[Yr11 Information Technology] [Informatics] informatics Digest, Vol 12, Issue 68

Thu Nov 3 16:10:33 AEDT 2016

*INTRODUCTION*

For year 11 list subscribers who have not previously been subject to one of
my rambling rants, I am obliged by a ruling of the High Court to preface
this post with the following words:

*You, the Edulist subscriber, are not legally obliged to read what
follows. *
*You are entitled to sniff disdainfully, mutter the word 'Stupid twit' - or
a functional equivalent of such words - and delete this post.*
*You may choose to read on, but the onus is then entirely on you.*

*MESSAGE BEGINS*

Indeed, George, I agree with much of what you say.

I am certainly not an apologist* for the new study design.

My lack of love for the direction of VCE Informatics has not been a secret
since the first consultation draft of the design was released.
I don't know why VCAA decided to turn IT Applications into more of a soft
science.
Maybe it was to take the 'nerdy' edge off it - and add a large
communications dimension to attract girls and increase sales?

There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but it's not IT as I know it, and
that's what I signed up for.
I think it's the moving of the goalposts that may hurt Informatics
enrolments.

*WARNING - GENDER GENERALISATIONS FOLLOW*

>From my observations, boys love tech *for sake of the tech*.

- A boy may create a messaging app, but not really want to use it to *talk*
with anyone. He just wants it to work, and to be great. Boys tend to want
real IT, with wheels and true/false answers.

- Girls often love tech because of what it can *do* for them to achieve
other needs - often self-expression, community, connection, and
communication.
For girls, a messaging app without a person to talk to is like a toaster
without bread: it may be sort of interesting theoretically, but be pretty
useless otherwise.
Girls prefer to study ICT within a useful and relevant social context.

If girls are the target, VCAA can create a new IT-related VCE subject for
their needs such as: *Online Communication Technologies*; or *Social
Networking Technology*. These subjects can focus on squishy talky social
stuff - with a firm tech infrastructure built in to get the job done.

But we must be wary of self-fulfilling prophecies along the lines of, "Kids
show no interest in X so we won't offer a stream like that in earlier
years."
Perhaps there is no interest in X in year 11 or 12 because kids have not
been exposed to X before.

<peeve>

For dog's sake don't let school admin believe that "everyone is an IT
teacher so we don't need IT classes" in junior years.
By that logic, *everyone* is an English teacher, so English can be scrapped
in years 7-10.

</peeve>

And not even "IT teachers" are reliable.

True story: I once overheard a supposed IT teacher (drafted into teaching
IT because of an accounting background) telling year 7 students to multiply
two cells in Excel using =SUM(A1*B2) ***.

Regards,
Mark

* In the classical sense of "defender".

** Little to no offence is meant to *Geography* or *PE* teachers.
You may be confused by this footnote because the post made no reference to
these teachers.
The original draft of this post, however, *did* mention them, causing my
judicial ankle bracelet to send an emergency injunction to the the High
Court.
They ruled that I delete the reference. Sigh.
But, in retrospect, I suppose it *was* for the best. We can't afford
further rioting in the streets.

*** Yes, I intervened. Crisis was averted.

*MESSAGE ENDS.*
--

Regards,
Mark

On 3 November 2016 at 14:42, Ciotti, George W <
ciotti.george.w at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:

> From: Mark <mark at vceit.com>
>
> Reply-To: Year 11 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List <
> yr11it at edulists.com.au>
> Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2016 12:41:52 +1100
> To: Year 11 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List <
> yr11it at edulists.com.au>
> Subject: Re: [Yr11 Information Technology] [Informatics] informatics
> Digest, Vol 12, Issue 68
>
> Year 11 IT is a bit of a showbag with aspects of both Informatics and SD,
> so breadth is more desirable than depth and students get a taste of both
> paths.
>
>
> Sure. But it’s still a lot to cover. The majority of students do not cope
> is my experience.
> I would suggest that schools should be able to choose what 2 SACs per
> semester they wish to initiate students into. This would take into account
> a few factors that are necessarily unique to each school.
> For example, if there is no SD being offered at Yr12 then opt out of that
> unit. It’s a tough gig coming into programming with little or no experience
> for such a short burst of time. It’s the kind of approach that you would
> necessarily find in a tertiary computing degree where the uni is
> appropriately equipped to deliver.
> Is covering the nuts and bolts of Networks really that important in this
> day and age and at this level? This could easily be a part of a Year 10 IT
> course given that students at this level would be much more enthusiastic in
> breaking apart the hardware side of Networking with more time to really get
> to understand what, again, is a complex area. Ask Telstra if you don’t
> believe me.
> In my experience students are put off by the amount of work required. It’s
> one thing to offer breadth but the Year 11 course still pretends to offer
> depth. Look at the Textbook. Look at the SACs that have been written by
> third parties. I feel it’s a course in search of credibility such that it
> overloads everyone, students and teachers,  and in the end no one gains. *Hence
> the continual low numbers in Year 12 IT*, *Informatics*. It could be a
> much more stimulating course for all concerned if it were less about
> breadth, showcase as you say and more about learning fundamental concepts.
> As an example the Information Technology in a Global Society (ITGS) course
> seems well balanced. It takes a much broader approach and takes account of
> school needs within a two year period.
>
> I’m not sure about the figures but I would hazard a guess that Year 12 IT
> figures still rank low.
> Given that IT, Computing, Informatics or whatever else you want to call
> it, is such an integral part of existence, and will be, we may be looking
> at a lost opportunity. Especially when other subject areas, and they’re
> beginning to, start to integrate aspects of IT into their subjects. And
> contextually so.  There won’t be a need to do Computing.
>
> George
>
> UHS Website Manager
> Computing/Art/Design/Tech Domain
> University High School
> 77 Story St
> Parkville 3052
> *mobile: 0412 934 782*
> phone: 9347 2022
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 

Mark Kelly

mark at vceit.com
http://vceit.com
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