[Yr7-10it] IT in the new Standards

[Keith Richardson]

I just love the line: "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."
Keith





On Thu, 7 Apr 2005 10:37:46 +1000, "Roland Gesthuizen"
<rge at westallsc.vic.edu.au> said:
> 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
> 
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Keith Richardson
Leibler Yavneh College
Elsternwick Ph (03)9528 4911
keithcr at fastmail.fm