[Year 12 IPM] Re: OT Kahootz, 7-10 IT and Has VELS got it WRONG?

[Bill Kerr]

I agree with the thematics and logic of Robert's well argued analysis but 
note that it is confined to some well established applications, PowerPoint 
and Word.

Nevertheless, I believe through observation that many non IT specialists do 
not actually know the features of these applications very thorougly at all - 
the problem of generational change

Furthermore, there are many new applications ideal in theory for integrated 
curriculum that are even less well known by most teachers. Here are some 
such activities / lessons:

1. simulate buying something through amazon or eBay, explain about cookies, 
notice and comment on the various features available at these sites
2. ask questions and find answers on wikipedia and post your own entry to 
wikipedia
3. conduct advanced search using google and explain the use of AND, OR, NOT, 
""
4. create and account and upload pics to flickr, discuss appropriate image 
formats and importance of compression

All of the above could be in the "integrated curriculum". None of these 
questions / tasks is particularly hard for students provided they have a 
teacher who is web savvy. But it would be a huge mistake to put it into the 
integrated curriculum because many teachers do not have this knowledge.
-- 
Bill Kerr
http://billkerr.blogspot.com/
http://intranet.woodvillehs.sa.edu.au/kerrbi/index.htm

On 6/28/05, Robert Timmer-Arends <timmer at melbpc.org.au> wrote:
> 
> Hello Roland
> 
> I am not sure what you are refering to when you write:
> >>I lament to date the lame use of this slideshow software to organise so
> called 'research projects' by my non-IT colleagues.<<
> 
> but I do agree that many (most? all?) teachers allow PowerPoint (or
> equivalent) to be badly used by students as a presentation tool for
> projects. More importantly though, by doing this they miss what I think is
> one of the powerful learning opportunities that something like PowerPoint
> offers: the need to summarise and to capture and express succinctly key
> ideas.
> 
> There has been a lot of discussion lately about VELS and the place of IT
> education in it. To me there are two separate issues:
> 1. who teaches the skills?
> 2. what do students do with IT (ICT?) in non-IT classes.
> 
> As far as I can tell all the anecdotal evidence suggests that the answer 
> to
> the first question is "an IT teacher, or at least someone who knows IT and
> gives a damn about efficient and effective use of the 'tool set' that IT
> provides.
> 
> For education more broadly, however, it is the second question that is the
> more important. I don't think it's good enough for anyone to insist that
> students use computers 'across the curriculm' if there is no educational
> benefit in it - using IT in English, Maths, Geography ... for the sake of 
> it
> is not good enough! We have to ask: how can a particular peice of software
> add value to my teaching? or what is it that this software does that will
> allow me to enhance the learning of my students; for example, what does 
> the
> humble word processor allow us to do? Well, mainly to edit text very 
> easily
> (and then present it beautifully - but I'll ignore this aspect). So how 
> can
> this be used to enhance learning? In English (and other areas where report
> writing takes place) students could improve their writing skills by 
> producng
> drafts for which they then get feedback and then edit to get a better
> document - the computer makes this process easier; no laborious rewriting
> required. Eventually (hopefully) the student will learn to draft, critique
> and edit their own work. Instead, it seems to me that the word processor 
> is
> used purely as a presentation tool.
> 
> Similarly PowerPoint and the rules of good presentation should be used to
> make students work toward a series of summary points about whatever it is
> they are writing - being able to summarise something means that it has 
> been
> digested and understood. Producing slabs of text on a screen is not just a
> poor use of PowerPoint but also suggests that very little learning of the
> subject matter has taken place (and it really annoys me when teachers show
> off this kind of thing as some superior example of student work just 
> becuase
> it was produced for use on a computer rather than printed on paper! - this
> to me is where the real ignorance of IT use by non-IT teacher somes into 
> it:
> they are to easily impressed by the 'gee whizz' instead of looking at the
> content ).
> 
> So, when it comes to CAC I believe IT skills among the teaching profession
> are not so much the issue, but, knowing how best to make use of any given
> piece of software in the teaching of a particular subject is (although 
> there
> may be a chicken and egg effect here!)
> 
> Regards
> Robert T-A
> 
> 
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