Communication and Information Technology: Learning and Challenges

This report provides an overview of communication and information technology, focusing on its role in information gathering and education. It discusses how computers and the internet have transformed the way information is collected, organized, and presented, while also addressing concerns about the authenticity of online sources. The report further examines the impact of IT on student learning, highlighting the rise of e-learning and the accessibility of learning resources. It concludes that while IT has revolutionized traditional learning practices and offers numerous benefits, it is essential to critically evaluate the information obtained from digital sources to ensure accuracy and reliability. Desklib offers a platform for students to access similar solved assignments and study tools.

Running head: COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Communication and Information Technology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
1. What is information technology?.....................................................................................2
2. Have Computer made it easier or more difficult to gather true information?.................3
3. Information Technology in Students’ learning................................................................5
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................6
References............................................................................................................................8

2
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Introduction
Information technology can be widely referred to the applications of computers that help
in storing, analyzing, retrieving and transmitting information often in context of a business or for
personal usages. It basically refers to the use of computers to process electronic data. The study
or use of computer and telecommunication systems for storing and processing data is known as
information system. The use of information system has revolutionized the way people perform
their daily tasks. However, every technology has some positive and negative aspects. This report
discusses the effect of computers in people’s life and evaluates whether, it is a source of
gathering true information. It further discusses the use of information system in students’
learning processes (Blackwell et al. 2013).
1. What is information technology?
Information technology mainly refers to the use of computers in performing various
tasks. It acts as a platform to store, manage and modify various tasks. Information technology
has increasing use in different sector of business as it has an ability to view changes in the global
market more easily. It has further brought an easy access to the different learning resources,
which further helped in improving the teaching skills and learning abilities. Now a days,
computers are considered as one of the most important devices that a person can utilize in order
to store and process vital information (Lajoie and Derry 2013). Majority of the people rely on
information technology for obtaining much vital information and as an important medium of
knowledge sharing as well. With the advent of information technology, sharing of data has
become a lot easier than it used to be before. Information technology can therefore be defined as
a branch of engineering that uses telecommunication and computers in storing, retrieving and

3
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
transmission of the information in this world of technology. It is an important medium of
acquisition and retrieval of numerical and textual data that is important for business and learning
purposes. Information technology offers a medium of innovation. It incorporates a wide range of
areas that include information systems, computer systems, programming languages as so on.
It is a platform that can render and provide information, data and different types of
perceived knowledge that can be obtained in visual, text or multimedia format. Therefore, it is
being considered as an important means of obtaining information that is suitable for business and
other sectors due to the assistance it provides. An information technology system is capable of
equipping business sectors through core services, as it makes comparatively easier to perform the
various functions associated with a business (Abramovich 2012).
The learning sector is furthermore benefitted by the technology as it makes it easier for
the students to extract information online. The use of information technology as a medium
further helps the professors in imparting distant education. Therefore, it can be said that
information technology has a huge role to play in terms of knowledge sharing. It automates the
various functions and processes making it easier for the users to execute and perform complex
tasks. Similar is the case in the field of learning as well. Information technology has largely
revolutionized the traditional educational practices. Accessing the learning materials have
become considerably easy with the facility of immediacy of information provided by the
information technology (Wu et al. 2013). Therefore, it can certainly be said that information
technology has largely transformed the way of imparting and receiving education.
2. Have Computer made it easier or more difficult to gather true information?

4
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The internet and the computer considerably help in collecting, organizing and presenting
the information globally. Computers are able to store and present a large amount of data and
internet helps in sharing that data with the people all over the world. However, computer is not
actually a source of information but an information processor. It is used to store and process data
as information and can therefore be termed as a storehouse of information. One of the major
advantages of computer coupled with internet is that it allows access to a large database of stored
information (Fraillon, Schulz and Ainley 2013).
Internet is a major source of information that is retrieved with a computer or similar
devices. However, it is crucial to evaluate whether the information gathered from an open source
is correct and relevant or not. Computers and Internet do provide a platform for retrieving
authentic information, however, there are certain sources that can provide with the information
that might not be authentic or true. Therefore, it is very difficult to address whether the computer
and internet are making is easier to gather true information or making it more difficult for the
people to gather the same.
Computer and internet can be termed as a secondary source of information and therefore
it is important to understand what kind of information people want to gather from internet.
Information obtained from the official sites of the companies or learning institution is authentic
and genuine and there is no doubt about that (Ali, Haolader and Muhammad 2013). However,
information obtained from unrecognized sources may not return an authentic value. This is
therefore an area of concern about use of computer and internet in gathering information.
Internet is a rich source of information as people get to know what is happening around
the world by sitting at their home with the help of internet. Many sources of information

5
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
available over the internet can be accessed or modified by the people using it, which is an
advantage and a disadvantage of the internet usage as a source of information at the same time. It
helps in creating awareness among the people and at the same time make them addicted to the
virtual world. Therefore, it can be said that computer and internet are a major source of
information gathering; however, it cannot surpass the books and manual sources of information
in providing authentic solutions. Computer definitely made it easier to gather information but it
cannot guarantee the authenticity of the information (O'Malley 2012). It is therefore possible that
the computers are drifting people away from the true sources of information.
3. Information Technology in Students’ learning
Computers have largely transformed the learning procedures for students. The concept of
e-learning and distant education has been possible only because of the advent of computers and
internet. E-learning expands the option for teaching by making use of the technology. The
successful use of information technology in fetching and gathering information have now
inextricably linked with the institutions imparting higher education offering an option of e
learning. The absence of direct guidance of the instructor used to be a major hurdle of students in
taking up distant education. This problem is eliminated with the advent of information
technology. The online learning facility has made it easier for students to have an expert
guidance 24*7. Furthermore, the internet acts as a rich source of information thus making the
process of learning even easier. It provides an electronic platform, which is designed to provide
augment learning and a more comprehensive learning experience.
Information Technology plays a significant role in the education by enhancing the
process of learning. It helps in improving the process of how students achieve knowledge. It

6
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
further helps in improving the teaching skills of the professors and learning abilities of the
students (Fu 2013). It allows the increasing use of audio visual education that considerably
makes the learning procedure even more easy. The emerging technologies challenge the
traditional methods of learning. Furthermore, presence of internet widens the learning resources
and its availability as well. Knowledge can be easily gained with the help of information
technology and therefore it is considerably being implemented and adopted in different
universities for enhancing the learning procedures for the students (Livingstone 2012).
Researches prove that the use of information and communication technology considerably helps
in improving the quality of education. With the advent of information technology in education,
the students are able to get involved in different skill oriented activities as they get to share and
interact with the fellow learners without any geographical barrier. Therefore, it can be said that
the information technology era has considerably transformed student’s learning (Sarkar 2012).
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be said that information technology has
transformed the way people do work. The report discusses in brief, whether advent of computers
and internet have made it easier to collect true information or making it difficult. Information
technology is definitely helping people to gather more information than it could be possible to
collect by manual methods, however, it is difficult to say whether people are getting hold of
authentic information or not. Information technology has considerably revolutionized the
traditional learning procedures and practices. Use of information technology has made is easier
for the students to obtain knowledge irrespective of any geographic and time barrier. This is the
reason; different universities are adopting different information technology tools for enhancing
the learning processes. Therefore, it can be concluded that information technology is an

7
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
inseparable part of the modern world and is capable of revolutionizing the way people do their
work.

8
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
References
Abramovich, S., 2012. Computers in education. Nova Science Publishers, Inc..
Ali, G., Haolader, F.A. and Muhammad, K., 2013. The role of ICT to make teaching-learning
effective in higher institutions of learning in Uganda. International Journal of Innovative
Research in Science, Engineering and Technology, 2(8), pp.4061-4073.
Blackwell, C.K., Lauricella, A.R., Wartella, E., Robb, M. and Schomburg, R., 2013. Adoption
and use of technology in early education: The interplay of extrinsic barriers and teacher
attitudes. Computers & Education, 69, pp.310-319.
Fraillon, J., Schulz, W. and Ainley, J., 2013. International computer and information literacy
study: Assessment framework.
Fu, J.S., 2013. ICT in education: A critical literature review and its implications. International
Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, 9(1),
p.112.
Lajoie, S.P. and Derry, S.J. eds., 2013. Computers as cognitive tools. Routledge.
Livingstone, S., 2012. Critical reflections on the benefits of ICT in education. Oxford review of
education, 38(1), pp.9-24.
O'Malley, C. ed., 2012. Computer supported collaborative learning (Vol. 128). Springer Science
& Business Media.
Sarkar, S., 2012. The role of information and communication technology (ICT) in higher
education for the 21st century. Science, 1(1), pp.30-41.

9
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Wu, H.K., Lee, S.W.Y., Chang, H.Y. and Liang, J.C., 2013. Current status, opportunities and
challenges of augmented reality in education. Computers & Education, 62, pp.41-49.