c.
Helping Learners Develop their own IT Capabilities
Whenever
the pupils in the case study are using a computer to learn, they
are of course not only developing their Business Studies skills
but also their ICT skills. It is important to distinguish between
one thing and the other, and also for us as Business Studies specialists
to know when a pupil is learning to use ICT as well as learning
to understand Business Studies.
If
pupils used all possible resources - and maybe one or two extra
that you thought of - the very least they would have developed
is the following range:
- Loading
software - a CD-ROM
- Accessing
the World Wide Web
- Searching
for information - on the CD-ROM or the World Wide Web
-
Basic skills of mouse and keyboard manipulation
- Printing
- if the pupil was allowed to print from the CD or the World
Wide Web
- Using
e-mail - for the expert/peer investigation/exchange
- Using
a word processor - if pupils undertook copy and paste activities
- Using
a presentation package - if pupils created a PowerPoint presentation
for the final phases of the lessons
It
might be interesting to look back over your own lesson plans to
see where these things happened, and even to look at the IT Key
Skills for pupils working with GNVQ, to see what they are doing
in your subject that contributes to their development in the IT
arena. All case studies in all subjects in this series make this
same statement, so crucial is the pupil's awareness of and use
of ICT to his or her own learning in other subjects using it.
It
is worth trying this exercise:
- Identify
what pupils are doing with ICT in the Business Studies tasks
you have set them.
- Identify
whether what they are doing is a basic motor skill such as moving
a mouse, a technique where they have to follow steps or a higher
order skill where they have to plan and make decisions.
- Identify
the areas of the IT curriculum at the pupil's key stage to see
whether work you are doing with him or her can be linked to
learning in the IT area.
 d.
Assessing Learning
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