The Integration of Information And Communication Technologies For Education: Comparative Analysis of Turkey And Singapore

Abstract

The integration of information and communication technologies into education has become increasingly important in recent years. Especially with the revolution of industry 4.0, digital transformation in education has accelerated. Therefore, this transformation has shaped the educational policies of many countries. National and international economic or political environments, educators, academics, students, parents, society and scientists are effective in determining these policies. As a result, they have different expectations about how the integration process should be in education. This diversity reveals the necessity to address all these differences in a holistic way in order to better understand the integration process and its effects. In this study, it was aimed to reveal the purpose, policies and practices of information and communication integration in education, its effects and criticisms directed to the effects compared with Turkey and Singapore. The level of development of the countries and the results of Pisa (The Program for International Student Assesment) were effective in sample selection. For this purpose, ICT integration aims and policies of both countries, changes in ICT practices in the process, educational reforms, important implementations and criticisms of the process were discussed. As a result of the document reviews, ICT integration in education was analyzed in three different periods. It can be said that policies followed during the period of 1980-1990 are aimed at raising awareness of the ICT skills of the society, developing ICT skills in the period of 1990-2010, and raising individuals who use ICT skills in the fields of environmental, social and economic fields in 2010 and beyond. However, there are findings and discussions about the impact of ICT integration in education on the differentiation of countries subject to comparison, especially in PISA results. According to all these results, the reflection of ICT integration in education in societies has been addressed and made several suggestions for educational policies of countries.