Information Technology Programs in Schools
Chris Bradford
Head of Information
Technology, Central Commerce Collegiate Institute, Toronto
Information technology programs in schools are being
provided at great cost to the school boards and the provincial government. For instance, at Central Commerce, there are
5 computer labs, and the oldest equipment is six years old and is designated
for replacement this year. All of the machines have network internet access. The long-term goal is to develop and enhance
the information technology skills of all the students. Some of these students are focusing on
becoming mere users of the technology while others are planning on entering the
IT industry. The program accommodates
all the students offering the following courses starting with BTT 100 for Grade
9.
BTT 100 – Introduction to Information Technology
Students entering
high school in Grade 9 are enrolled in BTT 100, which is not a difficult
course. It is designed to develop the computer literacy and lab skills a
student will need throughout high school and in their future career. Some of the students arrive with a lot of
these skills already in place. They can
process text, search and locate information on the web, manipulate databases and
spreadsheets, create animation and slide shows, and design their own websites.
There are others who cannot even turn the computer on. Some students have a lot
to learn while others are bored by the simplicity of the material. Therefore,
this course is described as a “The Great Leveler”. The students who find this course unchallenging are usually
advised to look for areas where they could excel, like using topics from their
History or Science class to create a slide show or develop a web page on
Geometry proofs from Mathematics class etc.
What has to be remembered is that this course is designed to teach the
learner how to use a computer to enhance his or her own learning, and make a
contribution to their school. The teachers will be very pleased to accept an
alternate, more difficult assignment that reflects one’s own advanced skills.
TIK 200 – Computer and Information Science
Once the students get through BTT –100 Course with a mark
of 97.5% they are ready for a more challenging course. TIK 200 is designed to meet this
requirement, focusing on a beginner’s programming course combined with features
that help deeper understanding of computer hardware, networks and operating
systems. Since 1997, the Software Human
Resources Council has every year identified a shortage of trained people to
develop software in Canada. In 1997,
20,000 positions went unfilled in the industry. TIK 200 is the first step that many students will take in their
software development or programming career, allowing them to fill one of these
positions. To be successful in this
course, a student usually has to have strong Mathematical, logical and problem
solving skills, and good at developing strategies and keep focused on a goal
putting extra hours of work.
The high schools in Ontario have the latitude to choose
their own software and programming languages for any of their courses. The
Central Commerce, For instance, Central Commerce has chosen Visual Basic for
TIK200. There are several reasons for
this: the form design stage is relatively simple using computer literacy skills
learned in the Grade 9 BTT course; the coding is modular and rather easy to
understand; and it is possible to create very impressive applications after
only a few short weeks of instruction.
Other schools use Turing, Quick Basic and Pascal for this course but the
ultimate aim is still the same: to produce students who can tackle simple
programming problems, figure out why something doesn’t work, and how to fix it,
and thus prepare and well equip them to become Computer Science students.
TEE 200 – Computer Engineering Technology
Some schools, particularly those with a large technology
program, offer TEE 200. This is a
hands-on hardware course where students explore networking, integrated circuit
design, interfaces and programming as it relates to devices in a computer
system. Proper teaching of this program
requires a large investment in lab facilities and teacher training, available
only in a few Toronto high schools. It
is a good preparation for the Cisco Networking course, which is usually found
in the same schools in Grade 11 or 12. Students in TEE 200 may be looking for a
career in engineering design to PC repair.
ICS 3MO and ICS 4MO
ICS 3MO for Grade 11 and ICS 4MO for Grade 12 are pure
Computer Courses. The ‘M’ designation
stands for College or University, and could be taken by students planning to go
to either of these two institutions.
ICS 3MO - Computer and Information Science Course - is
usually preceded by TIK 200. However, it is not an actual pre-requisite. It has
been found that students who have taken TIK 200 are already familiar with the
software design process, and this allow them to follow more advanced programming
concepts in the Grade 11 course. For instance, Central Commerce uses Turing as
a programming language in the ICS course.
This language, developed at the University of Toronto in the late
1970's, was originally designed to teach fundamental programming concepts to
incoming first year Computer Science students, and therefore ideally suited to
the course material in the high schools. Hence it has now been licensed by the
Ministry of Education for use in all Ontario schools and made available for
distribution to the students for home use.
ICS course at Central Commerce begins with simple
programming constructs: looping, selection, case structures, and quickly moves
into data management, string manipulation and graphic design. There is an emphasis on math and science
applications: for example finding all the prime numbers from 1 to 1000 or
balance a chemical equation. A lot of computer games are also created in this
class - which raises moral questions but most students enjoy the challenge. Programming instruction concludes with
function and procedures - a topic which prepares students well for Java in the
Grade 12 course.
There is also a technology component in the ICS 3MO
course - an understanding of electrical concepts, logic gates, number systems
and storage media. At Central Commerce, a technology lab of old 486 and early
Pentium computer is maintained, and the students disassemble and then
reassemble these machines, connect peripherals and then install operating
systems and drives. If all goes well,
the computer boots up and is ready to use.
Should it not, they start over again on a fresh computer, which is
facilitated by the availability of an unlimited supply of old computers. All
ICS students at Central Commerce need to be committed to a future career in
computer science, engineering or business. With lots of work expected, most of
them deliver the high time commitment required. These are the students who can go on to ICS 4MO.
ICS 4MO
ICS 4MO is the senior Computer Science course in Ontario.
All students in this course have a clear idea where they want to go both in
University and in their careers. At Central Commerce, the students are taught
Java in this course while other schools use C++ or its variants. But this is not just a programming
course. About half of the course is
spent on Project Management, and what is called Systems Analysis.
With a background in Turing, Java is relatively easy to
understand. In fact, any new language
is easy to acquire. At Central Commerce the course starts with Fortran and then
progress through COBOL and PL/1. Writing a computer program when all the
specifications and data structures are given is not that difficult. What is difficult is to assess a client’s
needs, draw up the system requirements, and then issue the multiple program
specifications for the system. This is
what students learn in ICS 4M0. It is called
the System Development Life Cycle and is usually administered by a team of
analysts and programmers. It becomes a
project, and like all projects, must be managed. At Central Commerce students learn to use Microsoft Project to
set goals, timelines and deliverables and to estimate all costs. In short, the students get very close to
where information technology and the needs of business come together.
At this point, the students begin to realize the
importance of some of the other courses they are taking such as English because
it teaches how to understand and communicate; Drama to prepare and acquire the
ability to present the work in front of an audience; and Art to recognize and
realize the importance of design in developing computer-based interfaces. The students are advised not to neglect or
pass over these subjects in their enthusiasm to become an IT specialist for
these would be needed later on in one’s career.
BTA & BTX
At Central Commerce, starting in Grade 11, there are 2
other courses in Business software. The
Grade 11 course, called BTA, is an open course or one that anyone can take. The
Students learn common business software from Desktop Publishing, database and
spreadsheets to slideshow software and web page design. It is a much easier a course than Computer
Science and is meant to upgrade the computer literacy skills of students who
may study Business or go directly to work upon graduation. The BTX course in Grade 12 is similar,
except it includes a large section on project management and the integration of
software in an organization.
Some of the computer science students take these courses
to augment their knowledge of computer and software. Although the students are
not encouraged to enroll in both streams, if they are planning a career in
business they may want to fit these courses into their timetable along with
Accounting and Administrative studies.
Selecting a Program
On the basis of experience
with students who have been successful in the programs at Central Commerce, the
students are well advised to take note of the following:
Teamwork
Teamwork is another skill the students need to develop in
their Computer courses. The days of
programming in a cubicle with no interaction with other colleagues are long
over. Students are now expected to function
as a team member and contribute their own expertise to the group. At Commerce
Central, students in ICS 3MO and 4MO spend 2 weeks on a large programming
project in groups of 4. The project is
immense and cannot be completed by 1 person working alone. The team must assemble, divide up the tasks,
confer with each other and ensure that the project is on time. Modular
programming techniques make this approach very successful.
To function successfully in a team, one must be outgoing
and willing to take a leadership role, must learn to get along with people
other than friends and, recognize the duty by the group by completing one’s
contribution on time. This is one of
the most important skills students must acquire before going on to University
or College.
Conclusion
In
conclusion, to be successful in these courses, the importance of having a plan
throughout the high school years needs to be stressed. It is not enough to merely take computer
courses. One must be able to identify his
or her strengths, and overcome weaknesses.
These courses are challenging and one must be prepared to meet these
challenges to succeed in the chosen career.