[Year 12 IT Apps] Stu's views on ITA

[Stuart Walkerden (STUW)]

A number of people have been expressing views on whether we should include business management in IT. Others have hypothesised that commercial applications are not real IT. If they aren't IT, what are they? Some of the views expressed reveal their author's bias. Some smack of intellectual snobbery.

The subject we are discussing is ITApps not Computer Science.

One would hope that every subject teaches thinking skills. There is obviously a huge range of thinking skills. The thinking skills taught in Maths are not the same as those taught in English. The thought process behind creating a web site has similarities and differences from the thought processes involved in developing a computer program. No one can convince me that one is more valuable than the other, they are just different. We are about Information Communications Technology. There is justification for teaching kids how to use existing applications to convert data into information and to communicate this information effectively. If there is an existing tool that helps us to solve a problem, we should use it. If not we should create one that does the job or be able to give design specs to someone who can create it for us. The number of collisions on our roads tells us that most people who think they can drive, actually drive badly. Similarly, anyone can use a computer, but most students use them poorly. IT subjects including VCE IT are our opportunity to redress this.

I reckon that VCE IT should include all of the following:
A logical approach to problem solving
Spreadsheet and database software (It doesn't matter  whether we use Macrosoft, Google Docs and Open Office just as it doesn't matter whether we learn to drive on a Holden, a VW or a Jag)
Web creation (WISIWIG or ASP et al - I don't care)
Developing computer programs (again the language is unimportant)

We have to accept declining enrolments in IT as a fact. It is more a reflection on options on subject selection (kids can study three Maths, can count Psych as a Science etc) than an indictment on our study design. Changing just one or two IT subjects will do little to reverse this trend.

You can all have your soap boxes back now


Stuart Walkerden

Huntingtower

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