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What is ICT?
The term Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) is widely used to refer to computer-based and
computer-related devices. Examples of ICT would include
today the Internet, mobile phones, and digital cameras,
and plasma screens, digital video recorders, learning
objects, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pocket PCs,
podcasts, interactive whiteboards and wireless
technologies (Finger et al., 2007).
ICT in the Australian Curriculum is recognised as a tool
for students that transforms their way of thinking and
learning. Through its provisionality such as being fast,
automated, interactive and multimodal, students can use
it in a way that suits their learning styles as well as being
able to choose when and where they will learn.
The Australian Curriculum and General
Capabilites
Recognised as key 21st century skills, general
capabilities encompass the knowledge, skills,
behaviours and dispositions that together with the
curriculum content in each learning area (ACARA, 2015)
will provide students with a sound foundation for success
in life and work in their future endeavours. These skills
include ICT capability, literacy, numeracy, critical and
creative thinking, personal and social capability, ethical
understanding and intercultural understanding.
The development of these capabilities can be achieved
when students begin to demonstrate confidence in their
skills and knowledge in complex and changing situations.
Effective and appropriate choices also need to be shown
by the student if they are to progress in these areas. At
times, students can show progress in multiple capabilities
when more than one has been combined with another in
a complementary and enhancing manner.
All capabilities are considered to be general and exist
across the whole curriculum (ACARA, 2015).
Australian Curriculum: Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) Capability
To help teachers continue to understand what ICT
capability is and to maintain its integrity and significance
in the Australian Curriculum, it was decided that instead
of trying to rewrite integral information from the curriculum
website, to quote various segments regarding ICT
capability.
Development of ICT capability
Students develop ICT capability as they learn to use
ICT effectively and appropriately to access, create and
communicate information and ideas, solve problems and
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Element
Applying social and ethical
protocols and practices when
using ICT.
Investigating with ICT.
ICT Capability
Recognise intellectual property.
Apply digital information security practices.
Apply personal security protocols.
Identify the impacts of ICT in society.
Define and plan information searches
Locate, generate, and access data and information.
Select and evaluate data and information.
Generate ideas, plans, and processes.
Generate solutions to challenges and learning area
tasks.
Collaborate, share, and exchange.
Understand computer mediated communications.
Select and use hardware and software.
Understand ICT systems.
Manage digital data.
Table 2. Creating with ICT in the Australian Curriculum ICT Capability Learning Continuum Levels 1-3 (ACARA, 2015)
reasons for using ICT and the role in which it will play.
No matter what subject you teach this is a pertinent
factor that must always form the foundation for the use
of ICT in the classroom.
As a teacher, you need to decide:
Whether you are going to use ICT to further the
development of student ICT capability;
If ICT will be used to support the learning of the
subject context, or;
A combination of the first two points and that is that
the use of ICT in the classroom will be to develop
student ICT capability and support the learning of the
subject context.
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Higher-order skills
Concepts
Follow a simple
plan for solution.
Level 2
Finding solutions or
answers to
questions.
Level 3
Generating ideas
and plan solutions.
Level 1
Techniques
There are no
techniques as this is
an exploratory
stage.
The techniques
used go beyond the
above e.g.
Experiment with
ICT.
Create and modify
simple digital
solutions.
Routines
These techniques
are carried out in a
fluent manner.
Table 3. Creating with ICT at Levels 1,2 and 3 (Adapted from Potter et.al., 2005, 31)
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Techniques
expected
outcomes
demonstrating
successful learning will include: images imported and
positioned appropriately in the text; text entered,
formatted with a range of styles to make the story easy to
read.
Concepts (key ideas) expected outcomes demonstrating
successful learning will include: clear expectations as to
how text and images can be used to communicate an
episode or event in a story and reasoned justification for
the layout of the page.
Higher-order choice expected outcomes demonstrating
successful learning will include: appropriate image/s
selected for a page; appropriate styles used to convey
meaning with explanation as to why the styles have been
chosen.
Remember that the evidence required will depend upon
the learning objectives for a given activity. During your
planning stages, you will need to consider how the
students will produce such evidence for their learning.
3. Gather the evidence
There are various methods that are best suited to
gathering evidence when assessing ICT capabilities. The
most useful of these methods are that of observation
(Higgins et al., 2004; Allen et al., 2012). As Higgins et al.
(2004) points out, assessment is a continuous part of the
teaching process. Many ICT activities and tasks can be
observed while students are doing so and this allows
teachers to be able to observe the development of
capabilities. According to Bennett et al. (2007), there are
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Structured Observation
A structured observation can be carried out in the
following ways:
Observe the whole class to gain an overview of its
progress.
Observe a different group closely each week to
gather more detailed information on individual
attainment.
Target your observations on particular skills.
Location:
Where are the sockets?
Does the screen reflect unwanted light?
Is the computer going to distract other children?
Is the furniture appropriate?
Software:
What ICT activities will the children be doing?
Do you have the relevant license to install the
software?
How and when the children will use it?
Who will use the rota system?
Will they use it as continuous resource?
Will it be used for teaching?
Who will maintain and manage the computer?
Who will replenish consumables (e.g. paper and ink
cartridges)?
How and where the children save their work?
Who will start up and shut the computer?
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Conclusion
The development of student ICT capability is imperative
in primary education as it sets the foundations for further
development in later schooling and beyond. It is important
that teachers understand that ICT capability is more than
just techniques but a set of components that together
make up the capability. In addition, effective assessment
of this general capability in the Australian Curriculum is
vital so to ensure that progression is maintained as well
as passing on meaningful information to parents.
As a 21st century skill embedded in the curriculum, the
Australian Curriculum aims to ensure that students make
the most of the technologies that are available to them
whilst limiting the risk it may bring to themselves or to
others. This is important in a knowledge-based society
where ICT has become part of our home, social and work
life. The ability to be empowered by technological
developments is and will be the key to the future success
of students in the economy.
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References
ACARA. (2015, February 26). General Capabilities. Retrieved from Australian Curriculum:
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/generalcapabilities/overview/general-capabilities-in-the-australiancurriculum
ACARA. (2015, March 3). Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Capability. Retrieved from Introduction:
<http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/information-and-communication-technologycapability/introduction/introduction
ACARA. (2015, March 4). Introduction. Retrieved from Information and Communicaiton Tehnology (ICT) capability:
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/generalcapabilities/information-and-communication-technologycapability/introduction/introduction
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