Developmental Trends and the Enlightenment of Educational Technology in the Digital Age: Taking UNESCO ICT PRIZE as an Example

There is a long history of information and communication technology (ICT) used in education, dating back to the period of correspondence education. With the development and progress of science and technology, more and more innovative technologies have been used in education, which has made great contributions to widening educational access and fulfilling social equality. In the field of promoting the usage of ICT in education, UNESCO has been a pioneer in the world. This paper reviews what UNESCO has been doing in encouraging institutions worldwide to innovatively utilize ICT in education, taking its ICT prize as an example, and analyzes the effect of this practice. Based on the review and analysis, this paper explores the implications of the UNESCO ICT prize with the aim of providing an insight to academia regarding leveraging innovative technologies in education in the digital age.