What is ICT?

Tafarre Date - N/A

Information Communication Technology (ICT) is a constantly developing subject within society and the National Curriculum (NC). Areas within ICT are vital to our everyday lives, and sometimes we forget that we live in an Information age. By understanding and been able to use the tools that ICT provides, we are better able to solve problems and work more efficiently. ICT more specifically inside the classroom has developed immensely. Technology has become apart of our culture therefore it is very important that we are educated in how to use it, not only for the classroom but also for the workplace. I am going to investigate into some of the philosophical, educational and practical needs of learning ICT. I will include some of my own experiences of ICT in education, and how it has developed and evolved, and I will include my passions for the subject. Studies have shown that ICT is a popular subject among students, so I am going to investigate into some of the reasons why it is a popular choice of subject. After conducting some research and exploring my experiences with ICT I will be more able to understand some of the reasons why it is important teach ICT.

Changes within ICT have been rapid, and in the beginning "development of Logo and programming environment" and "Computer assisted learning (CAL)" (Willard. J, 2007, p. 26), took the scene in the 1960's and 70's. These qualifications were primitive to today's standards and focused on the commercial application of programs. During this stage there was little teaching about computers and more teaching through computers, due to the lack of resources and expertise. The 1990's saw the incorporation of internet, e-mail and communication thus the subject area begun to develop and grow. "Virtual learning environments & managed learning environments" (Willard. J, 2007, p. 26) have enabled the teaching of ICT to develop into a desirable and vital subject. More recently we have seen the developments in not only delivering ICT within its own subject area, but also cross curricular elements; demonstrating the effectiveness of ICT across different subject areas.

When I attended primary school ICT was very rare. The school had one machine per classroom and this machine had very limited programs and functions. At Key Stage two there was very little emphasis on ICT, and very little curriculum time was assigned to it. Although there was very high interest levels into ICT, during this period teaching ICT would have been extremely difficult with the lack of expertises and recourses at primary school level. With the lack of resources and development of the subject area it was just not feasible to allocate time to the subject.

When I left primary school I attended Harris City Technology College. This was where I was introduced to a networked environment. I had the opportunity to have a username and password for my specific area where I could save work with a limit amount of space and resources. During my first year the network was very unreliable and was constantly going down. Although the network was very unreliable it provided the school with the technology to start to incorporate Information Technology across new subject areas. Information technology at Key Stage 3 was much more organised, the school provided dedicated lessons to ICT with a qualified teacher to help and support us with our work. We used a combination of Microsoft packages to complete simple tasks. Towards the end of Key Stage 3 the computers and network technology had vastly improved. New network frameworks had been implemented and faster computers became available with the use of Windows NT improving the overall network performance. Microsoft office became a very popular software package and provided very powerful software tools that could be used to complete a number of tasks. At the start of my GCSE's I started to see the importance of ICT, and the role it could play in other subject areas.

The affect of ICT on all subject areas affected the curriculum, society and also interest levels of the vast majority of students. As ICT became a vital part of society the way it is taught has also changed due to the advances in technology and resources. ICT has now become a part of our culture and since I first begun to learn ICT it has changed dramatically. ICT can be learnt both practically and theoretically, during my degree it was compulsory that ICT skills where demonstrated not only theoretically through exams and written assignments, but also through coursework's and practical assessments. Although acquiring a qualification in ICT is still weighted towards theoretical work I feel that in the future this will change. This has already become evident in Edexcels DIDA (http://dida.edexcel.org.uk/home/ - 28/10/07) qualifications that are all coursework and assignment based.

Because ICT is a part of our society it is important that we understand fundamentally how ICT can be used to solve problems. The practical nature of the subject emphasis's the relevance, and this makes the subject very appealing to students. ICT plays a critical role within all companies; the majority of employers will expect ICT skills along with literacy and numeracy. With the increased interest by employers into the area of ICT it has become important for the majority of students to insure that they at least have a basic understanding how to use basic ICT packages.

I am passionate about ICT because reaching any particular goal is down to the author or team of people working on a project. That creative freedom and flexibility of the subject drives me to learn and develop new skills and workflows. Through learning new ideas, principles and techniques I seek to develop and replace old methods with new ones. I have discovered that through ICT and hard work anything is possible. I am passionate about teaching ICT because it really is the future.

When I have the opportunity to teach ICT within a classroom one of the areas I would like to teach is website development and web design. Web development can be a steep learning curve but incorporates many different techniques that are fundamentally important to ICT and presenting information. Students will have the opportunity to learn about elements of design and thinking about a target audience. Moving to the implementation phase or practically building the site. Finally using the design or user requirements as a specification to evaluate and test the work they have done. These skills not only apply to web design but apply generally to presenting information. The Nation Curriculum (NC) does currently provide work on web development and specifically on the Edexcel's Digital diploma course (DIDA) incorporates a lot of web development on Dreamweaver. Unit three is a graphics course on the Dida Syllabus it incorporates graphical design and web development in the form of an e-portfolio. This module incorporates a lot of the areas I would love to teach but I would insist that all web development code was written instead of using Dreamweaver.

In order to practically teach ICT a range of resources and learning activities can be incorporated into lessons. Firstly essential to the course are computers, the computers provide the interface for students to research and complete work. Computers are not fundamental to ICT, but provide the platform where students can practice and complete tasks practically. Electronic and interactive white boards are also a very common resources used within ICT. They are used to present information to student quickly and efficiently. The white board allows the teacher to dynamic create content for the class and incorporated different areas seamlessly. For example a teacher could use the whiteboard to display a DVD then a PowerPoint presentation followed by a live demonstration of a website. This provides teachers with a very flexible environment to teach student. This is a very positive aspect of becoming an ICT teacher.

Anther essential resource in ICT is computer software. These software packages sometimes require and subscription or site licence, and these can be very expensive to some institutions therefore funding by the government has increased and is valued at around �330 million for E-leaning credits (Elc's) ( http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/AboutELCs/WhatareeLCs.htm - 07/10/2007). This money is given to local authorities that distribute it amongst their schools. Schools have the opportunity to use this money to buy resources for ICT. The funding is aimed at providing schools with the money needed to buy essential tools for learning. Schools now have the opportunity to invest into a wide range of different software and incorporate them into lessons. This has two positive effects; firstly these e-learning aids help students to achieve there full potential. They also take very different approaches to learning, through games and different activities.

Within ICT it is important that particular learning activities are incorporated into lessons to insure that students are reaching their full potential. Question and answer sessions along with discussion can be good feedback to the teacher whether the students are meeting their learning objectives. Thought showers are a very good procession for explore problem situations and getting down ideas. Software has now been created to create thought showers. Presentations/ presenting work to class are important activities and skills. It gives children a chance to not only present their work but presenting in front of others. Evaluation and feedback sessions are important so students can begin to learn the techniques needed to analysis their work and others. Then once they have analysis and received feedback they can improve there work to suit new demands.

In conclusion ICT is a constantly developing subject, with new concepts and frameworks being developed all the time. Because ICT is now engrained into our culture it is important that students have the opportunity to learn these transferable skills as they will benefit from them in the workplace and life. ICT is a great subject to teach as more and more funding is being made available. The flexibility in which a syllabus can be presented is immense; student's levels of interest should be harnessed and the combination of a good use of resources and teaching would yield a society of ICT thinkers that can use technology to their advantage, and seek to solve problem areas fast and effectively.

References

Websites Used -

http://dida.edexcel.org.uk/home/ - Researched into courses currently available at key stage 4.

http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/AboutELCs/WhatareeLCs.htm - Research into funding that is provided by the government.

http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/WhyUseICTs/WhyteachwithICT.htm - The NC views on why teach ICT.

Books -

Willard. J, Learning and Teaching Using ICT in Secondary Schools. Great Britain: Learning Matters (2007)