General Capabilities: ICT

The subject of my learning path at the moment (I’m a week behind!) is looking at the integration of ICTs into other subjects as defined in the Australian Curriculum.  The curriculum uses the term “General Capabilities ” to define subject/understandings that need to be incorporated into all other learning areas of the curriculum.  ICT isn’t the only one – there is also

• Literacy
• Numeracy
• Critical and creative thinking
• Personal and social capability
• Ethical understanding
• Intercultural understanding.

As someone who has worked with the Australian Curriculum since I began studying my bachelor of education, these General Capabilities have come up frequently.  I genuinely appreciate their inclusion in the curriculum, and am enthusiastic about what this means for teaching programs.  Unfortunately it’s my experience in prac, that many educators aren’t aware of the importance of these general capabilities.  These are underlying priorities that should be thought about at various stages of planning for teaching/learning.

The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA 2008) sets out a very distinct goal that students should “be supported to become successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens”.  The general capabilities works towards this goal.  There is a lot to think about as an educator, and organising the flow of all these priorities is a challenge.  Here’s a graphic I have made that represents my understanding.

One of my peers, Amanda Strickland, has written a blog post that addresses the importance of using ICTs for differentiation.

Imbedding of ICTs ultimately is invaluable especially in terms of creating a learning environment that is conducive of learning for all children including those with learning difficulties whilst encompassing as many learning styles as possible.

While I have written about this before, with the above graphic in mind, the general capability of technological understanding doesn’t just apply to our lesson planning, but also differentiation.