Comments on: What is ICT anyway?

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:25:35 +0000

Is this just another part of our problem in education with change. It takes too long and there are too many disincentives for real change. I hope that through NCEA we can see ICT used in meaningful ways and adapt curriculum to best benefit the learning of students.

By: robs

robs — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:36:44 +0000

Years ago when I started teaching, log tables and slide rules were the order of the day. As a physics teacher, the advent of computers introduced a new tool to show physics principles. Pulling them apart was far more interesting than using them. The early ones were so unreliable that trying to do any thing serious was a joke. Move on 20 years (early 1990s)and computers were a little more reliable. Computer studies became a sixth form certificate (SFC) subject. At this point I decided a stint as a computer teacher would be a nice change. I taught programming (even machine coding, but mainly PASCAL), basics of gates to show addition of binary numbers, construction of RAM (all 64K of it), use of assembler and disassemblers and so on. And yes we did a little bit of word processing (WordPerfect) and spreadsheet work (Lotus 1-2-3).
The introduction of Unit Standards started the rot. I couldn’t believe the pathetic standard of these units. I hung on hoping that NCEA would would introduce some meaty Achievement Standards. Fat chance. They were so wordy, undecipherable, and unworkable. I soon escaped back to physics teaching.
No wonder students who take these standards get blown out of the water when they try Computer Science at Uni.
Computer Science should be treated as a academic subject, get its own standards and not set then at a level that a sound year 9 student could complete. If something is not done, you might as well close down all Computer Science departments and rely on importing all our computer personel. Is this what the country wants? If sometning is not done, it is what the country will get.

By: Arron

Arron — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:45:38 +0000

Computer class is a rork. I recall wasting countless hours doing meaningless crap I don’t use in everyday life! The best class I went to in computers was typing (and I was supposed to take that in Y9, and took it in Y10 instead (at Y10 level). I learn to touch type in about 3 months, and did SFA for the rest of the year.

Computers should be used in education like are in the ‘real world’, where you use them for a task, then leave it. Design apps for design/art/graphics, CAD apps for technical drawing, and tech design, Word/Keynote etc for English, Excel/MYOB for Maths or Economics etc. A good programming class would be worth while, but you’d probably be hard pushed to find a teacher who could get the students to a good level (in any language), as the really good programmers were either self taught, or earn more than a good teachers salary (just a fact of life).

Locked down computers are probably just a way of life at this stage too, mostly because people do stuff around with things, poke stuff in holes they should do (read that as you will), and generally like to bugger things up for themselves.

I don’t agree with your comments about restricted Internet, as it’s not looking at the full picture.

1. Schools have an obligation to stop at least some of the Internet nasties (mostly because kids don’t quite has the ability to work out the stuff they could otherwise do at home)
2. There are a few applications (either web based or not), which don’t comply with general Internet standards, the main one being authenticating to a proxy. It’s really easy to do (I know, I’ve written TCP applications to get through HTTP proxies, by playing by the rules, it’s 2 line job (give or take)). Once they are authenticated (because that’s really all the problem is), they’re good to go just like every other website. A proxy has many purposes, and it’s not primarily for blocking stuff (it’s for making stuff faster, and logging generally).

The main offenders are:

1. Flash Player
2. iTunes
3. iPhone/iPod Applications
4. Java (it’s a real PITA sometimes, requiring resetting all the time!)

3. Management or your technician. Having a good technician, and management team really help bring more to the classroom. If both are working together, you’ll be fine. (Keeping in mind, your average techie likes to lock themselves away, they like to be feed treats from time to time).

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:38:54 +0000

Over the past 4 years I have slowly moved from teaching Unit Standards to Achievement Standards in ICT. I now have two streams running. One is completely Achievement Standards Levels 1-3, the other is Information management at Level 1, and National Certificate Computing at Levels 2 and 3.
Now that I have fully implmented this, I am more conviced than ever that the Technology Achievement Standards DO NOT FIT ICT. But then again, neither do the unit standards if you want to teach “Computer Science”.
I have put thought into possibilities, and have related it back to Maths. In maths, you learn a group of skills/concepts (topic) and then are assessed in a test/exam with the questions written in context. Basic maths is done earlier, and you are learning how to apply it at a higher level. What if a similar approach was made to a subject called Computer Science? Students have already learned basic computing skills in years 1-10, and then learn to apply it in years 11-13. For instance, programming could be learned and assessed in chunks. At Level 1, the assessment would be based around the mechanics of programming. At Level 3, it might be based around understanding sorting concepts and programming a sorting algorithm.
Note that in maths, we do not expect students to find a problem to solve, design a way to solve it, solve it, and evaluate it. It would be far to much cognitively. Yet this is exactly what they are expected to do in ICT (and any Technology Achievement Standard course).

Where does this model leave ICT as a subject? Gone. Basic skills (Text editing, Internet, email) are learned in all other areas, and high level computer skills are learned in Computer Science.

By: AllanahK

AllanahK — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:28:29 +0000

[riffly_audio]27CBFDE69E6E11DD9797C13C8271DB70[/riffly_audio]

By: Mel Gibb

Mel Gibb — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:30:09 +0000

Interesting… Graham Young (ex principal of Tauranga Boys’ college) describe the job of our HOD ICT to decommission the junior component of the department. Yr 9 and 10 ICT was to cease. I was asked this year what my thoughts were. I agree there is no need for our junior students to have a 10 week stint to learn how to use basic software as we can accomplish this in our core subjects. The problem is many teachers are scared to integrate the ICT into their lessons… worried they don’t know all the answers, some not able to use the applications at all themselves. Until the core subject teachers are equipped and prepared to integrate ICT into their lessons I can see Yr 9 ICT classes remaining. One thing I’d like to point out to teachers who do not integrate ICT into their lessons… you do not need to know all the in’s and out’s of the software. Students will soon show you how things are done – and they enjoy teaching you! (spooky, students being the teacher).