Module 2

ICT POLICIES AND ISSUES: IMPLICATIONS TO TEACHING AND

LEARNING

Module Outcomes

1. Discussed some ICT policies and explained their implications to teaching

and learning.
2. Explained some issues that relates to ICT policies.

Introduction
Globalization is a reality and ICT has become a fundamental part of the process. A
networked society is one in which the entire planet is organized around
telecommunicated networks of computers. The powerful use of network has broken
boundaries, provided opportunities for inclusion and collaboration. However, there will
be a struggle for those who do not have access or those who are excluded, marginalized
and powerless. Thus, a need to establish policies in the use of ICT is imperative.
As the Department of Information, Communication and Technology (DICT) says: “the
future has arrived. Now we have to ensure that we have a place in it.”

Lesson 1: Policies and Issues on Internet and Implications to Teaching and Learning
Lesson Outcomes

1. Named examples of ICT Policies which are applicable to teaching and

learning.
2. Discussed some issues that relate to the ICT Policy.

One way of enhancing and regulating the use if ICT is to formulate and implement
policies to guide appropriate decisions.
Definition of ICT Policy
The Oxford English Dictionary has defined “policy” as a course of action, adopted and
pursued by a government, party, ruler, statesman. Its operational definition of policy is a
plan of action to guide decisions and achieve outcomes.
Thus, ICT policies are needed to put a roadmap or course of actions to be pursued and
adopted by various governments, organizations, entities involving ICT. These include
principles and guidelines in the use of ICT which cover three main areas:
telecommunications (telephone), broadcasting (radio and television) and Internet.

The New ICT Technologies

More recent technological innovations increased the reach and speed of communications
which can be grouped into three categories:
1. Information Technology – Includes the use of computers which has become
indispensable in modern societies to process data and save time and effort. What
are needed will be computer hardware and peripherals, software and for the user,
computer literacy.
2. Telecommunication Technologies – include telephones (with fax) and the
broadcasting of radio and television often through satellites. Telephone system,
radio and TV broadcasting are needed in this category.
3. Network Technologies – the best known of networking technologies is Internet,
but has extended to mobile phone technology, Voice Over Internet Protocol
(VOIP) satellite communications and other forms of communications are still in
their infancy. In addition to Internet, this category also includes mobile telephone,
cable, DSL, satellite and other broadband connectivity.

The DICP Roadmap

In our country, the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT)
has formulated a roadmap to guide all agencies in the utilization, regulation and
enhancement of ICT. Each project has corresponding policy statements and guidelines.
The ICT for Education (ICT4E) is a program under the DICT that supports all the efforts
of the education sector in incorporating the use of ICT as well as in determining and
gaining access to the infrastructure (hardware, software, telecommunications facilities
and others) which are necessary to use and deploy learning technologies at all levels of
education.
Among the policy recommended programs that have applications to education teaching –
learning are as follows:
 1. ICT in Education Masterplan for all levels, including a National Roadmap for
Faculty Development in ICT in Education. A National Framework Plan for
ICTs in Basic Education was developed.
2. Content and Application development through the Open Content in Education
Initiative (OCEI) which converts DepEd materials into interactive multimedia
content, develop applications used in schools, and conduct students and
teacher’s competitions to promote the development of education related web
content.
3. PheDNET, is a “walled” garden that hosts educational learning and teaching
materials and applications for use by Filipino students, their parents and
teachers. All public high schools will be part of this network with only DepEd
approved multimedia applications, materials and mirrored internet sites
accessible from school’s PC’s.
4. Established Community e-learning centers called Eskwela for out-of-school
youth (OSY) providing them with ICT enhanced alternative education
opportunities.
5. E-quality program for tertiary education through partnerships with State
Universities and Colleges (SUCs) to improve quality of IT education and the
use of ICT in education in the country, particularly outside of Metro Manila.
6. Digital media Arts Program which builds digital media skills for Government
using Open Source Technologies. Particularly beneficiary agencies include
Philippine Information Agency and the other government media Organizations,
the Cultural Center of the Philippines, National Commission for Culture and
Arts and other art agencies, SUCs and local government units.
7. ICT skills strategic plan which develops an inter-agency approach to
identifying strategic and policy and program recommendations to address ICT
skills demand-supply type.
All the seven programs were guided by the roadmap that embeds policy statements that
relate to education specifically in the enhancement of human development for teaching
and learning.

Some Issues on ICT and Internet Policy and Regulations

Global Issues
Access and Civil Liberties are two sets of issues in ICT Policy which are crucial
to the modern society. The other concern is civil liberties which refer to human rights and
freedom. These include freedom of expression, the right to privacy, the right to
communicate and intellectual property rights.
Access to the use of Internet and ICT. Access means the possibility for everyone
to use the internet and other media. In richer countries, basic access to internet is almost
available to all with a faster broadband connection. There are still countries where access
to internet is still a challenge.
Infringement to Civil Liberties or Human Rights. What are specific internet issues
on internet policy that have relationship to civil liberties or human rights? Let’s study the
examples that follow.

Issue No. 1: Freedom of Expression and Censorship

Under international human rights conventions, all people are guaranteed the rights for
free expression. However, with the shift from communicating through letter, newspapers
and public meetings to electronic communications and on-line networking, a need to look
into how these new means modifies the understanding of freedom of expression and
censorship.
The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that everyone has the right to
freedom of thought, conscience and religion, likewise the right to freedom of opinion and
expression. However, there are practices that violate these provisions in the use of
internet.
Some examples are the following:
1. Individual rights are given up in order to have access to electronic networks,
Microsoft Network’s (MSN’s) contracts provide protection of individuals like
“upload, or otherwise make available files that contain images, photographs
or other materials protected by intellectual property laws, including but not
limiting to copyright or trademark laws, unless you own or control the rights
thereto or have received all necessary consents to do the same.” However,
Microsoft reserves the rights, in its sole discretion, to terminate access to any
or all MSN sites or services.
2. Censorship restricts the transmission of information by blocking it or filtering
the information. Blocking is preventing access to whole areas of internet
based upon the “blacklist” of certain Internet address, location or email
addresses while filtering is sifting the packets of data or messages as they
move across computer networks and eliminating those considered
“undesirable” materials. The selection of sites that are blocked or filtered has
been considered as an issue.
Warning!!!!
“When you are surfing the web, you may think you are anonymous, but there are various
ways that information about you or your activities can be collected without your
consent.”
 3. Defamation actions may be used to silence critics. This action deters the
freedom of expression.

Issues No. 2: Privacy and Security

Privacy policies are an issue. Most commercial sites gave a privacy policy. When
someone uses a site and clicks “I agree” button, it is as if you have turned over private
information to any authority that may access it.
There are several types of privacy as shown by the following examples:
1. For most, privacy means “personal privacy” the right of individuals not to have
their home, private life or personal life interfered with.
2. Privacy of communication refers to the protection from interference with
communication over the phone or internet. Respect for privacy of
communications is an essential prerequisite for the maintenance of human
relationship via technological communication media.
3. Information privacy is related to the use of computers and communications
system which are able to hold and process information about large numbers of
people at a high speed. It is important to ensure that information will only be used
for purposes for which it was gathered and will not be disclosed to others without
consent of the individuals.

Issue No. 3: Surveillance and Data Retention

The use of electronic communications has enhanced the development of indirect
surveillance. In the indirect surveillance, there is no direct contact between the agent and
the subject of surveillance but evidence of activities can be traced. The new and powerful
form of indirect surveillance is dataveillance. Dataveillance is the use of personal
information to monitor a person’s activities while data retention is the storage and use of
information from communication systems.
There are very little that can be done to prevent surveillance. What can be done is to
change the methods of working to make surveillance difficult. This is called “counter
surveillance” or “information security” if it refers to computers and electronic
communication.

Issue No. 4: E-pollutants from E-waste

Large amount of e-waste is generated by ICT, these are in particular, terminal
equipment’s used for computing (PCs, laptops), broadcasting (television and radio sets),
telephony (fixed and mobile phones), and peripherals (fa machines, printers and
scanners).
 The accumulated e-waste is due to rapid turnover of equipment due to rapid
improvement of software, while material waste can be destroyed by crushing, toxic
material brought about by the different equipment requires utmost management. The
quantities of e-waste are increasing in both developed and developing countries. A very
dismal state is that there is a significant amount of electronic waste that has been shipped
from industrial countries to developing countries, using less environmentally responsible
procedure.
Remedies include standardization and regulatory measures to increase the life
cycle of equipment before they become obsolete. Efficient extraction of toxic
components and requiring the recycling by both consumers and equipment vendors are
selling must be required.
If not controlled then, e-waste will tremendously affect climate change, damage
human lives, and overload the capacity of the earth in carrying solid waste.

Implications to Teaching and Learning

How do the policy guidelines, projects and issues relate to the teaching and
learning?
There are great implications of this lesson to both the teachers who are teaching
and learners who are learning. A few of these are as follows:

For the Teachers and Teaching

1. Guide the teachers on what they should teach that relate to ICT, and how to
teach it. Since ICT development comes so rapid and fast, teachers might be
overwhelmed by its rapid speed. Temperance in its use is a caution that should
be looked at.
2. Technology should never replace any human teacher. the tools are support
instructional materials for the teachers which are available for use. The
teacher should learn how to appropriately use them. The human touch of the
teacher is still a vital component in teaching. Teachers should always be
reminded that there are always limitations in the use if the different gadget
and tools.
3. There are rules and regulations that govern the use of technology. Caution
should be observed to protect individual privacy. As teachers, you must be
aware that the use of technology may jeopardize your privacy and security.
4. All the issues and many more shall be part of the teaching content as each
teacher will be encouraged to use technology in teaching.
For the Learners and Learning
 The learners of the 21st Century are even more advanced than some of the
teachers. However, learners still need guidance on how to use, regulate technology use.
As there are positive and negative effects of technology use, learners should know the
difference. Learners should not only know the benefits of technology use, but they should
also know how they can be protected from the hazards that technology brings to their
lives.
Learners should take advantage of the potential of learning support they can
derive such as the development of higher order thinking skills, the development of
learning communities through collaboration, the enhancement of skills to manage the vast
resources as 21st century learners and many more.
Both the teachers and learners should be mindful of the e-waste that are being
thrown away to the land and to the atmosphere. Thus, safety in the use of technology
shall be presented in the next lesson.
 ACTIVITY # 3
NAME: ____________________________ DATE:______________

POLICIES AND ISSUES ON INTERNET AND IMPLICATIONS TO

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Direction: Make 4 groups and choose 1 issue on ICT. Create a video for each member of
the group containing insights with regards to your chosen issue and choose a leader that
will collect and summarize your work.
Topics: Issues on ICT
A. Freedom of Expression and Censorship
B. Privacy and Security
C. Surveillance and Data Retention
D. E-pollutants from e-waste