It's been quite the week. With a new baby at home, I cannot even describe how it changes your life. The idea that sleep deprivation was a form of torture never really made sense to me ... I mean, come on, back in the day ... I stayed up late cramming for exams, went out partying and functioned great on hardly any sleep! For all you non-parents out there ... think again! It's tough!
 |
| My newborn son, Marcus, has already taken to reading! |
Anyway, I had some spare time this week (I hurt my back and have been laying in bed most of the week) to spend reading over the Victorian Essential Learning Standards for ICT. There is heaps of information and some terrific suggestions. In fact, I was so inspired I created a Wiki for my VCE Unit 1 Biology class. Check it out if you are interested: http://mhs-yr10-science.wikispaces.com/. If you want to join up and have a look at what I've done, the process is pretty simple.
As someone who has spent so many years in IT, it's interesting to see how VELS have split ICT concepts and skills into three areas:
- ICT for Visualising Thinking,
- ICT for Creating, and
- ICT for Communicating.
Learning about how to include technology in the education of the youth is actually harder than I thought. At my previous placement school, laptops where compulsory. Initially, I thought that this was a little over the top and may cause more trouble than it's worth. But, at my current placement, there is no policy on ICT use. This means that I must constantly plan for using digital mediums; the library becomes your friend.
 |
| Not all distractions are computers. |
Take for example the Wiki I just set-up. If the students have access to the net during class time, they can upload content immediately. However, with access the students are expected to make the time (and have the necessary equipment) to complete said tasks outside of class. And, without adequate supervision, or a firm understanding of net-safety, students may easily get distracted from their work.
Great point about 'supervision'. Getting students to do their work in class is enough of a battle (e.g. email, rebelling against Google), let alone at home where they would rather be on facebook or playing computer games (and have the freedom to do so!). I was also placed at a school this year that had only library computers, and two class laptop sets that were booked out 99.9% of the time and it was really hard to plan some of my lessons around that! Makes you wonder how teachers taught "in the olden days" :)
ReplyDelete