BETT HapTEL video literacy and computer science #natcur
Ahead of BETT I am reminded of what I have failed to do since the last one. I find that recording video is much easier than finding time to edit and load to YouTube. Now I am allowed longer than 15 minutes it is even more complicated. I have some faster broadband but the render times seem to be getting longer. So there is still much stuff left over. And it makes me think that nothing happens all that quickly. Some of it is still current.
For example I did a short record of the dentist chair on the HapTEL stand or rather the TEL research project with the dentist chair as main feature. Fortunately they now have their own video on YouTube with reasonable lighting so all I have to do is copy the embed code.
hapTEL is shortlisted for a BETT award so there is still a connection even though there is no TEL stand.
(By the way I still think "Technology Enhanced Learning" started with print or even clay tablets. Mervyn Bragg this week on radio4 has suggested that voice story telling has been replaced. Maybe YouTube will bring it back. He could do some more programmes with extracts from BETT Radio)
There is also a video on Education Innovation, part of a discussion with BIS, the department for business and innovation that used to be the DTI.
Not sure if BIS will be there. Michael Gove will make a speech. Maybe he will comment on the National Curriculum, ICT skills and Computer Science.
The review appears to reclassify ICT with a lower priority and it is not clear how computer scince will be developed as a subject.
Information and communication technology is reclassified as part of the Basic Curriculum and requirements should be established so that it permeates all National Curriculum subjects. We have also noted the arguments, made by some respondents to the Call for Evidence,59 that there should be more widespread teaching of computer science in secondary schools. We recommend that this proposition is properly considered.
A footnote links to a report from NESTA
Transforming the UK into
the world’s leading talent
hub for the video games
and visual effects industries
this identifies an issue
...that starts with schools
The industries suffer from an education system that
doesn’t understand their needs. This is reinforced by
a school curriculum that focuses in ICT on office skills
rather than the more rigorous computer science and
programming skills which high-tech industries like
video games and visual effects need. As the curriculum
is overhauled and syllabuses are brought into line with
the most challenging in the developed world, we need
to look to places like Singapore and Finland so that the
computing and artistic skills that are vital to high-tech,
creative industries are given the impetus they need.
Maybe somewhere at BETT it will become clear how this will work out. My impression based on rumours about the London College of Communication for example is that the creative industries are still seen as humanities from a funding point of view so the budgets cover some text books, not much technology as such.
Things could always change. According to the Guardian
The Sunday Times reports that Gove is "particularly impressed by the sophisticated subjects pupils in Asia tackle in primary school". Apparently they learn "how machines work" and "how plastic is made".
(I don't subscribe to the Sunday Times itself)
The reports refer to "high performing jurisdictions" and include Japan, Korea, Canada and Singapore. One theory could be that they often have an active government policy on broadband. But enough to point out that the starting point seems to be that the UK is some way behind, maybe in the second quartile and slipping down.
As mentioned previously, the Media Development Authority of Singapore is on stand D101
Korea Digital has the Science Cube linked to a take on science.
There is no BECTA so what the UK is contributing will be explained directly by the Department.