Reading+Two+-+C

 The growth of enterprise pedagogy: How ICT policy is infected by Neo-liberalism. By Mark Brown by Melinda, Michelle and Elise

Questions: How can schools improve ICT being taught in NSW? -Increase funding for schools to purchase ICT and programs The need for all students in NSW to have adequate computer access and subsequent software to be used to promote learning is an undeniable fact. In today's world to not have this access and to not have learnt rudimentary technology skills is a failure on the education system as much as an inability of a student to read or write. Thus funding needs to be made available to achieve this goal. -Teacher and student training It appears to me as an outsider coming into the school enviroment that a lot of teachers are "not overly enthusiastic" adopters of technology. This is completely understandable for professionals who have been completing the task of education students sucessfully for decades.It is also apparent in many other employment fields that this attitude is also in place. The need for teacher training in embracing technology is paramount and the emphahsis needs to be in that direction rather than student training. -Relevant and up-to-date technologies

Apply this reading to what you have seen or might see occurring in schools currently. Techonolgy availablility in schools:

I have limited experience in seeing technology in schools. My only observation from my prac was that there is a big divide between those who are enarmoured of technology and its use in schools and those who use it grudgingly. It appears to me that the middle ground of its use is not well populated. The teachers that are very enthusiastic are almost evangelical in their praise. Ti my mind I think that resources in training will fill up this middle ground as it should. The article makes a very salient point, in that content has always been the domain and passion of teachers in educating students. Technology introduction on the other hand he argues has been about the hardware rather than the learning experience. This needs to change and change will come as technology is used more and more. (Paul Darwell 18.05.09)

When I was on my prac I had the opportunity to sit in a staff meeting where there was a presentation on Moodle- a school based web system and several teachers spoke on how they were using it in their classes. It was very positive and many questions were asked and the general feeling was that teachers were keen to incorporate it into their classes. I feel that with the upcoming distribution of laptops in high school this year the teachers feel that they need teacher training in IT to keep ahead of the studnets. (Bronwyn Suzuki 26/05/09)

My experience of technology in the school where I have been doing my practical is varied. Firstly, they made it a priority (and realised this desire) to install a computer and projection screen in every conventional classroom in the school. I say conventional as there are some specialised rooms, like the drama room, where they have failed to realise their goal of installing a computer/ projection duo. This, I think is a positive, as it gives almost all the teachers the ability to integrate at least some ICT into the classroom. How effectively I have seen it be used varies enormously. Some teachers attempt to incorporate it, fumbling their way through its use with no real idea of how to use the technology they are dealing with. Probably the most effective example of using a simple technology was a teacher who wrote a few sentences in large font on a word document, which was projected onto the whiteboard, for students to use as their instruction. When a student asked a question that raised an ambiguity with the instructions, the teacher simply added an extra word into the document. As the teacher pointed out to me, there was no worry about the students being able to read his handwriting (something which I must admit I am a little worried about). Using ICT in this way also helped that teacher become more familiar and confident with the concept of ICT as a whole. (Jeremy Ward, 05/06/09).