[Year 12 IPM] IT in VELS

Tue Jun 20 03:02:25 EST 2006

What an insult to IT as a subject and IT teaching generally. Apparently if I understand your arguement correctly IT should only exist to present work required by the other 'KLA's' and has no relevance or use outside this. Anything else is classified as an 'artificial activities', which presumably includes any attempt to give students IT skills which just might be marketable in the outside world (you know, the one outside schools and KLA's). 
  A quick look in the employment section of Saturday's Age doesn't seem to indicate much demand for employees producing powerpoint presentations of Ancient Egypt or nicely word processed and formatted English essays and book reviews. I find it astonishing that at a time when IT skills are being increasingly used and frequently demanded in all areas of the workplace - a claim which cannot made by many if any other KLA's - that attempts to give students work related IT skills are described as 'artificial activities' when they might just end up giving students the edge over other applicants in an increasingly 'dog eat dog' employment market.
  Leanne Wright

"Bell, Cameron P" <bell.cameron.p at edumail.vic.gov.au> :
  No, the thrust of the argument is a trained IT teacher training the students 
within the context of an appropriate KLA context. Not some stand alone unit 
with a vague artificial context.
Who is an IT teacher to say "No word art" anyway? I'm no graphic design 
artist, and a lot of "good design practise" is very subjective anyway, but if 
a graphics/art teacher wanted word art, I'm not going to stand in the way. 
IT teachers should be about the mechanics of the process (if needed) not the 
content, lack of, or over supply of.
My role as an IT teacher would be to consult with the KLA teacher about what 
they want, how they want to implement it , and guide both them and the 
students on how to achieve their goals.
It is only a matter of time before the majority of teachers start to become 
comfortable and confident with the use of ICT, they will simply be unable to 
avoid it. Those who a refusing at the moment are simply going to find 
themselves swamped with the possibilities ICT has to offer to their subject 
as our infrastructure increases and curriculums change.
I am saying something along the lines of:
"There is no subject called IT. There is a block of timetable time where 
students may access the infrastructure under the guidance of a trained IT 
teacher to implement a solution required for another KLA area. The IT teacher 
uses his/her skills to provide an *efficient* working environment for an 
otherwise unskilled KLA teacher"
At the moment a lot of school labs are taken up with vague IT classes teaching 
"skills" that may or may not be useful now or in the future, when there are 
KLA problems needing solutions *right now* and they simply don't have access 
to the labs. (This situation may or may not apply in all schools, but it does 
in many)
I think it is ironic(?) that the only place I saw the need for specific IT 
classes was at a 1-1 laptop school. The students always had access to the 
technology and consequently the students were left to their own devices - or 
worse, given advice by teachers with no idea. They needed time to be allowed 
to use their laptops under the trained guidance of an IT-trained teacher but 
that conflicted with the "IT across the curriculum". The major problem as I 
saw it, was that the students were expected to use the laptops in all KLA's, 
however, the Curriculum was never shortened to allow some time for the 
students to learn how to best use the laptops in the KLA. I was losing 
Science time, showing the students basic skills in ICT. They sorely needed 
the timetable time mentioned above to learn how best to use their laptops.

-----Original Message-----
From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of frankm at sjcs.melb.catholic.edu.au
Sent: Fri 6/2/2006 6:05 PM
To: ipm at edulists.com.au
Subject: RE: [Year 12 IPM] IT in VELS

Yep...that's what we need....each KLA teaching the students to use IT in their own way. Love seeing those projects with masses of word art, fancy fonts, money formatted to several decimal points...and by the way, let's not forget the hand written name on the projects/reports....headers and footers may not have been introduced.....

One would think there is a role for the IT people to introduce the basic skills in a STAND-ALONE unit. At least, there would be some standard ways of diong things introduced. The KLAs could then build on the skills already introduced.

The reality is that there are MANY teachers who will not or cannot be bothered or have no interest in teaching any ICT in their units, whether VELS says so or not.

Regards,
Frank 

"Bell, Cameron P" on Fri, 2 Jun 2006 15:48:37 +1000 wrote:
> We have a LSF initiative - "Yarra valley e-Learning Community" and a key
> part of that is that we have:
> Learning Technology Coaches - each school has a full time teacher whose
> roll is to help teachers integrate ICT into their classes,
> Development Managers (4) who help develop units of work.
> These are crucial rolls and help us immensely in the incorporation of
> ICT - especially with the 1-2 notebook computers in Yr 7.
> So the "consultant" role exists in some schools, it is such a shame that
> this is only possible because of the special funding available due to
> the LSF.
> Cameron
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of Joel Walton
> Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 3:35 PM
> To: IPM; IS; IT 7-10
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 IPM] IT in VELS
> 
> Cameron,
> 
> Yep I couldn't agree more.
> 
> Stand-alone subjects and isolated/unrelated tasks in
> IT classes are rubbish!
> 
> A more inclusive/realistic utilisation of classes is
> needed. I am sure most computer teachers are inclusive
> of other areas in their tasks, eg investigating
> research topic etc.
> 
> And I would love to be a computing consultant to other
> subjects and aid the teachers in designing units of
> work, but no school I can think of in the government
> sector would realistically sanction that idea. :(
> 
> Because ICT is a lower priority most of the non-ICT
> literate or low-ICT literate because they don't know
> how to incorporated it or its "to much of a hassle"
> they will just get students to make a power point or
> publisher assignment.
> 
> File management is important, but its not something
> that I spend a lot of time on, I show them how to set
> themselves up in the first 10 minutes of the semester
> and then encourage them to keep putting their work
> into it, if it is not there it doesn't get marked...
> now that's incentive to maintain it without all of the
> constant hassle. :)
> 
> I must say before I sign-off... I don't want to sound
> like a broken record and a worry-wart, I will accept
> anyway that is better for the kids, if it reduces the
> number or eliminates stand-alone ICT classes that's
> cool... but so long as the skills are taught I will be
> happy.
> 
> I don't want the entire technology to be 'integrated'
> into a curriculum that eventually becomes power point
> presentations and attaching wheels to a model and then
> going....'oooooo' it rolls :)
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Joel Walton
> Technology KLA
> Shepparton.
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of
> Bell, Cameron P
> Sent: Friday, 2 June 2006 12:49 PM
> To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and
> Management Teachers'MailingList
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 IPM] IT in VELS
> 
> Interesting times!
> As a IT/Science/Maths teacher I would much prefer to
> see our school labs
> freed up from teaching "Office" to allowing me easier
> access to allow my
> Science and maths students time to develop solutions
> relevant to those
> subjects rather than developing some solution to an
> artificial problem
> created just so they can learn a particular software
> package.
> There are sufficient "real" solutions waiting to be
> developed for core
> subjects that there should be no need to create
> artificial ones.
> How often do you see students creating websites (even
> for a "client")
> just so they can learn <>?
> Would be much better that they were using the labs to
> create e-folios
> for other subjects or using Excel for a solution to a
> Science Prac.
> So where does this leave me as an IT teacher?
> 1) Trying to encourage those students who want to
> learn programming or
> advanced techniques or ICT theory so that I can
> justify IT as a stand
> alone subject.
> 2) A "consultant" to other teachers showing them how
> they can
> incorporate ICT into their subjects and ensuring that
> they have enough
> access to the labs to ensure they know they don't try
> to learn stuff for
> a one-off activity.
> The ideal role for an IT teacher would be like a
> librarian - you bring
> the students into your domain to find a solution for a
> "real-world"
> problem from a Core subject area - in consultation
> with that teacher.
> In my ideal school, the time taken from a stand-alone
> IT subject would
> be given to other subjects on the condition that any
> additional time
> they get would be to incorporate ICT into their area
> ala VELS.
> I now have students telling me that they have done
> Powerpoint etc since
> Prep. I have more and more teachers asking for more
> and more access to
> the labs. I am finding that there are more and more
> tools available for
> efficient file management (virtual folders, Learning
> Management Systems)
> and that no matter how much *we* think file management
> is important -
> most students couldn't give a rats as the software
> generally takes care
> of it for them and you could hardly call file
> management "engaging". 
> We need to loose the structure of IT classes and let
> students "play" and
> "explore the possibilities" within the context of a
> real problem.
> 
> That's probably more than 2c worth.......back to
> reports.
> 
> Cameron
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of Joel Walton
> Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 11:41 AM
> To: IPM; IS; IT 7-10
> Subject: [Year 12 IPM] IT in VELS
> 
> Hello Frank, hello all.
> 
> Yes your fears/concerns are shared with me.
> 
> We to still exist in our school as a department albeit
> a small one.
> 
> We have worked hard since I joined the school a couple
> of years back improving the outcomes and what subjects
> that we offer to our students.
> I have come in with the attitude that we are a
> sub-business within the school and we have to sell our
> classes to the students so that they will 'vote with
> their feet' and continue to select the Technology
> subjects each year. However, I am concerned that
> sooner or later the standing in the eyes of the
> students or in a more importantly the view from
> administration/education department will further
> decline and we will be marginalised out.
> 
> Currently we are starting next year a new program that
> will be a year 8 integrated subject which will have
> Math, English, Science, SOSE but no direct technology,
> art or health. This has taken 1 period off these 4
> areas but has also taken the periods of 1 elective
> block which further reduces the opportunities of
> technology subjects. Also the year level guidelines
> state that the electives the students must select 1
> from arts, SOSE, etc etc but NOT technology!!
> 
> Our concern is 
> * Where is the technology going to be included in
> these 'generalistic' classes?
> * The people creating the syllabus do they have a
> decent technological grasp so it can be included in
> the course beyond Word, Powerpoint & Publisher?
> * Will the teachers (Math, English, Science, SOSE)
> teaching the course be able to teach the technology,
> even if it is included in the course?
> 
> This could lead to students going through high school
> with no direct Technology classes except what they do
> in year 7!!
> Are we 'the clever country' with no ICT skills?? I
> often wonder
> 
> We/I just can not for the life of me work out why the
> department is marginalising a whole department
> ICT/Materials away where it is basically one of the
> few departments that relates to every job in the
> future. (apprentice through to office worker to stay
> at home parent)
> 
> If anyone can work this out for me I would be very
> appreciative.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Joel Walton
> Technology KLA 
> Shepparton.
> 
> 
> ________________________________________
> From: is-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:is-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Frank
> Merlino
> Sent: Monday, 29 May 2006 8:48 PM
> To: is at edulists.com.au
> Subject: [Year 12 Its] IT in VELS
> 
> Dear IS Colleagues,
> I am aware that ICT is to be integrated into all KLAs
> as part of VELS. I know IT is no longer strictly a
> KLA. The situation still remains, who is going to
> teach the basic skills of ICT? The usual answers are
> that these will be covered in various KLA units,
> teachers will implement programmes designed to teach
> the basic ICT skills etc..etc. May I suggest that this
> is a recipe for disaster? Ideally,the notion that ICT
> skills are introduced as require into units of study
> is great...ideally!! Experience shows that all sorts
> of excuses emerge from many teachers when it comes to
> teaching basic IT skills....couldn't book a computer
> room...we ran out of time...... I am not suggesting
> that teachers are not well intentioned, but for many
> the teaching of basic ICT skills is something out of
> their comfort zone.
> 
> We (as a technology faculty) still exist at the school
> I work in. I have managed to maintain several IT units
> in our vertical years 8-10 curriculum. We have set up
> a "foundation" unit that will be compulory for all
> students (it is a level 5 CSF unit). We will teach
> what we consider as basic knowledge and skills, eg.
> basics of hardware, word-processing, spreadsheets,
> etc, digital property rights etc. Our view is that at
> least teachers in "other" KLAs will not have to teach
> the basic skills but rather apply the basic skills and
> if necessary introduce extension ICT skills as
> required. The foundation unit will be taught by IT
> staff in a consistent manner, using IT formats and
> conventions. It was amazing to see the objections some
> KLAs had to this idea...all of a sudden their staff
> were going to become teachers of basic ICT skills, as
> long as the IT people told them what these skills
> were....a bit of PD here and there and hey, what's the
> problem?!!!"
> 
> For the present, we have managed to survive in this
> VELS environment, but for how long? We need to develop
> IT units that interest students. Our foundation unit
> has to be "spot on" in terms of the basic skills it
> teaches.
> 
> I am interested in what is happening in this area in
> your schools...or, as it is put in Parliament, "is the
> minister aware of an alternative policies?"
> 
> ...Be passionate about IT.......
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Frank Merlino
> Technology (IT and Systems) Co-ordinator
> Web Site Manager
> St. Joseph's College
> 135 Aphrasia St, Newtown
> Geelong, Victoria, Australia, 3219
> Phone: 03 52 268100 
> 
> 
> 
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> IPM Mailing List kindly supported by
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment
> Authority and
> http://www.vitta.org.au - VITTA Victorian Information Technology
> Teachers Association Inc
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> 
> Important - 
> This email and any attachments may be confidential. If received in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening or using attachments check them for viruses and defects. Regardless of any loss, damage or consequence, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files our liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual sender, and not necessarily those of the Department of Education & Training.
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> IPM Mailing List kindly supported by
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---
Frank Merlino
St. Joseph's College
135 Aphrasia St
Newtown, Geelong, Vic
Australia, 3220
(03 52 268100)
_______________________________________________
http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
IPM Mailing List kindly supported by
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and
http://www.vitta.org.au - VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association Inc

Important - 
This email and any attachments may be confidential. If received in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening or using attachments check them for viruses and defects. Regardless of any loss, damage or consequence, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files our liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual sender, and not necessarily those of the Department of Education & Training.
_______________________________________________
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IPM Mailing List kindly supported by
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and
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