Belmont City College
Career & Enterprise 1A/1B  2009

Development of ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) and Internet has had a massive impact on our daily lives at school, work, home, with friends and so on. This course is designed to improve your understanding of ICT and its impact and, very importantly, how to use ICT to your benefit effectively, safely and responsibly.

Some of you will bring many technical skills to this course. Your teacher may actually not have those skills, but are willing to learn them with you – yes, you will get to reverse the student/teacher roles at times. Sounds crazy? Maybe, but it shows that your teachers are demonstrating what they believe in – constant, lifelong learning and discovery.

Probably the most exciting and unique feature of this course is that we will be creating real resources, real networks and talk to real people (many of them your peers) around the country and the world using our course blog called 'Reality Check', as well as micro-blogging service called Twitter and a range of other tools. Since the entire course will be based in our Moodle you will get to know a lot about Moodle as well.
 
Each term has a particular theme – ‘Life online’, ‘Managing information’, ‘Networking’ and ‘Community’.

Below is the structure, content, and assessment items of the course. In addition to focus content, each week you will get to develop, or help others develop, a technical skill.

Please note that this is a concurrent Stage 1 (1A/1B) course in Career and Enterprise as approved by the current Curriculum Council guidelines.   

Term 1 Theme – ‘Life online’

Week (#)  
Content focus (questions)

1   
VisualCV – create your own online CV & portfolio

2   
VisualCV – create your own online CV & portfolio,

3  
Launch of ‘Reality check’ blog
Introduction of 1A/1B CAE course & assessment items
What is ICT? (definition, problems with definition)
How has ICT changed our world?
How has ICT changed the way we learn? Socialise? Behave? Communicate? Social expectations?

Tech skill: What is Moodle? (intro), uploading files to a course

4    
How has ICT changed the way we work? Look for work? Get work?
What are the jobs that did not exist 5/10/15 years ago?
What are some likely jobs of the future as a result of ICT development?
What about school? How has ICT changed schooling? Learning?
Launch of ‘Reality Check’ blog

Tech skill: Moodle blog (including the concept of ‘tags’)

5    
“Email is for old people” – IM, MSN, always ‘on’ and ‘nearly now’ presence (Heppel)  
Reneissance on the Web – Web 2.0
Social skills versus technical skills

Tech skill: entering text, hyperlinking & inserting images in embedding (Moodle wiki webpage – HTML editor)

6    Assessment due: My ICT profile
From MySpace to my world – online persona and real life?
What is the purpose of having MySpace/ Facebook?
What do you get out of it?
Complete own ICT profile (‘My ICT profile’ task)

Tech skill: Setting up a web-based email (Gmail)

7    
Compare own ICT profile with class(es) and broader community. What do you notice? Reasons for similarities/ differences?
Analysis of comments on Real World blog so far
What can we learn from the comments? Trends?

Tech skill: RSS reader - iGoogle

8    
Cyberbullying, inappropriate material, spying, phishing, identity fraud, censorship – what are these terms?
What can be done about it (individual, school, businesses, government, community (including online community)?
Should online material/ access/ behaviour be subject to Occupational Health & Safety legislation? Why (not)?

Tech skill: Moodle Glossary block (students develop own definitions)
                 Moodle Choice activity (quick surveys)

9    
What sort of things have you or others done to prevent/ report abuse of or using ICT?
School computer policy – how good is it? Does it need rewriting? School procedures related to use of ICT – evaluate.
Is or would school be different to workplace? Why (not)?

Tech skill: Moodle forum (set up and participation)

10    Assessment due: My Safety
‘What goes online stays online’ – Can MySpace posts & pics cost you a job?
8 deadly sins of social media.
Compile a personal list of DO’s and DON’T’s of behaviour using ICT at school. Prepared to sign the document?

Tech skill: Moodle wiki (continued)

Term 2 Theme – ‘Managing information’

1    
Review (new) comments on Real World blog
What (new) ICT skills have I used or improved during holidays?
How will the things I learned about ICT at school help me ‘out there’ after leaving school?

Tech skill: embedding - Moodle wiki (HTML editor )
Tech skill: Slideshare (or Sliderocket) YouTube or another image/video sharing website
 
2    
School induction procedure and informing about ICT use – can it be improved?
Class design of an induction tutorial/ video/ document/ podcast/ quiz using Moodle (choice of tools)

Tech skill: Moodle database (uploads, comments and ratings)

3    
‘Real World’ blog responses & compare with stats and published sources on rights.
What is ‘mutual obligation’?
Why do we need it?
Can it be abused? How? Why?
What can you do about it? (gather contacts, lists, numbers, sites etc)

Tech skill: Moodle forum (forum type – Q and A)

4    
Intro to Wikis
Create a basic entry level contract (class/ group wiki).
Compare with legal minimums and basic conditions.
Rewrite wiki in Moodle.

Tech skill: Moodle Wiki continued (multiple editors, history, fetchback)

5    Assessment due: My Survival Guide
Differences between traineeships, and apprenticeships, scholarships.
Create your own ‘Survival Guide’ or rights, responsibilities and resources.

Tech skill: Moodle wiki (continued)

6    
Emerging ways of recruitment (LinkedIn, screening online profiles and sites -> similar to ‘Can MySpace cost you a job?)

Tech skill: explore VisualCV, edit info from Term 1 & add portfolio items if not there yet.

7    
Online searching techniques and strategies
Your personality? Learning style?
Your career directions?

Tech skill: Using Google (basic), Kartoo, Boolify search engines

8    
Compile a list of 25 key websites for your chosen or most likely career(s)

Tech skill: Rollyo (customised search engine)

9    Assessment due: My Search Engine
Create and use Rollyo search engine.
Use Rollyo to find suitable job or reference.

Tech skill: Moodle Blocks – HTMLRollyo

10    Assessment due: Our Test 1
Review Semester 1 and contribute T/F, M/C and/or Short Answer Questions AND best/correct answers via forum to design own class test.
Preview next Term - networking

Tech skill: Introduction to Twitter & setup account

Term 3 Theme – ‘Networking’

1    
Review of Twitter activity over the holidays
Working hard or smart?
Why share?
Why collaborate?

Tech skill: Google Documents

2    
How can a network of people help you?
Who is in your network?
How to grow a network?
Professional network? Difference between work and social?

Tech skill: Ning (intro, no setup – just a look at eg EVICTS or bigger networks)

3    
How to best findFinding information & problem solving using your network via social media.

Tech skill: Social bookmarking (del.icio.us)

4    
What are the ‘rules’ and expectations‘Rules’ of social media
Telecommuting, mobile work and learning.

Tech skill: Google Earth

5    
Promoting yourself online & associated ‘netiquette’.
Detailed SWOT analysis of self pursuing a particular career online.

Tech skill: LinkedIn (just look in or, if time setup a profile)

6    Assessment due: My Network
Complete the task by asking your network to help you with a task or problem of your choice.
Self and peer evaluate the solution and effectiveness of network.

7    
Generate ideas on ICT project.
Moodle course for students interested in teaching Moodle.
Preparation for “My ICT project”

Tech skill: VoiceThread, Moodle (possibly Wikispace?)

8    
Individual preparation for “My ICT project” – initial consultation, market research, planning

9    
Individual preparation/ implementation of “My ICT project”

10    Assessment due: Our Test 2
Individual preparation/ implementation of “My ICT project”

Term 4 Theme – ‘Community’

1    Assessment due: My ICT Project
Evaluation of ‘My ICT project”
Preparation for ‘Teach Moodle’

2   
Revision, survey and reflection
Preparation for ‘Teach Moodle’

3 – 5  (Year 11 students only) 
‘Teach Moodle’ and/or 'Teach 2.0' workshops run by students for staff members
As Year 12 students leave, Year 11 will run Moodle and/or Web 2.0 workshops for staff.

Please note that all of these hours will count towards your 20 hour Community Service requirement.

Assessment Task description

Task name:    My Blog                 Due/Duration:     Ongoing
Type:         Performance            Weight:        10%

In My Blog, you will write about daily experiences with ICT at home and/or school and/or work. If there is something that really strikes you, annoy you, you had a particularly good or bad experience, thought etc about or with ICT in these settings, My Blog is the place to write about. New, positive, negative, interesting, funny, sad, exciting stories about people using technology in their life with cases, opinions, examples are the stuff you will get to write about in your blog.

There will be at least one mandatory entry per term, as decided by your classroom teacher – the rest if up to you. My Blog will be set in Moodle.

Task name:     Forum                Due/Duration:     Ongoing
Type:         Performance            Weight:        10%

The forum is a chance to bring up things and talk about course related things.
For example, there may be a discussion where you may want to ask people if they know a good website or a piece of software to do a particular job, a discussion how you actually don’t like computers that much, why so and what could that mean for the future, or anything else related to the course.

The more you participate in the forum and the more you ask, help, respond, contribute over the year the better chance you have to understand people and things we do in this course PLUS get full 10% towards the final grade as a sweetener. The forum will be set in Moodle.

Task name:     My ICT Profile            Due/Duration:     Term 1
Type:         Investig./Perf.            Weight:        10%

In this task, you will have a look at the way you use ICT in your daily life and compare it with your peers. This will include a survey about your skills, experience and attitudes towards ICT and how they fit in the society we live in.

Task name:     My Safety             Due/Duration:     Term 1
Type:         Production/Performance    Weight:        10%

How to keep safe online? You will not only look at the range of different ways people can and do abuse others using ICT but create your own list of online DO’s and DON’T’s, then examine the ways you have (not) protected yourself. You will use Moodle wiki to design and edit the list.

Task name:     My Survival Guide        Due/Duration:     Term 2
Type:         Production/Performance    Weight:        10%

What, where, when, why, how?

The idea behind this task is simple – create a single document of helpful pointers on your basic rights & responsibilities at work and a list of contacts, organisations, companies you can turn to help you sort out the most common problems particularly young people encounter at work.

This is really more than a course task for 10% of final grade – if done right, it’s a document you will want to have around for years to come. You will use Moodle wiki to design and edit this document.

Task name:     My Career Search Engine    Due/Duration:     Term 2
Type:         Production/Performance    Weight:        10%

There is an absolute maze out there on where and how to look for work, promotion, careers etc. Instead of searching the whole Internet, get smart and create a customised search engine that will search only the 20 sites you select, depending on your career preferences.

And yes, you will be able to take that away with you too and maybe put in on your own webpage outside of school. Have I also mentioned 10% towards final grade? You will use Rollyo and Moodle wiki to design and edit this task.

Task name:     My Career Network        Due/Duration:     Term 3
Type:         Production/Performance    Weight:        10%

Most of you are now good at social networking – how about putting those skills to work and creating a work/career network? The ‘who you know’ has never lost importance in getting things you want and technology today offers us amazing possibilities to connect with past, present and future teachers, colleagues, bosses etc.

You will get to plan, create, map and ask your network to solve a problem for you, find you the right information or do something similar (simple or complex) for you.
Another takeaway that could be really useful in the coming years PLUS the 10% of the final grade. Another thing to put on your personal Moodle wiki.

Task name:     My ICT Project            Due/Duration:     Term 4
Type:         Production            Weight:        10%

We learn best by teaching and doing what we learn. In this task, worth a whopping 20% of your final grade, you will get to DO something ICT related for someone else. Projects could include: teaching a teacher how to use a piece of hardware or software, designing a website for a local business, teaching a senior citizen basic use of the Internet… the list is endless. You will get to come up with the idea, plan it, do it and evaluate it.

We will try to include the project to count towards your 20 hours of the compulsory Community Service for Year 11 and 12 students.

Task name:     Our Test 1            Due/Duration:     Term 2
Type:         Response            Weight:        5%

Each class will suggest test questions and answers via a dedicated forum. The questions will be collated, organised into a test and sat by all for 5% of final grade.

Task name:     Our Test 2            Due/Duration:     Term 3
Type:         Response            Weight:        5%

Same as Test 1, this one will happen at the end of Term 3.

In completing this course you will become familiar with many features of Moodle as well as some of the common ‘Web 2.0’ tools (iGoogle, Google Documents, Twitter, Flickr, Slideshare, Wikis, Blogs and more).
 
As Year 12 students leave in early Term 4, Year 11 students will run workshops for staff members on Moodle and/or Web 2.0. All of these activities will count towards your 20 hours Community Service requirement.


FEEDBACK FROM STUDENTS RECORDED DURING THE LAST CLASS IN THIS COURSE IN 2009 (via forum, multiple entries edited as one):

Today is the last day of our Career & Enterprise course. For the first time this year, the course had a focus on living and working with digital technology.

This morning I asked students the following question in our course forum,:
What are the most important, most useful things you have learned in CAE class this year?

These are collated responses (doubling up ommited):

My work is done!
Thank you CAE class of 2009