On Tue, 5 Aug 2003 13:58:25 +0100 (BST) James Edward John Taylor J.E.Taylor@uea.ac.uk wrote:
Should we be pestering examination boards to put "installation and configuring and familiariastion of different platforms" onto their sylabus.
Not a hope, I fear. ICT ("Information and Communications Technology") at school level means "learning how to do stuff by pointing and clicking in Windows", in practice. It's basically the equivalent of teaching ironing in "Domestic Science" (whatever that's called these days, oh, yes, "Home Economics" comes to mind).
But dont we produce people who at 16 years old can actually surivive in the real world? I mean I learnt how to cook in those lessons, my mother didnt teach me, i went to uni armed with only what I had learnt in those lessons which i hadnt used for four years (through gcse and alevels) and i survived (only just) but i survived.
I have always liked Ted`s perspective that education is about learning transferable skills. I guess its the mathematician in him. After all this is one of the MOST transferable skills. ICT will I expect not be worth a penny in 10 years time but my Maths at GCSE, A level has been invaluable in science, and in life.
I feel a better thing to do in ICT classes would be the history of computing, how a program works in conventional languages and some information on the theory behind a computer.
Feynman Lectures on Computation would be a good place to start for anyone creating the sylabus as that information has not changed in years.
Feynman Lectures on Computation by Richard P. Feynman, Robin W. Allen, Tony Hey, Anthony J. G. Hey
And this book also as the basis of what they should teach
Structured Computer Organization, A. S. Tanenbaum,
As this has not changed in years either. Computers are in many ways unchanged in the past 20-30 years, Its just the user interfaces which keep changing, and that is annoying as you have to learn the new interface. I advocate teaching children lessons at school that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
Decent Computer Science courses at University expose students to Unix systems and teach how to use and manage them. This is advantageous in studying Computing scientifically because you can get into the system and actually see what's going on, and play with it. You can learn the principles of how computers work better on Unix systems precisely because the bottom level is accesible and you can see where you are.
hahaha computer science at university hahahaha
I have found my computer science education invaluable and has helped me talk the same language as my colleagues. It really shows when people haven't trained at University in computer science, if they design big projects.
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I strongly advocate user mode Linux as a great learning tool as breaking a Virtual Machine, still leaves you with editing facilities. eg cut and paste.
Regards
Owen