Should ICT be ditched in schools?
I was recently in an interview with a teacher who halfway through the interview was spruiking the benefits of Computing over ICT. To point out the differences between computing and ICT the general divide is that in Computing we learn to make software, and in ICT we learn to use software.
Computing education has come a long way in a short time. Through a high profile, and well deserved criticism of the UK education system from +Eric Schmidt there has been a key change. Computing is now integral into the UK national curriculum, and there is no longer any representation of ICT amongst GCSE or A level syllabii, at the top end of schooling it is all about computing. But does this mean that ICT no longer has a place as a subject in schools?
I would argue that the change of focus towards computing is a great thing. Open source software only retains its strength is people can read software and have the skills to contribute. Version control is another aspect of computing, which if applied to other areas of life - scheme of work writing for example. can make for stronger teams working towards a common goal. Imagine if students were to work this collaboratively in writing up a science experiment. How much better would their product be, and how much better would their learning be? How much better could science be if everybody could contribute in the same way. But this is 10 years off.
I would also argue that ICT skills are still extremely relevant across the curriculum and still need to be taught as a separate discipline. A case in example is the use of Excel to produce graphs. Ask a science teacher how many times they see a good graph drawn using Excell and you will get a collective big sigh. The vast majority of students still allow Excell to do their graph for them without changing the bits that are necessary. Graphs with a single line still get a legend, trendlines are rarely applied, the formatting needs to be improved. Students need to learn how to drive these applications with skill to recognise and obtain the output they want, rather than accept the output that they are given. Whilst it could be argues that these are skills of science, mathematics or geography. They are primarily skills of using software therefore ICT.
The second argument for keeping ICT is on the boundaries of ICT and computing. Where does web design fit in? When we develop a web page we invariably at some point move towards using Adobe Dreamweaver, or a similar WYSIWYG editor, or at any rate photoshop, Fireworks or a graphics editor. Creating these digital artefacts as the UK national curriculum calls them, is a useful skill, which lies firmly in the ICT realm. Web design is a skill, which married to web development yields a valuable output. Should these skills be separated and taught in separate disciplines, or should they work together in the same classroom producing a clear product. The same goes with the Software used for collaboration. Git and GitHub are items of software. They may have been developed for computing, and they have nice developer friendly interfaces - but they are software themselves. Using this software is an ICT skill which needs to be taught at the higher end of schooling. It is collaborative software such as GIT which has the potential to unlock skills and creativity in other areas of learning.
The third reason to keep ICT is to address the fact that whilst students are enthused by technology not all of them have access to it at home, and certainly not for educational purposes. It is still feasible that students do not have their own laptops at home, and have not used productivity applications outside the classroom. Many students need the guidance of a professional, setting the standard in ICT use, still to guide their work and progress. Many non-ICT teachers still do not have the skills yet to fully support ICT learning in their subjects.
In conclusion the UK ICT curriculum is in a much better place than it was ten years ago. Computing has poked its head back into the curriculum, and is being taught as a key skill. Whether the balance between ICT and computing is right - I do not to pretend to know, and the requirements of the future may change. But as a leader in computing education, Right now I would hate to see ICT be pushed back.
For my currect scheme of work please feel free to inspect, and add at https://github.com/ams-ICT/ams-ICT.github.io.
Computing education has come a long way in a short time. Through a high profile, and well deserved criticism of the UK education system from +Eric Schmidt there has been a key change. Computing is now integral into the UK national curriculum, and there is no longer any representation of ICT amongst GCSE or A level syllabii, at the top end of schooling it is all about computing. But does this mean that ICT no longer has a place as a subject in schools?
I would argue that the change of focus towards computing is a great thing. Open source software only retains its strength is people can read software and have the skills to contribute. Version control is another aspect of computing, which if applied to other areas of life - scheme of work writing for example. can make for stronger teams working towards a common goal. Imagine if students were to work this collaboratively in writing up a science experiment. How much better would their product be, and how much better would their learning be? How much better could science be if everybody could contribute in the same way. But this is 10 years off.
I would also argue that ICT skills are still extremely relevant across the curriculum and still need to be taught as a separate discipline. A case in example is the use of Excel to produce graphs. Ask a science teacher how many times they see a good graph drawn using Excell and you will get a collective big sigh. The vast majority of students still allow Excell to do their graph for them without changing the bits that are necessary. Graphs with a single line still get a legend, trendlines are rarely applied, the formatting needs to be improved. Students need to learn how to drive these applications with skill to recognise and obtain the output they want, rather than accept the output that they are given. Whilst it could be argues that these are skills of science, mathematics or geography. They are primarily skills of using software therefore ICT.
The second argument for keeping ICT is on the boundaries of ICT and computing. Where does web design fit in? When we develop a web page we invariably at some point move towards using Adobe Dreamweaver, or a similar WYSIWYG editor, or at any rate photoshop, Fireworks or a graphics editor. Creating these digital artefacts as the UK national curriculum calls them, is a useful skill, which lies firmly in the ICT realm. Web design is a skill, which married to web development yields a valuable output. Should these skills be separated and taught in separate disciplines, or should they work together in the same classroom producing a clear product. The same goes with the Software used for collaboration. Git and GitHub are items of software. They may have been developed for computing, and they have nice developer friendly interfaces - but they are software themselves. Using this software is an ICT skill which needs to be taught at the higher end of schooling. It is collaborative software such as GIT which has the potential to unlock skills and creativity in other areas of learning.
The third reason to keep ICT is to address the fact that whilst students are enthused by technology not all of them have access to it at home, and certainly not for educational purposes. It is still feasible that students do not have their own laptops at home, and have not used productivity applications outside the classroom. Many students need the guidance of a professional, setting the standard in ICT use, still to guide their work and progress. Many non-ICT teachers still do not have the skills yet to fully support ICT learning in their subjects.
In conclusion the UK ICT curriculum is in a much better place than it was ten years ago. Computing has poked its head back into the curriculum, and is being taught as a key skill. Whether the balance between ICT and computing is right - I do not to pretend to know, and the requirements of the future may change. But as a leader in computing education, Right now I would hate to see ICT be pushed back.
For my currect scheme of work please feel free to inspect, and add at https://github.com/ams-ICT/ams-ICT.github.io.
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