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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=222253902-31102007><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>In my youth, my grandmother and her sister had a 'secret
code'. When one was visiting the other, and then returning home, to let
the other know that they had returned safely, one would make a phone call and
let it ring twice (without answering). And then do the same again.
The rationale was to save on telephone bills! When it comes to using
the phone (or the mobile, or skype or whatever) there is no longer so much of a
social or economic imperative to minimise use. If we need to call
someone, we ring them. If I need to e-mail someone, I do so. In
1989, when I first used e-mail as part of a learning activity, it was rare and
exotic and a 'special treat'.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=222253902-31102007><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=222253902-31102007><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>BUT when was the last time I asked students to use a
telephone as part of their learning? Or their mobile? Or their
playstation? Or (name the technology). I feel that we should be
conducting education in the full knowledge that all kinds of technologies are
part of the world which our students inhabit, but that does not mean that they
need to be part of the learning activities. Since 1989, most of my
students have known that I "do" e-mail, use ICQ, write programs, etc, etc, but
that does not mean that we have to use those technologies in any/all of our
classes. By anology, there are a whole bunch of really interesting
activities for teaching "computing" on <A
href="http://csunplugged.com/">http://csunplugged.com/</A> - but you don't
need a computer to do them!</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=222253902-31102007><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=222253902-31102007><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>The other side of it is to say that we should be seeking to
expand our repertoire; to ask ourselves questions like "how can we use mobile
phones as part of our teaching" (ie put on your de Bono 'green hat'). As
the world of technology expands, we need to seek to expand the repertoire, but
we shouldn't think of ourselves as failing our students if we give some
thoughtful consideration, but decide not to go down a particular
path.</FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au
[mailto:yr7-10it-bounces@edulists.com.au] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Bill
Kerr<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 31, 2007 1:17 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Year 7 -
10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re:
[Yr7-10it] new learning<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>In my youth I had books and radio. People read books partly because
there wasn't much else to do<BR><BR>With TV, mobiles, ipods etc. the culture has
changed and many students expect to be entertained at school - isn't that the
purpose of life? Teachers cultivate sense of humour and the quick quip, it goes
with the territory <BR><BR>Media celebrities such as Ronald Reagan, Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Peter Garrett end up telling us how we should be running our
lives. For some reason Arnie doesn't seem the same to me when fighting the
bushfires, cf. his earlier exploits. <BR><BR>In his book "<I>Amusing ourselves
to Death</I>" Neil Postman critically analyses a TV show that was developed as
part of "integrating TV into the curriculum" - <I>The Voyage of the Mimi</I>,
which featured a crusty sea captain, humpback whales, navigational and map
reading skills. Sounds educational - but chosen mainly because it was eminently
televisable <BR><BR>ICT is not really the same as TV although there can be and
is a TV-like ICT culture, web surfing mainly for entertainment - much of the
blogosphere is like this IMO<BR><BR>It seems valid to use ICT to engage students
provided the educators know what they are doing and can justify it in terms of
articulated educational goals - but what are those goals, how should ICT
transform the curriculum?, are we planning to do later versions of <I>The Voyage
of the Mimi?<BR><BR></I>I like this quote from alan kay:<BR>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 40px">"Computing spread out much, much faster than
educating unsophisticated people can happen. In the last 25 years or so, we
actually got something like a pop culture, similar to what happened when
television came on the scene and some of its inventors thought it would be a way
of getting Shakespeare to the masses. But they forgot that you have to be more
sophisticated and have more perspective to understand Shakespeare. What
television was able to do was to capture people as they were. So I think the
lack of a real computer science today, and the lack of real software engineering
today, is partly due to this pop culture."<BR></DIV><BR>-- <BR>Bill Kerr<BR><A
href="http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/">http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/</A><BR><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Oct 31, 2007 10:20 AM, Russell Edwards <<A
href="mailto:edwards.russell.t@edumail.vic.gov.au">
edwards.russell.t@edumail.vic.gov.au</A>> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">Jenna,<BR>
<DIV class=Ih2E3d><BR>> With this increase in technology within our world,
the traditional <BR>> approach in teaching and learning is no longer a
choice because of<BR>> this technological approach to
education.<BR>><BR><BR><BR></DIV> I tend to think that this is all
over-hyped. Mostly that just means<BR>that time and money is wasted, but when
this really bothers me is when<BR>technological developments are given as a
justification for displacing<BR>important parts of the curriculum. This is
usually the catch cry of<BR>those rebutting arguments that schools are moving
towards neglecting <BR>the basics.<BR><BR> When TV was invented, we
didn't insist that the "traditional<BR>approach in teaching and learning" be
abandoned and TV be integrated<BR>into every classroom. You could say the same
thing about telephones, <BR>walkmans, etc etc. Like the current new wave of
ICT, all these things<BR>quickly became pervasive and altered our society in
very major ways,<BR>yet we didn't hear people calling for a massive paradigm
shift in<BR>education. New technology gets incorporated but should
complement<BR>tried and true content and delivery. Having a calculator
doesn't<BR>negate the value of knowing your times-tables, and having access
to<BR>wikipedia doesn't mean you shouldn't know how our system of government
<BR>works.<BR><BR>cheers<BR><BR>Russell<BR>
<DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Wj3C7c><BR>On 30/10/2007, at 10:32 PM, Jenna Hubbard
wrote:<BR><BR>> Hi everyone,<BR>><BR>> What are your thoughts about
the application of the New Learning <BR>> paradigm to pedagogy in schools -
e.g students nowadays are<BR>> surrounded my technology, through myspace,
you tube, instant<BR>> messaging, second life. Because of this increase in
technology,<BR>> there has been a fundamental disconnect between the way
students <BR>> think, learn and communicate and the way in which schools
interact<BR>> with them.<BR>> With this increase in technology within
our world, the traditional<BR>> approach in teaching and learning is no
longer a choice because of <BR>> this technological approach to
education.<BR>><BR>> Thanks,<BR>>
Jenna<BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>> From: <A
href="mailto:htzelepis@msj.melb.catholic.edu.au">htzelepis@msj.melb.catholic.edu.au</A><BR>>
To: <A
href="mailto:yr7-10it@edulists.com.au">yr7-10it@edulists.com.au</A><BR>>
Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] issue for exam<BR>> Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:14:13
+1100<BR>><BR>> Thank-you so much.<BR>> :-)<BR>> ----- Original
Message -----<BR>> From: claire<BR>> To: Year 7 - 10 Information
Technology Teachers' Mailing List<BR>> Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 9:37
PM<BR>> Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] issue for exam <BR>><BR>> The Age
Technology section always has some interesting issues.<BR>> <A
href="http://www.theage.com.au/technology/index.html"
target=_blank>http://www.theage.com.au/technology/index.html</A><BR>>
Claire Bloom <BR>> Warrandyte High<BR>><BR>> Litsa Tzelepis
wrote:<BR>> hello,<BR>> does anyone know of a good website that looks at
current ICT issues<BR>> in society.<BR>> I am trying to locate an
interesting piece for my year 9 exam. <BR>> thank-you kindly.<BR>>
:)<BR>><BR>> -----<BR>> Litsa Tzelepis<BR>> Mount St. Joseph
Girls' College<BR>> Learning Team Leader of Technology<BR>> <A
href="mailto:htzelepis@msj.melb.catholic.edu.au">htzelepis@msj.melb.catholic.edu.au</A><BR>>
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