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

Fri Nov 4 08:38:35 AEDT 2016

Oh …. And Mark.

Some disdainful sniffs were made… especially about the gender stereotyping.
All my girls are programmers – in every level. I have not experienced this idea of girls needing a social context for ICT… I find that kids are either into maths and solving technical problems … or they aren’t, regardless of gender.

I have a Grade 8 project that lasts a term: all of year 8 work in pairs to research an ICT Social Issue, write survey questions for Survey monkey – collect the data and write findings. They then create an info graphic of their results and everything is published on a website.
This could be classed as providing a social context as the use of HTML, Excel and Illustrator are technical skills being used for a communication purpose. However, the engagement of the project reflects similar engagement in other tasks such as programming or databases. I think the divide between boys and girls in technology is diminishing – or at least in my experience.. being a female IT teacher…. Hmmm…. That might play a role…

From: yr11it-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:yr11it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Mark
Sent: Thursday, 3 November 2016 4:11 PM
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

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<mailto:ciotti.george.w at edumail.vic.gov.au>> wrote:
From: Mark <mark at vceit.com<mailto:mark at vceit.com>>
Reply-To: Year 11 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List <yr11it at edulists.com.au<mailto: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<mailto: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<mailto:mark at vceit.com>
http://vceit.com
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