Tag Archives: ICT literacy

Weaving the Future – Inquiry based learning & DigiTech curriculum

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On Friday, 17 March, School Library Association of Victoria conference Weaving the Future: Inquiry Learning within a Digital Curriculum will feature, Dr Mandy Lupton from QUT and Paula Christophersen formerly of VCAA.  Focus of the day will be the Digital Curriculum and the role of School Libraries can take in its implementation and execution.

Dr Mandy Lupton is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at QUT and well known to library and literacy professionals through her blog Inquiry Learning and Information Literacy.   Mandy teaches units in the Master of Education (teacher-librarianship) and has undertaken a number of research projects into inquiry learning and information literacy.  She will present a number of tools for the design of inquiry learning curriculum including questioning frameworks, process models and Mandy’s GeSTE windows model for information literacy. Delegates will have the opportunity for hands-on application and evaluation of these planning resources.  This is an opportunity to work closely with a renowned Australian information literacy specialist.

Ms Paula Christophersen (formerly of VCAA) is a familiar presenter at SLAV conferences having introduced ICT in the curriculum and general capabilities.  As a major architect of the new Victorian Digitech curriculum, Paula is the ideal person to present Ways of thinking in Digital Technologies.  Through this Paula will explore the essential features of the Victorian Digital Technologies curriculum, paying particular attention to the different ways of thinking in the curriculum, namely computational, design and systems thinking. Exploration involves teasing out the breadth and depth of content associated with this curriculum, and how meaningful connections can be made with other learning areas.  As schools seek methods of integrating the new digital curriculum into both primary and secondary schools, this session gives library staff background and understanding to support digital learning through the STEM curriculum, makerspaces, coding clubs etc.

SLAV is pleased to be starting the year with professional learning support for Victorian teacher librarians, teachers and library staff generally.   Don’t miss out.  Register here.

More thoughts on Will Richardson and Successful use of ICT in schools

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A letter in the Fairfax magazine Northern Weekly dated 24 March 2009 seems to sum up what the SLAV conference featuring Will Richardson on Monday 23 March was all about. Written by Caryl Oliver she says,

Imagine a learner who has grown up never knowing life without the internet, never being “off the air” and always able to access answers to questions the minute they arise because there is a mobile phone, wireless connection and more?

How much more do you learn if your study group is made up of learners from all over the world, connected by computing networks? Wouldn’t it be great to plunder the resources of any library, anywhere in the world?…. Mini-laptops and wireless connectivity make mobility as commonplace as current mobile phones; students no longer need to be tied to classroom, campus or even city. Learning becomes part of life because it is always there and always available.

2020? Sure, but we can have it now if we think outside the classroom and make policy and infrastructure decisions that will allow us to exploit the enormous opportunity that technology offers education.

As Will says, ‘When there’s an internet connection in a room, I’m no longer the smartest person in the room. My network can answer all of the questions I can’t answer myself.’ Thanks to my Mum for pointing Caryl’s letter out to me. Mum’s 82 but really gets what we are all trying to achieve.

While on the theme of using ICT in education, the latest Victorian Institute of Teaching digest focuses on ICT in education. Topics include:

  • Successful use of ICT in schools
  • What do we know about the ICT literacy of Australian school students?
  • Is ICT availability and use assoicated with student performance?
  • What is the evidence of the impact of ICT on learning?
  • ICTs in science classrooms
  • ICTs and learning.

Secondary ICT Web Literacy

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This Teachers TV video focuses on Web literacy in secondary schools.

ICT Web literacy video

ICT Web literacy video

The program synopsis says:

“This programme reveals the critical importance for teachers to provide guidance to their pupils when using the Internet for research.

A group of Year 9 pupils at Wortley High School in Leeds are asked to look at three websites. The subject matters are Martin Luther King, the holocaust and Victorian robots.

None of the websites are what they seem. The first two are fronts for racists and holocaust deniers. The last is a good-natured spoof. None of the pupils spot any problems with the validity, reliability or authority of the sites and many say they would cut and paste information from the sites for use in homework or other projects.

ICT expert James Green leads a lesson that reveals the truth to the pupils, passing on valuable tips on website cross-checking and validity.”

Comments left by Teachers TV subscribers are extremely positive about the usefulness of this video. It may well give you inspiration for ways of teaching Internet literacy in 2009.