[Yr7-10it] IT in the new Standards

[Roland Gesthuizen]

We are going to revamp our IT course for each year level to fit in with the
new Standards as an integrated unit of study, perhaps semester based at each
year level. Everybody else has had their two bobs worth. This morning I
thought to throw my hat into the ring.

Despite continual offers of support and encouragement over the past 5 years,
I overviewed the collapse of a year 7 IT class into another KLA and nothing
happened, I continually observe crazy information processing and research
skills by other staff and the use of computer labs for lame research tasks
(babysitting?), unwilling teachers asking to swap away from newly
constructed computer pods when faced with change.

Hard thing of course is how to shift the average teacher mindset from the
traditional classroom. There little point to "pouring more water on rocks"
but what has worked best for us is to resource those people that are
technology savy and willing to adapt to change. There is oodles of research
to back this up http://www.fno.org 

I am going to suggest that we start with the team that has done this best.
VCE IT teachers are not tertiary trained for nothing and we don't want them
sitting on the sidelines. With their combined talent and skills, they
certainly have something to contribute in the year 7 to 10 curriculum.

Starting from scratch, we were thinking of teaching together:

Year 7 IT - Introduction to safety, research and online collaboration

Online safety, keyboarding, file management, working in a collaborative
environment with Moodle, Research projects and Presentations with
PowerPoint,

Year 8 IT -  Integrated processing and group constructions

Office tools including DTP, Spreadsheets, Database with Access and
collaboration tools such as Wiki construction and Webquests.

Year 9 IT - Mega-digital tools:

Digital image processing with PaintShop Pro, shockwave with Flash and movie
making with Movie Maker and digital equipment

Year 10 - Getting under the bonnet:

Computer hardware, Game design with GameMaker and programming with Free
Pascal.

The approach here is not so much to raise the complexity bar but to
gradually drill deeper down into the hardware and into the software, keeping
up the fun elements of learning by playing, construction and constructivism.
You might spot some personal development threads that I am building in.

Our Bilingual Computing clases would parallel what we do at year 9 and 10
but the context would be the other language area. Our librarian is keen to
help flesh out the year 7 safety and research unit and our Media Teacher
Steve with the year 9 unit.

Metalwork and Woodwork (or materials technology) don't disappear because
they can now be taught by history teachers who share out the hammers so that
students can make Medieval Siege towers. Likewise, IT doesn't evaporate so
that other teachers can break up the labs to use the hardware in their own
classes. Technology doesn't take a back seat in the new Standards. Done
well, we can help kick start some greater things in the school.

We are keen to use our pool of talented IT school staff to run an integrated
unit of study called Information Technology. We will do this in context with
other subject teachers so that we can appropriately skill students and
support school staff. 

I teach a year 9 combined IT / Science course called Research Science with
an environmental context. It was given an EPA award two years ago and can
can work like a dream if we plan http://dewey.westallsc.vic.edu.au/research 

Enough waffle, feedback welcome!

Regards Roland

--
Roland Gesthuizen - eLearning Coordinator - Westall Secondary College 
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au
 

-----Original Message-----
From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Roland Gesthuizen
Sent: Monday, 28 March 2005 9:34 PM
To: 'yr7-10it'; 'yr7-10it'
Subject: [Yr7-10it] Over Information

Not sure where this fits in but it is certainly a fascinating ABC article
that many students can probably relate to.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/overinformation/default.htm

It's official: Australians are "heavy". This isn't referring to our
food-induced state. The "heavy" in this case relates to our personal digital
consumption. The typical gadget-crazy person is now carrying around massive
amounts of information. Forget the old address book and paper diary; today
we're storing text messages, emails, images, music and more on our mobiles,
MP3 players, organizers and cameras