The ways of life that are currently experienced are incomparable with those that were lived a few decades ago and an undeniable fact is that these are based on information and communication technologies (ICT) that are present in a large part of the areas in which human beings develop, which has meant restructuring in the organization of the economy,politics, society, culture, education, among other areas.
The incorporation of ICT has meant that for educational spaces these are no longer an option, and the efforts of countries and institutions are directed towards the generation and implementation of initiatives that involve the maximum use of technologies in training processes (Severin, 2010).
The emergence and development of the internet represented the multiplication of possibilities in access to information, commercial transactions, training spaces, and the restructuring of activities that most humans perform. According to data from We are Social (Online marketing and communication agency 2.0) (Sánchez, 2014), the number of internet users in the world at that time amounted to 2 thousand 484 million 915 thousand 152 inhabitants representing 35% of the total world population. The record of its main uses reported: visits to social networks, viewing news, downloading files, communication, access to information, employment data, support for education, information and marketing of products, among others.
For 2017 the ITU Committee for Connectivity in the World (2017) presents the statistics at the global level, highlighting that the average age of users is between 15 and 24 years. Of 104 countries that participated in the study, more than 80% of their population is online. In developed countries, 94% of individuals use the internet and are young people aged 15 to 24, compared to 67% of people in underdeveloped countries and only 30% in underdeveloped countries. Of the 830 million young people online alone, 320 million (39%) are in China and India. According to this study, young people who use the internet represent one in four of the individuals who use the network globally (ITU, 2017).
For the specific case of Mexico, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) in its report of May 15, 2017 presented the following data:
As of the second quarter of 2016, 59.5% of the population aged six and over in the country declared themselves Internet users.
68.5% of Mexican netizens are under 35 years old. 47.0% of households in the country technology have an Internet connection. The use of the Internet is associated with the level of education; The more studies the greater the use of the network.
The Internet is mainly used as a means of communication, for obtaining information in general and for the consumption of audiovisual content.
Cell phone users represent 73.6% of the population aged six and over, and three out of four users have a smartphone (INEGI, 2017).
In this sense, the use of ICT is increasingly widespread both by the appearance of new devices and by the reduction of associated costs.
Access to this technology is predominant among the country’s youth. If, as indicated, just over half of the population aged six and over declared themselves as Internet users, among individuals aged 12 to 24, the proportions are higher than 80 percent, that is, among young people the use of the Internet is habitual.
Considering five-year age groups, certain aspects can be highlighted. While just over half (53.1%) of children aged 6 to 11 reported using the Internet with some regularity, among adolescents aged 12 to 17 the proportion reaches 85.5 percent, a proportion similar to that observed for individuals aged 18 to 24 (85.0%). Even for the age group of 25 to 34 years, three out of four individuals reported using the Internet (74.3%) (INEGI, 2017).
In the age of knowledge, access to the Internet is associated in an important way with the level of education. Of the population with higher education (undergraduate or graduate), nine out of ten have incorporated the use of the Internet into their usual activities; Four out of five of those who have upper secondary education (preparatory or equivalent) also do so, and with basic level (primary or secondary) are just under half (48.7%).
For activities to support education, the percentage reaches just over half (51.8%), although it should be borne in mind that a significant proportion of the population under study is no longer in a situation of school attendance (71.1%) (INEGI, 2017).
In this context of booming internet use worldwide and nationally, in the educational environment it was identified that technological evolution had had a convergence between television, Internet, mobile devices and video games, generating training scenarios called universal learning (Fernández, 2010) seeking that teaching-learning processes were not left behind,subjecting them to an accelerated adaptation to progress, involving the application of appropriate training methodologies in which the balance between information, knowledge, communication and the production of the same knowledge was foreseen.
Today’s societies are what they are because of the growing technological prominence that exists, however, it should not be lost sight of the fact that ICTs are not the solution to all problems and that they are tools that allow us to exploit different routes and actions to experience, especially in the educational field, where the focus of attention is on the challenges of developing skills and abilities that are likely to be computerized as creativity. or social intelligence (Cobo, 2016).
It is in view of these elements that this document outlines in a generalized way the implication of ICT in education and how different authors have reported, addressed or projected their uses or applicability in education.
The methodology used for the development was documentary, leading to a process based on the search, retrieval, analysis, criticism and interpretation of data, so that the heuristic and hermeneutic phases are reflected in the work developed.
ICT in education: Scope
Dussel and Quevedo (2010) spoke of the rich experiences in terms of introducing ICT in teaching-learning processes, referring that most of the time, these training programs were pushed by a strong social and economic pressure for technologies to be included in education.
Likewise, Laviña (2010) emphasized the importance that Spanish and Latin American universities gave to the dissemination in full implementation of ICT in all areas and activities of the university, such was the case of research, teaching and management processes, promoting knowledge networks, learning and research resources and telematic services as elements that became common in university communities.
The report Horizont (2010) written by GarcÃa, et al (2010) projected the scope of technologies in the educational field from the following positions:
The processes of production and dissemination of content are facilitated in multiple formats, multiplying the amount of resources exploitable online, implying a change in the perception, valuation and production of knowledge.
Technologies profoundly affect the ways of working, collaborating, communicating and moving forward, opening new gaps and reducing others, giving rise to new potential scenarios of inequality.
Technology is not only a means of training for students, but it becomes a means of communication and relationship, as well as a ubiquitous and transparent part of their lives.
The suspicion that teachers and institutions themselves feel towards the use of ICT is progressively lost, thus, more and more teachers are beginning to use different technological resources in their educational practices.
The way of visualizing learning environments changed, opening up interdisciplinarity and virtual collaboration, blurring the boundaries between both worlds.