It’s not there yet
EFFECTIVE use of Information Technology in our country is not (quite) there yet. According to the International Institute of Management and Development (IMD) World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019, the Philippines ranks 55th out of 63 economies in the world in digital competitiveness. Many may cringe at this ranking. But for a little bit of consolation, this ranking is one notch higher compared to the country’s 2018 ranking of 56th.
What is this ranking about and what is its significance? The world ranking “measures the capacity and readiness of 63 economies to adopt and explore digital technologies as a key driver for economic transformation in business, government and wider society.”
What is the ranking based upon? The ranking is based on three indicators, — (1) knowledge or the capacity to understand and learn new technologies; (2) technology or the competence to develop new digital innovations; and (3) future-readiness or the preparedness for the coming developments. For the 2019 ranking, two variables in robotics was also introduced.
How can we improve on our ranking? Before we start exploring avenues on how to improve our ranking, a more important question to answer is, why. Why should we improve on our ranking?
During a recently concluded seminar/workshop for ICT Educators and Coordinators, organizers of the event have taken notice of the deficiency on the readiness of the event venue to handle a huge ICT activity. In addition, most of the participants lacked interest, preparedness, and competence to learn and familiarize with technologies already available to and being shared with them.
If most of our ICT educators lack readiness and the capacity to adopt and explore digital technologies, how can we expect our learners to adopt and explore advances in ICT? It is true that the next generation, the learners of today, are the future of our nation. That future holds many new technologies and innovations. Educators and teachers must prepare learners for these coming developments to ensure the future-readiness of the next generation and our country.
According to the research of A.L Gutnick, M. Robb, L. Takeuchi, and J. Kotler in their paper entitled Always Connected: The New Digital Media Habits of Young Children (2011), today’s children use modern technical equipment from an early age so that their coming in with new educational technologies at school will not be a problem.
The question, however, according to Dr. Lazar Stosic in his paper, The importance of Educational Technology in Teaching (2015) is whether schools and teachers themselves are ready for the use of technology in education and whether they are aware of its benefits?
What can we, as teachers, do to better prepare the learners of today regardless of the subject we teach? First, by using and taking advantage of the different tools already provided to us by the govenment through the Department of Education. Second, by exploring and implementing digital technologies in our teaching instruction. Third, by upgrading how we train our learners in the use of information and communications technology. Fourth, encourage responsible digital technology use among our students.
By understanding, learning, innovating, and preparing our learners for digital technologies, we can contribute to the transformation of our nation in business, government, and wider society.