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 Design and Technology
skills but also their ICT skills. It is important to distinguish
between one thing and the other, and also for us as Design and
Technology specialists to know when a pupil is learning to use
ICT as well as learning to understand Design and Technology.
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 - if they used a CD
- Accessing
the World Wide Web
- Searching
for information - on the CD 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 - if pupils e-mailed their Word documents, images or
presentations to each other
- Using
a word processor - if pupils undertook copy and paste activities
- Using
a presentation package - if pupils created a PowerPoint presentation
during any of the lessons
- File
manipulation
- Accessing
a floppy, local or network drive
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
curriculum as it applies to pupils at Key Stages three and four
to see what they are doing in your subject that is contributing
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 Design and Technology
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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