Implementing Computer Technology in Education in Australia
Implementing Computer Technology in Education in Australia
A discussion paper from the Australian Computer Society and the Australian Council for Computers in Education
Computers in schools are now commonplace. However, in the mid-1990's, there are some significant factors influencing their use in Australian schools. Some of these factors are:
1. Continuing developments in information technology (IT) are likely to lead to radical change in all education sectors.
2. Substantial strategic planning at all levels is necessary to anticipate this, and to prepare the people involved for substantial change.
3. Traditional education systems will face increasing competition from global mass media, information technology in the home, and open learning alternatives.
4. Articulation into vocational and academic tertiary sectors is being restructured. Students' skills with information technology are being emphasised as part of this process.
5. Some of the curriculum changes implied by the Statements and Profiles for Australian schools are being implemented using information technology .
6. The Hobart Declaration on Schooling contained a commitment to develop in students the 'skills of information processing and computing' which has been largely unfulfilled.
Given these factors, schools may need to revisit their computer policy statements. Therefore, this paper aims to give educational decision makers and computer co-ordinators a framework for the development of revised policies. Where computer professionals are advising schools, this paper may give a curriculum focus to proposed changes in IT resource provision.
Introduction
This discussion paper does not attempt to forecast the demise of schooling, undermined by education delivered through wireless interactive hyper/multi-media. However realistic such a vision might be with current technology, education systems are large and have considerable inertia, especially in respect of installed capital equipment and current skills base.
This discussion paper does attempt to map out patterns of development for computers in schools. It identifies the perspective of information technology in the technology curriculum for Australian schools. The paper then suggests a framework for thinking about its use in all curriculum areas, as a precursor to radical change in education systems.
The development of computers in education
In the Hobart Declaration on the common and agreed goals for schooling in Australia, Ministers for Education included an aim to develop in students:
"Skills of information processing and computing."
The Curriculum Corporation has now published the Statements and Profiles for the eight main areas of the curriculum for Australian Schools. The Technology...