[Year 12 IT Apps] Teaching ITA

[WEIR Andrew]

Thanks for this Mark.

I have taking a few of your tips to heart and will try to implement some
as I go through the year.

Thanks also for your fantastic VCE IT Site.

Regards

Andrew

 

 

Andrew Weir

Information Technology Co-ordinator

Thomas Carr College

________________________________

From: itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Mark KELLY
Sent: Wednesday, 14 April 2010 9:39 AM
To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: [Year 12 IT Apps] Teaching ITA

 

I was asked by a teacher new to ITA what I did week by week, and what
homework/classwork I gave for ITA.  I thought it might be useful to
others so here's what I replied.

Ignore it as you see fit  :-)

------

I don't work by weekly plans any more (after a while it becomes habit,
but I realise the usefulness of planners when you're starting out.)

A rough timeline:

Term 1 - week 6 - start U3O2. The time before is practice with web
editing, graphics editor and sprinklings of relevant theory.  (The new
study design 2011+ has got the hint and put the database task as the
second outcome.)

Term 2 - week 4 - start U3O1. Preceded by theory and Filemaker practice
(Bowden's tutorials)

Term 3 - week 5 - start U4O1. Preceded by Excel practice (Bowden
tutorials + Lynda screen movie tutes) and a fair bit of exam practice
jammed in + U4O1 theory.

Term 3 - week 9 - U4O2 (test).  Preceded by intensive theory revision,
exam practice (including how to approach multiple choice & short answer,
and how to handle bad questions).  I go through about 10 exams
altogether - past VCAA exams 2007-2009 (and even parts of older IPM
exams from 2001-2006 where relevant).  Since U4O1 theory slides in
really nicely to revision theory, they get done at the same time.

As for what I do for class exercises and homework, I may not be a good
example.  I must admit I don't shine with e5 goodness or deal
holistically with individual learning styles very often. I tend to
lecture... it's about the only way to cram so much theory into less than
112 class hours.

I tend to use my theory slideshows as a starting point (mainly so I
don't forget to cover points, which is what I tend to do if I do a
freestyle lecture following the key knowledge dotpoints).  I give them
some hands-on software practice to break the routine, but it's not more
than about 20% of class time... that's mainly what their homework
consists of.

Homework also includes specific practice tasks, e.g. go home and mock up
a picture of a wiki being used by a virtual team working on a (random)
topic.  

I booklist the Potts text, but hardly ever use it in class. It's for
their reference at home: to get a second opinion, further details etc. I
don't assign questions 1 to 5 on page 85 for classwork or homework.
Maybe I should... I don't know.  Go with your gut.  Some kids might
benefit from it.  I push weaker kids or those who didn't do units 1+2 to
use the text more heavily.

With the year 11s I use quite a few videos (ostensibly for the U1O3 ICT
issues outcome, but more accurately to keep them interested). About once
a week I show doccos on the effects of  gaming  (ABC 'Good Game' is
excellent), social implications ('Hungry Beast' has been really good),
media (ABC 'Media Watch' and occasionally 4 Corners - especially their
'Fear in the fast lane' ep from 2009), technology (Catalyst), project
management (ABC 'Grand designs') and a bunch of segments from 'How It's
Made'.

For year 12 I don't have the time or excuse for more than a couple of
videos, usually for proj man and U4O2 ('Fear in the fast lane', etc)

Bell's gone so I won't ramble more.  I've got year 11 and will be
showing them a segment from this week's 'Good Game' on the effects of
gaming on sleep patterns (since a couple of my dears were falling asleep
at the end of yesterday's afternoon double period).

Good luck

-- 
Mark Kelly
Manager - Information Systems
McKinnon Secondary College
McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
Direct line / Voicemail: 8520 9085
School Phone +613 8520 9000
School Fax +613 9578 9253
kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au

Webmaster - http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
IT Lecture notes: http://vceit.com
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the trap.
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