use of different
gadgets and tools.
3. There are rules and regulations that govern the use of technology. Caution should be observed
to protect individual privacy. As teachers, you must be aware that the use of technology may
jeopardize your privacy and security.
 4. All the issues and many more shall be part of the teaching content teacher will be encouraged
to use technology in teaching.
For the Learners and Learning
The learners of the 21st Century are even more advanced than some of the teachers. However,
learners still need guidance on using and regulating technology use. As there are positive and negative
effects of technology use, learners should know the difference. Learners should not only know the
benefits of technology use, but they should also know how they can be protected from the hazards that
technology brings to their lives.
Learners should take advantage of the potential of learning support they can derive, such as the
development of higher-order thinking skills, the development of learning communities through
collaboration, the enhancement of skills to manage the vast resources as 21st-century learners, and many
more.
Both the teachers and learners should be mindful of the e-wastes that are being thrown away
to the land and to the atmosphere. Thus, safety in the use of technology shall be presented in the next
lesson.