EMPOWERMENT TECHNOLOGIES

Reflecting on the ICT Learning Process

EMPOWERMENT TECHNOLOGIES

Reflecting on the ICT Learning Process

ICT, The Self, and The
Society
Look closely at the images below and carefully observe
the symbols and graphics they contain. Answer the
following questions as briefly as possible.
1.In the first two pictures, how many of the featured
icons or logos can you name? Rank them from the
most familiar down to the most unfamiliar to you.
2. In the next three pictures, which ICT tools or devices
are you most comfortable in using? Rank them
according to your level of familiarity and manipulation
on them.
3. What do you think are the advantages and
disadvantages of having those ICT tools and devices for
ourselves, the society, and the world?
 In the previous lessons, you have realized that
Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
comes with great power that can impact and shape a
society. If used very efficiently, ICT can lead us to a
world that we could ever imagine. This becomes
possible when its available tools are manipulated in a
way that it brings a social change that is worthwhile,
positive, and everlasting. Before oneself, the society,
and the world are transformed to a better version
towards a greater future,
it is important to learn the essentiality of maintaining
and sustaining the effectiveness of these technological
devices and platforms. As a matter of fact, people these
days are already catching up with the trend of making
ICT as an integral part of their way of living. Several
societies are now slowly being run by so-called
“netizens”, the tech savvy citizens that evolved after
embracing the new way of life with ICT – from working
to socializing, learning, and playing.
They have foreseen the global shift to a networked
world. Thinking about its huge advantage, endless
opportunities and afraid of getting left behind, these
people have already considered ICT or technology
literacy as an essential requirement in all walks of life.

Being said that we are now in the information age,

where access to information has become much faster
and easier, it is undeniable that many of us can no
longer live without the aid of ICT.
We are now in an ever-evolving world of fast
information and quick access. According to Yadav
(2019), the digital age has transformed the way young
people communicate, network, seek help, access
information, and learn. We must recognize that young
people are now an online population and access is
through a variety of means such as computers, TV, and
mobile phones.
 How about you? Do you think
your knowledge on ICT is enough to
make you ready for the Networked
World with endless possibilities? Let
us find out as we go through this
lesson!
IMPACT OF ICT TO THE SELF AND THE
SOCIETY

Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

is one of the greatest innovations that the world will
forever be grateful in numerous aspects affecting the
quality of human life. It opens an enormous door to
bridging gaps, breaking boundaries, and making the
world smaller than before. How does ICT affect various
sectors of life?
1. Home and Domestic Activities – able
to use domestic equipment (e.g., mobile phones,
computers, refrigerator, washing machine, television,
etc.) to save time and energy. Watch TV shows, read
online news, pay bills via mobile banking, do online
shopping, study online, and connects to important
people via email, voice call, online messenger, or
video calling.
2. Social Networking – share status
updates on people with the same interests
and who cares about you. Stay connected
and regularly communicate with them
through social networking sites such as
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and
more.
3. Education/E-Learning – E-Learning, a novel
way of educating the young minds and adults, too.
Electronic devices such as laptops, desktop
computers, smartphones, and tablets are used to
learn a skill, complete a task, and appreciate the
learning process. Students can learn by online
class, watching instructional videos, reading e-
books, video conferencing, blogging or vlogging, in
a collaborative environment.
4. Health – Some people tend to be scared personally
visiting a hospital to see a doctor but through ICT,
devices can now be used to do telemedicine. Patients
can talk over their problems and doctors may provide
possible health care over the phone. In the study of
medicine, doctors can share their expertise to students
with the aid of an ICT tool leading to a better education.
Doctors may also perform critical procedures with the
guidance of other specialists through video
conferencing.
5. Shopping/Commerce – E-commerce supports
online shopping services across the globe. It provides a
management system and automated data collection
systems making electronic fund transfers, online
transaction processing such as buying and selling
possible. Many companies benefit in selling their
products faster and more efficiently because of ads
made through ICT. They also become able to sell their
products even abroad without spending much yet
making more. All of these are realized with thanks to
ICT.
6. Banking – Online banking goes with E-
commerce. Virtual money is invented to
perform electronic transactions via
Debit/Credit Cards or bank transfers. We save
time in processing purchases such as ticket
booking, bills payment, money transfer, loan
applications, and more because we can
access our funds anytime and wherever we
want.
7. Employment/Job Opportunities – More job
openings are created to support the development in
the ICT field. This in turn increases the chance of
people getting employed as web developer, data
analyst, IT consultant and manager, software engineer
or developer, programmer, computer technician, and so
on. These people can also become successful of their
own even just by working at home, for as long as they
have the right gadget and internet connection.
 As ICT continues to evolve and bring
endless possibilities, it seemed to have also
developed its pros and cons. How does ICT
positively and negatively impact our every
life?
The Positive Impacts of ICT
1. Daily Routine Management – Most of the ICT
devices we use now can help us prepare a to-do list, mark
important events in a calendar, and create scheduled
reminders that keep us updated with the work to do on a
daily basis. They autosave these information and store for a
period until we opt to change or delete them. These can also
control specific domestic equipment when integrated
together. Purchasing daily needs, saving time and energy, and
paying monthly bills are also made easy because of ICT.
2. Social Relationship – Social networking
platforms help strengthen bonds and relationship with
people you dearly love by staying connected and
updated with each other. Just by being connected to
the Internet, you can quickly send a message, email, or
video call someone you want to reach out, which saves
time and money. These platforms are huge that they
can also serve as a virtual bulletin to share an
important information to a large audience with just a
single click.
3. Information Sharing – If you have the right
gadget and the Internet is on your hands, access and
sharing of new information is just one move of a
fingertip. Information and various updates around
different topics are easily available whenever and
wherever you need them. Global awareness of
different cultures, religion, ideologies, and lifestyles
will reach places and create an open world of
increased mutual respect to every race of mankind.
4. Communication – The era of instant messaging
has come, and it has been effectively bridging gaps and
breaking boundaries. Reaching out to people has never
been made so quick and easy with just a single touch
of a device because of ICT. With that, emailing,
teleconferencing, and video calling are now the trends.
Somehow, they have become very useful in virtual
meetings and coming together to discuss important
things just like in a face-to-face
5. Usage of Free Time – Entertainment has
never been made so fun and enjoyable to have
on our pastime due to ICT. We can now watch
more TV shows, movies, videos like fun vlogs,
Tiktoks, listen to songs, be updated with the
latest news and trends, play more games, and
shop until we drop online!
6. Children’s Education – The young minds are
exposed to new ways of learning made possible by ICT.
These includes e-learning in an e-classroom, distance
learning, online access to materials, virtual classes, and
interactive multimedia. Example of activities that make
their learning more effective and worthwhile are
having simulations and experiencing virtual reality
(VR).
7. Self-Employment – Small businesses online
are now fast emerging because of the help of ICT.
Many people are more encouraged of building their
own businesses through online shops that saves
them from spending much for a physical store and its
requirements, advertising campaigns, and hiring
additional workers to pay. This is done with the help
of online banking and online payment methods.
8. Paperless Environment – Information
is now stored in microchips inside an ICT
device and becomes easier to manage. This
can greatly impact and help the environment
by saving papers made of tress, thus making
the environment healthier.
9. Developing Health Literacy – ICT helps
medical professional provide immediate health
assistance and feedback when patients are far of reach.
Through this, recovering from an illness becomes faster.
Health literacy deals with the need for people to access
and use high quality information about diseases and
medicines through internet health care services
available with ICT devices.
The Negative Impacts of ICT
1. Reduced Face-to-Face Interaction – People nowadays
tend to constantly use and some even get addicted to
their personal devices instead of having real face to face
conversations. Online communication is now mostly
preferred by many because it is faster and more
convenient yet sometimes leaves a problem in
expressing the exact feeling coming with the message.
This usually causes 9 online misunderstanding because
sometimes people tend to fail to correctly interpret or
misconstrue other people’s message on the Internet.
2. Social Disconnect – People becomes
introverted and isolated because of being more
focused of their own virtual world. Real life
relationships with family and friends are neglected as
people forget their reality. The Internet may have
reduced physical distances between people but on the
other hand, it also increased emotional distance, thus
it is not safe to say that it brought everyone closer
together.
Children are also growing with more time engagement
in the virtual world rather than playing outside with
other kids and can sometimes pick-up negative
thoughts from what they have perceived online.
3. Reduced Physical Activity/Develop Health
Problems – Digital citizens develop a sedentary
lifestyle that is very unsafe because of increased
dependence to their devices. This can lead to
various health concerns such as headaches,
obesity, heart ailments, diabetes, eyestrain,
wrong posture, neck pain, physical and mental
stress, etc. because of excessive use. Lack of
physical activities because of this lifestyle
increases health risks as time passes.
4. Cost – Because of the fast-changing digital world,
ICT devices also needs to keep up with the trend. Many
of them comes in a high price and are cost effective to
purchase and maintain. However, people who are
financially challenged cannot keep up with the updates,
thus cannot get the benefit of ICT.

5. Job Loss – It may bring more job opportunities, yet

it can also incur job losses as manual operations are
being replaced with automation.
6. Security Risks/Loss of Privacy – Use of social
networking sites increase risk of personal data loss as it
exposes the users to a large audience. The Internet is
just the same as any other innovation, it brings positive
opportunities, but it can also impose risks because of
threats and malwares. It is important to be mindful in
whatever you engaged your personal information with
when using the Internet. One example is when using
online banking, always be alert on noticing fraudulent-
looking websites that can cause you to lose your money
online.
It should be already clear to you that Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) plays a vital role in
changing every individual’s view to life in various
aspects. It also contributes to shaping his/her future
together with the society’s future for a better world to
live. Now, it is your moment to take a step in making
an impact. Keep in mind the following as you move
forward from your own reflection.
Steps in creating a reflection of what you have learned in the
whole ICT learning process
1. Provide a summary. Write a narrative of your experience
with the topics upon which you are reflecting. Detail the
information as well as your feelings and impressions.
2. Compare your experience with your prior knowledge.
Introduce any ideas that you had encountered. Point out why
you feel the concept pertains to the experience.
3. Analyze your experience according to the theoretical
concept of the ICT topics that you have learned. 4. Check for
grammatical errors and stylistic errors.
Reflection provides you the chance to reinforce what
you have learned through the lessons, lectures, and
personal experiences. It encourages insight and
complex learning. As individuals, sometimes we reflect
alone when we think it’s best for us. However,
reflection is also enhanced when we ponder our
learning with others.
Directions: Using the ICT Development Checklist, rate
yourself on how strong your
skills have developed in using the various ICT
platforms. Copy the table below on a
separate sheet of paper.
5 – Expert
4 – Advanced
3 – Proficient
4 – Developing
1 – Novice
Compute the total points acquired from the checklist and refer to the
scale interpretation below and reflect on the result you have acquired
using the ICT development checklist. Use a separate sheet of paper to
do the activity.