[Year 12 SofDev] A research question...

[Kent Beveridge]

I think the seed for our current plight was planted when the VCAA determined that ICT be classified as an ' inter-disciplinary ' subject. Since then, schools have rationalised and shifted the focus away from 'learning' IT, to 'using' it.
I guess it's a matter of school location, school policies, funding available, attitudes toward ICT, perceived skill level of users and non-users etc all to be considered. Of course we also have the 'popular' vs 'non-popular' subject choices of students too.
It's a big discussion topic this one!
Kent Beveridge
Teacher

On 28 May 2015, at 9:30 am, Wraight, Timothy J <wraight.timothy.j at edumail.vic.gov.au<mailto:wraight.timothy.j at edumail.vic.gov.au>> wrote:

I have some strong thoughts on this as well. I think there has been a serious misunderstanding of the difference between ‘using’ ITC and ‘learning’ ITC.  ITC is now been used very effectively in many areas of education as a learning tool and I think many people think that this means students are ‘learning’ ITC.  But it needs to be remembered that it is just a tool in these situations, used to help impart knowledge and skills of what ever the subject matter is, but you are not learning about it.

ITC is now been used in the same way in the classroom that you would use pens, paper, whiteboards etc. While using these things in an everyday setting a student isn't learning about how the book is made, where the paper came from, and the processes involve in producing it.  Yet in our curriculum we have areas in which students learn about these things, they learn about natural resources in science and humanities, they learn how to work with materials such as paper and produce things in art and technology subjects.  I believe it is exactly the same with ITC, there is nothing wrong with it being increasingly used as a tool throughout the curriculum but it still needs to be studied seperately, so that students can gain understanding of how it works, what makes it up and where it comes from.  Not only that, studying ITC seperately means that they will be able to use it more effectively when they use it in other subjects.  One of the biggest problems I see these days is students (and teachers!) know how to use ITC really well as long as it works as intended.  As soon as something goes wrong they are lost, because they have no deeper understanding of it to be able to troubleshoot!

We need to remember that using ITC is not the same as learning ITC!

Tim Wraight
VCE Information Technology and Mathematics Teacher
Williamstown High School
Pasco Campus
9397 1899
wraight.timothy.j at edumail.vic.gov.au<mailto:wraight.timothy.j at edumail.vic.gov.au>



On 28 May 2015, at 8:33 am, Kent Beveridge <kbeveridge at stbc.vic.edu.au<mailto:kbeveridge at stbc.vic.edu.au>> wrote:

My thoughts are simple, with the rise and rise of the iPad and similar technologies, the perceived 'need' for mainstream IT subjects has been undermined and watered down to non importance. Many staff, new young graduates included, give my observations that they feel they 'know it all' and hence don't see the importance of a standalone subject.
Attitudes like this have even turned off a recent former student who had aspirations of IT teaching to now not wanting to go there...
Makes me wonder.

Kent Beveridge
Teacher

On 27 May 2015, at 11:15 pm, Tracey Hubert <traceyhubert at gmail.com<mailto:traceyhubert at gmail.com>> wrote:

Hello,

I am a pre-service IT teacher and long-time lurker. I am working on an assessment investigating issues and debates around the implementation of the (proposed) Digital Technologies curriculum and the implications for schools and teachers. In the Donnely and Whiltsire review, they propose that IT remain a general capability and the standalone subject be scrapped or made optional. One of the arguments is there are not enough suitably qualified teachers and that it can be taught across the disciplines. They obviously miss the point that ITC != computational thinking.

I am curious to hear what practicing IT teachers think about this assertion. I went to a school tour on Friday and was surprised to learn they didn't offer IT as a subject at all, not even in VCE. No electives in Year 9. Nothing. I had a look at the overall statistics for VCE IT apps and VCE Software Development and saw enrolments are significantly down from their 2000–2001 peak. During the online PD for the new VCE subjects, Paula Christophersen mentioned they have increased this year by 10%, but it still seems quite low given the ubiquity of tech and the push for STEM subjects in general.

I was wondering if anyone has any insight as to why they think the numbers have dropped in they way they have. It can't only be explained by the scaling down, can it?

TIA
Tracey



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