The recent SETT Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow was a wonderful example of what happens when learning and teaching lead the technology (www.sett.co.uk). This approach ought to be obvious, but unfortunately it isn’t.
Which is why it’s so good to see the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority carefully move the curriculum on and, in so doing, challenge the technologists to support the learning (Martin Ripley p10). If the QCA is only partially successful in its intentions, we’ll see some of the transformation that technologists love to talk about but rarely breathe life into. Anyone interested in a future curriculum should keep a watchful eye on its Futures programme (www.qca.org.ukfutures).
Teachers don’t have to wait for institutional and political change to enjoy the transformations to their practice that ict can enable. Just take a look at the teachers involved in Becta’s ICT in Practice Awards (p17) and music teacher Marcel Pusey (p16) who co-authored the remarkably original O-Generator software, just when we thought we had seen the peaks with music technology. If this month’s Online has whetted your appetite for ICT and change, don’t forget to visit our website for our bonus coverage - www.tes.co.ukonline.
