Table 1. Examples of the relationships between Growth Factors and Types of Development.
Development Framework
Growth Factors
Types of Development
Economic
Development
Social
Development
Educational
Development
Educational ICT
Deepening of
Physical Capital
Target tourism, light
industry,
entertainment, and
agriculture. Extend
ICT infrastructure
and support the
deepening of private
capital.
Target rural areas;
build community
technology centers;
support private
acquisition of ICT;
facilitate Internet
cafes.
Build and modernize
school facilities,
particularly in rural
areas. Community
technology centers in
rural areas.
Invest broadly in school ICT
equipment and networking
but particularly at the
secondary level and in rural
areas.
Improvement of
Human Capital
Upgrade labor;
develop technology
use, application, and
production skills.
Strengthen education
and social services,
particularly
employment
transition and
community
development in rural
areas.
Focus curriculum
and pedagogy on
understanding, real
world problem
solving and
creativity. Include
technology skills.
Upgrade teachers’
content, pedagogical,
and technological
knowledge.
Develop students’ skills in
using ICT to solve real world
problems. Develop teachers’
ability to integrate ICT into
the curriculum.
Knowledge
Creation and
Technological
Innovation
Strengthen
intellectual property
laws. Support of
invention of new
products and
services in targeted
clusters; research in
agriculture.
Increase knowledge
and best practices
information on
education, adult
literacy, and modern
farming practices.
Increase pedagogical
knowledge and best
practices on teaching
for understanding
and problem solving
and on technology
use.
Collect best practices on the
application of ICT for
understanding, complex
problem solving, and the
production of creative
products.
Organizational
Networking and
Knowledge
Sharing
Develop participation
of SMEs in light
industry, tourism,
entertainment, and
agriculture. Support
networking between
urban, rural, and
regional resources
and markets. Expand
agricultural extension
services.
Develop community
knowledge sharing
and collaboration;
open government
and education
organizations to
community and
parent participation.
Decentralize decision
making; foster
teacher professional
development
communities and
knowledge sharing,
particularly between
urban and rural
schools.
Use of ICT to support
communication, collaboration
and knowledge sharing by
students and teachers.
Assess impact of ICT on
learning.
Monitoring and
Evaluation
Monitor effectiveness
of government
policies on key
economic indicators.
Monitor effectiveness
of government
policies on social
equity indicators;
obtain community
feedback.
Monitor indicators of
high-level student
learning; assess
application of
knowledge to solve
problems.
Use ICT to support school
effectiveness and efficiency;
use ICT in assessment.
generally illiterate, population that relies on traditional and inefficient farming methods.
Based this analysis, the commission came to consensus on a vision for the future of the
country in which the deepening of physical and human capital would support sustained
economic growth and a reduction in social inequities. The filled-in matrix in Table 1
represents the product of their analysis and strategizing.
The table shows that our hypothetical commission decided to focus on the development
of three industrial clusters and the modernization of its agriculture. The plan would
implement policies that support the deepening of physical and human capital, particularly in
the areas of tourism, light industry, entertainment, and agriculture. Significant public
investments would be made in education, innovation capacity, and rural development.
Shorter term investments would be made in training and unemployment compensation for
displaced workers in heavy industry that would help them transition to targeted industries.
Related to physical capital, policies would encourage public and private investment in the
ICT infrastructure. Public investments in the development plan would be funded by
privatization of telecommunications and a reduction in government subsidies to the
increasingly uncompetitive heavy industry.
Privatization of telecommunications would launch the development of infrastructure in
urban areas but it would be coupled to the required private subsidy of Internet services to
schools and the extension of telecommunications infrastructure to rural areas. Improved
infrastructure and human capital would increase the capacity of targeted clusters and society
more generally to absorb ICTs. These new technologies would support the global Web-based
marketing of eco-tourism and the connection of rural tour locations with urban corporate
offices and other resources. Along with strengthened intellectual property laws, technology
development would support the modernization of the film industry, the creation of digital
entertainment content, and a broadening of the regional and international market for these
companies. Technology deepening and the establishment of an invention incubation center
would also support innovativeness and further development of small- and medium-sized light
manufacturing companies by connecting them to suppliers and to a broader regional market.
Social inequities in rural areas would be addressed by making public investments in
agricultural research on locally optimized, high-yield hybrid seeds and through expanded
agricultural extension services to modernize farm practices. These efforts would be
complemented by other rural development programs and social services, particularly those
that fostered rural community development and increased adult literacy. These programs
would be supported by extending the ICT infrastructure out to rural areas and making it
accessible through public investment in community technology centers. The commission
identifies key economic and social indicators and set stepped goals that could be used to
measure progress on their plan.
Where does ICT-based education reform come into the plan? First of all, the commission
felt that education is central to the development of human capital and, in turn, the absorption
of new technologies and technological innovation in the economy. The commission also felt
that a significant investment in education would respond to pressures for better schools from
the country’s growing middle class. It would also play an important role in addressing social
inequities. Consequently, a cross-department education subcommittee, chaired by the minister
of education, conducted an analysis of the current education system and identified key
strengths that would allow education to promote the overall development strategy. The
analysis also identified some significant problems and the subcommittee developed a master
plan recommending changes that would reinforce the overall strategy of upgrading human
capital and addressing social inequities.
In our hypothetical country, it turns out that there has been a strong tradition of hands-on
pedagogy in the schools, although this has been used more as a set of classroom activities
than a foundation for deep understanding. Also, several multinational ICT companies had
initiated pilot projects that put networked computers into schools, primarily in urban areas,
and trained teachers on the use of technology. The subcommittee’s plan applied the growth
factors in the framework to the education system in support of the national development plan.
The primary emphasis of the plan was also on the development of human capacity of the
students and the teachers. It focused on improving student learning by shifting teachers’
hands-on instructional practices to project-based learning focused on student understanding,
problem solving, and creative thinking in math, sciences, and the creative arts. The
application of project-based learning would be stressed at the secondary level with the goal of
producing better prepared graduates and thus providing the most immediate payoff for the
economy. ICT would be used to develop students’ technology skills and to support project-
based learning through the use of the Internet and various productivity and creativity tools.
The ministry would phase in national assessments that reduce the recall of factual knowledge
and include real world problem solving tasks. These changes would better prepare students
for participation in manufacturing and entertainment industries that would become
increasingly innovative.
These shifts would require a significant program of teacher professional development.
This too would be supported by ICT that enabled teachers to develop and share resources and
best practices within disciplines across schools. ICT-based education would be used to
address social inequities by extending the ICT infrastructure to rural schools and community
technology centers. The Internet would allow for the inexpensive distribution of resources to
remote areas, and rural teachers would have access to materials, other teachers, and
curriculum experts in other locations. Emphasis would be given to a deeper understanding of
science and the development of technological skills. Equipped with these skills and
knowledge, rural students would be better prepared to use modern agricultural practices or to
work in the nearby eco-tourism industry. Remote access to experts would support adult
literacy programs, given that there are few teachers experienced in adult learning in rural
locations. The community technology centers would house resources to support education
reform, adult literacy, and agricultural extension services and this colocation woul