My ICT Teacher cannot mark my homework

[somabc]

My ICT teacher can’t mark my homework | Emma Mulqueeny

[SYNACK]

And another speaker of the truth screams into the wind of ignorance in the hope that it may make a difference.

[featured_spectre]

Synack, the trouble is most (not all) ICT teachers only know how to mark office or anything to that effect...what this person did is something that would have hit possibly an A / B at university level due to the complexity of it.

[witch]

For me, the scary thing is the fact that they were FAILED for something that was so good. Any teacher worth his salt would know his student well enough to be able to tell, on questioning, what the basics were and whether they have created it themselves. Edited November 15, 2011 by witch

[BKGarry]

It does shock me, personally i was bored out of my brain in ICT, even to the point that as a student (about 10 year ago) in year 11, i found a lil script in a public share that was a simple script that was the proxy settings, by swapping the 2 groups around i could make it go around the proxy and give me unfiltered internet. I got in so much trouble, but it was way better than analysing why they need a DTP prog to do this and a Db to do that

[mjs_mjs]

ahh - reminds me of school. at least it's starting to change...

[Dos_Box]

It's rather strange that if you went into a home economics (or whatever it is called these days) classroom you can guarantee the teacher would be able to use and instruct on every piece of equipment and tool in there. Similarly, if you went down to the technology department (it used to be called woodwork/metalwork way back when) all of the saws, awls routers and machinery are known intimately by the department teaching staff.

ICT however.....Switches? Wireless equipment? Servers of various descriptions and roles? Tape libraries? SANs? The actual insides of a PC? All essential tools of the IT trade, but (and I know there are quite a few exceptions to this rule) how many ICT teaching staff know anything about them beyond perhaps recognising the item?

Sorry, I had to get that down in writing before I forgot about it!

[featured_spectre]

Its a good point, the last three places I have worked the IT teachers could identify them and some knew what their purpose would be and 1 knew how they work (he made a living out of being a very very good IT consultant before becoming a teacher). But in the school down the road from me, the IT teacher could not tell the difference between a CD Drive / DVD Drive / BluRay Drive.

[MK-2]

It's rather strange that if you went into a home economics (or whatever it is called these days) classroom you can guarantee the teacher would be able to use and instruct on every piece of equipment and tool in there. Similarly, if you went down to the technology department (it used to be called woodwork/metalwork way back when) all of the saws, awls routers and machinery are known intimately by the department teaching staff.

ICT however.....Switches? Wireless equipment? Servers of various descriptions and roles? Tape libraries? SANs? The actual insides of a PC? All essential tools of the IT trade, but (and I know there are quite a few exceptions to this rule) how many ICT teaching staff know anything about them beyond perhaps recognising the item?

Sorry, I had to get that down in writing before I forgot about it!

 

granted, but at the same time if you asked an HE teacher how to do a certain mexican dish you tried 15 years ago in a tiny restaurant in Mexico, or asked a DT teacher how to work industrial machinery it could be the same thing. we work on the bigger picture of IT, with all the things you mentioned, in the same way an engineer would work on a big industrial project and not just with a band saw, or a top chef would do more than just make a pizza.

i'm not condoning what has been said, as i know our old IT teacher was just as bad, but it is a tad unfair to compare them to other subjects like that where they know the items in the confines of their classroom...

 

Perhaps like saying a DT teacher knows about soldering so should be able to make you a new motherboard (ok perhaps not on such an extreme scale)

[CyberNerd]

we've got a student that reminds me of that article, he's doing A levels now (yr11) and is top of those classes. In yr 7 he'd set up a proxy server in his bedroom so he and his mates could bypass our (rather rubbish at the time) proxy - he's been on our gifted/talented ever since. by yr 9 the head of ICT said he had trouble keeping up with him. I can see why, he'll completely whip my scripting skills. I'm trying to get him involved in the Google Code-in (registrations next week) Google Code-in - Google Code If he wants to.

 

We had another student about 5 yrs ago who was maintaining his own linux distribution in yr10 (I forget the name) He'd written his own database driven package management system so that multiple systems could be upgraded or packages installed from a web front-end, before redhat did it. He entered that for his GCSE (orA-level, I forget) and it passed easily*.

It's not all doom and gloom if the teachers (and us technicians) are able to channel students into appropriate (opensource) projects. There's enough of a community out there that will be able to guide these students. The case above does suck, but I think most decent ICT teachers will be able to make sure gifted students pass the course AND get the extra cv points from contributing to larger projects outside of the scope of the course, whether or not they understand the underlying code.

 

* edit: I do recall that he did have to do some extra work in documentation to get the A*

[MK-2]

as a slightly minor addition, for my music gcse, while others were just recording themselves playing piano etc, i used fast tracker to create a piece of music. it couldn't be accepted at first as there was no proof i had created it myself, so had to bring the program in, show the music teacher how it worked and how you create tracks on it etc before it was allowed.

[Michael]

It is of my opinion that newly qualified teachers should (at the very least) be encouraged to have some form of IT qualification, even if they never end up being an ICT Co-ordinator. ICT is very much cross-curricular these days and covers every subject.

 

To add to Dos_Box's comment, I think partly it's a generation problem. IT is still a relatively new tool in terms of teaching and it's all about how you use those tools to your advantage, or more to the point the pupils you're teaching.

 

I don't entirely agree that teachers need to have lots of technical knowledge, such as the differences between a Blu-ray and DVD drive. I'm sure teachers regularly use optical drives to play educational content. How it works and why it works are not important in the context of a teacher.

[featured_spectre]

No but in this respect the teacher brought in a BluRay disc and tried to play it on a DVD saying "They are all the same"...its like trying to get Betamax to play in VHS...it wont work! Fine they may look the same but knowing the difference (even if knowing that a bluray player will play bluray, dvd and cd, a dvd player will play dvd and cd, and a cd player will play cd) would be key and it is a fundamental of the PC/Laptop/Unit

[Michael]

You could argue though, (as with a lot of things in life), it's all about trial and error. That teacher now knows Blu-ray's will not work in a DVD drive. I can only conclude the teacher meant 'they're all the same size' which is technically true.

 

As to whether or not they researched and found out why it doesn't work is something else

[mthomas08]

It is of my opinion that newly qualified teachers should (at the very least) be encouraged to have some form of IT qualification, even if they never end up being an ICT Co-ordinator. ICT is very much cross-curricular these days and covers every subject.

 

To add to Dos_Box's comment, I think partly it's a generation problem. IT is still a relatively new tool in terms of teaching and it's all about how you use those tools to your advantage, or more to the point the pupils you're teaching.

 

 

I would agree, as NM I should have zero contact with ICT Teaching unless actual IT Support related - eg Something needs fixing.

 

There are times where I have had to give assistance in students "Required" Coursework because the teacher doesn't have any clue. Surely that means they are not qualified to do their own job? I have been so busy in the last 12 months that every time a question pops up I blow it out of the water. I wish I was being sarcastic on the busy part but I find my self turning up early and getting normal jobs out the way to do my own work before any one else is in...

 

There have even been times when we have had to do prep work for the ICT Staff because they didnt plan ahead on the course of what the students needed and waited till they got to that "unit" to decide what they needed. E.g BTEC Students needed to practice some exercises on a domain (like active directory). The staff member in question waited till they started the Unit to decide to ask for the above...

[Michael]

And I suppose having some knowledge of setting up a domain, anyone knows it's not a five minute job.

[garethEds]

My ICT teacher can’t mark my homework | Emma Mulqueeny

 

Emma is a regular contributor to the CAS mailing list and cause: Computing at School :: Computing For the Next Generation ...

 

So at everyone who has contributed their opinion here why not join up and voice your opinion in the group. Several people of note contribute including David Braben (Elite fame), and the creators of the Raspberry Pi. A lot of knowledge in the group and a seperate group for those interested in Artificial Intelligence.

 

So come on - get those opinions in the right place. A change is coming - trust me.

 

Gareth

[GrumbleDook]

I would agree, as NM I should have zero contact with ICT Teaching unless actual IT Support related - eg Something needs fixing.

 

Nothing to do with ICT Teaching? Nothing at all? How on earth do you know whether what you provide is adequate for their curriculum? Or do you meant that you have no more to do with them than you do for any other department?

[garethEds]

And another speaker of the truth screams into the wind of ignorance in the hope that it may make a difference.

 

Let's not be so cynical - changes are happening. People are listening.

 

David Cameron discussed the issues in a speech this week - he backed programming and reform: Prime Minister backs programming education reform | Game Development | News by Develop

 

Gareth

[garethEds]

It does shock me, personally i was bored out of my brain in ICT, even to the point that as a student (about 10 year ago) in year 11, i found a lil script in a public share that was a simple script that was the proxy settings, by swapping the 2 groups around i could make it go around the proxy and give me unfiltered internet. I got in so much trouble, but it was way better than analysing why they need a DTP prog to do this and a Db to do that

 

It hurts me to say that as an ICT Teacher I too am bored with what we have to teach. However the trick is to creatively decipher the National Curriculum document. I am bored - GCSE ICT is the same - even the new syllabus is the same stuff but in a different format. OKay we now have animation and more multimedia - but there is no programming.

 

I program with my pupils in Year 8 - it is simple but it's what I can fit in. We look at Scratch and Kodu (okay not quite programming). This year I am introducing Arduino boards and .net Gadgeteer kits to the classroom - I wonder how they will go down.

 

Our Year 12/13 have it tough as I am told to teach Applied ICT. If you think ICT is bad then try Applied. OMG! More databases and spreadsheets in Year 12. Year 13 is a little better but there is a massive spreadsheet project. Luckily my colleague teaches that. I teach the multimedia/gfx design coursework :_)

 

Gareth

[garethEds]

It does shock me, personally i was bored out of my brain in ICT, even to the point that as a student (about 10 year ago) in year 11, i found a lil script in a public share that was a simple script that was the proxy settings, by swapping the 2 groups around i could make it go around the proxy and give me unfiltered internet. I got in so much trouble, but it was way better than analysing why they need a DTP prog to do this and a Db to do that

 

I remember doing something similar on the Acorn Archimedes machines in school (around 1992). I remember cracking Impressions 2.19 to run without a serial number and also opening the modem application !ArcTerm7 and changing the icons so they didn't appear on the RiscOS desktop. The poor computer teacher could never understand why her department phone bills were so huge. It was me dialling into the Arcade BBS.

 

I miss those days.

 

Unfortunately with the curriculum as it is I don't have the time to learn these things at the moment. It is a sad fact that I am currently teaching myself Visual Basic. I used to be able to code Pascal, BBC Basic and ARM Assembler (as well as Commodore basic on the Vic20 and C64) - alas I have forgotten all my pokes and peekes.

 

Gareth

[bossman]

I had a case today of one of our ICT teachers telling me about "The Box in the Hall" meaning our media room (Granted its small but not a box) that the sound was not working?

 

I sent one of our technicians down with her and when he came back 5 mins later I knew that it was nothing serious.

 

The sound had been muted and was so clearly visibly (Red circle with line around the sound icon in the bottom right hand corner) I just had to laugh.

[garethEds]

It is of my opinion that newly qualified teachers should (at the very least) be encouraged to have some form of IT qualification, even if they never end up being an ICT Co-ordinator. ICT is very much cross-curricular these days and covers every subject.

 

I agree with you totally. Although I wish some of the PGCE students would learn to teach instead of relying on their 'main degree'. I had a student the other year who had a first in Computing but couldn't teach for toffee.

 

I don't entirely agree that teachers need to have lots of technical knowledge, such as the differences between a Blu-ray and DVD drive. I'm sure teachers regularly use optical drives to play educational content. How it works and why it works are not important in the context of a teacher.

 

Agree totally. Just be patient with the ones who do want to learn.

 

Gareth

[garethEds]

I would agree, as NM I should have zero contact with ICT Teaching unless actual IT Support related - eg Something needs fixing.

 

Personally I believe everyone should be one big ICT Team. That is the ethos I try and maintain in my school. The ICT Technician is an essential part of my department. I ask him when needed to contribute as I feel his knowledge can be used. It's a shame more schools do not do more of this.

 

There are times where I have had to give assistance in students "Required" Coursework because the teacher doesn't have any clue. Surely that means they are not qualified to do their own job? I have been so busy in the last 12 months that every time a question pops up I blow it out of the water. I wish I was being sarcastic on the busy part but I find my self turning up early and getting normal jobs out the way to do my own work before any one else is in...

 

I see what you are saying here and agree of sorts - but as Head of ICT and ICT Coordinator everyone expects me to know how to use every single piece of softwrae in the school - to such a degree that I cannot master any of them. Yes I can work all the Office apps to a high degree, but should I have to learn Sibelius? It seems I do. So you may get teachers who do not know certain things but their knowledge may be elsewhere. An ICT Teacher is tough. In my school I am known as Mr IT (or Mr TG in Welsh).

 

Gareth

[garethEds]

Apologies for posting so much in this topic. It's an interesting debate.

 

Gareth