[Yr7-10it] Year 7-10 IT structures
Anne-Marie Chase
rie at bigpond.net.au
Fri Oct 19 15:20:42 EST 2007
Hello all
I think this idea of understanding what "ICT" is exists at industry level
too. I was involved in organizing a GoGirl <http://www.gogirlwa.org.au/>
event in 2005. The event is a Careers Showcase for female students to be
introduced to the many faces of the Information, Communication and
Technology Industry. I worked with a voluntary organisation from the IT
industry to organise the event which included speakers from the IT industry
telling the students about what they did and how they got there. It's a
great event and the feedback from students and teachers is very positive.
The speakers included programmers etc which you'd imagine as being part of
the IT industry. However, the speakers also included a vet, a dentist and a
few others you wouldn't really call the IT industry, yet IT was integral to
their job's. IT is the tool in these roles. Incidentally GoGirl is
concerned with the falling number of students studying ICT and the need to
attract students to the ICT industry. At a speaker level the support is
great, at an organisation level the support from the ICT industry is
virtually non-existent as is the support from state (WA) and federal
government. Not sure what that says about a skills shortage in the ICT
industry or the value of the ICT industry to the economy.
As for a future model for ICT.... I think it would be great if an
organisation like VITTA or ICTEV could organize a group of interested
parties, consulting with industry (AIIA) and gov (MMV & DET) which could
develop this whole line of thinking and provide some sort of advocacy/lobby
group role. At all levels there is confusion about a way forward from
classroom level, school leadership, regional, state and federal government.
It would be good to see IT teachers push a direction.
Personally I think integration of ICT with specialist support is the way
forward. Like the role of the Atelierista in Reggio schools. (An
Atelierista assists children to express themselves through materials (The
100 languages of children)). This provides benefits too in terms of:
* Project based learning/constructivist approach
* Development of multi-literacies
* Vocational skills
* Resourcing - access to skilled ICT teachers
* Resourcing - access to specialist hardware and software
* Mentoring/PD for teachers
* Encouraging non-IT specialists to have a go etc etc
Integration offers the opportunity to draw on students ICT skills (digital
natives) and their interest and motivation in using ICT (assists with
engagement). This is the area I am currently doing a doctoral study in so
anyone interested please go to http://digital-kids.wikispaces.com
<http://digital-kids.wikispaces.com/>
However, there is a place for computing in the curriculum, is this different
to ICT? I read a recent post on Digital Chalkie with interest
http://www.digitalchalkie.com/2007/09/12/picaxe-2007/ I kind of think
computing is different/separate to ICT, yet I first learnt to program when I
was at school and I'm sure this has helped me in the digital world, so not
separate at all???
Cheers
Anne-Marie
P please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
_____
From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Bill Kerr
Sent: 18 October 2007 04:53
To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] Year 7-10 IT structures
I had another go at this on my blog:
http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2007/10/decline-of-it-in-education.html
it gets a bit complicated because probably many traditional subjects are at
least sometimes taught in routine, formulistic and uninspiring ways
eg. maths out of the textbook
certainly its asking too much for any teacher to be continually innovative
in whatever subject they teach, given the pressures on teachers in general
but when computers came along as new, important, "vocational" some of this
was then converted into skill routines at the school level - here's a new
application (eg. Office), how do we use this properly - initially this was
enough to establish the subject but has not been enough to sustain it R-12
or K-12 in the longer term
Yes the IT teacher knows how to use Word better than the English teacher
But it's not reasonable for a subject (IT) to sustain itself long term
mainly on a skilling basis. It would not be reasonable for any other
subject to do that
In some cases the forces for IT have not developed a compelling enough
argument for IT to be retained as a separate subject
In other cases a compelling argument - a deeper approach - has been
developed and the stakeholders (students, school admin, universities) have
heard it
For the students who think they are "digital natives" it has to be a good
argument since it is coming from the "immigrants"
In other cases the argument has been developed but fallen on deaf ears
I'm saying that its not reasonable and not inspiring for IT to remain as a
separate subject unless it does develop an argument that is equivalent to
the best argument that English, Maths, Science could develop. To teach IT
mainly as a skill is boring anyway - who really wants to do only that?
These other subjects have a 400 year plus magnificent tradition
Now what is it about IT that makes it equivalent to these subjects? That is
the argument that has to be developed for IT to compete long term as a
standalone with these subjects, if we want that.
Your comments could also be read as an argument for a new subject such as
"media studies"
How do media changes effect our learning - eg. if students watch as much TV,
play computer games, web surfing, use their mobile phones etc. - how does
that impact on their ability to sit in a class and listen to a teacher?
Media studies might be an elective in school - but there is something
happening here in the way media is changing that is having a profound effect
on everything that happens in school
IT teachers losing their subject is a wakeup call for a bigger problem -
like a species becoming extinct might signify a broader significant change
in the whole environment
--
Bill Kerr
http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/
On 10/17/07, Costello, Rob R < <mailto:Costello.Rob.R at edumail.vic.gov.au>
Costello.Rob.R at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:
making the parallel with English / computer literacy is suggesting that
"digital native" status does not mean we necessarily abandon attempts to
build on kids skills in a concentrated way
what are the ideas that computer literacy opens to us?
Well, what is software?
It is medium in which we carve and express ideas. It provides a milieu
in which we increasingly communicate. It is an increasingly dominant
substrate in our culture. It is mirror in which we see ourselves -
watching my 5 year old snap himself on the web cam.
there is a plasticity in software, that means it can morph into every
domain - can be video editing, email, spreadsheets, game design,
blogging, CAD etc
and teaching kids how to work with it, be creative with it, in whatever
form or context, can be valuable
sometimes the very diversity of forms works against seeing what the
deeper ideas are
Also can lead to the "ICT is just a tool, lets not focus on the
technology" - "its teachers who make sure its used in meaningful
contexts" sort of thing
and I broadly agree with the sentiment, in many cases
Yet given the plasticity of the software, it would also be nice to let
kids experience how to work with that - to take control at that deeper
level, to have some ideas of how to write it, not just read (experience)
it (=literacy)
Its harder, but potentially it goes further than mastering applications
- valuable as that is
Kay says that putting a piano in a classroom is not going to make
musicians - the teacher, and the music (software) are the key elements -
the music is also the expression
the discipline of performing music is "hard", takes years of training to
reach higher levels
and it builds in complexity as it goes - builds on previous skills
Systems thinking, object orientation, etc, is possibly as hard to
master, just as useful and adaptable when mastered - and accessible at
earlier stages with the right tools
Agree we don't have a clear sense of what these big ideas are - too
taken with the range of apps (=music appreciation, reading?)
though playing with them does also give some measure of the ideas,
indirectly- and may payoff in other ways (the communication or
expressive or analytical power of the tool) - and may be appropriate in
many cases, classes etc
PS here's one spinoff of tinkering with software at school age -
wouldn't have occurred if I'd been left to the apps of the day - a
little induction into BASIC started the accessibility of constructing
www.brainshapes.com
experimental, may change, copyright, incompletely documented etc
cheers
Rob
PS lots of disciplines are making some sort of extended "literacy" claim
- not just ICT (financial literacy, ethical literacy, scientific
literacy - the multi-literacy grab-bag)
> Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 10:17:10 +1000
> From: "Bill Kerr" <billkerr at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] Year 7-10 IT structures
> To: "Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List"
> <yr7-10it at edulists.com.au>
> Message-ID:
> <
<mailto:5d2dce520710151717x5d8d6618h6708ca82433b91bc at mail.gmail.com>
5d2dce520710151717x5d8d6618h6708ca82433b91bc at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> I'm interested in this argument about the "information age" and "IT is
> equivalent to English", which has come up before on these lists
>
> The term "information age" is too vague now IMO. The "information age"
did
> not start with the computer - it started with the printing press.
> ...
>
> The argument that "we can all read and write" implies that IT is
another
> form of literacy (equivalent to reading and writing) and so deserves
an
> equal place in the curriculum to English
>
> That argument might turn out to be correct, eg. we could argue that
> students
> could learn to program the computer to represent dynamic systems (eg.
the
> spread of AIDS or a traffic jam simulation or global warming) and that
> this
> systems theory knowledge is a new form of literacy required by the
modern
> citizen. If we understood systems theory better then society would
have
> picked up on global warming earlier or developed other perspectives on
> global warming to our current ones (ie. panic)
>
> But it's wrong to equate the ability to read and write English with
the
> ability to learn basic computer skills.
>
> The English curriculum does not or should not justify itself in
secondary
> school on the basis of learning to read and write. It might justify
itself
> on the basis that the study of Shakespeare for example provides
students
> with new insights into the human condition.
>
> "Computer science" (which is perhaps not a real science yet) could
only
> justify itself on this sort of basis - that it provides new unique
> insights
> into the human condition.
>
> Integration of computers into the rest of the curriculum (and
computing
> being phased out as a stand alone subject in the middle years) is
> proceeding
> on the basis that all computing has to offer is basic (computer)
literacy
> skills and that the "digital natives" will pick that up anyway. The
> comparison here is with oral literacy. Humans learn to talk without
formal
> teaching. They don't learn to read and write without formal teaching.
That
> process is meant to happen in primary school and is the major focus of
> primary school. The ability to read and write then opens doors to the
> collected wisdom of humanity, be it through books or the web.
>
> So, what is the argument that computer skills are somehow equivalent
to
> English - the subject which provides the underlying basis for all of
> modern
> human knowledge, post Enlightenment?
>
> Maybe there is such an argument. But the fact that IT teachers haven't
> developed it coherently is the underlying reason why they are losing
their
> subject.
>
> --
> Bill Kerr
> http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/
>
>
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