Communication Skill and Use of Information Technology for skill development

Research and development carried out with staff from across several higher educationinstitutions has highlighted a number of perceived barriers to staff willingness to embraceC&IT as a tool to enhance the teaching and learning environment .One of these perceived barriers can be articulatedsimply as the 'skills gap', which exists for both staff and students with respect to effectiveuse of C&IT. At a deeper level this particular barrier can be expressed in terms of manyacademic staff showing a lack of understanding of their pedagogical role in a C&IT-basedinstructional environment. This interpretation is based on comments from many staff whodisplay a reluctance to adopt teaching strategies that are different from those which theythemselves experienced and a difficulty in acknowledging a theoretical underpinning ofteaching and learning strategies.