[Year 12 IPM] ITA ("IPM 2007") summary

Fri Mar 3 23:15:58 EST 2006

I am heading off to a school camp for all of next week, so will take the
new 'itap' design away, and philosophize a little on it to see how I can
present it in a fun way to interest my kids. I want to enjoy it too!
On my return, if the results are OK, I will share a few thoughts with
the ITAP/IPM list for reflection and response.
Ciao, Keith

On Fri, 3 Mar 2006 14:23:16 +1100, "Andrew Shortell"
<a.shortell at braemar.vic.edu.au> said:
> Hi
> Having been one of the people involved in writing the previous study
> design (the one brought in for 2000) I believe that the task is
> incredibly large. There are so many conflicting "wants" and so much care
> is needed to make it rigorous, do-able and respected by Uni and industry
> representatives. 
> The final product is meant to please as many as w e can while still
> making the subject reasonable for teachers without the need for
> significant upskilling. Remember that there are many teachers of IT who
> are not perhaps as skilled as say Mark or Keith or Kevork; who have
> never been network administrators; never run a CISCO course; not
> lectured at uni to 3rd or 4th year programming; not worked in the
> business world (or even done the TRIP from yrs ago in the state system);
> or lots of other things. For example I have never done a CISCO course. I
> came into teaching later in life and so have some appreciation of
> working in the business environment, working in a collaborative
> environment (and also in a non-team workplace) etc.
> 
> Specific criticisms of the study design and suggestions of how to
> address these 'problems' and how to cope as teachers are always very
> helpful. The study design is now published. If you feel that badly about
> it then perhaps you could prewrite parts of the next one and send it to
> Paula and the rest of the panel. Perhaps put it up on the edulist site.
> Become a text book author and add your ideas to the book to excite the
> students and so demonstrate the value of what you want.
> 
> And if none of these work - then take a tree / sea change and relax a
> little.  After all, what we are teaching in IT will be utterly old in
> five to ten years. This subject is not like maths - when I teach maths I
> teach much the same stuff that I learnt when I was at school. (When I
> got a calculator I was not allowed to use it at school because the
> teachers did not understand how it worked - computers - make me laugh- I
> met mainframes at uni)
> 
> Seriously :  Be constructive  HELP your fellow teachers to cope. This
> list is really great at helping teachers, let us keep it that way. 
> 
> 
> Andrew Shortell
> Braemar College 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of Adrian Janson
> Sent: Friday, 3 March 2006 1:36 PM
> To: 'Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
> Teachers'Mailing List'
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 IPM] ITA ("IPM 2007") summary
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> As one of the "eggheads" I feel that I need to respond to this thread.
> I do
> not live in the "dark ages".  Personally, I take offense at some of the
> terms that have been used.  We all have the right to express our
> opinions as
> professionals, however I feel that those making derogatory remarks need
> to
> temper them into constructive criticisms rather than "sledges" or
> referring
> to the study design as "crud".  It would certainly be possible for
> someone
> to take the study design and create tasks for the students to complete
> that
> would be "crud".  It is a STUDY DESIGN - and it is now our brief to
> create
> tasks and material for our students to inspire and excite them, which we
> should all be aiming to do.   
> 
> Firstly, the process of writing the new study design was a long and
> exhaustive one.  I, for one, felt privileged to have been selected to be
> on
> the advisory panel.  Those of us on the panel debated long about how to
> make
> the study design appealing and relevant - and I for one, feel that we
> have
> succeeded in that aim.  Databases are a CORE element of IT and their use
> in
> industry is widespread.  I don't think any one of us could dispute that.
> 
> 
> When writing a course from the ground up - and this IS what we did, it
> is
> important to consider those elements that are core elements of our
> discipline.  We have included these - and more.  The VET courses provide
> a
> very different experience for students, and we did not want to replicate
> that.  The study design affords a wide range of applications and tasks
> to be
> completed - and it is up to us to write coursework to fit into our
> schools
> and tailored for our particular students.  I for one, will gladly post
> my
> tasks to the list and as I often do, I would encourage others to do the
> same.  
> 
> During the writing process, a large number of industry experts,
> organisations and focus groups were consulted - and their feedback was
> addressed to a point. 
> 
> ........  Think I might stop now and take a walk outside.  
> 
> Any more personal sledges - perhaps respond to my email off the list.
> 
> Adrian Janson
> Melbourne High School
>   
> 
> 
> 
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Keith Richardson
Leibler Yavneh College
Elsternwick Ph (03)9528 4911
keithcr at fastmail.fm