computerdisc-l: Careers in the ICT Curriculum

Teachers,

I have had one question asked multiple times, and I wanted to share my response with the entire group of career and computer discovery teachers.

Many of you are asking “Where are the career units?” in the new ICT curriculum. The revision committee decided that the teachers needed academic freedom to teach the career throughout the 2-year program. This means that we did not tie a teacher down and say that you must teach Banking and Finance in a certain unit or at a certain time. The team decided that just about every competency in the curriculum could be used to teach something about a career. If you will notice, each competency has a superscript at the end (CP1, CP2, CP3, etc.). This superscript references the career pathways that can relate to that particular competency. For example, in Unit 6 of ICT II (Graphic Design Applications), CP3 is referenced in Competency 2 (Perform basic graphic design elements.). The teaching strategy gives detailed explanations on how teachers can teach students how to create a marketing campaign. This relates to Career Pathway #3 (Financial, Economic, and Business Technology).

In the new curriculum, teachers will not stop giving students information about careers. The committee’s goal was the complete opposite. We wanted careers to be taught and integrated throughout the 7^th and 8^th grade years. The only real difference is that the focus is technology, and teachers will be using technology to teach students about careers. If you will look in Appendix E of the curriculum, you will see a list of the Mississippi Career Pathways and Sample Careers. This is a list of sample careers you can integrate throughout every competency in the curriculum. No specific careers were listed in the curriculum; the writing team only referenced careers that would be appropriate to integrate into the teaching strategies. In the ICT curriculum, technology and careers will are integrated throughout each competency.

I hope this explains the career integration components in the ICT curriculum. I appreciate your responses to the validation survey and I look forward to seeing more responses. Please remember to include industry members, technology coordinators, middle school principals, and parents in this validation process. We appreciate and value your input tremendously! If you have a question, please email or call.

Have a great afternoon.

Robin Parker

Research and Curriculum Unit

Instructional Design Specialist

Email: rab3@ra.msstate.edu

Web Address: http://rcu.msstate.edu

Phone: 662.325.2510

Fax: 662.325.3296