I think it was you, Jenny, who asked about spredsheets helping accountants
to cut down on the year end closure of the accounts ... new computer, much
fiddling, a few lost messages ...
Purely fortuitously, I came across an article on this very topic in the CFO
magazine from the USA. It makes interesting reading and shows that despite
everyone's best intentions, not a vast amount of progress has been made at
very large companies: small companies can be an entirely different kettle of
fish, of course.
Anyway, here's the complete article by Janet Kersnar
http://www.cfo.com/article/1,5309,7884|||3,00.html;
and here's my summary of that article if you don't have the energy to wade
through all 1800 words or so: www.duncanwil.co.uk/Weblog/blogindex.html
(only 567 words!)
Similarly fortuitously, I stumbled across a web link last night relating to
the Israeli study that Chris Rodda flagged for us: the good old BBC,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/education/2368013.stm?ID=6, had a report on it
and a few other issues. Moreover, the BBC page has some excellent links to a
vast array of information. However, if you are looking for honest to
goodness, down to earth advice on the whole range of how to implement ICT,
what students and teachers can get out of it, you'll need to spend hours and
hours on line to read and digest what's available. i didn't find anything
that summarised the situation and I found it difficult to find off the peg
resources that we might be looking for to solve all of our problems. Still,
there's a lot going on!
Duncan Williamson
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jenny Wales" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, November 04, 2002 8:43 AM
Subject: Re: IT in schools
> Hi
>
> Sounds like people need something more than NOF training.
>
> I'm not sure that we really have the existing resources under control but
> when used effectively students seem to respond well and the gains seem
> obvious. I still remember using one of the ancient Computers in the
> Curriculum products on marginal utility - Steve Hurd will remember it
well.
> One girl who had failed to grasp the concept, despite the most careful
> explanation, sat in front of the computer and suddenly let out a shriek of
> delight - the penny had dropped! People learn in different ways so we need
> to work out how to take this into account.
>
> As new technology continues to hit classrooms, everyone continues to need
> help to work out how to teach with it most effectively. Interactive
> whiteboards, for example, are starting to become quite common so there is
a
> need for subject specific ideas about how to use them to help students to
> learn.
>
> Jenny
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "richard.bowett" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, November 03, 2002 7:01 PM
> Subject: Re: IT in schools
>
>
> > There is no doubt that IT can be a massive waste of time and money. It
> can
> > also be, as the research suggests, an actual barrier to learning. As I
> see
> > it, one of the main problems is that of INSET. When a school proudly
> > unveils its latest hardware or software acquisition, staff are given
INSET
> > on how to operate the new system. Very rarely is the question raised as
> to
> > how the new system, however expertly operated, actually contributes to
> > learning, and therefore how it should be used as a teaching tool.
> >
> > This is a subtle and difficult question. There is one range of issues
as
> to
> > which kinds of topics/lessons a particular piece of apparatus or an
> > application is best suited. As Duncan points out, there is a range of
> > business topics which seem well handled by spread-sheets.
> >
> > But there is a further range of issues which is even more rarely
> discussed.
> > Information, and therefore learning is mediated by the means of
> > communication. We all use language a lot, and are therefore familiar
with
> > the ways in which language mediates the learning in question. For
> example,
> > students with weak language skills find that so much of their cognitive
> > processing is given over to the task of decoding the language that there
> is
> > very little left for learning the lesson in question. Similarly, IT
> > mediates the information in different ways that I for one don't fully
> > understand, and I would only claim to be a step ahead insofar as I am
> aware
> > that there is a question in need of an answer. The affective is prior
to
> > the cognitive, and we are all aware how the feelings about IT
experienced
> > by the technophobic student can form a barrier to learning. But that is
> > only one of a possible range of affective responses to the use of IT.
But
> > what the cognitive consequences are is a further question. For example,
> for
> > all that many web-pages look like book pages, the web 'packages'
> information
> > in very different ways to books and libraries. How does this affect
> > learning? Does it make it easier, or more difficult, or just different?
> If
> > so, what are the differences, and how are they best catered for?
> >
> > I welcome any thoughts on this matter.
> >
> > Richard Bowett
> >
> >
>
>
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