MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO

INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY
Overview

The quickening pace of evolution in technology is very evident in this era. It seems
that it is progressing faster than ever. From year to year, the evolution of technology is
one of staggering promise and opportunity--as well as uncertainty. Basically,
technology has been around before, and as long as there are people, information
technology will be there also because there were always ways of communicating
through technology available at that point in time. The future may be unknown, but
digital advancement continues to reshape our world in ways that encourage people to
form new habits, find new ways to work together, and become better human beings.
And, in most cases, these changes translate into a range of opportunities and
disruptions across every industry. Humans have always been quick to adapt
technologies for better and faster communication.

Objectives

 After successful completion of this module, the student can be able to;
 Demonstrate a sense of readiness for the upcoming semester;
 Identify their learning outcomes and expectations for the course;
 Recognize their capacity to create new understandings from reflecting on the
course;
 Know the role and importance of ICT.

Lesson 1: Information and

Communication Technology
History of ICT

ICT, or information and communications technology (or technologies), is the

infrastructure and components that enable modern computing.
Although there is no single, universal definition of ICT, the term is generally
accepted to mean all devices, networking components, applications and systems that
combined allow people and organizations (i.e., businesses, nonprofit agencies,
governments and criminal enterprises) to interact in the digital world
What is ICT?
Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for
information technology (IT) which refers to the role of unified communications and the
integration of telecommunications, such as telephone lines, wireless signals,
and computers as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage and
audiovisual that enable users to access, store transmit and manipulate information in
a digital form.

ICT, or information and communications technology (or technologies), is

the infrastructure and components that enable modern computing.

The term ICT is also used to refer to the convergence of audiovisual and
telephone networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system.
There are large economic incentives to merge the telephone network with the
computer network system using a single unified system of cabling, signal distribution,
and management.

ICT is an umbrella term that includes any communication device, encompassing

radio, television, cell phones, computer and network hardware, satellite systems, and
so on, as well as the various services and appliances with them such as video
conferencing and distance learning.

However, there is no universally accepted definition of ICTs considering that the

concepts, methods, and tools involved in ICTs are steadily evolving on an almost daily
basis.

Uses of ICT in Our Daily Lives

Communication
We all know that ICT take a major role for us by means of communicating, way
back in the past our parents use to make letter and send it via post mail. But
now with the help of ICT it is easier to communicate with our love ones. We can
use cellular phones that design for communicating with other people even they
are miles away far from you.

Nowadays people are in touch with the help of ICT. Through chatting, E-mail,
voice mail and social networking people communicate with each other. It is the
cheapest means of communication.

ICT allows students to monitor and manage their own learning, think critically
and creatively, solve simulated real-world problems, work collaboratively,
engage in ethical decision-making, and adopt a global perspective towards
 issues and ideas. It also provides students from remote areas access to expert
teachers and learning resources, and gives administrators and policy makers the
data and expertise they need to work more efficiently.

Job Opportunities
In the employment sector, ICT enables organizations to operate more
efficiently, so employing staff with ICT skills is vital to the smooth running of
any business. Being able to use ICT systems effectively allows employees more
time to concentrate on areas of their job role that require soft skills.

For example, many pharmacies use robot technology to assist with picking
prescribed drugs. This allows highly trained pharmaceutical staff to focus on
jobs requiring human intelligence and interaction, such as dispensing and
checking medication.

Nowadays, employers expect their staff to have basic ICT skills. This expectation
even applies to job roles where ICT skills may not have been an essential
requirement in the past.

Nowadays, finding a job is different, you can just use your smart phone, laptop,
desktop or any gadgets that is available in the comfort of your home.

Education
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can impact student learning
when teachers are digitally literate and understand how to integrate it into
curriculum.
Schools use a diverse set of ICT tools to communicate, create, disseminate,
store, and manage information.(6) In some contexts, ICT has also become
integral to the teaching- learning interaction, through such approaches as
replacing chalkboards with interactive digital whiteboards, using students’ own
smartphones or other devices for learning during class time, and the “flipped
classroom” model where students watch lectures at home on the computer and
use classroom time for more interactive exercises.
When teachers are digitally literate and trained to use ICT, these
approaches can lead to higher order thinking skills, provide creative and
individualized options for students to express their understandings, and leave
students better prepared to deal with ongoing technological change in society
and the workplace.
Socializing

Social media has changed the world. The rapid and vast adoption of these
technologies is changing how we find partners, how we access information from
the news, and how we organize to demand political change.

The internet and social media provide young people with a range of
benefits, and opportunities to empower themselves in a variety of ways. Young
 people can maintain social connections and support networks that otherwise
wouldn't be possible and can access more information than ever before. The
communities and social interactions young people form online can be
invaluable for bolstering and developing young people's self-confidence and
social skills.

As the ICT has become ubiquitous, faster and increasingly accessible to

non-technical communities, social networking and collaborative services have
grown rapidly enabling people to communicate and share interest in many
more ways, sites like Facebook, Twitter LinkedIn You tube, Flicker, second life
delicious blogs wiki’s and many more let people of all ages rapidly share their
interest of the movement without others everywhere. But Facebook seems to
be the leading areas of where people communicate and share their opinions.
What a change! “Nothing is permanent, but change” (As Heraditus in the
4thcentury BC). Internet can be seen as the international networks of
interconnection of computer networks, the main purpose for the institution of
internet are quest for information i.e. browsing, electronic mail, knew groups fill
transfer and access and use of other computer. Socialization can be seen as a
process by which a child adapts a behavior to be an effective member of the
society, which can only be achieved through learning or education.

Impact of ICT in the Society

Positive impacts of Information and Communication Technology

 Access to information: Increase in access to information and services that has
accompanied the growth of the Internet. Some of the positive aspects of this
increased access are better, and often cheaper, communications, such as VoIP
phone and Instant Messaging.
 Improved access to education, e.g. distance learning and online tutorials. New
ways of learning, e.g. interactive multi-media and virtual reality.
 New tools, new opportunities: ICT gives access to new tools that did not
previously exist: digital cameras, photo-editing software and high quality
printers, screen magnification or screen reading software enables partially
sighted or blind people to work with ordinary text rather than Braille.
 Communication: Cost savings by using e.g. VoIP instead of normal telephone,
email / messaging instead of post, video conferencing instead of traveling to
meetings, e-commerce web sites instead of sales catalogues. Access to larger,
even worldwide, markets.
 Information management: Data mining of customer information to produce
lists for targeted advertising. Improved stock control, resulting in less wastage,
better cash flow, etc.
Components of ICT
There are the following components of information and communication technology.

1. Hardware

This is the physical technology that works with information. Hardware can be as
small as a Smartphone that fits in a pocket or as large as a supercomputer that fills a
building. Hardware also includes the peripheral devices that work with computers, such
as keyboards, external disk drives, and routers. With the rise of the IoT, in which
anything from home appliances to cars to clothes will receive and transmit data,
sensors that interact with computers permeate the human environment.

2. Software

o The hardware needs to know what to do, and that is the role of software. The
software can be divided into two types: system software and application software.
o The primary piece of system software is the operating system, such as
Windowsor iOS, which manages the hardware's operation.
 o Application software is designed for specific tasks, such as handling a
spreadsheet, creating a document, or designing a Web

3. Telecommunications

This component connects the hardware to form a network. Connections can be

through wires, such as Ethernet cables or fiber optics, or wireless, such as Wi-Fi. A
network can be designed to tie together computers in a specific area, such as an office
or a school, through a local area network (LAN). If computers are more dispersed, the
network is called a wide area network (WAN). The internet itself can be considered a
network of networks.

4. Cloud computing

The term is generally used to describe data centers available to many users over
the internet. Large clouds, predominant today, often have functions distributed over
multiple locations from central servers. If the connection to the user is relatively close,
it may be designated an edge server. Clouds may be limited to a single organization
(enterprise clouds), be available to many organizations (public cloud), or a combination
of both (hybrid cloud). The largest public cloud is Amazon AWS.

5. Database and data warehouse

A database is a place where data is collected and from which it can be retrieved by
querying it using one or more specific criteria. A data warehouse contains all of the
data in whatever form that an organization needs. Databases and data warehouses
have assumed even greater importance in information systems with the emergence of
"big data," a term for the truly massive amounts of data that can be collected and
analyzed.

6. Human resources

The final, and possibly most important, component of information systems is the
human element: the people that are needed to run the system and the procedures
they follow so that the knowledge in the huge databases and data warehouses can
turn into learning that can interpret what has happened in the past and guide future
action.

REFERENCE/S:
1. https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/capiz-state-university/business-management/living-
in-the-information-technology-era-module/21424082?origin=home-recent-3
2. https://www.techtarget.com/searchcio/definition/ICT-information-and-communications-
technology-or-technologies
 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-
SRMHvaurA&list=PLN2vKr_NwAR4QjrlXkxFObhIdkF3Vfn-P&index=2
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3NUtQaoKik&t=1983s

Prepared by:

OLIVER M. DIMALANTA, LPT

Instructor I