Recently I cam across a fantastic post by @mwclarkson on thoughts on ICT and Computing which was a fantastic examination of some of the issues facing ICT as we seek to improve its value to the outside world. Contained within his post was a reflection on possible strands of ICT, Digital Literacy, Digital Creativity and Programming. I like what is implied by these strands immensely especially as I have been fed up with National Curriuclum Strands for a while and have been seeking a better way to ‘tie’ the ICT curriculum together. For too long I feel the subject of ICT has been a random collection of boring skills based units and having a structure like this could help improve its standing in schools.
The strands I am proposing based on Mark’s original three are:
- Digital Creativity
- Digital Literacy
- Computing
- Digital Citizenship
Digital Creativity I foresee as your multimedia strand. This is where pupils would be blogging, podcasting, video editing, website building etc. There will almost certainly be aspects of digital creativity which could include programming for instance in building a computer game from scratch.
Digital Literacy is a fairly broader strand and at the moment could possibly encompass multiple aspects of current ICT practice. I would possibly summarise it at this point as teaching pupils the skills to be able to engage with, respond and use technology they encounter in class in a way which would provide value to them.
Computing is a strand I will need to work a bit on to see how I can include it within my ICT curriculum. I think for the future it will be found within other units such as games design.
Digital Citizenship is inspired by the rise of social networks as a force to not necessarily directly change governments but a force which can assist in revolutions such as Tunisia and Egypt. Blogging may very well form a part of this but certainly looking at how ICt and the usage of technologies can be force for good would form a part of this strand.
My next job is to start writing good definitions of each strand to be used in planning and then mapping my existing units to each strand.
My ICT curriculum is available here http://sharland.pbworks.com. Contributors more than welcome – just ask for access.
@largeramaI will need to get back to you on the assessment question – partly because it is a very good question and partly because I don’t really have an answer at the moment
. I have never used APP grids in any case so do need to think about assessment which could be used in a starts system (remember I’m in independent sector)Brian
@largeramaThanks for the comment Nick. I liked both of your blog posts immensely and have bookmarked them as something to go back and read many times. I think what I am trying to suggest here is a way of dealing with the push towards computing and yet still keep some of the value of ICT (the valuable bits being everything except for excessive Office skills rote learning) Are you referring to the digital citizenship strand as the fourth strand? If you are I think it’s a strand which although may not have a lot going on at the moment (apart from e-safety and responsibility) it could grow to include the communication skills such as social networking and blogging which are forming a part of the protest movements we are seeing nowadays. I see skills like this as definitely more a part of citizenship within society rather than a literacy. CheersBrian
@domnorrisThanks for the comment. I think if I was to name that strand Digital Coding it might restrict its nature to purely programming when from my limited understanding of computing I think it covers a lot more than that. You are right though in seeing it as a possible way for preparing pupils for a career in computing. I teach at an all girls school so I’m trying to get pupils to grips with a subject area which I think unfortunately has been skewed towards boys. I can see possible tautology in some repetition between the strands but I dont think this will be too much of an issue as I do want to encourage pupils to see how these different strands can still link together and support each other. CheersBrian
Interesting Brian. I’m really glad you were influenced by Mark’s post which spawned out of my challenge to Computing’s threat to dominating the scope of our subject – http://largerama.creativeblogs.net/2011/10/13/brakes/ – His responsive echo my feelings on the subject. And what is even more interesting is that you are suggesting a fourth strand. Is that worth a strand on it’s own? Further, I am really intrigued by how you are going to assess this. To my mind the way you are mapping this out seems to be lending itself to an APP style grid. What do you intend to do about this/
Hi Brian,Looks like a very exciting offer to your students.’Computing’ as a strand heading might suffer from people’s skewed perceptions of what this means – perhaps echoing the theme of the other 3, something like ‘Digital Coding’? Tautological, I realise. Or maybe something to reflect that this strand is about preparation for a career in computing?I’d be keen to know how this developsDominic