Monday 23 February 2015

ICT competency as a condition of entry into universities?

In the latest IITP newsletter http://www.techblog.co.nz/880-ICTTrends2015sGreatExpectations, there is this

EDUCATION

A recent New Zealand Herald article contains the headline 'ICT qualification essential for all school leavers'. Concerns about students leaving secondary school with a lack of ICT qualifications have been supported by the results from a survey of 61,000 secondary school students that found that less than 6 per cent had a qualification in basic ICT.
According to Auckland Business Leaders Group chairman Michael Barnett ICT skills are (now) part of every kind of job; from office and retailing to factory work. Confident, critical and creative use of ICT skills is now [as much] an essential passport for getting a job as reading, writing and arithmetic.
Whether heading direct into employment or on to tertiary education, all school leavers should have an ICT qualification and Barnett foresees the day when universities will require ICT competency as a condition of entry.

What would ICT competency look like? How would it be assessed?
With the every increasing use of BYOD in schools, and the development of ICT skills through the New Zealand Curriculum 2007, what would these things look like. 

Would it be on how fast students can type? Use tools like GAFE or Micrsosoft Productivity tools? Considering that the Government has just started to really throw support behind the Microsoft IT Academies, where students gain certificates in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. 
With terms like digital literacy, digital citizenship being thrown around, would these be helpful with what is being asked for?

Yet in the post they talk about being confident, critical and creative use of ICT.

How does your school look at the use of ICT? Considering the report, ICT use in schools is seen as a lesser skill that being able to read and write and do maths.


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