[Yr7-10it] Year 7-10 IT structures

Fri Oct 19 17:09:31 EST 2007

Personally I like the phrases "embedding ICT into a curriculum" and
"developing an ICT rich curriculum" rather than just "integrating ICT into
the curriculum". Difference is subtle but important.

I kind of think that Bill has a good point about distilling what it is we
can do best to add value to the curriculum with activities such as HOT or
higher order ICT activities such as programming. Building a computer game or
interactive and programmable Squeak eToy object is very different from
trivial yet common activities such as adding a new page into a document,
editing a photograph or inserting media objects into a slideshow. Learning
how to author a novel isn't the same as learning to read and write English.

In all, this probably just describes the different ways making a brew:
adding milk before you pour in your tea but as my boss insists, you have to
get it right or you may end up ruining the taste.

Regards Roland

On 19/10/2007, Anne-Marie Chase <rie at bigpond.net.au> wrote:
>
>  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
>
>
>
> 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* < 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:
> >       < 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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-- 
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 Mead
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