your own whitepaper

[russdev]

ok question from survey was doing..... what would you do....

 

If you could write your own education whitepaper what woukd be in it...

 

Russ

[beeswax]

can we assume that the white paper would be something like"IT and education; The way forward"?

beeswax

[russdev]

yes you get it just what would you have in your own whitepaper on it in education

 

russ

[StewartKnight]

From what I see of lessons, there is too much concentration on using Office products, and software based. Need to include more on hardware, networks and internet safety (See my new article on viruses!)

 

Also, an introduction to programming would help. I think things need to be "fleshed" out more. The reasons that the kids spend so much time playing on the internet, is that the are given a project that an adult could do in an hour, and then spend months doing it. They get bored, IT lessons should be faster paste, with more diverse content!

[GrumbleDook]

@Stewart : Part of what you are talking about comes up in regular blue skies sessions ... not for ICT, but for personalised learning.

 

The whole idea is that lessons and resources should be created so that a student can pick up any module and complete with minimal interaction from the teacher ... the teacher becomes a mentor or facilitator. In very good examples of this the module is broken down to be accessed in many different ways, and the student can choose what route they take. Some may go down an online route, some a paper based route ... some may go down a mixture ... the role of the mentor / facilitator is to help steer them down the appropriate route.

 

There have been several articles on this throught the Becta Research Network ... URLs to follow.

[beeswax]

let's get the ball rolling.

[GrumbleDook]

Do you mind if this gets put in as a major Wiki entry? We can then routinely point to changes in the wiki.

[beeswax]

be my guest

 

beeswax

[MkII]

From what I see of lessons, there is too much concentration on using Office products, and software based. Need to include more on hardware, networks and internet safety (See my new article on viruses!)

 

Also, an introduction to programming would help. I think things need to be "fleshed" out more. The reasons that the kids spend so much time playing on the internet, is that the are given a project that an adult could do in an hour, and then spend months doing it. They get bored, IT lessons should be faster paste, with more diverse content!

 

I think it matters how a course is delivered. I've seen the same thing done different ways - those long courses can be exciting. It's also good for kids to work to long term plans to prepare them for work etc. situations.

 

just thought I'd butt in!

[petectid]

Education bodies that legislate for these issues are aware of the points you raise Beeswax, have you read the Ofsted report on ICT provision, published in 2004

“ICT in schools

The impact of government initiatives five years on”

 

Page 17 section 41 states the situation in Primary schools very well.

And

We can probably all agree on the money that was wasted for teacher training in ICT through the New Opportunities Fund. I’m sure most IT support worker in schools could have delivered training better than a large proportion of the companies which won contracts to deliver this.

 

Discuss.

[beeswax]

I left school governance 3 years ago, so ofsted reports tend not to hit my in tray these days, but I'll see if I can locate it in my present school. I'm a techie, not a teacher by the way.

beeswax

[petectid]

Here it is Beeswax

ict_report.pdf

[beeswax]

thanks a lot for that. it'll make for some bedtime reading soon no doubt, though how I'm going to get the computer and monitor up there...

 

beeswax

[beeswax]

@petectid -

right, it's taken some time but I've managed to get round to reading it through once (it'll take a couple more times for it to fully sink in, but that's the way I'm made).

I don't want to get into detail here, but I asked myself this,

"Though my preliminary conclusions were extrapolated from my experiences in a few schools, they fit the general mould of the conclusions drawn in the Ofsted report, so what has changed?"

Because my short piece echos the HMI review shouldn't make it any less relevant (I don't think you were implying this, by the way). In some respects, there is nothing new to say since the report was published in May 2004, because it seems to me that very little has changed, and that's a reason we shouldn't stop saying it.

Edugeek is no longer a disparate group of a few like minded individuals, it's now a crucible for ideas, as well as the usual geeky stuff. I'm not talking crusades here, I don't want to get into that again, but we can be an influence on decision makers, even if only at a local level. My own head of IT takes any comments made in these posts that I draw her attention to, seriously and with due consideration. It's no longer just me saying, "Hang on, we can't go down that route just yet. It needs to be investigated before you part with any money." I can generally back this up with a few print-outs from Edugeek. Can I add here that the general moderate tone of the (well informed) comments helps. She hasn't visited FFS that I know! Perhaps we can password protect that section?

I'm not alone, and that makes me feel a whole lot better as I turn up for work each day. And where else do I get to let off steam like this on a Friday night?

 

beeswax