IMPACT OF ICT ON AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION IN INDIA

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology is indispensable part of agricultural higher education. ICTs integration in higher agricultural education have been initiated for many purposes such as for administration of agricultural institutions, record-keeping, research, teaching and learning process etc. Education Division of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has spent crores of rupees on establishment of e-libraries, SMART classrooms, SMART seminar halls, strengthening of computer laboratories and Educational Technology Cells in State Agricultural Universities of the country apart from developing e-courses, platforms like e-granth etc. In spite of all these efforts, there still exists a gap between the efforts made in the area of ICT at the ICAR level and actual implementation in the teaching – learning process in agricultural education in our universities. Thus, an attempt was made to find out the status of ICT tools and their impact in teaching learning situation. The study also attempted to identify the factors that affect the adoption of ICT tools and thereby develop a future roadmap which would lead to strengthening of ICT integration in agricultural higher education.