[Year 12 IT Apps] REVIEW OF VCE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE STUDY DESIGN

[Kent Beveridge]

Donna, 
Firstly, can I go on record as saying your comments certainly have merit.
Secondly, there are lots of limitations unfortunately that stand in the way of what you want to do...

*	
	Budget
*	
	Available infrastructure of school network environments
*	
	Appropriately trained and skilled staff (both teaching and technical)
*	
	Time
*	
	Availability of dedicated rooms which are not either multi-purpose or portable or used by more than one faculty
*	
	Attitudes and Bias

Just to name a small number.

I am all for teaching my students some of the technology(ies) available and used in the real world workplaces but unfortunately, we also compete with other faculties and staff for time, space and funding to complete these activities so, hence, we are limited.

Can I also add that, in addition to the above list, student attitudes that stem from an upbringing of 'game playing and internet surfing' during non-school times creates an environment of 'I want it and I want it now! ', which is difficult to deliver in the context of many classrooms.

Personally, I'd love to build a wireless network with my kids(and have told them exactly that) but, I have nowhere I can either do it or store it away from the smaller number of vandal-intent students who feel its there right to destroy other students' projects (and yes, that happened to me twice in this last 12 months - theft AND vandalism ). 

In an ideal world... give me a classroom for applications and another classroom for hands on practical/technical stuff that is dedicated to my subject...but of course, I teach not in an 'ideal world'.

So, Donna, in essence I support your course ideas but alas, I am not in a suitable environment to deliver them. Perhaps in business/corporate areas where funding, dedicated rooms, and appropriate access to resources is available it may be very different. I am currently in a small(ish) country school with limited physical space, classrooms and funding, not a rich city elite school with an open cheque book etc. NOTE: This is NOT a swipe at those who teach in those schools, so please dont take it as such.

 
Kent Beveridge, St. Brigids CSC, Horsham. Ph (03) 5382 3545 http://www.stbc.vic.edu.au/ email: kbeveridge at stbc.vic.edu.au "This email and any attachments may be confidential. You must not disclose or use the information in this email if you are not the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately and delete the email and all copies. The School does not guarantee that this email is virus or error free. The attached files are provided and my only be used on the basis that the user assumes all responsibility for any loss, damage or consequence resulting directly or indirectly from the use of the attached files, whether caused by the negligence of the sender or not. The content and opinions in this email are not necessarily those of the School."

________________________________

From: itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Donna Benjamin
Sent: Thu 8/20/2009 12:37 PM
To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: RE: [Year 12 IT Apps] REVIEW OF VCE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY,SUMMARY OF PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE STUDY DESIGN



On Wed, 2009-08-19 at 12:24 +1000, margaret.lawson at konstantkaos.net
wrote:
> The number of times I have heard kids say "I'm not doing IT
> because it doesn't count towards anything" ... it saddens me.

Not to mention the smart kids will have figured out that unless they're
destined to get 50 in the course, their enter score will suffer as a
result of choosing this subject.

> IT will never have the enrolments to match English or some of the
> other trendy subjects (like psychology). But it would be great if it
> could stand on it's own two feet as a discipline rather than a subject
> that panders to the needs of an ICT committee. I think that more of an
> emphasis on databases might do this.

Yes - databases are a fundamental concept in Information and
Communications Technology.

My concern with VCE IT is it seems focussed on 'using' IT, rather than
'creating' it. Software Development is a bit different - and I'd be
interested to read a similar discussion in relation to the revised SD
course.

I am often confronted by computer users of all sorts who lack basic
understanding of fundamental concepts about how technology stuff works.
How it's put together, what are reasonable expectations of what it can
and can not do.

Please tell me otherwise - but I'm getting the impression that some here
to seem think that learning to 'use' word processors, presentation
applications, photo editing, drawing and multimedia tools is 'learning
IT' It's not. Sure, they are IT tools, but surely they are tools for
expressing concepts in every discipline. Where is the Discipline of IT
itself? [mmm dejavu]

Programming - Comparative languages?
Go Beyond VB.Net and point and click IDEs, look at web APIs, create an
iphone app, desktop widgets, google gadgets...

Comparative applications (rather than learn how to do dot points and a
create templates in MS Word, why not learn how to do it in 3 different
word processors, look at file formats and interoperability issues, what
are the gotchas when moving files between different operating systems.

Networking - build a wireless network - protect it. What's the advantage
to using wires these days?

What about a unit on malware and spyware?

What about putting together a computer from parts?

What about a focus on the 'communication' technologies... take instant
messaging - so many different applications there, how can a single
application like pidgin connect to all of them? protocols - networks -
mobile devices.

What about 'cloud computing'? Web based applications, google docs,
moodle... how about creating websites using 'frameworks' rather than
dream weaver... create a template for a content management system.

What about convergence of phones / netbooks - the vodaphone/dell offer
that of a netbook with a built in 3G modem...

Margaret and I have been having this dialogue for over 10 years

cheers
Donna
--
Donna Benjamin - Executive Director
Creative Contingencies - http://cc.com.au <http://cc.com.au/> 
ph +61 3 9326 9985 - mob +61 418 310 414
open source - facilitation - web services

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