| This week at school we have had a consultant working with us on iPad usage in schools. He and I were talking about being able to make change on a large scale versus being ‘stuck’ in a single school. Although the consultant said he still does some teaching it didn’t seem to be on a very regular basis and my response was that for me instigating change is best done whilst teaching as much as possible. It is the best way to see your ideas and strategies put into practice and assess where things are going right or wrong.
This in a sense is why I am enjoying working on #digitalstudies whilst still being a teacher and not employed by some consultancy. It’s tough and we may not be able to affect large scale change but if I consider that we already have a number of schools running variants of #digitalstudies based on some of the principles we have developed I think it’s been remarkably successful. The reason why I have been quiet though on #digitalstudies for the last month is because of the fact that after all the work last year I just want to teach it now in class. I want to put into practice what we have developed and test out how it actually works. I do though have a letter ready to go to DfE regarding general ICT curriculum matters and I’m considering writing to BCS and Royal Society of Engineering dependant on daily pressures. One thing I have been tweaking is a set of competencies for #digitalstudies. One of the entire aims of #digitalstudies has been digital badges as a form of acknowledgement of pupils progress in class. The actual assessment still needed to take place and this is where the competencies come in. These have been developed slightly in line with what The Corporate IT Forum have been saying about the ICT curriculum. I have tweaked these recently, particularly the last few ones, and it is starting to look better. I will probably write a second blog soon on what is happening within lesson time. |
From Evernote: |
#digitalstudies competencies |
| Competency | Strand |
| 1. The ability to write a program and understand their uses | Digital Technology |
| 2. The ability to use technology as part of a business process including developing a product idea and taking it to market | Digital Literacy / Digital Society |
| 3. The ability to select and work with computer hardware | digital technology |
| 4. The ability to create simple multimedia for an audience and understand its use | Digital Authoring / Digital Society |
| 5. The ability to work with computer networks | Digital Technology |
| 6. The ability to manage data sets through models, simulations and databases | digital literacy / digital technology |
| 7. The ability to understand the use of Computer, Data and Privacy legislation in society | digital society |
| 8. The ability to use a range of communication and collaboration tools effectively in a relevant context | digital society / digital literacy |
| 9. The ability to choose the most effective software and hardware to complete a task | digital literacy |
| 10. The ability to write effectively in support of work completed | digital literacy |
I can understand why you’ve been quiet Brian. I’ve gone more the other way, as I think that blogging about classroom techniques and experiences helps me to reflect, and may help those unsure about taking the plunge. Liking the top down competencies and strategic overview you’ve got.
Andy