'In Class, I have to power down' (view Guardian article here.)
Indeed, many of today's primary school children will have had a lot more experience with ICT than that which they will come across in school. Spreadsheets, databases and word documents prompt yawns and a rolling of the eyes from these such children. I admit, they know far more than I do about what is out there in the world of Information and Communication Technology, so why do we not credit this and give way for them to develop and expand within school. If they were musically talented their skills and talent would most likely be nurtured and built upon by a school or outside agency. So why is ICT so limited?
I could speculate for hours about what makes us, as teachers, react in such a way to ICT. I stifled laughter as a teacher told me that the classes first ICT lesson on the half term would not be in the ICT suite. 'They are learning this today, and then they can put it onto the computer next week'. I hope the teacher does not notice my raised eyebrows in response to what I have heard. In school, children have to 'power down':
Both quotes taken from 'In class, I have to power down' by David Puttnam at guardian.co.uk, Tuesday May 8 2007.
The question then, how do we make ICT interesting and exciting within school? There are limitations, it seems, in the amount of freedom and control you can give a class of children in an ICT lesson. There are plans to keep to and things to be learnt, in theory anyway. What is often forgotten, I think, is how much ICT can filter into other areas of the curriculum in interesting and exciting ways. Google Earth, podcasts, blogs and Wikis can all feature in ICT, however they would be of much more use in geography, literacy and science etc. as an enrichment to the curriculum. ICT needs to be taken from the ICT suite and filtered into other areas of education. It will be of much more value to children when they use it in an appropriate context. Then perhaps they may get interesting and exciting.
Indeed, many of today's primary school children will have had a lot more experience with ICT than that which they will come across in school. Spreadsheets, databases and word documents prompt yawns and a rolling of the eyes from these such children. I admit, they know far more than I do about what is out there in the world of Information and Communication Technology, so why do we not credit this and give way for them to develop and expand within school. If they were musically talented their skills and talent would most likely be nurtured and built upon by a school or outside agency. So why is ICT so limited?
I could speculate for hours about what makes us, as teachers, react in such a way to ICT. I stifled laughter as a teacher told me that the classes first ICT lesson on the half term would not be in the ICT suite. 'They are learning this today, and then they can put it onto the computer next week'. I hope the teacher does not notice my raised eyebrows in response to what I have heard. In school, children have to 'power down':
What I do with digital technology outside school - at home, in my own free time - is on a completely different level to what I'm able to do at school. Outside school, I'm using much more advanced skills, doing many more interesting things, operating in a far more sophisticated way. School takes little notice of this and seems not to care.One child explains how ICT lessons only get exciting when you leave the classroom and take what you have back to your own computer:
At school, you do all this boring stuff, really basic stuff, PowerPoint and spreadsheets and things. It only gets interesting and exciting when you come home and really use your computer. You're free, you're in control, it's your own world.
Both quotes taken from 'In class, I have to power down' by David Puttnam at guardian.co.uk, Tuesday May 8 2007.
The question then, how do we make ICT interesting and exciting within school? There are limitations, it seems, in the amount of freedom and control you can give a class of children in an ICT lesson. There are plans to keep to and things to be learnt, in theory anyway. What is often forgotten, I think, is how much ICT can filter into other areas of the curriculum in interesting and exciting ways. Google Earth, podcasts, blogs and Wikis can all feature in ICT, however they would be of much more use in geography, literacy and science etc. as an enrichment to the curriculum. ICT needs to be taken from the ICT suite and filtered into other areas of education. It will be of much more value to children when they use it in an appropriate context. Then perhaps they may get interesting and exciting.
1 comment:
...What is often forgotten, I think, is how much ICT can filter into other areas of the curriculum in interesting and exciting ways. Google Earth, podcasts, blogs and Wikis can all feature in ICT, however they would be of much more use in geography, literacy and science etc. as an enrichment to the curriculum. ICT needs to be taken from the ICT suite and filtered into other areas of education. It will be of much more value to children when they use it in an appropriate context...
Absolutely. Which is why I keep going on about ICT as a cross curricular tool and about the need for computers in the classroom, on and ready to be used as and when needed.
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