[Yr7-10it] Junior IT curriculum review

[Kevork Krozian]

Hi Folks,
  

   I am not sure about other schools but we still have dedicated Junior IT classes : Weekly ,   Yr 7 - 100 mins, Yr 8 - 100 mins, Yr 9 - 144 mins , 1 semester only , Yr 10 computer - 216 mins programming - 1 semester only. 
   We are continually reviewing our courses and currently they stand more or less as follows:

    1.  Yr 7 -- Mavis Beacon touch typing, Office applications ( Word, Excel, Access ), formatting documents, 
    2.  Yr 8 -- Mainly Gamemaker, web authoring, Office apps etc
    3.  Yr 9 -- attached. Creation of DVD using Flash, Audacity, Acid pro, Dreamweaver, photoshop etc.
    4. Yr 10 -- just moved from VB.NET to Flash and Actionscript 2.0/3.0 mix


   I am just wondering what others are doing and how these skills are being taught - specialised IT or across the curriculum and other ideas about where we should be heading.
  A few thoughts about what to do for next year :

  1. Incorporate Alice into either Yr 9 or Yr 10
  2. Rather than teach intense programming in 1 language in the Yr 10 elective, introduce students to say 3 or 4 languages to get a feel for what is out there such as Actionscript, VB.NET, PHP, Python, Scratch, Alice.  I am talking about a core language and say 1 activity ( prewritten and ready to fly ) in each of the other languages in the last 4 weeks or so.
  3.  Introduce much more interactive web authoring including uploading student work ( flash simple or games ) , programming to save data at the back end, use of mobile devices to access web site, SMS gateways, etc depending on student interest and ability ...

     and much more ...


  Any discussion, suggestions, comments, samples of work or courses welcome 


Best Wishes
 
  

Kevork Krozian
IT Manager , Forest Hill College
k.krozian at fhc.vic.edu.au
http://www.fhc.vic.edu.au
Mobile: 0419 356 034

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