The ICT-in-Education Toolkit provides decision makers, planners and practitioners with interactive instruments and reference materials to formulate, plan, and evaluate education development programs enhanced by information and communication technologies (ICTs).
What the Toolkit Does
The set of tools contained in the Toolkit assist in collecting and analyzing data, diagnosing situations and issues, formulating scenarios for appropriate ICT interventions, generating implementation plans, evaluating implementability and effectiveness of ICT interventions, and making necessary post-evaluation decisions.
What the Toolkit Does Not Do
The Toolkit does NOT make decisions for users
The Toolkit does NOT automatically generate ICT projects, programs or plans.
The Toolkit is NOT a planning tool. Like any tool, it is an instrument that people engaged in the human process of planning for ICTs in education.
The Toolkit does NOT replace the commitment, brainpower and actions of the user, nor does it make up for deficiencies in these attributes.
It is how the toolkit is used and with what skill that determine the results.
Countries and educational institutions as they struggle with the challenge of introducing and integrating ICTs into education
UNESCO, infoDev, and other Toolkit partners, in their advisory services
Officers and specialists of development agencies as they identify, prepare and appraise ICT-in-education projects or ICT components of education projects
When to Use the Toolkit
The Toolkit may be used in any of the following situations:
Situation 1 � Considering ICT Interventions to enhance educational objectives
Situation 2 � A decision about an ICT-in-education intervention program has already been made, but implementation has not been planned or commenced
Situation 3 � ICT hardware is in place but no decisions have been made on contentware
Situation 4 � ICT program or project is under implementation
Situation 5 � An ICT program or project has been implemented and next steps are being considered
What It Takes to Apply the Toolkit
The application of the Toolkit requires inputs from and interaction among different decision makers, planners and specialists. The application of the Toolkit involves going through an intricate and systematic process of policy analysis, decision making, planning, implementation and evaluation. For this process to succeed, it needs to be facilitated by a highly motivated and well trained team. This Facilitation Team has to be well placed within the decision making and planning hierarchy to ensure that its work is taken seriously and is plugged into the overall decision-making and planning process.
Facilitation/Steering Team
The Facilitation Team should include a mix of people who have among them the skills of strategic thinking, policy analysis, integration of ICTs into education, innovation and change management, and program processing.
The Facilitation Team has the following functions:
Planning for Toolkit application
Identifying other Toolkit users and ensuring their orientation and training
Applying some of the tools and supervising the application of the other tools
Distributing responsibilities for applying the tools among its members and external users
Ensuring that decisions emanating from the application of the Toolkit are communicated to and made at the appropriate levels
Monitoring implementation and evaluation of ICT policy interventions and recommending follow-up actions
Facilitator
The Facilitation Team is coordinated by a Team Facilitator who is conceived as the executive of the Team and executor of its decisions. This person should be well experienced in the use of ICTs for education and in the process of planning. The Facilitator has the following functions:
Managing and monitoring the application process of the Toolkit
Preparing data and materials for the Team
Preparing materials resulting from Team deliberations
Liaising with specialist teams needed for the application of the Toolkit
Communicating with the Toolkit User Administrator
Teams of Specialists
The Facilitation Team will need assistance from specialists and experts, as individuals or teams, to apply certain tools. These situations are specified in the respective tools.
Training of Users
Users of the Toolkit need to be well oriented in the conceptual foundations of the Toolkit and sufficiently trained in the application of the tools and the utilization of their outputs. It is, therefore, recommended that before the Toolkit is applied, potential users, at different levels, undergo a hands-on orientation and training program.
The Toolkit User Administrators can provide such training of users.
To Contact a Toolkit User Administrator
To apply for authorization to access the Toolkit and arrange for training of user teams, go to:
What the Toolkit Does