US-China Education Review2013(10A)

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Volume 3, Number 10, October 2013 (Serial Number 29)


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US-China

Education ReviewA

Volume 3, Number 10, October 2013 (Serial Number 29)

Contents

Teaching Technology

Pulling and Pushing Forces for ICT Use in Initial Teacher Preparation for

Secondary Schools 707

Adula Bekele Hunde, Giuseppe Tacconi

A University in the Digital World: Using Technologies for Learning and Management 722

Natalia Tikhomirova

Higher Education

Planning a Productive Higher Education System 730

Christopher Vas, Thomas Koruth

Curriculum and Teaching

Organizing, Teaching, and Assessing for Student Success in Introductory College Physics 739

Daryao S. Khatri, Anne O. Hughes

Using Extraction Experiment as a Tool for Teaching Scientific Process Skills 754

Hasan zyildirim, Husnuye Durmaz

Hand-Washing: Knowledge of Nursing Professionals in a Secondary Hospital Institution 763

Patrcia de Carvalho Nagliate, Paula Cristina Nogueira, Simone de Godoy,Denise de Andrade, Isabel Amlia Costa Mendes

Creativity and Language Usage in Interactive and Integrated Projects 769

Tanja Psonder


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Learning About Herbs and Spices in the Preschool Period 777

Marjanca Kos, Janez Jerman

The Phonemic Principle Revisited 784

Iftikhar Haider

Platform Construction for Extra-curricular Learning and Personal Academic

Development of Physics Students at University 791

Yang Dong-hua, Chen Min, Zhao Fu-li

A Primary Study on Netspeak 797

Ma Yan-hong


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US-China Education Review A, ISSN 2161-623XOctober 2013, Vol. 3, No. 10, 707-721

Pulling and Pushing Forces for ICT Use in Initial Teacher

Preparation for Secondary SchoolsAdula Bekele Hunde, Giuseppe Tacconi

University of Verona, Verona, Italy

The transformative use of ICT (information and communication technology) in the educational setting is

demanding continually assessing bottlenecks and conducive conditions with the aim of consolidating the

pre-conditions and to dry the drawbacks from their root. As a result, this qualitative research approach employed to

explore enablers and barriers of using ICT in initial teacher preparation in the context of JU (Jimma University),

Ethiopia. The study employed in-depth interviews with student teachers and teacher educators. Participants

perception of ICT as a vehicle for quality learning and multiple access to ICT use pointed as supportive conditions.

Whereas, mismatch of methodologies being used in teacher education and schools, resource constraints,

marginalizing teacher education program, unsuccessful experience of learning via ICT, and lack of clear directive

and expertise on the use of ICT were some of the major issues forwarded by the participants. Redesigning of the

teacher education program in the way of using ICT is clearly indicated, the system that forces and reinforces the use

of ICT in place is among the recommendations forwarded.

Keywords:ICT (information and communication technology), teacher educator, student teacher, teacher education,

Ethiopia

Introduction

The ubiquitous overflow of knowledge in our time is becoming beyond human minds understanding.

According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) (2002), the worlds

knowledge base doubles every 2-3 years, about 7,000 scientific and technical papers flourishing everyday and

graduates of secondary schools exposed to enormous information than their grandparents have in their life time

(pp. 14-15). Therefore, the bloom of knowledge in quantity and form is requiring new skills and a new way of

thinking, which is definitely challenge the traditional way of considering teachers and textbooks as an ultimate

source of knowledge. Exposing learners with dynamic and ill-structured information while they are at school is

one way of preparing them to the huge demands lying in front of them as they grown up as adult. Therefore,

schools, which are implementing teaching-learning process that let learners learn by sorting relevant

information, organizing, and synthesizing knowledge on their own, are in the position of assisting their learners

develop skills to function effectively in the dynamic, information-rich, and ever existing change of

environments.

A growing body of literatures shows that such transformation is hastened by using ICT (information and

Adula Bekele Hunde, Ph.D. candidate, researcher, Department of Philosophy, Psychology and Pedagogy, University of Verona.Giuseppe Tacconi, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Philosophy, Psychology and Pedagogy, University of Verona.

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PULLING AND PUSHING FORCES FOR ICT USE IN INITIAL TEACHER PREPARATION708

communication technology), though, it is not the only means (UNESCO, 2002; Angeli & Valanides, 2009;

Engida, 2011). ICT can be in the form of hardware, software, and/or networks that primarily meant for

facilitating students learning. In the first case, ICT assists teachers to transform and teach topics which are

difficult to be understood by learners or the one they could not represent easily (Angeli & Valanides, 2009).

According to Zhang, Tousignant, and Xu (2012), using ICT in education setting assists teachers to expand

broadness and depth of their teaching. Besides, ICT facilitates collaborative learning and the redefinition of

relationships among students and teachers (UNESCO, 2002). Here, students realize the possibilities of learning

independently at their own times and learning in collaboration with their colleagues and relevant experts.

Moreover, teachers use of technology enables students to see simulated environments in a class, get exposure

to the same thing from different perspectives that supports them not only to broaden their knowledge, but also

to challenge their understanding, which leads them to be remained active learners (Whetten, 2007). Similarly, it

allows students to get connected to external experts and relevant classrooms even in other countries, just from

their classrooms. In this manner, learning can be initiated in the classrooms, then, students continue with at

home or other places where they could get an Internet connection (Tacconi, 2009). By and large, ICT alsoassists teachers as a tool to continue to learn in the course of improving their teaching repertoire (Jung, 2005).

Therefore, using ICT in education has multifaceted wins in letting students get deep understanding of the topic

they are learning, to consider and amalgamating ever changing development in their environment and areas of

their study.

Cognizant of this fact, countries have already turned their faces to integrating ICT in their educational

settings disregarding their socio-economic background, which is witnessed by the numbers of policy papers and

publications emerging as per planning, implementation, and assessment of ICT use in the arena of education.

Coming to Ethiopia, ICT is already considered as one of the six quality improvement packages that the

government is embarking on as an instrument for enhancing the quality of general education (MOE (Ministry

of Education), 2010). Nevertheless, the integration of ICT use in educational setting is not an easy task, and it

has been a challenge all over the world (Goktas, Yildirim, & Yildirim, 2009). In order to utilize ICT in school

settings, teachers need to be equipped with the capacity of integrating ICT in the curricula and their teaching.

The prime venue where they could be trained to do so is the teacher education (Koehler, Mishra, & Yahya,

2007; UNESCO, 2002). According to Zhang et al. (2012), the use of technology should be emphasized on

teacher education program so that the graduates will have reasonable abilities of using ICT in their teaching.

Thus, this ultimately requires the integration of ICT use in teacher education program.

Based on this assumption, we have conducted a qualitative study on the use of ICT in the new secondary

school teacher education program (consecutive model), named hereinafter as PGDT (Postgraduate Diploma in

Teaching), which is hosted at the Institute of Education and Professional Development Studies at JU ((JimmaUniversity), Ethiopia). Thus, this article is part of the major study that devotes itself to the unavail factors to be

strengthened and others that would be ameliorated so as the attempt of equipping would be teachers with ICT

competence is realized.

Context of the Study

Initial teachers preparation for secondary schools in Ethiopia has undergone reform as of 2011 with the

intention of absorbing high caliber entrants to teaching profession from graduates of a three-year bachelor

program in discipline related to secondary school contents (MOE, 2009). Ten universities with sound teacher


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PULLING AND PUSHING FORCES FOR ICT USE IN INITIAL TEACHER PREPARATION 709

education background have been selected to host the program, and JU is one of them. In this manner, the MOE

screens potential candidates on the basis of academic achievement and sends them to the hosting universities

for the final decision. Thereafter, the hosting universities admit after conducting further screening. However,

we have a feeling that this approach may not guarantee the recruitment of best teachers to the system in the

way that the ministry intended. Experiences from countries with high performing schools, such as Finland

(Sahlberg, 2012) and Singapore (Goodwin, 2012), witnessed that a selection of teachers need to go deep into

the academic background, achievement on matriculation, and personal passion that the applicants have for

teaching. In these countries, teaching is among the top professions that attract best achievers. For instance, only

one of the 10 top applicants have the chance to join teacher education in Finland (Sahlberg, 2012). Taking back

the issue to the point of our discussion, prospective teachers that we have been discussing are recruited from

social sciences, humanities, and natural science disciplines, as these are harboring subjects that can be taught in

secondary schools. These disciplines, particularly, programs which have a direct relationship with secondary

school subjects are the least field picked by university entrants. As a result, the academically less prepared

students forced to join the program, and at the end, relatively best achievers among them are recruited forteaching force.

Coming to the program components and approaches, the same curriculum was used across all teacher

education institutes. All program aspects and procedures were designed centrally by the MOE and distributed to

teacher education institutes for implementation. For instance, curriculum framework of the teacher education

program and detail syllabus for each course developed at the center and dispatched for implementation. The

same trend is happening in the government secondary schools. All secondary schools are using the same

textbooks, and for many subjects (nine), satellite plasma television has been in operation to transmit the lesson

directly from South Africa (MOE, 2012). In plasma-televised lessons, each session has 42 minutes, out of

which, 30 minutes covered with plasma, while the live classroom teacher use the remaining minutes for

introduction and conclusion. Having said this, we will proceed to the next section, as our aim is not to argue for

or against the use of plasma television. However, we would like to recommend the following references for

those readers who are interested to know what has been written down about the situation of plasma teaching in

Ethiopia (FDRE (The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia), 2004; Bitew, 2008; Dahlstrm & Lemma,

2008). In a nutshell, this is the context in which the study was conducted.

Research Methodology

As already mentioned, this article is part of the major study conducted to explore the application of ICT in

the selected teacher education program from the perspective of student teachers and teacher educators. As a

result, we used qualitative research believing that it would enable us to draw practitioners experience-basedknowledge about the use of ICT. As discussed in Evans, Coon, and Ume (2011), getting into deeper and inner

experiences of practitioners is mandatory in the attempt of drawing practitioners experience about the use of

ICT. Such case is possible through the hearings of testimonies from practitioners (Tacconi, 2011);

understanding the phenomena from the viewpoint of participants (Mortari, 2009); and then, systematically

constructing evidence grounded knowledge (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). In a nutshell, the study made use of the

mix of grounded theory and narrative inquiry on the basis of qualitative research tenets elaborated above.

Having this in mind, we conducted an in-depth interview with 12 teacher educators and 14 student teachers.

All interviews were recorded, and then, transcribed verbatim. Then, we used grounded theory principles


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(Strauss & Corbin, 1998) to generate categories as per factors related to ICT use in the process of teachers

preparation. Accordingly, the analysis was done through reading and re-reading of interview scripts and labelling

descriptions into concepts. The two authors did this first independently, then, through joint discussion. The

coding was done by considering the major idea brought out by the sentences in relation to ICT use. In doing so,

we tried to use terms used by the participants in order to keep the code close to the reality accounted by the

participants. In addition, we made explanatory notes during coding for each concept (factors noted: what, how,

and when it happens and influences the use of ICT). In the process of coding, we compared descriptions against

the code already provided within, as well as across cases so as to maintain consistency across labels. Following

similar procedures, we worked together in letting concepts emerged into core categories (see Figure 1). Finally,

presentation of categories accompanied by the corresponding narratives produced by the participants. Moreover,

conceptual categories in the report appeared in terms of the rate of recurrence taking into consideration narratives

from both sources: student teachers and teacher educators. As an evidence, we tried to present extracts from both

sources under conceptual categories as long as the page limit allowed us to do so. So as to differentiate the

source and the particular place in the interview transcript where a given excerpt has taken, code has been used atthe end of each excerpt. In this way, T refers to teacher educators interview while S stands for that of

student teacher. Then, the next two consecutive numbers represent the order and round of talk in the interview

respectively. For example, in T4/6, T is to mean teacher educators interview, 4 signifies the number of

interviewee (order), and 6 refers to round of talk in the interview.

Figure 1. Pulling and pushing factors for ICT use.

In general, all decisions made in the analysis were informed by the critical analysis of testimonies of the

participants. For example, the participants narrations led the study also to the critical analysis of existing

guiding documents for secondary school teacher education program, including Education Sector Development

Program IV (2010/2011-2014/2015 (MOE, 2010)), Secondary School Teacher Education Curriculum

Framework(MOE, 2009), Teacher Education Syllabuses, andJUs E-learning Policy (JU, 2011).

Pulling

forces

Pushing

forces


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Results

Analysis of the participants interviews reveals the existence of both favorable and hindering conditions in

the course of ICT use in the initial teacher preparation. Hence, the following sections will present these factors

one after the other.

Pulling Factors

Assuming ICT as a tool for improving teaching and learning process. Both teacher educators and

student teachers repeatedly mentioned the value of ICT in enhancing the quality of learning. Among the other,

keeping students and teachers updated about the new development in their discipline was emphasized by both

groups. Hereunder are some of excerpts taken from their interviews:

... Chemistry is a science, and as you know, science is dynamic. As a result, doing of all projects given need students

to refer to online resources. If they depend only on printed texts, all what they are getting and doing may be outdated.

(T4/6)

According to the current global situation, I think ICT use is mandatory. If we do not use ICT, we are puttingourselves out of the domain. As a teacher, if I am not getting updated information on the current issue and also teach my

students about current development in the subject I am teaching, I draw back myself and my students from the

contemporary world. Later on, at the moment we join others who have been living with updated information and

knowledge, we find ourselves at the back of their tail. (S4/2)

Thus, the above excerpts show that student teachers and teacher educators have positive impression on the

effectiveness of ICT in equipping teachers with the timely demanded knowledge. As of the respondents, having

updated knowledge as a result of ICT use would enable teachers to assist their students to get relevant

knowledge and skills. Moreover, the above quotes also have an implication that student teachers learning

through ICT would enable them to learn new developments at their own time.

In addition to addressing updated knowledge to learners, the participants of the study considered ICT as atool for presenting a lesson in effective and efficient manner. The following remarks illustrate this:

There may be animation and the like to be shown to students. For example, there may be some physical activities with

video, and we can show to students if these facilities are available in the classroom. Otherwise, drawing on the blackboard

is time-taking and boring for students. (T4/4)

I can see the picture of moving objects on text, let say pendulum and teach students pendulum movement is like this

and that; it moves with this distance... with that speed and so on. Here, ... when I use a computer, let alone my students, I

myself see directly the movement and get a clear understanding of why, to what extent, and how the movement was done.

(S12/6)

Therefore, ICT assists teachers to visualize the theoretical concepts they want to teach for the better

understanding of learners. Besides, the process assists student teachers to internalize the matter underdiscussion.

Multiple access to ICT facilities. As we would describe later, teacher educators and student teachers

complained that resource constraints did not allow them to use ICT in teaching and learning process. However,

as indicated hereunder, some student teachers emphasized that as far as student teachers interested in the use of

ICT, access to a computer has no problem, as there are libraries equipped with Internet-connected computers.

They added that making teacher education classes in shifts: either in the morning or afternoon has given them

adequate time to get access to a computer for a relatively long time.


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In JU, access to Internet has no problem. We can get access to a computer and Internet from libraries and computer

centers. It is well scheduled for each department and you can use accordingly. There is no problem as it is available

from different library branches. (S1/8)

First of all, we do have adequate time as we are learning in shift. If one group attends classes in the morning, the

other group will have lessons in the afternoon. This means you are at least free on one shift in a day and that is a good

opportunity to use ICT. So, I do not think that there is a barrier as long as you need to use it. (S1/10)

In a resource constraint environment where the demand and supply of ICT facilities do not balance each

other, establishing service centers where users are able to get access to at least in shift is one way of allowing

equitable access to ICT. Here, an interesting point is users understanding of such limitations, and at the same

time, possibility of getting access service centers under specified situation is promising.

Commitment from government and the university to enhance ICT use. Two of the teacher educators

participated in the study were taking part in the management of the institute at different levels and they claimed

that there is a clear direction from the government and the university to expand access to ICT. As shown in the

following excerpts taken from the interviews, as of the academic year 2013/2014, all teacher education

classrooms will be furnished with ICT facilities and the coverage of wireless will be extended to dormitories

and other areas where students could get access to Internet easily.

As of the next year, all classrooms will be furnished with ICT facilities, so that all teachers can use ICT services in

class as needed The expansion of wireless access across all classrooms and dormitories is also another hope for the

future. (T7/6)

At the government, university, and institute levels, there is a clear understanding that every teacher should have the

skill of using ICT in teaching and learning process. No question on this. (T10/2)

Realization of educational innovation in general appears to be ideal if there is no support from

administrators (Fullan, 2007). However, in the context of this study, it seems that university management and

government in general has an intention of expanding access to ICT facilities, which is encouraging for thesuccessful integration of ICT use in teacher education.

In a nutshell, it seems that participants perceiving of ICT use as a tool for enhancing student teachers

learning has a pivotal role for gearing student teachers and teacher educators activities toward the use of ICT

in their teaching errands. This is a glimpse of hope for the future as long as what one does fairly depends on the

value he/she attached to it. On top of this, the direction towards expanding access to ICT and furnishing

classrooms with ICT facilities are hopes for the future success.

Pushing Factors

Lack of clear directive for ICT use. One of the main factors pushing back the application of ICT in

teacher education is the absence of clear directive from the course syllabus. Among all teacher educators

interviewed in this study, only one teacher educator who witnessed the inclusion of ICT use as a portion in the

course was facilitating. Moreover, being asked if there is anything that set to push them to use ICT in their

teaching, some reported the recommendation of using some Websites as a resource in the course syllabus, but

they did not make use of it, as some of them were meant for commercial purposes while the link provided for

some were not functioning. To illustrate:

... The course syllabus should have been in support of ICT use since we are expected to teach according to the

syllabus. (T4/4)


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In my course, there is no portion that deals with ICT use. (T4/2)

Specific Websites where you can get some resources included in the syllabus. However, the issue is if users could

access to these materials when they go to the Websites. ... I tried to go on some of the Websites provided, and some are

already removed and some are requesting for a fee. (T1/8)

I have never tried to use plasma even for myself. I did not know how plasma based contents delivered. I have no such

experience. I did not see from the syllabus a part that talks about the use of plasma television. (T3/2)

Thus, it is not difficult to imagine the difficulties in integrating ICT use in teacher education if there is no

clear directive from the curriculum guide or if the prescription lacks feasibility in the way indicated above.

Moreover, lack of connection between technology use in secondary school and the practice in teacher education

vividly shows the gap in application of ICT. The gap is clearly seen if one looks at the course designed to teach

the application of ICT in teaching in teacher education program instructional technology course. The course

syllabus, which was prepared centrally at the MOE, is too broad, and at the same time, it gives undue emphasis

to the theoretical knowledge including some aspects which are almost outdated. For example, the use and

preparation of overhead projector.

Lack of enforcing factors for the use of ICT.The participants of the study also indicated that the lack of

a system that enforce student teachers to use ICT could be one possible hindrance to the successful use of ICT.

To put flatly at least what two of the participants have said:

There is nothing that forces learners to use ICT. I am sure and I have also seen that all of them will use ICT in any

way if there is something that force them to do so. (T12/4)

All teachers are giving us an assignment, at that moment, we used our way to get access to the computer even if we

are not officially allowed. (S6/6)

For example, I can go to education library and use for 30 minutes. Even I can use more if there is no person

waiting for the service next to me. Besides, I kindly ask computer attendants if the computers are free. In most cases, for

example, in the afternoon, many computers are free, hence, it is possible to use as long as I want. (S6/8)

As can be understood from the above excerpts, student teachers could use ICT in the process of teaching

and learning had it been there were systems that push them toward such use. In this case, in the context where

student teachers perceive the use of ICT as a mandatory, either permanently or for a time being, they were

actively devising means of getting access to ICT. This implies that, lack of clear system that enforces student

teachers and teacher educators to use ICT in the teacher education program under discussion is one of the

factors pulling back the successful application of ICT.

Lack of expertise to use ICT. According to the participants of the study, perceiving ICT as handmaiden

for improving quality of learning and making physical resources available for use does not guarantee the use of

ICT in teaching and learning. Rather, both parties need to have skills of using such technologies and this has

been indicated as a gap in the process of applying ICT in the teacher education program under investigation.

The followings are remarks taken from teacher educators interviews:

Our candidates skill of using the technology should be areas to be worked on. They are justifying their

unsuccessful use of ICT also from lack of skills for using it. I asked if they have taken an ICT course in their

undergraduate degree, then, they responded that they had only just learned the theoretical aspects. (T7/6)

It is not only prospective students, but also we need support and training. For example, you need to be able to use

multimedia comfortably in order to use in your teaching, and teach student to use it in their later teaching. (T8/4)

I do not have knowledge about plasma television. Had it been I have some, at least I could have informed them

theoretically during my lessons. (T11/6)


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As can be understood from the above excerpts, teacher educators were lacking computer skills and that

may be the priority areas to be addressed. They also underscored that they themselves need support to use

specific instructional technology like plasma television which is being used to deliver secondary school

contents in selected disciplines. As this was already discussed, many secondary school subjects have been

transmitted via plasma television. However, as teacher educators do not have further training or exposure of

mediating plasma instruction, it has been a problem for them at least to touch the theoretical aspects in their

course. Moreover, even if the institute has basic computer skills training package as one of the components of

professional development training for academic staff across the university, teacher educators from the institute

are seen speaking for ICT skills related training and support in order to use in their classroom teaching.

Resource constraint. The participants witnessed that ICT related resource limitation is one of the

bottlenecks for the successful application of ICT in their programs. Among these, the one which repeatedly

raised as shown in the following quotes, is having unfurnished classroom with ICT facilities that even inhibit

teacher educators from using of the PPT (PowerPoint) presentation in their teaching. To illustrate:

The classroom I am using for teacher education has no ICT facilities. There is no computer and no Internet connection,

so how could I assist them to be good at using technology facilities. (T2/2)

At the beginning, I decided to use ICT in my presentations. Consequently, I tried to carry all materials from my

offices. But this is difficult and time-taking, as it needs you to fix everything in front of the students who are waiting for

you. For example, plugging in, turning on computers, checking and the like took me at least five minutes. Again, since the

class is not meant for the use of PPT, the walls are not clear enough or adequate in size for projecting slide on. As a result,

I have tried for the first three or four lessons and then I stopped as it is time-taking and also not legible for students. (T4/4)

One of the participants who is part of the management of the institute confirmed similar feelings with

other teacher educators, however, he justified the point mentioning that the teacher education program is new

and additional one to the institute, and as a result, the number of classrooms belongs to them is less to

accommodate prospective teachers. Hence, it needs the institute to borrow from other colleges through the

universitys registrar (an office which is also responsible for monitoring and distributing classroom for colleges

and institutes). However, he said that the registrar has a power only to lend unfurnished classroom as others are

furnished and locked by the respective colleges.

... This program is conducted during the summer. The number of classes we need during summer is huge. For

example, normally, we need four classes for both regular and summer program students. But for this program, we need 20

more classes. Classrooms are normally managed centrally by registrar office. However, furnished classrooms are managed

by the respective colleges. The mandate of the registrar is only on the unfurnished classrooms since colleges have already

taken the keys of furnished ones and locked them out. Therefore, at the moment, we requested for 20 classrooms for the

program, the registrar has offered us only unfurnished classrooms. (T11/6)

However, our concern here is that if colleges are allowed to furnish and keep their own classrooms for

their own purposes, it is not clear why did the institute fail to furnish four or half of the classroom they have, so

that at least teacher educators facilitating instructional technology course could make use of these classes.

Moreover, lack of access to Internet-connected computers on campus is also indicated as one barrier to the

application of ICT. These student teachers are living on campus and served on board where the expense is

covered by the government. Besides, they are employed and receiving a monthly salary as a starting teacher at

secondary school, which is 1,600 Ethiopian birr, while $1 = 18.37 birr, according to the currency exchange rate

on February 12, 2013. Therefore, even if student teachers are getting services on board and receiving salary, it


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would be difficult for them like any other Ethiopians with similar income to save from their salary for

purchasing personal computers in the context of ever escalating living expenses in the country. Cognizant of

this fact, the university has been working aggressively to avail computers at all branch libraries, opening of

different computer centers and laboratories at central levels, as well as for a specific program or department.

However, as shown in the following script, student teachers are still not getting access to ICT facilities to the

level of their need. The mismatch of the number of users and the resource supply is one to mention as a barrier.

Sometimes, the number of computers we have do not match to the number of students we have. There is a

mismatch. Because of this, there is no adequate time to expose prospective teachers to ICT facilities. Otherwise, the

intention and the interest are there from staff, students, and government, as ICT is indispensable for everybody, let alone

teachers. However, still the gap between the demand and the supply is huge and that is the problem we have (T10/2).

As we already mentioned, student teachers had a feeling that access to ICT was not a problem since there

are libraries and computer centers that serve students at least in a scheduled manner. However, teacher

educators underlined that the large number of students admitted to the university for different programs, which

inhibit individual student teacher to get adequate opportunities of practices with ICT facilities.

Mismatch of ICT use in teacher education program and secondary schools. Mismatch of ICT use in

teacher education program and that of secondary school is mentioned as an obstacle for the smooth utilization

of ICT in both contexts. In the first case, constraints of resources particularly in remote secondary schools do

not allow student teachers to try what they have learned in school context. This could be a source of resistivity

for learning the application of ICT, as they might ask themselves the value of learning something that they may

not use in their teaching. Conversely, they articulated this as follows:

Even if they (student teachers) are encouraged here to use ICT, the existing infrastructure in secondary schools

may not allow them to use ICT. I know that there is an IT (Information Technology) subject there, but they are teaching

only the theoretical part, let alone letting teachers of other subjects use in their teaching. (T1/14)

Students themselves are telling us that even some schools in remote areas do not have plasma televisions. Some

student teachers assigned in towns even complained that their school does not have adequate computer facilities. Some are

using only for office purpose. As a result, learning about technology for some of them is just knowledge to knowledge as

they are not practiced here, as well as at their school. (T8/8)

The other inconsistence mentioned was the fact that schools are using certain instructional technology that

teacher education institutes do not know about. It has been more than eight years that secondary schools use

televised instruction on six subjects, which mounted to nine in 2013 academic year. However, teacher

education program has neither push forward themselves to study the new developments in secondary school

and incorporated into their program nor able to receive the content in the course syllabus from the ministry. In

this manner, it seems that teacher education and secondary schools are not reading each other in the course ofusing one anothers output. Just for the sake of space limitations, we opted to present narration produced from

one educator, which represents directly or indirectly what has been said by others.

In the university, we are training teachers as if ICT is not in secondary school, but secondary school is actually using

technology mediated instruction. So, there is a huge mismatch. Therefore, I simply can say the pedagogical training has

to be remodeled here in PGDT towards the involvement of ICT, there should be space for involvement of plasma

television if it keeps going in secondary school. During supervision of student teachers at a practicum site, we observed

that classroom teachers have only 10 minutes While the rest is covered by plasma teacher. So, the classroom teacher has

no active role in the class. So, what do they do? And what can we observe for evaluation as our student teacher is a mere


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listener, no movement? Sometimes, the live and plasma teachers are speaking at the same time. And that is a

disturbance. We simply gave some suggestion for example, to write some important concepts and mathematical formula on

the blackboard, while plasma teacher is delivering the lesson. However, that is also disturbance, as students may be

attracted to the live teacher than the plasma television. Therefore, we have to work out on how approaching plasma

television in our program. (T6/2)

As can be understood from the above educators telling, since they and their students do not have exposure

to plasma-based teaching, both get confused regarding what to do and to evaluate during practicum supervision.

He is so open even to share his experience that what he recommended his prospective teacher for action went

wrong. This would not be happened had it been the government were begun orienting the use of plasma

television from teacher education institutions, and push them to include plasma-based instruction in their

program. Actually, universities are expected to originate evidence-based technology use, adapt the existing

technology, and disseminate to the end-users. However, the issue we observed in the above case is the reverse.

Unsuccessful prior experiences of using ICT.It seems that the manner in which student teachers have

learned under professors using PPT presentations in their previous education has shadowed their appetites of

learning under similar condition. If a facilitator presents copious of slides, makes slides full of notes, and

merely read from slides and rushes through without considering whereabouts of students; students would learn

nothing and rather develop phobia towards the use of PPT. Similarly, the fact that student teachers have been

learning merely the theory of ICT use, as of secondary school made them incompetent to use ICT. The

following two explanations from teacher educators affirm this point:

At the beginning of my class, I heard one student saying Hoo! This television comes here with us. I immediately

recognized that he was saying of the PPT slide that I projected on the screen. Then, after a moment, I brought the issue to

the floor. The main reason they hate learning through PPT is that most people are using PPT as a means to go through the

lesson than focusing on students learning. As one of the students mentioned, It is just like plasma television that runs

through to cover the portion and we get tired of it. Thereafter, I tried my best to let them know why and when we need to

use PPT. And also, I tried to show them in practice. For example, using the white board to write down some keywords

during discussion, and putting only main points on slides. I learned that they liked the way I did at the end. (T1/6)

I think they attended some ICT courses during their undergraduate program. But I do not think that they have better

skills. It seems that they attended only the theoretical aspects, because I understand now that they have the knowledge, but

still, they have a problem regarding technical aspects. (T11/2)

This has an implication for reconsidering the way that teachers of all levels use technology in their

classroom teaching. Teachers misuse of technology appear to have negative impact on students to use or learn

through such technology in their subsequent learning.

Marginalizing teacher education program. PGDT is a new program, and trainees participated in the

study were the first batch who were on the verge of finishing the program at the moment of the interview. Asthe program is new, and maybe due to its organizational nature, it has been marginalized, and getting access to

ICT facilities was a challenge both at the central and departmental levels. Coming to the central level, service

providers, like libraries and computer centers which are providing services across the university, were not

informed about the candidates program, and as a result, they were preventing them from getting access to the

resource. The following remarks from respondents are speaking about this observable fact:

Many of computers centers belong to specific departments or program. PGDT is a combination of disciplines

organized under the institute. So, computer centers or branch libraries organized for specific disciplines are not allowing

them to get access to, as I heard from students. Even, since their identification named them as evening students, they said


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that they are not getting other library services too. (T12/4)

We are taking an instructional technology course. We are attending the course, but we are yet to get in contact with

ICT equipments. For example, no computer lab for practice, even for teachers to demonstrate for us. The social science

library, where ample computers with connection are available, do not allow us to use since they scheduled services

according to the department. When we go there, they requested for our department and if the department is not on their

agenda, they will not allow us to get access to the service. For example, PGDT program is new, and at the same time, there

is no undergraduate program in civics education. Therefore, whenever we request for the services telling them that we are

from either civics department or PGDT program, they are responding that there is no such program in the university.

(S6/4)

Marginalizing student teachers are not limited to the central level, but it goes to the home department.

Some of the student teachers who participated in the study reported that they were treated differently from other

program attendants, such as postgraduate and undergraduate regular students. Accordingly, the departments

facility centers are prioritizing other program followers than student teachers.

PGDT students from the other departments, for example, Physics, Biology, and the like are using the departments

computer center. However, we did not get a positive response from our department. They said that the computer lab ismeant only for postgraduate students. As a class representative, I spoke with the lab attendant, tried to convince her that we

are also postgraduate students, but her response was more of an insult... I do not want to repeat. Then, I spoke with the

head of the department, and he responded that there is no space for this year, but they would think over for the forthcoming

year. (S5/2)

... The language lab of the department is not functioning during the summer. It seems that they want the lab only for

regular students who are on vacation at this time. (S9/2)

Marginalizing teacher education program could be seen as treating the program differently just as

something which is an additional job. In this manner, the act could go to the level of lacking access to quality

learning. If teacher educators have similar feelings, they may not concentrate on providing quality instruction

for these students. Cognizant of this fact may also doomed student teachers interest in learning, as well as the

motive to join the teaching profession.

Perceiving ICT as a treat to quality learning. One of the student teachers utterly argued against the use

of ICT in teaching and learning process mentioning that it is a threat to the quality of education than a panacea

for educational problems explained here and there.

I have reasonably different feeling towards the use of the ICT, particularly, the Internet. Because the Internet is killing

our potential for creativity. It leads students to make copy paste rather than developing ideas from their own readings or

thinking. For example, let me tell you one of our assignments in this week on inclusive education. The question was, How

do you treat special need students in your class?. Then, what I did was just putting this sentence on Google, and then,

copying something jotted down over there. So, can we say that ICT assist learning in this case? Another problem is with

the educators. I am sorry to say that some people are becoming technology dependent. They are copying notes from the

Internet and provided us as a handout. You can take one hand out of a student and confirm this just by putting on the

Internet site. The other point is using of PPT presentation, some are copying notes from the Internet and put on a PPT slide.

Then, they come to class without preparation, because they are to read from the wall. There are teachers who cancelled

classes when the power supply is interrupted. (S11/2)

We are doing something that we think as worthwhile, as our feelings affect our actions. In the same way, if

student teachers observe the misuse of ICT by themselves, as well as by teacher educators, the extent to which

they use ICT in their subsequent learning is very low. In the above excerpt, the respondent presented his own

experience of ICT use, from which he concluded that ICT is against enhancing quality learning. Thus, it seems


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that he will not use such device in his later career unless he encountered productive experiences that may let

him to reconsider his current perception.

Discussion

Successful implementation of educational reform depends on the existence of enabling factors embedded

in the given educational institutions (Fullan, 2007). Putting it in another way, in a situation where the hold back

factors overweigh its counterpart, it would be difficult to implement educational reform envisaged in the way it

is supposed to be. As shown in Figure 1, more inhibiting factors (eight categories) than promising factors did

emerge regarding the use of ICT in teacher education program under this study. Though, this is not evaluative

research, the target was to reveal the existing situation from the perspectives of student teachers and teacher

educators who are in the heart of the system. In this way, the surpassing of pushing factors by half that of

pulling factors is an indicator for the level of ICT integration in the teacher education program under

investigation. In any ways, we will re-conceptualize these factors beginning from the positive aspects in the

following way.As per the pulling factors, the first and repeatedly raised by the participants was considering ICT as a tool

for improving student learning. Belief and vision about technology integration in an educational setting has

strong impact on the use of ICT (Goktas, Yildirim, & Yildirim, 2009). Therefore, the participants perception of

ICT as a way of getting relevant and updated knowledge, considering ICT as an effective and efficient way of

getting required information, presenting learning tasks in a clear and vivid manner, and letting students learn on

their own are driving forces for the use of ICT in teacher education program under investigation. In addition,

government policy on expanding ICT, for example, putting ICT use as one of the six quality improvement

packages at secondary schools (MOE, 2012) and the aggressive work from JU in expanding access to ICT are

promising conditions for the application of ICT. Lastly but not the least, the availability of different centers

providing access to Internet-connected computer and provision of services in schedule in the way to

accommodate the large number of students are also promising conditions.

Among the factors inhibiting the application, lack of clear directive for ICT use is repeatedly mentioned.

As already explained as a promising condition, the government is giving attention to the use of ICT, and as a

result, currently embarking on materializing inputs. In a similar way, JU is working hard to realize its vision of

letting all course instructors use a blended approach in 2013 (JU, 2011). For example, in 2011/2012 academic

years, two subjects from each program selected for providing blended learning. In the same way, the university

embarked on expanding wireless Internet access zone, furnishing classroom with ICT facilities, and established

e-learning office. However, all these events were forgotten in the teacher education under study. Even learning

of operating ICT and its application in the course designed for this purpose did not get emphasis. The coursecontent gave more emphasis on instructional media, where prospective teachers learn the preparation and

utilization of locally available instructional materials than focusing on using ICT. Similarly, it is only in one

discipline didactic course that teaching of ICT use is indicated, though, some teacher educators were going

beyond the syllabus to address the need. At the university level, the program was even more forgotten as ICT

facilities facilitated for other programs were not in place. It seems that all these points could be considered as

resource constraints, however, we have an impression that the program was not getting the attention it deserved

compared to other programs harbored by the university.

Similar to lack of clear directive and resource constraints, lack of expertise to use ICT has been reported as


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factors pulling back the application of ICT. It is obvious that teacher educators need to have the skill to

facilitate learning via ICT. In the same way, student teachers need to have rudimentary skills of operating ICT

if they are to learn successfully through ICT use. However, even if the university has training package on

implementing e-learning, as well as on basic ICT for academic staff, the participants did not report of mastery

of such technology and they pleaded for tailored training and ongoing support. Moreover, it seems that student

teachers were not competent in using ICT in the teacher education program since they did not get the

opportunity of practice while they were learning the use of ICT at university or lower levels. Besides, looking

at teachers including teacher educators who were abusing the use of PPT and Internet, student teachers

appetite for ICT use for teaching and learning purpose has downgraded.

The mismatch of ICT use in teacher education and secondary schools is also reported as one possible

barrier for the use of ICT. For example, government is engaged in reaching all state schools with plasma

television, and currently, 71.6% are users of the technology in nine selected subjects (MOE, 2012). The same

document showed training has been provided for teachers regarding the operation of plasma television

transmission. However, teacher education institutes do not have the program in their curriculum. They werealso neither participating in such training organized for school teachers on plasma television operation nor they

themselves approach to amalgamate the practice there with their preparation of the would be teachers. On the

other hand, prospective teachers were encouraged to use ICT in the teaching and learning process, though, not

to the level high. However, as they are newly recruited teachers, they have been placed in remote areas where

the getting of ICT facility is difficult. According to a recent report from the MOE, only 26.1% of schools can

get access to Internet services (MOE, 2012). It is obvious that schools in urban areas where student teachers

placed are without such services, and it is difficult for them to realize the value of learning such skill in their

teacher education.

Moreover, lack of factors that enforce teacher educators and student teachers to use ICT and student

teachers perception of ICT even as a threat to the quality learning indicated as a plausible bottleneck for the

use of ICT in teaching and learning process.

Implications

The study comes up with the following points as areas for further action in order to ameliorate application

of ICT in the preparation of pre-service teacher education.

(1) There is an understanding that reconsidering the planning process of integrating ICT in teacher

education program both at the ministry and the university levels is relevant. Developing teacher education

curriculum including details of the course syllabus is the mandate of the ministry. Hence, the ministry can lead

review of the course on Instructional Technology in the way that it emphasizes more ICT aspects. In addition,

it has been shown that the application of technology in teaching is effective when teachers are able to

amalgamating it with their knowledge of pedagogy, content, and context. One of the areas where such matrix

may be exercised in the teacher education program is in the discipline of didactic courses, which is lacking in

the current curriculum. Hence, the ministry may reconsider the redesign of the courses from this angle;

(2) As shown in the study, there may be a possibility of realizing learning by using ICT in all teacher

education courses had it been there were something that force or reinforce student teachers and teacher

educators toward that end. Thus, this is again an area where the institute can embark on, of course, in

consultation with other stakeholders;


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(3) The institute can also scale up the attempts of teacher educators who have tried their best to integrate

the use of ICT in their course. Moreover, organizing ICT skill training and ongoing support for teacher

educators, reserving ICT furnished teacher education classroom, and ensuring the accessibility of a resource

center are areas deserving immediate attention of the institute;

(4) Learning the operation of ICT in teaching and learning is skill-based, and skill-based learning requires

practice, otherwise, what is learned remain to be inert knowledge. Therefore, training students on ICT at

different levels needs to be reconsidered. Thinking the way of maximizing the utilization of existing resource is

one way of realizing the practical application of the training rather than taking lack of resource as an excuse for

practical training.

The program participants have the feeling that the program was marginalized, and as a result, they were

not getting services they deserved. As such feeling has strong impact on the impression they may develop, even

on the teaching profession, it needs further investigation and actions.

Limitation of the Study

The study is qualitative in nature, and qualitative research is not interested in drawing generalization to the

source population. Instead, it intends to present thick and rich description of the participants account, so that

readers will draw their own conclusion. However, we were more selective as page limits did not allow us to

present accounts from different participants.

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US-China Education Review A, ISSN 2161-623XOctober 2013, Vol. 3, No. 10, 722-729

A University in the Digital World: Using Technologies for

Learning and Management

Natalia Tikhomirova

Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics, Moscow, Russia

The Internet penetrates deeply into the everyday life due to the availability of broadband networks and mobile

devices. The widespread of the Internet, along with the development of innovative services, social networking, and

tools (known as Web 2.0), gives rise to the phenomenon of the digital world. A university striving not to be an

ivory tower should meet the needs of the Net Generation, prepare the graduates for professional work and life in

the digital world and comply with the social demand for providing lifelong learning services, especially, in the

vulnerable crisis times. MESI (Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics, and Informatics) started

implementing ICTs (information and communication technologies) both in the academic and administrative

processes more than 15 years ago. Today, its unified e-learning environment allows rendering educational services

to students of all levels and forms (both on-campus and off-campus) and 24 x 7 x 365 support (24 hours7 days in

a week365 days in a year). Information system for administration comprises electronic document management

systems, students records, and the results of their individual learning activities for the current, interim, and final

assessment. The university management system empowers centralized management of its Moscow headquarters

and branches, as well as regulation of teaching/learning process. Long-term development of education in Russia is

directly dependent on large-scale introduction of e-learning tools, design and implementation of new methods oforganization of educational process on its base, creating and using an appropriate electronic teaching and learning

practices, and new approaches to the management of the education system and educational institutions.

Keywords: new generation, e-learning, university management model, ITs (information technologies),

SMART-education, lifelong learning services, ICTs (information and communication technologies), knowledge

Introduction: What Has Appeared in the Digital World?

As a 20th century person, suffering from a constant lack of time, was given an opportunity to subdue space

to a considerable degree. Long distance was always an obstacle for people to achieve their goals. Within

several minutes, the underground can move us from one side of a town to another; travelling time of the high

speed trains between different cities has been reduced for several times; and it takes us only few hours to get

from one continent to another on a jet airliner. The broadband availability and the popularity of mobile devices

are the reasons why the Internet has entered our daily life. Its widespread availability, together with the

development of social networking innovative services and Web 2.0, gives rise to the phenomenon of the digital

age.

TNS (Retrieved from http://www.tnsglobal.com) Russia has given the results of Web Index (TNS Web

Natalia Tikhomirova, D.Sc., professor, rector, Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics.

DAVID PUBLISHING

D


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USING TECHNOLOGIES FOR LEARNING AND MANAGEMENT 723

Index, 2011) survey on the number of mobile Web users and Web in Russia on the whole at the end of

February 2011. Ninety-five percent out of young people aged 12-24 years use the Internet, 51% of them use the

mobile Internet. According to the Moscow house of books survey, 35% of respondents read e-books and 29%

intend to use them in the near future. A Russian online user on average spends 51 minutes on social networking

sites, 26 minutes on portals like yandex.ru, mail.ru, and google.com, and five minutes on education. One

hundred and seventy thousand million American bloggers out of 20 millions are making money through their

blogs and 452 thousands use blogs as the main revenue source.

Generation Y or netters are the so-called young people who were born after 1980. They grew up in the

era of virtual reality, computers, and digital technologies. Ninety-seven percent of the Generation Y

representatives have their own computers. Seventy-six percent use instant messaging systems (like ICQ (I

seek you) or Google Talk) with 15% of full-time onliners (users of mobile devices), and people regularly

communicate in social networks. Thirty-four percent ignore all mass media except the Internet from where

they get all news reports, they trust word-of-mouth advertisements more than paid advertising. Fourty-four

percent read other peoples blogs, and 28% keep their own blogs (Scott, 2011). People of this generation areimpatient, they cannot wait for the results of their activity, and they want everything here and now.

The new generation is significantly different from the previous one, and especially, as far as the business

qualities are concerned. They do not want to learn information consistently by reading books and coursebooks.

They would rather participate in an experimental study. They create their own interactive and collaborative

learning regardless of whether we acknowledge it and take it into consideration or not. All of them have new

approaches to their work: They are aimed at competition, they are excellent team players, and they are not

afraid of taking risks. They need other skills and they get them differently. Twenty-five percent of students use

the Internet to find information for their work or study, 17% gain new knowledge, and 14% share information

on work or study.

In modern society, rapidly changing technologies and new needs of students are challenging the entire

system of education. It has to evolve due to the growth of knowledge that never appeared in the history of

humankind before.

According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), in 2009,

people created more data than that of the past 5,000 years. The quantity of technical information doubles every

two years. For a student, it means that half of what he was learning for the first year will be out of date by the

third year of the studies. The development of ICTs (information and communication technologies) and their use

in education give an opportunity to offer students up-to-date knowledge, implement flexible and inclusive

education focused on consumer demand. UNESCO representatives consider that open and distance education

and ICTs expand access to a high-quality education. The Internet gives students access to communications andexpanded resources, and gives them the ability to use sound, graphic, video, and text. Open information

environment allows placing online courses and tutorials, holding live broadcasts and video recordings of

lectures and presentations, and organizing teacher and student communication involving people from different

countries. Open educational resources became greatly widespread. Such projects, such as MIT (Massachusetts

Institute of Technology) OpenCourseWare, YouTube EDU, and Academic Earth, give an access to countless

number of video lectures from hundreds of the best institutions of the world. Libraries 2.0 is already available

for users. They comprise online services, such as electronic catalogues, RSS (Rich Site Summary), Wiki, and

blogs. Social networks are becoming a widespread tool for an up-to-date educational process. They allow


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USING TECHNOLOGIES FOR LEARNING AND MANAGEMENT724

arranging educational process in a students familiar environment, help overcome territorial and organizational

obstacles, provide for open discussions and information exchange, and develop the concept learning as a

lifestyle.

However, the information society brings forth a set of problems for a present-day manage, which requires

the development of the new approach to the management system. The key management objectives are narrowed

to the development of the well-coordinated business systems, and are capable of competing in the information

society.

If the management process of every company is considered from the standpoint of four main management

functions (preplanning, administrating, motivating, and monitoring and controlling) (see Table 1), the

elaboration on their filling-up and the increase of such functions adaptability to the modern conditions is

required. Whereas, the planning and motivation functions require the application of the new approaches less, the

adaptability of the administration and control functions are the core basis for modeling the competitive business

systems.

Table 1

The Main Management Functions in the Information Society

Main management functionsMajor problems at the modern stage ofdevelopment

Application of the management functionsin the information society

Preplanning

This is one of the means by which themanagement guarantees the unified effort

of all members of an organization to reachits common goals. The managementprocess starts with this function and the

organization success closely depends on itsquality.

Rapid depreciation of information. This

increases the cost of mistakes in planningand forecasting. The possibility of

transition from the controlled system tothe state of bifurcation, rendering itunstable to the changes is increasing

which leads to the known state ofuncertainty.

The implementation of ITs (information

technologies) permits to monitor theinternal and external changes, not only in

the operational mode, but also online,thus, enhancing the relevance of the

information in use and reducing theuncertainty of the decisions made.

AdministratingTo facilitate the decision implementation

from the administrative side, i.e., to createthe managerial relationships, providing forthe most efficient relations between all the

elements of the controlled system.

Imperfection of the typical administrativestructures of the modern companies (while

the new ideas repose down, the right toallocate recourses for their realization isconcentrated at the top of the modern

companys hierarchy).

The shift to the more adaptive forms of

administration, such as network and shellorganizations. Implementing the

principles of the learning organization,which creates the conditions foreducation, exists in the constant

self-perfection, and, by doing so, changesthe world around.

MotivatingThe process of stimulating oneself and

others in order to reach the defined goals.

The loss of confidence in the formermanagement systems. The moderneconomic realities present the cases where

the top managers incomes are boostingwhile their companies are on the verge ofcollapse.

The increase of the business processestransparency, aimed at strengthening the

confidence between the marketparticipants and enabling the transactionalcosts reduction.

Monitoring and controllingThe process to support the achievement ofthe goals set by an organization. It presents

a system of monitoring and checking thecompliance of controlled sub-systemfunctioning to the approved decisions, as

well as a system of generating certainactivities to perform.

The inconsistencies in the processing ofthe key performance indicators due to the

untimely and incomplete control checksperformed, the depreciation of the adoptedstandards, and the communication

channels barriers.

All-encompassing implementation of the

controlling and monitoring system aimedto coordinate the systems of managerialinteraction and their efficiency controlinto the organization practice. Controlling

and monitoring system is designed toprovide the information analysis supportof decision-making process to the

organization management and may beengaged in designating decisions in the

framework of the certain managerialsystems.


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The Role of Modern Universities in the Information Society

Nowadays, a modern university management model is management of the global networked organization

based on ICTs. The system of information and communication provision allows implementing the principle of

everything is in the net (management, faculty, students, and content). A joint portal university system providestools, on the one hand, for administrating for creation, updating and using of the content within the academic

process, and on the other hand, for the arrangement of a management system of the distributed university. ITs

provide effective human resource management: the organization of e-learning, electronic document management,

processing of electronic reporting, interviewing personnel, etc.. In order to illustrate the modern approaches to

development and management of the well-coordinated business systems, we would like to share the experience

of the MESI (Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics, and Informatics).

The Russian economys modernization and restructuring, the national innovation systems development,

and the information societys (or knowledge-oriented society) evolvement put forward the new requirements to

the higher professional education.

The universities and higher educational establishments introducing the innovative educational programs are

assigned with the task to prepare all-around practice oriented experts of a new type, which will be in demand in

the realities of the innovation economy. The relevance of such processes is explained by the integration of the

Russian universities into the international educational standards and joining the Bologna process (Tikhomirova,

2009).

According to Hans (2003), five major factors that changed the conditions of universities operations as well

as their trends of development and functional capabilities can be distinguished as:

(1) Information and knowledge become the main resources of society;

(2) Global informatisation and fast-moving development of the ICTs are the base of the new economy;

(3) Novelty, transience, and acceleration are the distinctive features of the information society life. Theproduction and social technologies turnover cycle makes up from six to eight years;

(4) Increasing globalization will gradually result in global struggle in global markets;

(5) On-going disputes about the personal and public responsibilities in the sphere of higher education.

The strategy of the information society development in the Russian Federation determines the key trends of

the state policy in the sphere of ITs, which in the current historical context turns out to be the backbone elements

of the social infrastructure, as well as the main factor for acceleration of the innovation processes and the

modernization of economy. Such processes are closely tied to the modern challenges faced by the economy in

general and by each higher educational establishment in particular, comprising:

(1) Rapidly changing technologies permitting to implement flexible and all-encompassing education;

(2) Unparalleled to the former human history experience growth of the knowledge scope;

(3) Development of the ICTs;

(4) Orientation to consumers demand rather than on supply;

(5) The need to attract new sources of income;

(6) The need for the high quality and clear educational standards;

(7) Fast transition from the elite to the mass and totally accessible higher education;

(8) The need for flexibility of structures and programs implementation as a part of the lifelong learning

approach to higher education.


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Elements of a Unified Information Environment of MESI

Nowadays, MESI is a sub-divided, electronic university representing a business system based on the

self-learning principle of organization. Apart from the classical university education, MESI moves towards the

SMART-education, which implies the flexible learning process in the interactive environment with the use of theglobal and freely accessible content. The universitys main objective is to provide the maximum accessibility of

knowledge.

The university is managed in the integrated information space comprising the integrated system of

continuous qualifications upgrade, the integrated system of education quality management, controlling and

monitoring, and the integrated system of education. The integrated system of continuous qualifications upgrade

embraces the new methods of education, the ICTs, and the modern pedagogy. The integrated system of education

quality management, controlling and monitoring implies the implementation of the integrated ITs. The integrated

system of education stands for the integrity of the educational programs and the learning courseware of students.

The integrated information system and its functioning model are built on the principles pertinent to the

management of the complex production facilities. The core is the principle of the single-door entry of information,

which secures the maintenance of the high level of the knowledge warehouses accuracy, and, therefore, procures

the reliability of the whole integrated information system. This system permits to develop the industry-driven

approaches in education and to implement the unified and standardized learning procedures, thus, providing for

the flexibility and personalization of education. Based on the integrated information system, a set of interrelated

norms, rules, and values is adopted to regulate and administer the administrative management, academic staff,

and students behaviors.

As it can be seen from the above, the ITs and the integrated information environment change the tools and

methods of the managerial impact on the major and accessory processes that are reflected in Figures 1 and 2.

In addition, MESI actively develops the academic knowledge management system, which suggests theformation of the universitys integrated knowledge environment by means of generating the scientific and

research studies, conducting the scientific and methodology work, choosing the best practices for

implementation of the above, as well as opening educational internal and Internet-based resources. The system

provides for the complete lifecycle of the educational content in the sub-divided online environment.

Moreover, the content is constantly kept updated by means of the disciplines information centers (information

centers are run and applied for these purposes by the relevant chairs for each of the education courses

disciplines).

For more than three years, the university has been using e-learning system virtual campus, which allows

teachers to work together using Wiki, distribute topics of the reports, essays, control tasks, manage subject

calendar, and publish notices. In MESI, teachers also use electronic journals to monitor student activity in

electronic environment considering student attendance and publishing marks for the SCA (semester control

activities).

Teachers were also offered to use such tools as Web 2.0, twitter, and blog. Teachers had to create twitter

accounts or continue using this service where they had to post short messages on the subject with reference to

the blog or some interesting articles or other Websites. On Blogger.com (one of the Google resources), teachers

were blogging on the professional themes. That was a pilot project which showed positive and negative sides of

the usage of those tools in educational process.


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Figure 1. Integrated communication systems of the education process management and organization (Tikhomirova,

2009).

Figure 2. The financial management system in the sub-divided electronic university (Tikhomirova, 2009).


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Speaking about the usage of twitter, it has become obvious that the shortness of the messages does not

allow discussing serious issues, because the service is quite informal. Nevertheless, many teachers hav

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US-China Education Review2013(10A)