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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Like, the SSMS site that handles
applications for examiners that only will work with Internet Explorer.
What about those who haven’t sold their souls to Microsoft?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Rachelle McLean<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au [mailto:yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au] <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Roland Gesthuizen<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Monday, 12 June 2006 2:00 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Year
7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List</st1:PersonName><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [Yr7-10it] VELS and
IT</span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Last year, futurist Dr
Damian Conway gave a good talk at a Monash Alumni breakfast about some of these
technological changes and the convergence that is happening. The <a
href="http://audio.monash.edu.au/alumni/conway.mp3">MP3 download of the one
hour presentation</a> is 28 Mb but worth listening to with a <a
href="http://billkerr.blogspot.com/2005/07/four-funerals-and-wedding.html">good
summary by Bill here</a>.<br>
<br>
It is sad that many schools ignore these 'disruptive technologies', the
benefits of Open Source software, the challenges of the Web2 or a
"read-write" Internet, rejecting good ideas behind a small suite of
shink-wrap software and corporate licences. Whilst they are playing safe
by firewalling themselves from the world outside the school, they could become
irrelevant, sugar-coated centers of learning that are stuck in the
technological dark ages. <br>
<br>
It is hard to engage students and be an agent of change with your head firmly
cemented in the sandpit.<br>
<br>
Regards Roland<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmailquote><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>On 12/06/06, <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Bill
Kerr </span></b><<a href="mailto:billkerr@gmail.com">billkerr@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:</span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>As well as the skills - taught through both conceptual understandings
which hopefully will be developed at Paul's wiki and immersion (great
discussion b/w Paul and Tony about this at Paul's wiki) <br>
<a href="http://pdchandler.wikispaces.com/computing_concepts" target="_blank">http://pdchandler.wikispaces.com/computing_concepts</a><br>
<br>
I've been thinking that attitudes (perhaps stemming in part from beliefs) and
environments are also v. important<br>
<br>
Some users have the attitude of mastering the machine, of looking behind the
screen, of exploring it more deeply. One tiny example, I've noticed how much
more proficient those who learn and become fluent with keyboard shortcuts are
over those who just rely on the mouse. (but of course there is far more to it
than that) <br>
<br>
Environment is so important IMO. Brian Harvey used to give his students the key
to the computer lab. The trend increasingly on my patch is to lock everything
down and to restrict options rather than expand them.<br>
<br>
1. Censor-ware<br>
2. MS Agreement is bad in a number of ways. The MS UI is dumbing down (eg. hide
file extensions), also the agreement restricts the uptake of Open Source, which
is far more compatible with an educational philosophy (sharing stuff) <br>
3. Copyright Law (now out of date due to technological advances)<br>
4. DRM (restrict ability to copy to prop up ageing business models)<br>
5. Locally many schools are obsessed with security (perhaps for good reasons) <br>
<br>
I call these things the instruments of torture, analogous to the instruments of
torture shown to Galileo to restrict his freedom of thought.<br>
<br>
Taken as a group: skills, attitudes, environment - how are we going in schools
at the moment? <br>
<br>
Not very well, I would suggest. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
<span class=q>-- </span><br>
<span class=q>Bill Kerr</span><br>
<span class=q><a href="http://billkerr.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://billkerr.blogspot.com/
</a></span><br>
<span class=q><a href="http://beam.to/billkerr" target="_blank">http://beam.to/billkerr</a></span><br>
<span class=q>skype: billkerr2006 </span><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmailquote><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>On 6/11/06, <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Dr Paul
Chandler</span></b> <<a href="mailto:paul.chandler@yvg.vic.edu.au"
target="_blank"> paul.chandler@yvg.vic.edu.au</a>> wrote:</span></font></span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span class=q><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In an earlier post, I
suggested that what we need, first of all, some vigorous discussion, some
postulates, of what are some conceptual understandings which 'really matter' -
those that 'the better' computer users have that 'the strugglers' don't yet
have. </span></font></span><br>
<br>
<span class=q>In this context, Tony Forster observed:</span><br>
<br>
<span class=q>> Imagine that its 1986, you are learning Wordstar on DOS or
CPM. With the</span><br>
<span class=q>> wisdom of hindsight, what are the generalised, higher order
skills which</span><br>
<span class=q>> will still be useful in 2006? More importantly,
how would you have </span><br>
<span class=q>> recognised them back in 1986? If you can answer that, then
you are on the</span><br>
<span class=q>> way to knowing what is important to teach now.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=q>Thanks, Tony. Interesting stuff to think about ... my
thoughts for the moment ... </span><br>
<br>
<span class=q>Not everyone on the list will be able to date themselves back to
Wordstar in 1986 (I can only just do so). The things that were true
then which seem to be true now are:</span><br>
<span class=q>- the document and program you are working in, exists within an
'external context' (hardware, operating system and filing
system). So that, if you turn off your computer before saving your
work, it's gone; if you type long enough, you'll make a document too big for
the computer to handle, and you'll probably lose it; if you don't have your
printer turned on and plugged in, printing will be either lost or be in
jibberish; etc etc </span><br>
<span class=q>- if you select chunks of text they can be manipulated in various
ways; these 'various ways' include its location in the document and format</span><br>
<br>
<span class=q>Anymore contributions, anyone?</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Now, I'm not sure that we need to back-track into history all the time
to identify 'key concepts', but sometimes it might sharpen our
thinking. For instance, in the early days of the Macintosh, the word
processor MacWrite had a concept of 'inserting a ruler' and certain formatting
applied from that ruler until the next ruler encountered. MS Word
(and possibly wordperfect before it) gave us the idea of a paragraph as a
'grouping' of certain formatting options. The fact that the MacWrite
idea has largely gone by the board does not change the fact that 'the ruler'
was a vital concept for those who were using it at that the time. I
don't think the 'important concepts' have to have extreme longevity, but they
need to be applicable t! o how we are worki! ng now. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div><span id="q_10bc54e3933bd7f8_7">
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
<br>
<br>
<span class=e>-----Original Message-----</span><br>
<span class=e>From: <a href="mailto:yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au"
target="_blank">yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au</a> on behalf of Tony Forster</span><br>
<span class=e>Sent: Sat 6/10/2006 11:09 PM</span><br>
<span class=e>To: <st1:PersonName w:st="on">Year 7 - 10 Information Technology
Teachers' Mailing List</st1:PersonName> </span><br>
<span class=e>Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] VELS and IT</span><br>
<br>
<span class=e>> I'm teaching "about IT", I find it _really_ hard
to move beyond knowledge.</span><br>
<span class=e>> To do things such as summarize, describe, interpret, apply,
demonstrate,</span><br>
<span class=e>> calculate, analyze, separate, order, explain, connect,
classify, combine,</span><br>
<span class=e>> integrate, modify, rearrange, substitute, assess, decide,
rank, grade,</span><br>
<span class=e>> test,</span><br>
<span class=e>> measure, or recommend ... All the "higher order"
skills is just so hard. </span><br>
<span class=e>> I'd suggest that this is because we are too bothered with
ensuring that</span><br>
<span class=e>> the</span><br>
<span class=e>> students have "the skills" rather than "the
concepts". If we were</span><br>
<span class=e>> orientated towards "concepts", then then higher
order stuff would come </span><br>
<span class=e>> easier.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=e>Imagine that its 1986, you are learning Wordstar on DOS or CPM.
With the</span><br>
<span class=e>wisdom of hindsight, what are the generalised, higher order
skills which</span><br>
<span class=e>will still be useful in 2006? More importantly, how
would you have </span><br>
<span class=e>recognised them back in 1986? If you can answer that, then you
are on the</span><br>
<span class=e>way to knowing what is important to teach now.</span><br>
<br>
<span class=e>_______________________________________________</span><br>
<span class=e><a href="http://www.edulists.com.au" target="_blank">http://www.edulists.com.au</a>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
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_______________________________________________ <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
<br clear=all>
<br>
-- <br>
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Westall</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Secondary</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place><br>
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