[Yr7-10it] VELS and IT

Sun Jun 11 22:30:08 EST 2006

Jim Bunn noted:

> I agree with Fiona. I have two groups of year 7 students and I'd say 10% of
> them have good computer skills, eg can effectively use Word, can logically
> organise their home drive and understand the basics of naming files and
> folders etc. The other 90% range from very basic computer skills to knowing
> how to turn it on and open a program (5-10%).

I'll admit that, at times, I can be a little bit ephemeral.  So I thank Jim for bringing us back down to earth.  This is the nub of the issue and we need to place our schools, our curriculum frameworks and our own teaching under some scrutiny and ask (a) what's going wrong and (b) what can be done to fix it.

It seems to me that we could:
- agitate for better teaching in earlier years
- complain that we don't have enough time to teach what we regard as 'the essentials'
- co-opt the support of non-ICT subjects and teachers to help us along
- acknowledge that the focus of our teaching is not quite right
Probably all of these (and others) have a place in our considerations.

I think that a good skill base to use the mouse, the keyboard, etc etc is vital.(if you need convincing, look at Bill Kerr's comments about teaching 'new arrivals' some computing, on http://pdchandler.wikispaces.com/new+arrivals).  I also happen to think that there are some conceptual understandings which 'the better' computer users have that 'the strugglers' don't yet have, and that we might be best off to make a point of teaching these conceptual understanding explicitly rather than burying them amongst skills (see my example on layers a few days ago).

I'm actually really open minded about this: I don't profess to have a grip on where a need to 'broaden the skill set' cuts out and then need to 'deal with concepts' cuts in, with respect to fostering 'better computer users'.  I would hesitatingly suggest that following concepts are probably vital, somewhere along the way:
* Physical understandings which connect the orientation of them mouse the connection between mouse and pointer, the difference between insertion point and pointer
* A 'windows' interface: what it means to have an active window; background tasks etc
* What it means to click; click-drag, double-click, etc
* The filing system, drive letters, folders and the idea of saving and 'save as'; absolute and relative paths
* The idea of an object and the notion of 'selecting' text or objects (important across software types)
* The idea of layers (important across software types)
* The notion of what a 'table' is, what cells are, and how grid references work (important across software types)
* In Word - the difference between a character, a sentence and a paragraph

So let's imagine that we reckon that they key to success is to ensure that students have (a) a good grasp of the filing system and (b) a good grasp of characters, paragraphs, etc in Word and the different 'operations' which can be applied to each.  Now, if these alone were to distinguish between 'the better' computer users and 'the strugglers' then that is what we teach, and we may need to spend many lessons doing it, using activities which are at the computer as well as those which are at the computer.  We may need to use drama, physical demonstrations, group work etc  In fact, we may decide that in our (hypothetical) year 7 course of 2 periods a week, we can't possibly teach file management, word, publisher and spreadsheets in a term (!), and that we deliberately strip down the amount of content/skill so that time can be spent on the conceptual understandings which really matter.

What we need, first of all, some vigorous discussion, some postulates, of what are some conceptual understandings which 'really matter' - those that 'the better' computer users have that 'the strugglers' don't yet have.  (That's why I set up the wiki http://pdchandler.wikispaces.com/ )

-----Original Message-----
From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Jim Bunn
Sent: Sat 6/10/2006 12:21 AM
To: 'Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List'
Subject: RE: [Yr7-10it] VELS and IT

I agree with Fiona. I have two groups of year 7 students and I'd say 10% of
them have good computer skills, eg can effectively use Word, can logically
organise their home drive and understand the basics of naming files and
folders etc. The other 90% range from very basic computer skills to knowing
how to turn it on and open a program (5-10%). 

Jim 

Jim Bunn
CCNA CCAI
Technology Coordinator
Hampton Park Secondary College
Victoria  Australia
8795 9400

bunn.jim.c at edumail.vic.gov.au 

-----Original Message-----
From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of
fiona at balmoralhs.vic.edu.au
Sent: Thursday, 8 June 2006 12:54 PM
To: yr7-10it at edulists.com.au
Subject: RE: [Yr7-10it] VELS and IT

Rachelle 

You would be amazed.  Many of the year 7's can type up a document and edit
but they dont have more refined skills, especially those regarding page
layout and the more complex options.

"Mclean, Rachelle L" <Mclean.Rachelle.L at edumail.vic.gov.au> on Thu, 8 Jun
2006 12:42:28 +1000 wrote:
> Although Fiona, I can't understand why the vast majority of students
> wouldn't already know how to use Word at year 7 when I am teaching it to
> my grade preps and 1s.
> 
> Rachelle McLean
> Pakenham Hills Primary School
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of
> fiona at balmoralhs.vic.edu.au
> Sent: Thursday, 8 June 2006 12:13 PM
> To: yr7-10it at edulists.com.au
> Subject: RE: [Yr7-10it] VELS and IT
> 
> I think this is what much of the discussion has been about Debra, namely
> that IT is not being seen as a discrete subject but to be taught as part
> of another subject.  If I was your elearning co-ord I would go back and
> tell them to go away (or words to that effect) and then offer pd in what
> skills they would like to see utilised (as opposed to taught) during a
> particular semester e.g semester 1, English, year 7 - focus on microsoft
> word and basic editing and formatting and this would coincide with the
> year 7 being taught the correct skills in an IT class.  
> 
> If you dont discriminate between the subjects then the English class
> will be spent teaching IT skills and, you then have to ask the all
> important question - what are the English teacher's IT skills like -
> does he/she know what tabs are? can she change the rulers using the side
> margins on the screen? Can he/she explain how the school server works
> and how to save corrently. Now I am going to make a statement regarding
> English teachers that will probably get me hung, and to all those
> computer literate English teachers out there I humbly apologise but, in
> my experience, the English teachers have been the ones who have had the
> most difficulty coming to terms with new technology!
> 
> Fiona Bain
> LT Co-ordinator
> 
> 
> "McDonald, Debra A1" <mcdonald.debra.a1 at edumail.vic.gov.au> on Thu, 8
> Jun 2006 11:43:51 +1000 wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >  
> > I may be on the outer her as it has been a while since I have read the
> emails regarding VEL's as I wanted to do so at my leisure instead of
> between classes, but at out school the eLearning coordinator is
> apparently going to hold compulsory PD's that will instruct staff
> (separate PD's for each subject area) what skills they need to be
> teaching each semester and how to do this. now I have no idea on how she
> is planning to do this and I think that in time she will let us know as
> I will be having to assist her in instructing the school in part of this
> because she is not totally proficient in all area's of IT (mainly the
> basics).
> >  
> > what are you guys doing in the PD scheme of things for next year?? and
> how are you running it?
> >  
> > would love to here what is going on out there.
> >  
> > Cheers
> >  
> >  
> > Debra McDonald
> > Network Manager
> > Lyndhurst Secondary College
> > Cranbourne
> > (03) 5996 0144
> >  
> > 
> >
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> fiona at balmoralhs.vic.edu.au
> http://www.balmoralhs.vic.edu.au/
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> Year 7 - 10 IT Mailing List kindly supported by
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> Year 7 - 10 IT Mailing List kindly supported by
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
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Association Inc

---
fiona at balmoralhs.vic.edu.au
http://www.balmoralhs.vic.edu.au/
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http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
Year 7 - 10 IT Mailing List kindly supported by
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
and
http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers
Association Inc

Important - 
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