c.
Helping Learners Develop Their Own IT Capabilities
Whenever
the pupils in this case study are using a computer to learn, they
are not only developing their numeracy skills but also their ICT
skills. It is important to distinguish between one thing and the
other, and also for us as numeracy specialists to identify when
a student is learning to use ICT as well as learning application
of number.
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:
- Running
software - M/S Excel.
- Retrieving
and saving files - M/S Excel.
- Basic
skills of keyboard and mouse manipulation.
- Recognising
and using Web site addresses.
- Printing.
- They
may even insert charts created in Excel into M/S Word.
It
might be interesting to look back over your own lesson plans to
identify where these things happened, and even to look at the
IT Key Skills curriculum 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 student's awareness of and use of ICT to his
or her own learning.
It
is worth trying this exercise:
- Identify
what students are doing with ICT in the Application of Number
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 student's stage
of learning to see whether work you are doing with him or her
can be linked with learning in the IT area.
 d.
Assessing Learning
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