The Door is Now Open...

National Curriculum  for ICT KS3, QCA,  July 2007

In case anyone is still in any doubt, the door is open now for real creative, effective and appropriate use of ICT for learning in schools in England and Wales.  I am on the 7:20 from Leeds to Kings Cross, benefiting from the, (at times flaky), wifi, I have  just downloaded  and, quickly,  looked at the latest Keystage 3 & 4; National Curriculum Programmes of Study, (thanks to Shropshire for the link). Reading  this is like a breath of fresh air, real life contexts, using ICT to learn, share communicate and build knowledge; with no mention of specific software packages, or pointless scenarios for sham software practice.

Here are a just few snippets that caught my eye:

(explore and use) new ICT tools as they become available.

(explore) the ways that ICT can be used to communicate, collaborate and share ideas on a global scale, allowing people to work together in new ways and changing the way in which knowledge is created.

work creatively and collaboratively, taking different roles in teams

(use)  ICT to compress graphic, sound and video files to allow faster downloading;

take account of the source of the information to make judgements on its plausibility, accuracy, completeness, currency and reliability, and to assess bias and partiality

evaluate critically: This could include self-review, peer evaluation and user or audience feedback. Students should judge both the quality of their work and how effectively they have used ICT.

And the picture of a Mac ... well thats just an added bonus.