Education Technology in Schools

Importance of ICT ... No comment!

I am one of those sad people who reads reports. I either agree, disagree or find out more. OFSTED reports tend to be quite short and pithy and 'The Importance of ICT' (OFTSTED 2009) is no exception as it looks at the quality of ICT in education based on inspection evidence.

The report recognises an overall improvement, but amongst their observations:

Quality of teaching

"Assessment was the weakest aspect of teaching and was inadequate in one school in five. The schools visited rarely tracked the progress of individuals in ICT, established their attainment on entry to secondary school or took into account their achievement outside school. Although the use of ICT in other subjects was increasing in secondary schools, the skills were rarely assessed. As a result, ICT teachers rarely knew how well students applied their ICT skills elsewhere."

"Teachers tended to give more attention to those aspects of ICT where they themselves felt confident."

"Teachers’ subject knowledge was weakest in data logging, manipulating data and programming."

"... teachers gave too much emphasis to teaching students to use particular software applications rather than helping them to acquire genuinely transferable skills."

"Over-reliance on a standard ‘office’ application and operating system restricted their opportunities to develop generic and transferable skills."

A number of recent sources have converged on the importance of quality teaching. Bill Gates of Microsoft argues in a TED video that good teachers are the main determinants of success, and practice learnt early on doesn't change much during the rest of a teacher's career. This view was supported in a recent conference speech by Prof. Dylan William of the Institute of Education and reported by the BBC as 'Class equipment can be a waste'.

Prof. William sets out a compelling argument for looking at the cost of gaining a benefit, arguing that actions such as reducing class sizes are expensive and the outcome doubtful. He argues that simple methods of providing continuous feedback are far more effective.

Just exactly what taxonomy describes the combination of competencies, attributes and skills that make a good or useless teacher? OFSTED estimated there were 15,000 useless teachers, and the Daily Mail pointed out that only 10 have been fired.

Prof. Williams asserts that the school a child attends is much less important than which teachers they have. If a school invests more in technology, do they attract these better teachers?

For a more considered view (Ewan McIntosh).

Qualifications

"... many students (KS4) were following qualifications of doubtful value."

"Although these vocational courses are the equivalent of up to four GCSEs in other subjects, they offer limited challenge in ICT."

Stuff that's caught my eye! 240409

The EU has adopted a new regulation aiming to reduce the energy consumption of external power supplies (includes laptop power adaptors and chargers). The new requirements start coming into force in 2010.

Simulated brain? - "Blue Brain" built molecule by molecule and put in a virutal body!

BBC News Item: Bill Thompson "... a new divide has opened up ... between those of us who know enough about our computers to look under the bonnet from time to time and those who use them without any real curiosity or awareness." "... We don't need a nation of programmers, but we do need to be confident that everyone knows what programmers do and what programs look like." I agree, ... what do you think?

TED VIDEO:  'SixthSense' is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information.

The Simplification Plan -  DCSF has been working hard to reduce the burden on the front line of unnecessary administration and bureaucracy -  things like forms, returns, inspections and so on — so that teachers and carers can spend less time on paperwork, which in turn means more hours in the day to focus on children and learners. PDF.

Moodle Google? - It looks as if Google Apps (Education Edition) has collaborated with Moodle developers 'Moodlerooms' to create a single sign-on between Google Apps such as webmail, document authoring, spreadhseets etc. Administrators create simultaneous user accounts and a single sign-on.

Adobe e-Learning Suite - the complete toolbox for authoring rich lerarning content?

Revised data security advice from Becta - Do's and Don'ts!