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 Communication Key Skills
but also their ICT skills. It is important to distinguish between
one thing and the other, and also for us as Communication specialists
to know when a pupil is learning to use ICT as well as learning
to understand Communication.
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 - logging onto the system through password
protection and then onto the web browser and the translation
engine.
- Accessing
the World Wide Web.
- Searching
for information - on the World Wide Web if you asked them to
find a translator for themselves.
- Basic
skills of mouse and keyboard manipulation.
- Printing
- if the pupil was allowed to print from the World Wide Web
or if they printed from the PowerPoint presentation.
- Using
a word processor - if pupils undertook copy and paste activities
either between the translations or in recording their findings
as they went along.
- 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 curriculum
as it applies to pupils at Key Stage four and/or the relevant
Key Skills level 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 Key Skill Communication
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 or Key
Skills level 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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