Scope of ICT

 The Scope of Information and Communication Technology(ICT)

Information and Communication Technology is a field that has a wide coverage. It extensively deals with communication technology and how it impacts on other fields of human endeavor. It is the fastest growing academic field of study and a viable source of livelihood. It is the convergence of telephone and computer networking through a single cabling system with ease of data storage, manipulation, management, and retrieval. It is concerned with database management, computer programming, and software development. Web designing, mobile application development, project management, security, networking analysis, media equipment, computer engineering, computer studies, the internet, intranet, internet protocol (IP), system software, application software, signal technology, base station management etc.

Information and Communication Technology as a Field of Study

Information technology inclusion in most high schools curriculum is relatively new. However, it has gain prominence as some institutions have made it a compulsory subject. This is as a result of the understanding that it cut across every facet of human endeavor most especially the education sector.More so, it is the fastest growing industry in the 21st century.

It is commonplace to hear e-learning, e-commerce, e-banking etc. It is, therefore incumbent on education curriculum developers to place ICT as a hub around which other disciplines revolve at least for the fact that it is a platform on which modern learning takes place. Needless to say that there is a paradigm shift with respect to popular opinion on how knowledge is acquired and dispensed.

Those who were hitherto conservative in this regard in the past seem to be winning the race ahead of those who merely believe and talk about it but with no evidence of commitment especially in the education sector. It is expected that in no distance future, textbooks may to a high extent be faced out in schools to be replaced with a soft copy accessible globally. This is not a news to the developed World as they are already far ahead. So been ICT compliant is a necessary tool for any meaningful learning in this dispensation.

Information and Communication Technology as a field of study is a challenging one in the light of the foregoing. Unlike the old perception, it is not all comers affair without proper training and re-training. Although the demand for professionals is growing in this regard, the need to build a career in it through proper training in a well-defined curriculum to be undertaken in institutions of learning cannot be overemphasized.