[Yr7-10it] VELS and IT

Thu Jun 15 09:39:10 EST 2006

Like, the SSMS site that handles applications for examiners that only
will work with Internet Explorer.  What about those who haven't sold
their souls to Microsoft?

Rachelle McLean

________________________________

From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Roland Gesthuizen
Sent: Monday, 12 June 2006 2:00 PM
To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] VELS and IT

Last year, futurist Dr Damian Conway gave a good talk at a Monash Alumni
breakfast about some of these technological changes and the convergence
that is happening. The MP3 download of the one hour presentation
<http://audio.monash.edu.au/alumni/conway.mp3>  is 28 Mb but worth
listening to with a good summary by Bill here
<http://billkerr.blogspot.com/2005/07/four-funerals-and-wedding.html> .

It is sad that many schools ignore these 'disruptive technologies', the
benefits of Open Source software, the challenges of the Web2 or a
"read-write" Internet, rejecting good ideas behind a small suite of
shink-wrap software and corporate licences.  Whilst they are playing
safe by firewalling themselves from the world outside the school, they
could become irrelevant, sugar-coated centers of learning that are stuck
in the technological dark ages. 

It is hard to engage students and be an agent of change with your head
firmly cemented in the sandpit.

Regards Roland

On 12/06/06, Bill Kerr <billkerr at gmail.com> wrote:

As well as the skills - taught through both conceptual understandings
which hopefully will be developed at Paul's wiki and immersion (great
discussion b/w Paul and Tony about this at Paul's wiki) 
http://pdchandler.wikispaces.com/computing_concepts

I've been thinking that attitudes (perhaps stemming in part from
beliefs) and environments are also v. important

Some users have the attitude of mastering the machine, of looking behind
the screen, of exploring it more deeply. One tiny example, I've noticed
how much more proficient those who learn and become fluent with keyboard
shortcuts are over those who just rely on the mouse. (but of course
there is far more to it than that) 

Environment is so important IMO. Brian Harvey used to give his students
the key to the computer lab. The trend increasingly on my patch is to
lock everything down and to restrict options rather than expand them.

1. Censor-ware
2. MS Agreement is bad in a number of ways. The MS UI is dumbing down
(eg. hide file extensions), also the agreement restricts the uptake of
Open Source, which is far more compatible with an educational philosophy
(sharing stuff) 
3. Copyright Law (now out of date due to technological advances)
4. DRM (restrict ability to copy to prop up ageing business models)
5. Locally many schools are obsessed with security (perhaps for good
reasons) 

I call these things the instruments of torture, analogous to the
instruments of torture shown to Galileo to restrict his freedom of
thought.

Taken as a group: skills, attitudes, environment - how are we going in
schools at the moment? 

Not very well, I would suggest. 

-- 
Bill Kerr
http://billkerr.blogspot.com/ 
http://beam.to/billkerr
skype: billkerr2006 

On 6/11/06, Dr Paul Chandler < paul.chandler at yvg.vic.edu.au
<mailto:paul.chandler at yvg.vic.edu.au> > wrote:

In an earlier post, I suggested that 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. 

In this context, Tony Forster observed:

> Imagine that its 1986, you are learning Wordstar on DOS or CPM. With
the
> wisdom of hindsight, what are the generalised, higher order skills
which
> will  still be useful in 2006? More importantly, how would you have 
> recognised them back in 1986? If you can answer that, then you are on
the
> way to knowing what is important to teach now.

Thanks, Tony.  Interesting stuff to think about ... my thoughts for the
moment ... 

Not everyone on the list will be able to date themselves back to
Wordstar in 1986 (I can only just do so).  The things that were true
then which seem to be true now are:
- the document and program you are working in, exists within an
'external context' (hardware, operating system and filing system).  So
that, if you turn off your computer before saving your work, it's gone;
if you type long enough, you'll make a document too big for the computer
to handle, and you'll probably lose it; if you don't have your printer
turned on and plugged in, printing will be either lost or be in
jibberish; etc etc 
- if you select chunks of text they can be manipulated in various ways;
these 'various ways' include its location in the document and format

Anymore contributions, anyone?

Now, I'm not sure that we need to back-track into history all the time
to identify 'key concepts', but sometimes it might sharpen our thinking.
For instance, in the early days of the Macintosh, the word processor
MacWrite had a concept of 'inserting a ruler' and certain formatting
applied from that ruler until the next ruler encountered.  MS Word (and
possibly wordperfect before it) gave us the idea of a paragraph as a
'grouping' of certain formatting options.  The fact that the MacWrite
idea has largely gone by the board does not change the fact that 'the
ruler' was a vital concept for those who were using it at that the time.
I don't think the 'important concepts' have to have extreme longevity,
but they need to be applicable t! o how we are worki! ng now. 

-----Original Message-----
From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Tony Forster
Sent: Sat 6/10/2006 11:09 PM
To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List 
Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] VELS and IT

> I'm teaching "about IT", I find it _really_ hard to move beyond
knowledge.
> To do things such as summarize, describe, interpret, apply,
demonstrate,
> calculate, analyze, separate, order, explain, connect, classify,
combine,
> integrate, modify, rearrange, substitute, assess, decide, rank, grade,
> test,
> measure, or recommend ... All the "higher order" skills is just so
hard. 
> I'd suggest that this is because we are too bothered with ensuring
that
> the
> students have "the skills" rather than "the concepts".  If we were
> orientated towards "concepts", then then higher order stuff would come

> easier.

Imagine that its 1986, you are learning Wordstar on DOS or CPM. With the
wisdom of hindsight, what are the generalised, higher order skills which
will  still be useful in 2006? More importantly, how would you have 
recognised them back in 1986? If you can answer that, then you are on
the
way to knowing what is important to teach now.

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

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret
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