ICT Across the Curriculum

In my subject area specifically (English), ICT –and in this instance I am referring to computers-wasn’t used at all in the whole time I was on my placement. This consolidated the idea that a presentation on ‘ICT Across the Curriculum’ would not only benefit the education group as a whole, but would also be a real issue that all newly qualified teachers would face when commencing with their first teaching posts. We agreed in our first meeting that we would meet at a set time once a week to discuss progression within our individual sub-areas and to check for overlaps. Firstly, there was no official ICT department. ICT can also encourage pupils to use initiative and explore meaning for themselves. This was going to be a problem because as a group, we lived miles apart and had different work and social commitments. We are at the forefront of change; the government tells us to utilise ICT and lays out guidelines (albeit brief!) for us to follow. All the children signed up to the programme have had fantastic results and the remarkable thing is their motivation to learn. For many years we have been using (and have been surrounded by) information and communication technology. If I feel stimulated by a particular lesson then this will be transferred to my pupils. It is an area that affects everyone directly to some extent. Thirdly, many of the staff were wary of disrupting the flow of their lessons; they were in the not uncommon frame of mind of seeing ICT as a disruption, rather than a tool to increase learning potential. Secondly, although the computers were in place and running, there was a shortage of suitable software, leaving access limited. We all agreed that improving ICT capability is necessary for providing people with a skill ever-increasingly essential to employment. We tend to focus on the use of personal computers when talking about ICT, however we discussed alternative interpretations in great depth.