[LINK] ICT in the Australian Curriculum

Tom Worthington tom.worthington at tomw.net.au
Mon Apr 18 06:27:42 AEST 2011


The Australian Council for Computers in Education released an "ACCE
Position Paper on ICT in the Australian Curriculum", 16 April 2011:
<http://acce.edu.au/nationalcurriculum>.

The report argues that ICT will be required for students to be
successful in their studies, as well as citizens and workers. ACCE
therefore propose ICT appear in its own right in the national
curriculum.

The report could have put the point more strongly that ICT is not just 
an enabling technology, but is also has deep theoretical underpinnings,
which deserve academic study. ICT is profoundly changing  our view of
the world.

The paper was released as a PDF file, so I have converted the document 
to HTML, which may be more useful for online discussion:
<http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=16502818#accepaper>.

Here is an excerpt:

---
... This paper argues that ICT needs to be its own learning area, either
within the framework of the ICT and Design and Technology Learning Area,
or as a new area. This notion is not alien to the spirit of the
Melbourne Declaration. In that document the term ‘Humanities and social
sciences (including history, geography, economics, business, civics and
citizenship)’ is used to define one Learning Area, yet in the first
phase of the Australian Curriculum, History is presented as a standalone
Learning Area, as is Geography, a phase two learning area.

... the following is proposed:

* One learning area, provisionally titled ICT. This models the approach
taken with History and Geography, which are separate learning areas
under the conceptual banner of the Humanities. This learning area will
comprise two strands:

  o ICT competence:
   + Standards are articulated within the Information and Communication
Technologies Learning Area, but which map and support the ICT general
capability.
   + Standards can be achieved and/or demonstrated through other
learning areas

  o Digital Technologies (provisional title):
   + Maps specific ICT knowledge and skills relating to a deeper study
of ICT. ...

* The ICT competence strand to be articulated in two-­‐year intervals,
with content descriptors and standards at Years 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. These
support the acquisition and demonstration of knowledge and skills
relating to a range of learning areas. These descriptors and standards
will be accompanied by elaborations showing rich applications.

* The Digital Technologies strand to be articulated in two-­‐year
intervals with specific content descriptors and standards that deepen at
Years 8 and 10. These will be accompanied by elaborations showing rich
applications. ...


From: ACCE Position Paper on ICT in the Australian Curriculum,
Australian Council for Computers in Education, 16 April 2011:
<http://acce.edu.au/nationalcurriculum>.
---


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/
Visiting Scientist, CSIRO ICT Centre: http://bit.ly/csiro_ict_canberra





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