School websites - CFE and Computing Science

And who is supposed to maintain the website? Not the computing science department, not the IT maintenance staff....so, who?

Maths should be Mathematics, but you (as well as over 95% of people) call it maths. What's your beef with people calling it Computing? Snob value of the "science" part?

Again, back to who is maintaining the website. The people who are most trained to maintain it (ie Computing Science teachers) say it's not part of their job description and refuse to do it. A trained web developer is needed, but none is provided.
I think as part of a BGE, the Computing classes should use the school website as a real project to practice their skills on. Computing teacher doesnt neet to grumble, because he is not being asked to do something outwith his remit. Lessons are based on real-world (instead of "hello world", lol) which is what CFE is suposed to be all about.

 

Apparently the number of Computing teachers has declined by 100 (from 848) over the last 5 years. So in a few years time there probably will be no-one in the Computing Science Department to maintain a website. As for 'Computing Science', if you had actually bothered to read the CfE documentation you would have noticed that a clear distinction is made between ICT, the responsibility of ALL teachers (that includes maths teachers), and the rigorous subject known as 'Computing Science'. Its all there - you just have to READ it. Anyway I thought that Mathematics had been pretty much reduced to Numeracy under CfE, (Calculators for Everyone) lol!!!!!!!

 

No, Maths is still maths. National 5 even includes a couple of things that are currently in Higher. We've been using ICT in maths for a while now, and increasingly so. It's not rocket science.
However, if your gripe is with school websites and the lack of cutting edge technology, then you have to wonder why the Computing Science teachers are not seeing that as an opportunity to get pupils involved in programming -html, flash, java, etc, or even to get involved themselves. If you miss opportunities like that, then it's little wonder that the focus is shifting more towards ICT, in my opinion.

 

Surely the decision to have a website in the first place would have been taken by SMT. It appears to be the case then that having taken that step, few schools are able to maintain the commitment to their websites maintenance. This suggests a poor understanding of what a website is and how much effort is required to keep it relevant/up to date. If a schools website is out of date or does not function correctly then it gives the public a poor impression of the institution. While I am sure that there are plenty teachers who are capable of creating/maintaining a website, the reality is that it is not part of their job to do this. Schools should pay web developers to create simple, maintainable websites for them and stop expecting something for nothing - as is the case with GLOW content for example.

 

Back in the day, some smart cookie would get a groups of pupils to produce and publish anything from a school newsletter up to a full blown magazine. Not the job of the teacher, but it gave an opportunity for the pupils to get involved in school activities as well as giving them the opportunity to develop skills they wouldn't necessarily have the time in the curriculum to develop. Time has moved on and websites replace and improve upon magazines. You keep banging on about Computing being devalued as a subject, pupil uptake is poor, etc. What better way is there to advertise the usefulness of Computing whilst giving pupils an opportunity to develop their programming skills. Maybe a Flash or Java game? Maybe get the pupils involved in Python? Blank canvas, you could have any number of pupils involved in the development of the site. As a bonus, you've got pupils interested in your subject, and maybe give you an argument for increasing Computing staff.

"it's not my job".....the thing is, as you keep harping on, it IS your job that is under threat - 100 jobs lost in the last 5 years.
Time for some optimism and some creative thinking perhaps?

Certainly a lot more fruitful than doing nothing and expecting things to change naturally.

 

Nothing more ignorant than ignoring the potential for attracting customers.

 

How ignorant!! Pupils are not customers and neither should they be regarded as such.

 

Oh dear. Looks like someone skipped English class. You understand what a metaphor is, don't you? Any business survives by attracting and keeping customers. Your "business", also "survives" by attracting and keeping "customers". It's not rocket science. Metaphor. Look it up.

You conveniently ignore the others things I wrote, most of which I would say is pretty good advice. Ah well. Not my problem. If you expect the government to throw (not literally, of course) pupils at your door (again, not YOUR door, per se, but Computing Science's door (oops, I know Computing Science is not a room, and so does not have a door!!!!! )) then you'll have a long wait.

 

As I said before ... Schools should pay web developers to create simple, maintainable websites for them and stop expecting something for nothing - as is the case with GLOW content for example.

Under CfE we should all be teaching pupils to have an enterprising attitude - but that definitely does not mean working for free.

The content of (optional) Computing Science is very up to date and would enhance any pupils employability, and give them relevant skills for entrepreneurship. Maths by contrast, although more or less compulsory (for now), has content more suitable for the 19th century. Shame really!

 

Yet hardly anyone takes it. Shame, really. What a waste.

 

They did this on a national scale. The end product was Glow. You really want to entrust the school website to a developer who was the cheapest option out of 5 or 6 competitors? You pay peanuts you get monkeys.

They're not "working" for free. If you look at it the right way. They are getting something for nothing. They are using the facilities in the school to develop skills they might not otherwise get the opportunity to develop. They also get a tutor and access to potentially whatever software they might want to use to develop those skills.

What programming languages are used? Object orientated? How old are those languages? How many professional programmers use those languages? What is the industry standard? Are any of your Higher pupils using industry standard languages? C? C++? C#?

Are you really as up to date as you think you are?


Of course, the reply you likely will consider will be something along the lines of "ah, but the languages we use are a good grounding for pupils to pick up other languages later on, even though they are not immediately relevant". Where have I heard that before? Oh yes. That's what we do in Maths- give the pupils some skills that they can transfer later on in life. School courses are not about giving pupils the most up to date. They are about giving pupils a good grounding for the learning they will be doing for the rest of their life.

 

Can't believe I've wasted so much time dealing with a troll. Last word. I wish this forum had an ignore feature.

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/conrad_wolfram_teaching_kids_real_math_with_computers.html