Preparing for Home Schooling ICT part 7

Spring brings more home-school ICT. This term, we’ll focus on our Raspberry Pi, and build something really cool. blog.mindrocketnow.com

From the blog, I see that the last time we did any ICT was back in last summer. The DDs lost interest as there were more exciting things to do in their summer holidays than being inside with a computer. Then winter came, and we went into hibernation. But spring has now sprung, and as the days get longer, we’re doing more.

I’ve noticed that there’s now no difference between Early Years ICT (i.e. for DD2) and ICT for DD1. Both are equally adept at the basics of user input, understanding syntax and semantics, understanding the need to translate human intentions into machine language. So I’ve decided to run the same course for each. DD1 has a longer attention span than DD2, so I may do more sessions for one than the other. We’re still going to do one-on-one time; part of the attraction for them in doing ICT at home was to get my undivided attention.

I’m going to be basing this year’s syllabus on a single source: Adventures in Raspberry Pi by Carrie Ann Philbin. It is colourful, and the language is simple, so both DDs can read through for themselves. However, the concepts quickly get complex, so they will need guidance and encouragement as we progress through the book.

Let’s see how we progress. I’ll keep you posted.

Home Schooling ICT, part 6: Communicating with presentations.

This lesson was intended to follow straight on after the previous, but family life got in the way, and there were a few weekends gap before we got round to it. This lesson relies on contrasting with the previous lesson, so I was worried that the ideas from last time wouldn’t survive the gap to be reinforced here.

Lesson 6: Communicating electronically: presentations

Objectives

·      How communicating through presentation differs from communicating through documents

·      From ideas to writing to editing

1.     Write (using pen and paper) outline for a book report presentation: How does listening differ from reading? What is the report listener interested in finding out? What are the techniques for making the presentation engaging?

2.     Refresh memory of the book report from last lesson

3.     Write (electronically) outline for book report, comprising of section headings, five-word slide summaries.

4.     Complete book report presentation

5.     Critical evaluation - Edit report comparing with outline from step 1

6.     Present to Mummy

It turns out that referring to her written notes was a very effective way for DD1 to refresh her memory of the concepts from last time. Her notes triggered some good discussion on the differences in communication types. She also improved upon the teaching points that I was trying to convey to her! She, very insightfully, wrote he key ingredients of a presentation from the viewpoint of both the listener and the presenter:

·      For the listener:

o   What is it about?

o   What do I need to know?

o   How will I remember?

·      For the presenter:

o   How do I explain it? 

I was very pleased with how much thought DD1 put into this one, and how much she got out of it. Well done DD1!

More in this series: part 5, part 7.

Home Schooling ICT, part 5: Communicating with documents.

Though DD1 is using common office applications at school, I get the sense that she still doesn’t understand the differences between them when it comes to how to communicate with others. I started this lesson by asking her to examine how the medium being used to communicate impacts upon the style.

For example, presentations are (usually) delivered, so the style is discursive, with room for participation. Documents are unaccompanied, so they must stand on their own, anticipate questions the reader might have. Both should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and both should climb the story mountain – what was the journey, what was the challenge to overcome (climb over), and what happened at the end. That last part about the story mountain is actually something she taught me, nicely illustrating that these lessons have been two-way, I’m learning too.

Lesson 5: Communicating electronically: documents

Objectives:

·       Differences between Google Docs, MS Powerpoint, and Libre Office

·       How communicating through presentation differs from communicating through documents

·       From ideas to writing to editing

1.     Write (using pen and paper) outline for a book report document: What is the report reader interested in finding out? What are the techniques for making the report engaging?

2.     Refresh memory of her current favourite book

3.     Write (electronically) outline for book report, comprising of section headings, five-word paragraph summaries.

4.     Complete book report

5.     Critical evaluation - Edit report comparing with outline from step 1

6.     Email to Mummy.

This lesson took much longer than the allotted hour, so we had to split into two parts over two lessons. The first hour-long lesson took us up to the end of step 3, the second to the end of step 6. We didn’t have time to look at the technical aspects of this lesson, comparing the different word processing tools, or emailing. But by the end of the second lesson, she had produced a well-structured, very readable book report. And didn’t overly focus on choosing the most interesting, colourful fonts.

More in this series: part 4, part 6.

Story behind e-Safety statistics, part 3: The danger of the single story

Some of the most cavilling voices decrying the harm posed by the Internet are ironically some of the most popular web sites – Daily Mail and USA Today, I’m looking at you – and so their pompous opinions are hard to avoid. That, to me, is the most interesting dichotomy of the Internet: “the Internet is harmful” vs. “the Internet is essential”

• 1.6 billion people were online by the end of 2008, equating to almost a quarter (23 per cent) of the world’s population (UN, 2010).

• Kids start watching porn from as early as the age of 6, and begin flirting on the Internet from the age of 8. (USA Today, May 2013)

Is the Internet a danger to our children, or does it represent the third industrial revolution? As with most stories, we will probably not learn from the truth from a single narrative. So let’s examine a couple, and see if we can reconcile them.

Let’s start with: what are the concerns that people have regarding the Internet?

• Privacy topped the concerns of both teens and parents about the negative consequences of online activity: 67% of teens reported this concern alongside 51% of parents, a perception gap of 16%. (Family Online Safety Institute, October 2012)

• 79% of parents are concerned of their teen’s exposure to harmful content, versus 53% of teens, a perception gap of 26%. (Family Online Safety Institute, October 2012)

• 78% of parents are concerned of their teen’s exposure from online posts, versus 59% of teens, a perception gap of 19%. (Family Online Safety Institute, October 2012)

So we already see a difference in what adults see as the key danger, and what children see. What’s the reality?

• [In 2011] 13% of UK 9-16 year olds said they had been bothered or upset by something online in the past year. (EU, 2012)

• In 2012, 30% of children and young people aged 7-16 who use the Internet reported knowing someone who had nasty, unkind or untrue comments posted about them on social media, whilst 18% knew someone who had posted comments like these. 11% had these sorts of comments posted about them, and 4% admitted to posting comments like this themselves. (Childwise, May 2013)

The reality is that the unsavoury side of the Internet isn’t far away. Actually, “unsavoury” is a euphemism that doesn’t help our understanding. I think we have to look a little at the unvarnished reality. I personally find the following stats quite upsetting:

• 11% of UK children aged 9-16 years old have encountered sexual images on the Internet, and 2% have seen violent sexual images all in the past 12 months. (EU, 2012)

• 12% of UK 11-16 year olds have received sexual messages and 4% have sent sexual messages via the Internet. (EU, 2012)

• In 2011-12, the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre received a total of 16,550 reports, an average of 1,300 per month. (CEOP, 2012)

• Almost 22% of reports received by CEOP from industry in 2011-12 related to the distribution of self-generated indecent imagery, almost a third of which was produced by children under the age of 15 years. (CEOP, 2012)

The harm that faces children isn’t just from an unknown, faceless bogeyman, but from other children as well.

So we’re vindicated in our mistrust of the Internet? Yes, it clearly can be a dangerous place online, but there is another story told in the stats:

• Telephone or video calls over the Internet were made by 32% of adults in 2012, double the 2009 estimate of 16%, and four times higher than the 2007 estimate of 8%. (ONS, November 2012)

• Instant messaging on chat apps, such as WhatsApp, has overtaken the traditional SMS text message for the first time. Almost 19 billion messages were sent per day on chat apps in 2012, compared with 17.6 billion SMS texts. (Informa, April 2013)

We use the Internet all the time, and it has become indispensible to what we do most naturally – communicate. It has also become indispensible to what most others want us to do – spend money:

• E-commerce sales represented 19% of Annual Business Survey (ABS) total turnover in 2011, up from 18% in 2010. (ONS, November 2012)

• Website sales represented 5.0% of total turnover in 2011, up from 4.6% in 2010. (ONS, November 2012)

• The 50 billionth [iOS] app — Say the Same Thing — was downloaded from the [Apple] App Store by Brandon Ashmore of Mentor, Ohio, USA [on 15^th May 2013]. As the grand prize winner, Brandon will receive a US$10,000 App Store Gift Card. (Apple, May 2013)

Admittedly, we hope that our children will be more than the future of consumers. The Internet is already critical in how all businesses do business:

• In 2011, 93% of businesses had broadband Internet and 81% had a website. (ONS, November 2012)

• Over half of businesses (56%) provided at least one member of staff with a ‘portable device’, such as a portable computer, smartphone or personal digital assistant (PDA). (ONS, November 2012)

If we emphasise the dangers over the benefits, I think we do our children a disservice. As the Byron report said, we have to move the discussion on from the Internet causing “harm”. We have to equip our children with the critical evaluation skills to understand and manage the risks. In other words, we need to help them develop a strong online moral compass, as we should do for all aspects of their lives.

More in this series: part 2.