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Integrating ICT Capability

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Students live in a rapidly changing technological world. Information and communication technology (ICT), including hardware and personal digital devices, software, and systems that manage, store, process, create, produce and communicate information, has become an important part of everyday life. The integration of ICT capabilities in teaching, learning and assessment in NSW syllabuses can lead to enhanced outcomes for students, and:

  • support the interactive process of teaching, learning and assessment in NSW schools
  • develop the knowledge, skills, understanding, attitudes and behaviours to assist students to live and work successfully in the future.

Integrating ICT

The integration of ICT across the curriculum provides opportunities for all students to develop their skills to become competent, discriminating, productive, creative and ethical users of ICT.

The ICT capability in all the syllabuses describe opportunities to authentically:

  • integrate ICT in teaching and learning
  • incorporate digital citizenship when considering the ethical and social impacts of using technologies
  • plan and explicitly teach in all subject areas
  • enable students to develop knowledge, understanding and skills about ICT related to their areas of interest.

Teachers may also identify additional opportunities for students to learn about ICT.

Explicit teaching of the knowledge, understanding and skills of Digital Technologies appears in the Science and Technology K–6 and Technology Mandatory Years 7–8 Syllabuses. The ICT capability enables students to become effective users of information and communication technologies. Digital Technologies is distinguished by providing students with the skills to become confident developers of digital solutions.

The role of ICT in teaching, learning and assessment

The integration of ICT can support a range of teaching, learning and assessment approaches that:

  • enhance learning opportunities through access to a range of resources, stimulus materials and learning tools
  • provide increased opportunities for student engagement and motivation
  • equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills to use ICT effectively
  • support the development of effective student research and evaluation skills
  • promote critical and creative thinking skills
  • increase teacher and student efficiency
  • develop awareness of the public nature of online activity and related responsibilities
  • increase opportunities to work collaboratively, locally, nationally and globally.

The development of ICT knowledge, understanding and skills in NSW syllabuses

Students can learn to use ICT effectively and appropriately when investigating, creating, managing and communicating ideas and information.

Students should be encouraged to develop analytical, organisational and problem-solving skills to adapt to and manage:

  • new developments in ICT and related technologies
  • expanding access to digital information
  • increased connectedness to data and information.

NSW syllabuses provide opportunities for students to:

  • locate, access and verify the integrity of data and information when investigating and researching
  • gather and process information from a variety of sources, and identify new paths for inquiry
  • generate ideas, plans and processes to create solutions
  • represent and model ideas, information and thinking in a variety of ways
  • apply understanding across a range of contexts
  • use a range of tools effectively and appropriately to investigate, make decisions and solve problems
  • manage and operate ICT ethically and appropriately to investigate, create and communicate
  • develop confidence in the use of ICT
  • evaluate interactions within a digital environment
  • take ownership of their learning.

Responsible use of ICT

How ICT is used, and the impact of ICT on individuals, groups, local and global communities and organisations, is an important factor in teaching, learning and assessment.

Practices underpinning the responsible use of ICT include:

  • respect for and appreciation of the transferability of the knowledge, understanding and skills from one ICT environment to another; for example, from school to community
  • balance in the use of ICT to support contemporary learning and living
  • appreciation of the rapidly expanding and dynamic nature of ICT
  • appreciation of the importance and value of individual responsibility and actions
  • respect for, and appreciation of, social and ethical protocols and practices
  • appreciation of the public nature of most online activities and the potential impact on others, including limiting the risks to one’s self and others in a digital environment
  • the effect ICT use has on their digital footprint.

Teachers continue to have a central role in teaching students to use ICT strategically to optimise their learning, and promote opportunities through connectedness and digital media. Teachers should evaluate the suitability of ICTs, including particular ICT use, and consider how this may vary based on the:

  • syllabus outcome(s) and content being addressed
  • development of knowledge, understanding and skills
  • learning and assessment activity
  • level of expertise of the students
  • availability of digital technologies and peripherals
  • accessibility to materials, including a range of devices and applications
  • appropriateness of the ICT tool to enhance teaching and learning.

Applying ICT

When planning, teachers may consider the application of a range of ICT tools, strategies and resources to support teaching, learning and assessment.

The ICT capability is explicitly addressed in each syllabus:

English

ICT Capability in English

The study of English enables students to develop and apply knowledge, understanding and skills of ICT in their composing, responding and presenting, and as part of the imaginative and critical thinking they undertake in English.

Students have the opportunity to become competent, discriminating and creative users of ICT as they learn to use ICT effectively and appropriately when investigating, creating and communicating ideas and information. Students will learn about the ethics of information communication through technology.

Mathematics

ICT Capability in Mathematics

Information and communication technology (ICT) includes digital technologies such as calculators, spreadsheets, dynamic geometry software, and computer algebra and graphing software. Students use ICT effectively and appropriately when investigating, creating and communicating ideas and information, including in representing mathematics in a variety of ways to aid understanding. ICT can be used by students to solve problems and to perform previously onerous tasks more readily.

In the Number and Algebra strand in the NSW K–10 Mathematics curriculum, students can use ICT in such topic areas as creating patterns, creating and interpreting graphs, investigating compound interest, and solving equations graphically. In the Measurement and Geometry strand of the curriculum, students can utilise ICT in such areas as exploring properties of angles and shapes, including symmetry; creating designs that involve shapes and transformations; representing, visualising and manipulating three-dimensional objects; investigating congruency and similarity; representing position and paths; making informal measures of length and area; and developing formulas for perimeter and area. In the Statistics and Probability strand, students can use ICT in such areas as recording and displaying data in various forms, comparing data sets, calculating measures of location and spread, modelling probability experiments, and using the internet to gather and analyse data presented by the media.

Science and Technology

ICT Capability in Science and Technology K–6

Students have opportunities to develop ICT capability when they develop design ideas and solutions, research scientific concepts and applications, investigate scientific phenomena, and communicate their scientific and technological understandings. Students access information enabling them to communicate scientific and technological ideas. They collect and analyse and, where appropriate, model and interpret concepts and relationships. Digital technologies, through animations and simulations, provide opportunities to view phenomena, test predictions and visualise designs that cannot be investigated or produced through practical experiences in the classroom and may enhance students' understanding and engagement with science and technology.

Science 7–10

Information and communication technology (ICT) can be used effectively and appropriately to access, create and communicate information and ideas, solve problems and work collaboratively. The Science Years 7–10 Syllabus provides students with opportunities to develop ICT capability when they develop design ideas and solutions, research science concepts and applications, investigate science phenomena, and communicate their scientific and technological understandings. In particular they learn to access information, collect, analyse and represent data, model and interpret concepts and relationships, and communicate scientific and technological ideas, processes and information. Digital technologies and aids, such as animations and simulations, provide opportunities to view phenomena and test predictions that cannot be investigated through practical experiences in the classroom, and may enhance students’ understanding and engagement with science and technology.

Technology Mandatory Years 7–8

Students engage with information and communication technology (ICT) when they develop design ideas and solutions, solve problems, collaborate online and communicate information and ideas. ICT, through animations and simulations, provides opportunities to view phenomena, test predictions and visualise designs that cannot be investigated or produced through practical experiences in the classroom, and may enhance students' understanding and engagement with technology.

History

ICT Capability in History K–10

Students develop ICT competence as they learn to use ICT effectively and appropriately when investigating, creating and communicating ideas and information at school, at home, at work and in their communities. Competence in ICT is most evident in historical skills associated with locating, processing and communicating historical information. This includes the use of information technologies to access a growing range of digitised online materials; spreadsheets and databases for analysing evidence and historical trends; digital technologies to create, publish and present their learning; communication technologies, for example wikis and blogs, to enhance students' analytical thinking capabilities in their study of history and online forums and videoconferencing to discuss and debate ideas.

Geography

ICT Capability in Geography K–10

Students develop ICT capability by maximising use of the technologies available to them, adapting as technologies evolve and limiting the risks to themselves and others in a digital environment. Students locate, select, evaluate, communicate and share geographical information using digital and spatial technologies. They explore the effects of technologies on places, on the location of economic activities and on people’s lives and understand the geographical changes produced by the increasing use of technology.

PDHPE

ICT Capability in PDHPE K–10

PDHPE is well placed to develop ICT capabilities as students learn to use ICT effectively and appropriately when investigating, creating and communicating ideas and information at school, home and in their communities. In PDHPE, students use ICT tools to access and evaluate online health and physical activity information, products and services, create content, interact and seek help to manage and promote their own health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity. They explore ways to maximise their own and others’ safety in a digital environment and examine the implications of ICT in establishing and maintaining respectful relationships. Through the study of PDHPE, students are provided with opportunities to use a range of ICT tools to measure, analyse and enhance physical activity and performance.

Languages

ICT Capability in Languages K–10

Accessing live [Language] environments and texts via digital media contributes to the development of students’ ICT capabilities as well as linguistic and cultural knowledge, and extends the boundaries of the classroom. Students are provided with opportunities to maximise use of the technologies available to them, adapting as technologies evolve and limiting the risks to themselves and others in a digital environment. Students interact with [Language] speakers in online contexts, and access multimodal resources, digital environments and technologies to enhance their learning. They engage with digital texts to obtain, interpret, reorganise and present information, opinions and ideas. They can use word-processing skills to produce written texts in [Language]. They create informative and imaginative texts in digital formats, using text, sound and images, and produce bilingual resources, such as digital displays or websites, for the school community.

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