[Year 12 IT Apps] A research question...

[ken price]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/upshot/making-computer-science-more-inviting-a-look-at-what-works.html

Might be interesting to collate some of these initiatives. I sense a huge
amount of replication, but at the same time the problem remains.

As anecdata, the correlation between TV programs/films  and student career
aspirations is worth a look. Popular TV show about lawyers -> increase in
student interest in a career which previously was seen as incredibly
boring. The CSI series resulted in increases in students wanting to do
forensic science ( and I even had one complain that their study required
them to "do all this legal stuff" - apparently the  nature of forensic
science had never occurred to them). This phenomenon first came to my
attention when a very young Kylie Minogue played a female mechanic in a
well-known TV program and resulted in a spike in women training as
mechanics, and has been repeated over and over again.

But how is computing portrayed in the media? In most cases, as a nerdy,
isolated profession where social interaction is shunned. Maybe that
portrayal is changing but it is one of many factors acting against the
computing industry/profession.

While I'm about it, the Australian Computer Society has a set of YT videos
about

Women in IT
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8BUtM6njqLuWFp7jdTgpJMZadK3PP0sf
and
Careers in IT
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVUShuGdUYl4eQCRQG7H7zOLxBoZf5e2Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGCrKCxj-kQ&list=PLVUShuGdUYl4rnk0ZdkKU2VW8rp9rg_XF
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL42BE27FF3884ADAE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi9azHqU9RY&list=PLE4F9B3EE57D97A10

These are Australian videos and the content is reasonably current. Some of
them might be useful at careers evenings, enrolment day, or for your own
classes. They might give some students a reason or idea about the value of
studying computing.



On Wed, May 27, 2015 at 11:09 PM, Tracey Hubert <traceyhubert at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I am a pre-service IT teacher and long-time lurker. I am working on an
> assessment investigating issues and debates around the implementation of
> the (proposed) Digital Technologies curriculum and the implications for
> schools and teachers. In the Donnely and Whiltsire review, they propose
> that IT remain a general capability and the standalone subject be scrapped
> or made optional. One of the arguments is there are not enough suitably
> qualified teachers and that it can be taught across the disciplines. They
> obviously miss the point that ITC != computational thinking.
>
> I am curious to hear what practicing IT teachers think about this
> assertion. I went to a school tour on Friday and was surprised to learn
> they didn't offer IT as a subject at all, not even in VCE. No electives in
> Year 9. Nothing. I had a look at the overall statistics for VCE IT apps and
> VCE Software Development and saw enrolments are significantly down from
> their 2000–2001 peak. During the online PD for the new VCE subjects, Paula
> Christophersen mentioned they have increased this year by 10%, but it still
> seems quite low given the ubiquity of tech and the push for STEM subjects
> in general.
>
> I was wondering if anyone has any insight as to why they think the numbers
> have dropped in they way they have. It can't only be explained by the
> scaling down, can it?
>
> TIA
> Tracey
>
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-- 
-- 
Dr Ken Price MACS CP ACCE Professional Associate.
President, TASITE http://www.tasite.tas.edu.au
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