[Year 12 IPM] VELS - Who Cares???

Wed Jun 8 22:57:48 EST 2005

Hi Keith and fellow IPMers

>From my point of view....I see VELS as the first recognition of the
place of ICT (technology) within the curriculum. The use of ICT
incorporated in all curriculum delivery. We have talked for years about
computers across the curriculum but have never had official placement of
ICT as teaching and learning tools. Yes we have all encouraged staff to
use ICT but now we have a curriculum document making ICT's as a central
feature of teaching and learining. The VELS illustrates the
interconnectivity between curriculum  and ICT pedagogy. I hope it will
be the revolution we have talked about and never really seen all staff
"having" to embrace the use of ICT within the curriculum.

We must be careful in differentaiting between ICT and IT. I strongly
believe that there is an Infromation Techology curriculum to be taught
as a discreet subject from year 5-12. In fact my own faculty debated
this topic tonight! We are currently auditing our IT curriculum and are
looking at what is taught and making assessments as to what skills and
processes can be taught "across the curriculum" and where they will be
taught and then coming back to what's left and look at what we offer as
It content (maybe programming etc).

Our collegegues in the State system have no choice as to follow the
VELS; they must introduce the changes for the start of 2006. It will be
a big change.

I hope the implementation is better than the documentation produced thus
far.....but on the surface I welcome the change.

I sitting here trying to guess who on the list will throw the first
flame!!! LOL

My meagre thoughts..

Rod

(Bring it on.......)

PS - If I am way off track will someone let me know

Rod Kendall

Head of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
Head of Information Technology (Keilor Campus)
Overnewton Anglican Community College
2-30 Overnewton Rd 
Keilor  VIC 3036
Direct Tel : 03 9334 0134
Mobile: 0418 138 601
Fax: 03 9336 1835

________________________________

From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Keith Richardson
Sent: Wed 8/06/2005 10:18 PM
To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
Teachers'Mailing List
Subject: [Year 12 IPM] VELS - Who Cares???

http://www.ictev.vic.edu.au/event/Activity_Interactive_Notes/VELS_Notes_
2.doc
http://www.ictev.vic.edu.au/event/Activity_Interactive_Notes/VELS_Notes_
1.ppt
Thank you Roland. My, it's scarey, isn't it? How will the poor kids cope
with all of this almost meaningless change (for change sake?) Can anyone
explain, using words of no more than two syllables, what all of this
fuss is really about? Apart from our obedience, and just doing as we are
told to do, why do it at all? Beats me!
Anyway, here are the two URLs that Roland is referring to, but does
anyone know where I can find answers to my perplexities above? I don't
mind change, but I like to have really GOOD reasons - ones that I can
believe in, and value myself...
Keith

On Wed, 8 Jun 2005 18:56:35 +1000, "Roland Gesthuizen"
<rge at westallsc.vic.edu.au> said:
> G'day all,
>
> It depends on how schools wish to implement things but there is still
a
> role
> for IT educator / experts in a school. There is a nice paragraph
buried
> in
> the Standards that says ".. this does not preclude schools from also
> offering ICT as a stand-alone study ...". The challenge of course is
how
> we
> can all best teach IT in the context of other learning areas.
>
> Paula gave a very good presentation on this at the recent ICTEV state
> conference with some animated slides that illustrated the different
> approaches that could be taken. After seeing this I began to realise
that
> our school is probably already doing this. (phew)
>
> http://www.ictev.vic.edu.au/event/conference.htm (scroll down - ICT in
> VELS)
>
> Regards Roland
>
> --
> Roland Gesthuizen - eLearning Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
> http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au
> 
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
On
> Behalf Of Donna Benjamin
> Sent: Wednesday, 8 June 2005 8:25 AM
> To: ipm at edulists.com.au
> Subject: [Year 12 IPM] Year 7 Computing
>
> Recent postings reminded me of this thread from last year. I hope you
> won't mind too much me reposting these witty words from Mr David
Dimsey.
>
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> From: David Dimsey <david.dimsey at geelongcollege.vic.edu.au>
> Reply-To: IPM List <ipm at fhc.vic.edu.au>
> To: IPM List <ipm at fhc.vic.edu.au>
> Subject: Re: OT Year 7 Computing
> Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 16:47:55 +1000
>
> Frank -
> I think that you should re-evaluate the Year 7 English program, and
> float the suggestion that they give up the 5 periods a week currently
> allocated to English. The idea, of course, is that the important
skills
> could be covered in other KLA areas.
> If IT skills can be taught in other KLA areas by teachers untrained in
> IT, then surely English skills can be covered in the same way (better,
> perhaps - the average IT teacher's English skills are probably higher
> than the average English teacher's IT skills; all IT teachers have
> passed Year 12 English, whereas very few English teachers have passed
> Year 12 IT). If IT skills are important enough to be included in the
> curriculum at all, then IT deserves its own time allocation, and
should
> be taught by specialist IT teachers.
>
> I think part of the problem is the view that "IT is a tool" or "the
> computer is just a tool". You can make exactly the same statement
about
> English (a tool for communication, entertainment, or expression) or
> Mathematics (a tool for numerical calculations and analysis) or
History
> (a tool for understanding human behaviour).
> As we all know, the successful use of IT (checking email, using the
> Internet, creating word-processed documents, whatever) requires a
> particular mindset - thinking about information and data in digital
> terms - an understanding of how digital information is structured and
> manipulated, extensive training and practice in the tools and
techniques
> of IT, and a particular vocabulary. Much like Science or Mathematics
in
> many ways - each of which have a curriculum allocation and specialist
> teachers. (I would also suggest that IT will play as important a part
in
> our students' lives as science or mathematics).
> The suggestion that Excel skills, for example, "should be reinforced
> and extended by the teacher whose curriculum requires them" is
perfectly
> valid, in exactly the same way as writing skills should be reinforced
> and extended by the teacher whose curriculum requires them. But this
is
> not to negate the place of specialist classes in the discipline (IT or
> English) conducted by specialist teachers.
>
>
> David Dimsey
> Director of Learning Technologies
> The Geelong College
> Talbot St
> Newtown VIC 3220
> ph:  (03) 5226 3173
> fax: (03) 5222 4046
> david.dimsey at geelongcollege.vic.edu.au
> www.geelongcollege.vic.edu.au
> >
> > >>> frankm at sjcs.melb.catholic.edu.au 7/09/2004 2:47:54 pm >>>
> > Dear Colleagues,
> > We are currently re-evaluating our Year 7 Computer Studies
programme. A
> > suggestion has been floated that the Technology faculty gives up the
2
> > periods/week/semester we currently allocate to Computer Studies in
Year
> > 7 in favour of another KLA area. The idea is that the important
skills
> > ould be covered in oter KLA areas. Of course from year 8 students
can
> > select IT units as part of our vertical curriculum structure.
> >
> > I was wondering what experiences other schools have had with this
> > approach. For example, if Computing skills are to be taught in other
> > KLAs, are they being taught "properly"? How have other KLA
programmes
> > adjusted to integrate IT into their programmes?
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> >
> > ---
> > Frank Merlino
> > St. Joseph's College
> > 135 Aphrasia St
> > Newtown, Geelong, Vic
> > Australia, 3220
> > (03 52 268100)
> >
> > For Help, Subscribe,Unsubscribe, FAQ and more go to
> > http://www.fhc.vic.edu.au/lists
> > Comments to k.krozian at fhc.vic.edu.au
>
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Keith Richardson
Leibler Yavneh College
Elsternwick Ph (03)9528 4911
keithcr at fastmail.fm

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