Technology as a Foundation Skill Area
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Using Information Technology
The use of information technology will help enable all students to solve problems, improve their personal performance, and gain the critical and abstract thinking skills necessary to become lifelong learners and contributing members of their communities.To achieve this vision, all Manitoba students will
- use information technology to structure inquiries, solve problems, and gather, organize, validate, and communicate information on a local and global scale
- manage information technology by making creative, productive, and efficient technology choices for the tasks at hand
- understand information technology and reflect upon the ethics and impact of its use, synthesizing new insights and making reasoned decisions as information technology evolves
Skill development in this foundation area will be accomplished through the integrated use of information technology in all Manitoba curricula. The integration will be founded on
- an Information Technology Literacy Continuum (see Appendix A)
- current teaching, learning, and assessment philosophies
- sound pedagogical practices
- exemplary suggestions for grade-appropriate and subject area-appropriate information technology-based learning resources and instructional and assessment strategies
The core function of schools is to educate students. Traditionally we have equated the achievement of this core function with the acquisition of certain key skills: reading, writing, and numeracy. Today, however, we require an enhanced set of skills that includes the old skills, but also reflects current skills related to the effective use of information technology. To be most effective, the acquisition of these new skills will be achieved through a curriculum-integrated approach that uses information technology to support teaching, learning, and assessment. Teachers must continually make informed decisions about the appropriate use of information technology. For example, they need to consider whether its use adds another dimension to the resources already available to students. Information technology does not replace teachers, curricula, or other sources of information.Manitoba Education and Training has undertaken several projects that demonstrate how the appropriate integration of information technology enhances teaching, learning, and assessment (see Appendix B).
Categories of Information Technology
For the purpose of simplification, information technologies are often grouped by categories such as those presented in the chart below. Some examples of the specific information technologies included in each category are also provided.
| Category | Examples | |
|---|---|---|
| Tool Hardware |
| |
| Tool Software |
|
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| Telecommunications |
|
|
| Production/Presentation/ Authoring Applications |
|
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| Interactive Multimedia |
|
|
| Programming and Controlled Devices |
|
|
Note: Refer to the glossary for definitions of unfamiliar terms.
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