Contextualising ICT benefits in an educational environment: The case of the DoC-WILs initiative

• Main Authors: Tlabela, KRU, Conradie, DP
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Communicatio 2003
• Subjects: Telecommunications; Web sites
• Online Access: http://encore.tut.ac.za/iii/cpro/DigitalItemViewPage.external?sp=1001860

Abstract The programme of the DoC-WILs is an init iat ive of the Department of Communicat ions in collaborat ion with Telkom, established through the Human Resources Fund to enable human resources development at historically disadvantaged learning institut ions. The Telecommunicat ions Act No 103 of 1996 establishes a Human Resources Fund to promote the provision of adequately skilled human resources at all levels of the telecommunicat ions sector in numbers suf f icient for the telecommunicat ions needs of the count ry. The DoC-WILs emphasise skills development through the use of ICTs in areas such as network management , creat ing Web sites, use of E-mail and the World Wide Web, mult imedia applicat ions and Int ranet development . It is however not known under what contextual circumstances this kind of ICT-usage will lead to interact ive learning benef its and how the DoC-WILs should go about achieving them. This art icle therefore at tempts to shed some light on the condit ions under which ICT usage could impact on educat ional outcomes desired by the DoCWILs and on how these DoC-WILs could best go about taking appropriate act ions to improve the possibility of achieving desired interact ive learning benef its. It is argue that the ability of the DoC-WILs to successfully achieve desired benef its is crucially dependent on contextual conditions, policies or processes that apply to the DoC-WILs or their users. This is in line with the social shaping of technology approach that local circumstances surrounding the deployment of ICTs in different sectors of society are more important in shaping the consequence of ICTs than technological variable.