A critical Analysis on the Impact of Information and Communication Technology on Teaching and Learning in Kenyan Public Secondary Schools

Abstract

Integration of ICT with education is rapidly becoming a crucial issue in modern education policy. Many experts in education agree that when ICT is properly applied in teaching and learning, it contributes infinite benefits in enhancing teaching and learning as well as creating other related ICT opportunities. Actually, this has triggered the industrialized nations in the world to equip their learning institutions with computers and employing professional tutors to assist students become proficient and efficient in technology. ICT in education improves instructional delivery process hence enhancing learners’ participation during teaching and learning process. Developed nations like USA have invested so much on research and publications on ICT related areas for use in their educational institutions. In 1995, the USA government bought more than one million computers to be used in elementary schools and over fifteen million in secondary schools. As reported by Chin and Bergheim (1984), the US government’s fiscal year of 2001 budgeted over $529 million for computer training in schools. In response to the Education Reform Act of 1988, the British government spent over $324 million in sponsoring the use of computers in schools’ management and administration. Britain and United States have been spending so much on ICT in education since then as well as other industrialized states. Developing countries have recently started to embrace ICT through construction of ICT enabled environments equipped with internet connectivity technologies. These ICT technologies facilitate connection of different learning institutions in order to exchange/share learning materials, enhance academic performance in education and improve cultural understanding among different people worldwide. Kenya has the potential of being among the major world market players in ICT by reinforcing her ICT policy in secondary schools through the ministry of education. ICT may act as a: supporting tool during instruction delivery process; management tool for economic development and high technological instrument for development. This research was aimed at exploring the impact of information and communication technology in teaching and learning in Kenyan public secondary schools.