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 English/Literacy skills
but also their ICT skills. It is important to distinguish between
one thing and the other, and also for us as SEN specialists to
know when a pupil is learning to use ICT as well as developing
their Literacy skills.
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
- 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 a CD or the World Wide
Web
- Using
a word processor - if pupils undertook copy and paste activities
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/Communication
curriculum/accreditation as it applies to these pupils. This will
allow you to see what they are doing in your subject that is contributing
to their development in the IT and Basic Skills arenas. 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 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/Basic Skills curriculum at the
pupil's key stage to see whether work you are doing with him
or her can be linked to learning in these areas.
 d.
Assessing Learning
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