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 The
U.S. is experiencing a crisis in education. A third of
students in K-12 educational systems do not finish high
school. An inadequate fraction of those who do are entering
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
fields.
Many of our nation’s scientists, technical workers, engineers
and mathematicians are nearing retirement. We need to replace
them in our workforce, and we need to significantly expand our
STEM workforce to be competitive in global innovation,
information and knowledge economies.
ICT fields are generally STEM fields. How do we do a better
job exposing students to ICT and attracting them into ICT
academic careers in K-12 education? K-12 students are often
savvy users of ICT at early ages. How do we better integrate
ICT into K-12 teaching and learning experiences to keep their
attention, appeal to their learning styles and keep them in
school? How can we build better ICT pathways from K-12 systems
into colleges and universities? These are among the issues of
ICT education in K-12 schools.
Attracting and Communicating With K-12 Students About ICT:
WGBH in Boston, together with the Association for Computing
Machinery (ACM) have produced a report called
New Image for Computing, which surveyed K-12 students for
their perceptions and values related to Computer Science and
provides valuable market research about messaging to appeal to
K-12 students. We need to seriously communicate with kids
about what ICT is and the impacts and opportunities in ICT for
them, and we need to give them exciting experiences using and
developing their understanding of ICT technologies.
K-12 Faculty Development in ICT:
One reason many kids are turned off by STEM and ICT fields is
their teachers do not understand, are not comfortable with or
do not like those fields. We need to develop K-12 teachers who
are competent with ICT and like and use it. Their modeling and
enthusiasm is a major factor on student decisions about what
they like and want to pursue.
K-12 Counselor Assistance for ICT:
Many K-12 student and college counselors are confused by ICT
and are not sure how to best advise students about ICT. Fair
enough. ICT is confusing. We can do a better job teaching
counselors about ICT and ICT educational and career pathways,
and we can give them tools to improve their ICT related
counseling efforts.
K-12 ICT Curriculum and Resource Development:
It is difficult to develop and deliver successful ICT courses
and modules in K-12 schools. We could help by producing and
teaching teachers to deliver those materials - and giving or
loaning them equipment needed to give students real
experiences with ICT technologies.
K-12 ICT Standards:
Some schools have ICT related academic standards. For example,
California has
7th – 12th grade CTE standards related to ICT for: 1)
Information Technology, divided into Information Support and
Services, Media Support and Services, Network Communications
and Programming, and Systems Development, and 2) the Arts,
Media, and Entertainment Industry Sector. California has also
developed a tool called
CTE Online which can be used to help K-12 teachers develop
and meet requirements for ICT related course offerings. Most
college faculty are not familiar with high school ICT related
standards and therefore do not always align college curriculum
well with K-12 curriculum. Increasing alignment of ICT related
standards and curriculum throughout our educational system
would improve ICT competencies and make acquiring ICT
knowledge and skills more efficient and reliable throughout
our educational and workforce systems.
K-12 Articulation and Transfer:
There is an enormous opportunity to improve ICT education by
better aligning K-12 and college ICT related curriculum and
developing clear articulation pathways from K-12 schools into
college. We need better coordination between high school ICT
related offerings and those in colleges. California has
developed a tool called
California CTE Pathways to assist with those efforts.
Similar tools exist for
Oregon and
Hawaii. Those tools are only as good as the information
they contain, however. Let’s collaborate between K-12 schools
and colleges to build better ICT academic pathways. Increasing
ICT dual enrollment courses and working together on curriculum
development is a particularly powerful opportunity!
MPICT and its Regional Partner Ohlone College are working on
these issues.
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