Thursday 13 March 2014

Where is Digital Technologies heading?

I don't know of I could summarize where Digital Technologies is going, as there are the five distinct strands plus Generic Technology.
There is also the Vocational Pathways that are coming into play this year.

There is a comment made in a reply to a thread in the NZACDITT google group that resonates with me, "Yes there are some food projects that are not at level 8 of the curriculum but the number of ICT projects I have seen from year 13s that are clearly year 9 work is greater than the number of food projects!"

We need to building up the specialist Knowledge and Skills strands, we need to be moving forward with the knowledge strands, not just the skills strands. Though to be able to show knowledge, we need to have the equipment and facilities to do so. Going with the food analogy from above, doing a function for 200 using a domestic kitchen is possible, but the quality and quality assurance is just not going to be there. You need a proper kitchen and facilities to be able to do the job well, consistent quality and quality assurance to make sure that the product goes out looking the same. This is the same in the Digital Technologies spaces, are we developing a quality outcome that meets the needs of our students and the learning objectives.

The learning Objectives are detailed in the link below,
Learning Objectives of the specialist Knowledge and Skills strands
Indicators of Progression – Learning Objectives (248kb, PDF)

Next requires some outside work, from professional Development, rather than the normal PD opportunities through the Ministry of Education, we use the subject association more. As it has been talked about through the PPTA Subject Association forum, the best PD has been offered by subject associations. We need to also create better links with industry, through the IITP conference last year it was talked about how industry could be assisting the development of this area. We possibly need to be making more use of this area, one thing I talk about with teachers is the idea of real world problems. What type of assessments are we delivering to our students.

Going with some of the information,
  • At least 80% of Digital Technologies teachers believe the assessment standards for their discipline(s) are sufficient, relevant, and fit for purpose.
Do teachers currently believe this?

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