A plan for cross curricular integration of ICT must be carefully thought out. The whole ideal of Educational Technology is still very much in an experimental stage despite the very wide changes that have taken place and continue to take place.
The changes in Technology and been rapid and evolutionary. Educational developments are not mirroring the societal changes that the technology is bringing about. In many respects, the whole concept of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in a retrenchment to allow incorporation of the technology into education without disturbing what is considered mainstream.
Most schools follow a very narrow, prescribed, formulaic and ultimately quite dull curriculum that is provided by Government. There is little pressure to challenge the status quo and as a result, ICT remains aloof and incongruous with the needs of society
The proper incorporation of ICT requires a model. While we teach the kids to labour with a model that requires identification and analysis of the issues, followed by design, testing and evaluation, there is little evidence that school do anything similar in their approach to forwarding the larger ICT project.
One of the major reasons is a lack of vision. On the one hand, there is a conservative profession defending itself against the implications of ICT. One the other there are a range of ICT teachers, with a very wide differentiation of skills, whose main priority is to serve results.Being able to show that you have helped raise the number of level 5s or 5 A to C grades will earn you brownie points and early promotion. Suggesting ways to take the subject forward is more likely to get you the sack.
If the incorporation of ICT across the curriculum is to be a congruous and coherent process then schools have to develop appropriate surroundings, resources and skills and these will, to a large extent, depend on the level of skills available. Almost all of the present ICT curriculum can easily be delivered by a keen and competent teacher of Art, PE or any other subject. Most of it is trivial. The real skill is the ability to see how ICT fits with the bigger picture. This skill is strategic and requires more than the ability to create a PowerPoint, a poster or a spreadsheet.
The necessary skills will enable the integration of ICT to promote successful leaning and teaching practices both in and for the Information society. It is therefore absolutely essential that this integration is cross curricular and presupposes a consideration of the skills required by teachers, the competitive aspects of a cross curricular approach and the use that will be made of ICT by students and teachers.
ICT hands powerful resources to the teacher which aid motivation and organisation but also challenges authority because access to knowledge is no longer so easily controlled. Because of this, integration must be carefully planned. An obvious example of where this is not working in practice is the ICT key stage 3 test. Ultimately, it is another layer of SaTs to teach too, where it most obviously should be an ongoing process integrated into the teaching and learning of ICT wherever and whenever it is used.
In today’s society, the ability to use ICT is as vital as being able to read, write and be numerate. It could probably be called the fourth ‘R’ if I could only think of a mnemonic. But the rigour is different. In most schools, kids go to ICT once a week to ‘play’ and really not much more than that. An hour or less per week is really not sufficient to become proficient or to even think about the broader implications of the subject.
ICT frequently becomes a domain of the ‘expert’, often very enthusiastic and competent, not always an expert but frequently regarded as the person responsible for ICT and therefore in control of doling out the resources once the hour a week of play is allocated.
Even worse, I suppose, is the room timetable which is filled in rapidly by those who use the ‘book first, plan later’ strategy and then fought over with those whose Scheme of Work tells them they have to search the Internet on Thursday period three. ICT isn’t allowed into the educational system. It stands in a room in the corner to be proudly shown as ‘progress’ and to be squabbled over or ignored in equal measure.
We need real policies and a real and determined way of integrating ICT across the curriculum. Ensuring that teachers are trained in an essential step, but training them to use a spreadsheet or turn their lessons into PowerPoint presentation is not the central issue.
Firstly we have to consider why and how we use ICT with the kids. We are not simply doing it because that’s what we are told to do – or are we. I’ve met teachers who “would rather not, but it’s in the plan.” For students, ICT is an increasingly important focus for developing their knowledge, to store and communicate what they have learned. They need much more unfettered access to the equipment of ICT with the idea that the learning for a particular is in a particular time and room become increasingly foreign. Even libraries never really saw the inculcation of the idea, “Can I go to the library to find out more? But ICT has the advantage of not needing to move. This is part and parcel of the need to encourage a creative and autonomous spirit and the ability to solve problems and to develop opinions independently.
Central to the above are the organisational needs. Students have to be able to search, select, analyse and organise information effectively. They need to be able to understand that breadth and depth is important. A Google search, for example, may throw up thousands or millions of hits. How many people step beyond the first 20 or so, or really know how to?
But the real need is for ICT to be used rationally. “We have to teach word processing, spreadsheets and databases because that’s what they use in business.” A pound for every time I’ve heard this b*ll*cks please. If we have to teach them, and I’m not saying we shouldn’t, then it has to be because they are useful and purposeful in the here and now. If they are useful in your job later then that’s a bonus. It is not, in itself, a rational reason for teaching them.
The last point suggests what teachers have to do. Cross curricular ICT assumes that there is a clear and purposeful plan for is use. It means that ICT isn’t in the Scheme of Work because it has to be, but because reflection and planning sees it as the most effective means of achieving the teaching and learning aims of the subject.
The competitive nature of ICT use is damaging. A proper cross curricular model is about far more than integrating ICT. It allows faculties to discover where their subjects overlap so that teachers find links and encourage that approach in the students. “We can’t teach that bit of physics because they haven’t done the maths yet.” Is another piece of nonsense that proper integration, including ICT, can help eliminate.
The motivational aspects of ICT are important. Phillipe Stegler’s idea about mobile phones is just one example:
It’s about enthusiasm and looking for ways to buck the trend.
I have a model for integration and considered publishing it, but there are people making a pig’s ear of it and earning maybe six times what I earn stacking shelves. My decision to reserve it reflects my feeling that while my opinions are free, my expertise is valuable. I’m happy to share lesson ideas. My organisation and implementation of my vision goes with a teaching job and ultimately will probably never blossom.
Having said that, a lot of what has to be achieved is obvious. The uses of ICT have to be spelled out; The cross curricular links have to be identified; Plans have to be drawn up and agreed; Resources and activities have to be incorporated into schemes; and, a cycle of evaluation and improvement has to be put in place. As I said at the start, teachers have to do what they are trying to teach the kids.
Teaching ICT as it is presently formulated may be relatively trivial but the integration of it across the curriculum and providing planning, organisation and a sense of direction requires a clear understanding of the technology. It requires an understanding of what it can do and the vision to ensure that it is integrated into the curriculum for the greatest benefit of the students and the larger society.
No comments:
Post a Comment