ICT, don't forget the 'C'

All to often we get excited about the 'I' and the 'T' when talking about ICT in education. This is understandable as it is easier to grasp a concept if it is embodied in an actual solid object, a laptop, iPhone or a digital camera. However,we are textual beings. We are surrounded text, texts in various forms which we absorb by osmosis and eventually we have a head full of semiotic static. Is it time to step back, pause, think then act?

Web 2.0 and learning

A good presentation from BECTA in the UK, I really like how all the students are learning together and using IT as a tool to create and reflect on their learning. An interesting point is made that space must be made to give credit for this type of learning. What is needed is at the teacher training stage to demonstrate to teachers what can be done to enrich and engage students in their subject areas using ICT.

School Lap Top Program

Tomorrow I will be working with our Dean of Studies and IT support team to begin our laptop roll out to our year 8 students. It has been about a year in the planning and we are ready to go. I have had our Moodle LMS up and running for nearly a year now and teachers are beginning to get on board and the students are logging in more and more. Moodle coupled with our Click View video streaming solution, which I also manage, are a good combination to begin the schools journey into ICT integration and 21st century learning. I am sure it will not all go as planned but if we waited until all possible issues were ironed out we would never get started, so it is G O for tomorrow.

However, the government has not paid for these laptops it is the parents. It is a common mistake to think that the RUD government will pay for laptops in schools, the funding we received was to be strickly used for desktop computers. The desktops we purchased with the government grant have been welcomed by our students, parents and teachers.

Excuses for not using IT just got harder

Currently my wife is working with senior citizens in a retirement village. One of the residents is 101 years old and most of the other younger participants are early 80’s. What is interesting from an IT point of view is the 101 year old writes poetry and song lyrics and emails them to my wife as part of her study. My father and mother in-law both over 60 regularly use Skype to chat to their grandchildren and keep up to date with family events via Facebook. No one mentioned is in the IT industry or would consider themselves an IT expert. Therefore the excuses that are sometimes, though less so recently, from teachers that this IT Internet thing is all too hard and I am too old to change really lose their meaning.

IT training for teachers now needs to focus on how to collect, re-invent and present information gathered from the digital domain.

ICT Integration

Good example of use of ICTs to support learning. Notice that the students appear to be enjoying learning. However, the focus needs to be on how ICTs support learning rather than IT for IT sake.