c. Selecting ICT Resources

We mentioned at the introduction to the case study that there are four main options in the way we can think about ICT in the Design and Technology learning process. We need to look at this range a little more closely now, in order that you and your mentor can establish where you fit into this range in your current practice:

• The use of DT-specific hardware and software to undertake specific tasks, regardless of learning and determined mainly by task and problem.
  • If you use any of the range of ICT mentioned on the previous page in the execution of tasks alone, the chances are that you and your pupils see the ICT in question as a way of doing a job. You may be reflecting with pupils on the way the ICT does the job, and on how the job might be done without the ICT, and his is an important step in developing a critical approach to the use of ICT in teaching and learning.
• Learning to use DT-specific hardware and software as a part of the DT curriculum and in order to undertake the tasks implied by merely needing to use hardware and software.
  • Here you might be teaching pupils the best ways of using hardware and software, and will therefore be developing pupils' ICT capability beyond what is necessary for the core curriculum in IT. You might even be generating new ways of approaching the use of dedicated hardware and software within the subject, but strictly speaking you will not be using ICT in teaching and learning to its maximum.
• Learning about Design and Technology through ICT, regardless of the ICT's primary design, control, manufacture or other functions.
  • This is to an extent what the other case studies in this series are about. The use of ICT in case studies one and two is based on gathering information, and communicating and manipulating it in a way that helps pupils learn about the subject. The hardware and software in question is not subject-dedicated, nor does it have to be.
• Learning about Design and Technology by using DT-specific ICT, from the processes of using the technology to perform tasks and solve problems.
  • Here you have all of the other aspects of the use of ICT rolled into one. You might have to define the task with which ICT can help, determine the exact use and terms of use for the ICT, and then perhaps use the 'Help' or tutorial features of the hardware and software to determine the best way of going about things.

For discussion with your mentor:

• From the comments above and the range of options for use of ICT within your area of Design and Technology, describe where you make the most use of ICT in your current practice.

d. Developing Your Own Knowledge of the Resources