On 6/7/05, <b class="gmail_sendername"><a href="mailto:fiona@balmoralhs.vic.edu.au">fiona@balmoralhs.vic.edu.au</a></b> <<a href="mailto:fiona@balmoralhs.vic.edu.au">fiona@balmoralhs.vic.edu.au</a>> wrote:<div><span class="gmail_quote">
</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">When
I broached the subject with my principal last year we discussed the
idea of teachers in other subjects teaching I.T. My response
to that was totally honest - they dont have the skills
required. Some do, but not many. I think if my
principal wanted it taught through other departments my first solution
would be to carry out a skills survey of the staff to see how many can
actually use the software effectively. In particular I would
question them about using software other than microsoft word.</blockquote><div><br>
I hope your principal took notice of your honesty, Fiona<br>
<br>
It was pointed out on the SA list a few years ago, by Tim Knight, that
students enter secondary school (year 8 in SA) without knowing even
Word properly. The list of Word skills they often don't know would
include:<br>
<br>
show / hide feature<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
search and replace</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
copy, cut and paste shortcuts</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
Page setup</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
section breaks, page breaks, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">setup columns in one part of
the document</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
altering tabs, tab leaders</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
font awareness</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
alignment, justification,
line spacing</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
view multiple documents, eg.
use Alt + tab to move between them</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
insert table, modify columns,
rows, cells, borders</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
insert graphics then wrap
text </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
import spreadsheets and
chart</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">s<br>
headers / footers</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
special symbols<span style=""> using Windings, Webdings fonts</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Wingdings;"><span style=""></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Wingdings;"></span>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Wingdings 2";"><span style=""></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Wingdings 2";"><span style=""><span style=""></span></span><span style="">
<span style=""></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Wingdings 3";"><span style=""></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Wingdings 3";"></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Wingdings 3";"></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
Draw tools</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
inverse text</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br>
ordered and unordered lists</span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Common errors</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">accept first word suggested
by spellchecker<br>
can't proof read for errors
that spell checker misses<br>
can't use ruler for indenting
paragraphs<br>
use space bar instead of tabs<br>
press enter rather than let
text wrap or use column breaks<br>
don't user page breaks, just
press enter</span></p>
<br>
The policy in my school (and many others) has been to integrate IT into
the curriculum. It hasn't worked. Why on earth would it work? Would it
work if an English specialist took year 8 Science. Usually not. <br>
<br>
IT is universal, all teachers should learn it. It's not going to
happen, due to limited access, limited training, a very fast moving
learning domain, and a large group of teachers hanging in there until
retirement day rolls around. As Thomas Kuhn put it:<br>
"the paradigm shift takes 25 years because the older generation has to die out"<br>
(change that to 35 years because the older generation is now living longer)<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Rob Attrill <<a href="mailto:attrill.robert.j@edumail.vic.gov.au">attrill.robert.j@edumail.vic.gov.au
</a>> on Tue, 07 Jun 2005 10:06:28 +1000 wrote:<br>> I know this has been raked over regularly, but if you have the time I<br>> would appreciate if you could let me know if you have any personal<br>> experience or strong opinions on the matter. I have some specific
<br>> aspects to consider, one of which is the impact on and experience of the<br>> model on senior IT classes.<br></blockquote>
<br>
Many students on entering year 11 Personal Information Programming in
our school still centre headings by pressing space bar and never use
the show/hide key in Word<br>
<br>
Word deficiences is just the start of it. There is a litancy. Do most
students know what a bit, a byte, a KB, a MB or a GB are? Do they know
View > Details and click on Size to sort from smallest to largest?
In most cases, no, and its time already to put TB in the curriculum
because a single fibre will soon be able to carry a terabit per second.<br>
<br>
The other issue that I'd mention is that IT is moving very fast, due to
Moores Law. It's difficult for IT specialist teachers to keep up with
all the new things that are happening, many of them very important, not
fads, although we can always argue about that :-)<br>
<br>
Which subject in the curriculum is changing most rapidly - english,
history, SOSE, IT etc. It's a no brainer, IT is transforming the world
rapidly - we have the privilege of teaching the most rapidly changing
and interesting subject in the world today and what is the policy
direction - to hand it over to teachers who don't know much about it<br>
<br>
It's a scandal, yes, Rob, I have strong opinions about this<br>
-- <br>
Bill Kerr<br>
<a href="http://billkerr.blogspot.com/">http://billkerr.blogspot.com/</a><br>
<a href="http://intranet.woodvillehs.sa.edu.au/kerrbi/index.htm">http://intranet.woodvillehs.sa.edu.au/kerrbi/index.htm</a><br>
<br>
</div></div>