[Year 12 IT Apps] Task 3 I'm still confused

[Charmaine Taylor]

Hi Russell,
"Does it belong in the IT curriculum?" It belongs in every curriculum. 
As usual IT is leading the way in curriculum development in this state 
and we IT teachers are the pioneers "bravely going where no-one has gone 
before" .  You even say you make notes to 'sift and sort' your thoughts. 
This is visualising thinking - putting it on paper or on screen so you 
can see what you are thinking. It is often difficult to put ideas into 
words and explain relationships succinctly and this is where the graphic 
organisers can come in handy. But they are not the only forms of VT. 
David Jonassen, one of the gurus, calls them Mindtools (borrowed it from 
Papert?) and he identifies several categories including: databases, 
spreadsheets, concept maps, computer conferencing, hypermedia, 
microworlds, etc ie any tool that can
 "engage learners in constructive, higher-order, critical thinking about 
the subjects they are studying".

Charmaine Taylor
Sunbury Downs College

Russell Edwards wrote:

>
> On 02/08/2007, at 9:49 PM, Charmaine Taylor wrote:
>
>>  The idea students should understand is that by keeping a visual  
>> record of your thinking strategies you can better reflect on how  you 
>> came up with an idea, why you accepted or rejected it and can  make a 
>> judgement about the value of that strategy. Why? Because  humans 
>> forget and if its recorded on paper or electronically we can  
>> retrieve it.
>
>
> I can agree with this, and you and Paula are certainly correct that  
> reflection is an extremely important trait. I can see that using some  
> of these ICT VT tools could certainly help stimulate reflection in  
> unreflective students. However, I just don't see that many people  
> would use them on an ongoing basis. Once reflection is initiated, do  
> the tools remain (*essentially*) useful (for *everyone*)? It is hard  
> to say since the only mind I truly know is my own. I think I am  
> highly reflective, yet I mainly do this exclusively mentally. If I do  
> set something down, it will be in the form of textual notes, mainly  
> to compensate for a poor memory but also sometimes to sift and sort  
> my thoughts. Should students like me flunk because they don't think  
> in fishbones?
>
> Yes, reflection is a skill to be highly valued, but (a) does it  
> belong specifically in an IT curriculum? (b) yes, VT tools may be  
> useful for stimulating reflection, but should they be expected to be  
> used (by *all* students) once reflective habits are initiated?, and  
> (c, related) should a particular framework for reflection  
> (specifically visual, specifically using software tools) be mandated  
> for _assessment_ purposes?
>
> I would answer (a) no, it belongs in VELS ICT interdisciplinary  
> strands and could also be woven in a minor, nonprescriptive way into  
> every VCE subject, (b) unless I am completely unique (doubtful!!),  
> no! (c) no! assess the skill, not the conformity of learning/thinking  
> style.  Ultimately, to be useful, reflection should be distilled down  
> in to a logical set of statements that could be expressed in English  
> prose. IMO this should be the assessable form. Whether VT tools are  
> used to arrive at that point or not should be up to the student.
>
> JMO
> Russell
> Whittlesea SC
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