2002/2003 CeNTRE Research Seminar Programme

Special relationships between ICT and Subject Disciplines (Part 2)

 

ICT and Religions Education - Charting a New Landscape	Carolyn Reade, St Martin's College
Tuesday 13 May 2003

This seminar will explore the relationship between ICT and religious education. Classroom examples will illustrate the ways in which ICT impacts on the pedagogies of RE and how ICT may shape future approaches. We will also explore the ways in which ICT is shifting the whole landscape of the subject itself and question what implications this has for redefining the RE of the future.

 

Language teachers and the evaluation of CALL and WELL materials	Liam Murray, Univeristy of Limerick
Tuesday11 March 2003

This seminar will focus on the evaluation of CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning) and WELL (Web Enhanced Language Learning) software. It is aimed at in-service Secondary and trainee teachers of a second or foreign language who are intending, through choice or obligation, to investigate the possible uses and integration of these types of software into their respective curricula. With the rising tide of Web-based CALL materials of both a dedicated and coincidental nature, MFL teachers must be provided with the appropriate evaluative tools so that they may decide to accept or reject these putative materials with sound justification. Despite the recent criticisms of checklist criteria the presenter argues in favour of the strict use of guidelines based on a solid theoretical background. These essential guidelines are offered in order to enable both the experienced as well as the novice CALL/WELL practitioner to decide upon those kinds of software which would be most appropriate to their particular teaching environment and teaching methodology.

History and ICT: A package with huge potential	Ben Walsh, Stafford College of Education
Tuesday 4 February 2003

History is an information-based subject which has gained a reputation in recent years for effective teaching and rigorous application of information skills. ICT presents the history teacher with enormous possibilities to access new information, but above all to interpret and present information in new forms. There is a hitch, however. Many history teachers are unaware of what ICT can do for them, while many ICT specialists are equally unaware of what happens in history lessons and how the historians can provide exciting contexts for the use of ICT. This talk will try to examine both perspectives within a framework of practical and realistic activities.

The peculiarities of teaching ICT as a subject: a study of trainee and new ICT teachers in secondary schools	Michael Hammond, CeNTRE University of Warwick
Tuesday 3 December 2002

This seminar looks at teaching ICT as a subject in secondary schools in England and Wales. In particular it reports on the backgrounds of new ICT teachers, their experiences in school and their conception of ICT as a subject. While there is a huge literature on the use of ICT in school there has been very little written on the teaching of ICT as a subject. This has given rise to misconceptions about the nature of the subject and about the challenges and dilemmas facing ICT teachers. The seminar raises particular issues about the teaching of ICT and more general issues surrounding curriculum change in schools.