This course was originally taught in the Department of Management Studies at IIT Delhi in September 2017, mainly for MBA students but a diversity of other postgraduate and undergraduate students also participated. It was based on the core text by Tim Unwin (2017) Reclaiming Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Oxford University Press.
Its learning objectives were that by the end of the course students should have a better understanding of:
- The role of ICTs in international development
- The international context within which ICT policy is made, especially relating to Internet governance
- The importance of regulation as facilitation
- The practicalities of delivering ICT initiatives through partnerships
- Balancing the benefits and harm of ICTs
- Whether ICTs can help empower poor and marginalised communities
- The use of digital technologies in the learning process.
- Critical thinking
It included the following seven elements (taught across five three-hour sessions):
- Critical Theory, Technology and Development
- Understanding contemporary technological change
- Internet Governance: the international policy arena
- From regulation to facilitation: ICT and telecommunication regulation in a converging world
- ICT4D partnerships in rhetoric and reality
- Reflections on the dark side of ICTs: from security to cyborgs
- ICTs and inequality: making a practical difference
The above links provide access to the outline and reading list for each of these sessions.
These resources are made freely and openly available. We request, though, that any use made of them is cited as: UNESCO Chair in ICT4D/Author: Tim Unwin/2017.
