Impacto de las tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones en la educación y nuevos paradigmas del enfoque educativo

the information and communication technologies (icts) have become significant elements inherent to the development in all spheres of life. education is not beyond these realities because this field embraces an unlimited universe of possibilities as learning resources to be likely extended to a higher number of users at different scenarios, in order to socialize knowledge. our country has been consistent with the imperative demand for the development and implementation of icts, which cover all the educational levels and become very important in the universalization of the higher education. the functions of these technologies in education are at the same time their fundamental impacts such as source of information, communication channel, cognitive and processing instrument, among others. the afore-mentioned imposes new roles on the leading players of the formative process and brings new challenges for the future professionals and the formation institutions since the latter will have to deal with technical matters, specialized formation, information protection and other aspects derived from the ict expansion. in the field of health care, the use of icts has strengthened and dimensioned since the emergence and development of the telematic network for health in cuba, known as infomed. these technologies allow introducing new paradigms in the medical education like student-centered education, self-learning and knowledge management, which have changed the historical role of the professors. the icts have facilitated the creation of pedagogic model-based virtual educational spaces that can assure learning by using innovative strategies.