BIG IDEAS for ITGS Updated

The start of a new school year is the time to reflect on the BIG IDEAS that are central to the teaching and learning ITGS.

Overview to THINKING ITGS

• Ideas central to an IB education (Learner Profile, international-mindedness, Approaches to learning and teaching (ATL) need to be integrated into ITGS.
• ITGS must also be firmly set in the Aims for Group 3 and those stated in the ITGS Guide
• ITGS TRIANGLE guides every activity and discussion and is the basis for analyzing all scenarios and news items.

Important strategies for teaching and learning ITGS

• ITGS terminology and concepts must be understood in order to address social and ethical impacts on stakeholders in specific scenarios  – “ITGS terminology refers to both the IT technical terminology and the terminology related to social and ethical impacts.”
• It is important to understand “how ITGS works”. Students must be able to describe step-by-step IT processes (often asked on Paper 1).
• Multimedia material (i.e. video and podcasts) is important to the ITGS learning experience.
• Reading about ITGS is not enough! Investigations, practical and hands-on activities provide necessary experience in using ITGS concepts.
• ITGS must be placed in real contexts (actual scenarios from news articles, studying real situations that exemplify the information in the Guide)
• Regular discussion and analysis of current news items relevant to ITGS need to be integrated into ITGS to prepare for the externally assessed components. Students need to be aware of differing perspectives in both local and global context.
• Opportunities for both independent learning and collaborative learning must be planned using both offline and online tools and methodologies.
• Methods for taking notes and recording outcomes of discussions are needed. Otherwise, students have no material to study for their examinations.

ITGS Project

• Successful projects closely follow the command terms and assessment objectives, adhere to the processes that must be completed, use the templates for the documenation (see ITGS Guide/TSM support material and project examples).
• Students must work closely with their client throughout the development of the project to ensure it meets the client’s needs for an IT solution.
• Students need to follow an iterative development processes for the Project using the Product Development Life Cycle (PDLC).
• Supervisors must guide their students criterion-by-criterion providing feedback at each stage of development.
• The techniques used in the development of the Product must be non-basic and appropriate.
• Students need to strive to develop a professional-like Product that will actually be used by their client.

Paper 1 and Paper 2 and Paper 3

• Command terms (i.e. organized according to ITGS Taxonomy based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) need to be used for discussions, assignments and in-class tests.
• ITGS must be placed in real contexts through the frequent discussion of current news items with guiding questions structured according to Paper 1 and Paper 2
• Write, write, write… frequent writing of responses to Paper 1 and Paper 2 type questions is advised and at times in timed conditions. Individual personal feedback is needed wherever possible so comments are understood.
• Students must have notes (printed or digital) which they can review before the examinations. These should summarize all of the activities in the course and make connections between key concepts and ideas. Methods need to be used to summarize the discussions of news articles as well.
• Students need to understand not only the structure of each question, but also the structure across questions on Paper 1. This means what are the expectations of part a, part b and part c of questions on Paper 1. What are the guidelines from subject reports for all of the papers.
• The questions on Paper 2 never change. Students should be provided with opportunities to respond to Paper 2 questions.
• Students need to be taught how to organize and write structured responses. This is particularly important for questions requiring extended responses.

Unique to Case Study with Paper 3

• Inquiry questions and scope of the secondary and primary research should be formulated from the onset.
• Secondary research must be conducted in order to understand the context of the case study and identify similar situations or supporting evidence.
• Primary research (investigations, visitations, presentations by relevant stakeholders) must be conducted and included in the answers on Paper 3
• Wherever possible students should be encouraged to engage in collaborative research within the class or with other ITGS classes.

ITGS Extended Essay (EE)

• Students must have a copy of the EE Guide and follow the descriptions for the EE assessment criteria and ITGS subject specific information.
• The research question is one of the key contributing factors to the success of an EE.
• Independent research is an essential aspect of HL paper 3 and the EE
• Students must develop an EE based on the assessment criteria and a structured research process. Some of the topics and articles on ITGSopedia may help in identifying an area to investigate.
• Students must regularly consult with their supervising teacher at key stages in the research process.
• Students should use relevant online research tools for social bookmarking and for creating the bibliography and citations.