Reading+Two+-+A

 The growth of enterprise pedagogy: How ICT policy is infected by Neo-liberalism. By Mark Brown Tuesday 3.30pm Workshop: Amii, Rachel, Kim, Micheal, Ben, Brooke and Ireene Philips (GDE Online group)

a) Funding
 Schools need to make strong cases when applying for funding to Government authorities for the implementation of ICT support. More information about how the National funding for education is implemented can be found [|here.] - Matt GDE

b)Maintenance
 Staff to adequately and continuously monitor the ICT system and software. In addition to this, it must be ensured that appropriate virus protetection programs are protecting the sytem and that particular websites (Pornographic websites, Facebook, Myspace etc) are blocked to protect students and keep them from being distracted whist using the computers during classtime.

2. Teacher Skills and development
Teachers/Staff must be adequately updated on the available and effective uses of technology that exist. Knowledge and understanding of these technologies remain a steppng stone to the implementation of meaningful and interesting student learning. Teacher competancy is a vital aspect. You cannot expect a teacher to lead a class in a digital activity when they themselve are not a hundred percent sure of they are supposed to do. More attention needs to be made to these aspects in the Australian classroom.

3. Implementation of effective ICT structures.
A good ICT structure/system reduces frustration with staff and students by giving them confidence when using them in the classroom.

So far, everyone know that teachers/staff need to learn and be the leader in ICT so they can be able to teach their students at school. This is a good idea for those who are teaching. But how about us who are learning to be teachers. Shouldn't our University be able to teach us all the ICTs we need to learn. Apart from making a blog and a webquest, students at University should also be trained to master of smartboard and the use of intranet as in real high school. Shouldn't we have advance ICT knowledge in our resume to look for jobs.


===Apply this reading to what you have seen or might see occurring in schools currently . === Resource availability: From our group we have had mixed experiences with ICT availability in the classroom. Three of us had Smartboards implemented in almost all of our classroom in our prac schools. One person had one smartboard to accommodate 7 classes, the other two members had no access to any smartboards or associated hardwares. Funding issues with schools in low economic areas have proven to be an obstacle to offering all students an equal opportunity to engage with ICT. The lack of implementation of knowledgeable ICT staff within schools to maintain the upkeep of the computer systems has resulted in many schools abandoning their efforts at improving their students access to meaningful Technology learning. Knowledgeable Staff with adequate ongoing support would greatly improve teacher motivation for using ICT pedagogy as an integral part of their teaching. Bottom line- It is not useful to implement a system unless the teachers know how to support new ideas and implement new ones. Effective ICT structures support both staff and students by decreasing frustration and providing sound teaching tools for students to engage with. Many schools do not have staff that are adequately qualified to implement these structures into their school. Though the process is lengthy and costly in many cases, the need for adequate ICT is far more important in terms of students being able to engage in today's current literacy trends. Once these 3 areas are met to a reasonable extent, the knowledge and implementation of ICT will become much easier to access.

The practicum school I was at, had only two smart-boards which were used only by staff members that felt confident with the technology and were able to integrate it within their lessons. The reason for it only having very few of this technology may be due to lack of funding but also its limited use for lessons, as teachers are not developing their skills and knowledge to make use of it. However, the school has implemented the Notebook for students in Year 10, where every student is issued with a school notebook for classroom purposes. However the lack of implementation in lessons and again, very few teachers taking advantage of this technology has shown very little implications or positive repercussions of such technology.

Irene Philips - 2/6/09