Research On Value Of Information Technology Curriculm

With the development of society and the rapid evolution of IT (information technology), computer curriculum for primary and secondary schools, which begins to be set up in1980s in our country, has gradually evolved into IT curriculum aiming at fostering students' information literacy after going through different stages of development. Following the publication of "Information Technology Curriculum Standard for Senior High School" in2003, IT curriculum has been implementing to the whole country step by step, which makes the studies about IT curriculum more significant.The research on the value of IT curriculum also emerged under both effect of the external and internal factors. One hand, the developing trend of globalization, informationalization and diversification, the transition from industry society to information society in transition, the impact on people's working, living and learning from the wave of information culture, all these were naturally reflected in the school curriculums. On the other hand, as the deeply development of IT curriculum both in theoretical and practical aspects, its value will inevitably demand further clearing. The research on the value of IT curriculum is the logical starting point of theoretical research of IT curriculum. For a dual-purpose of enriching theoretical system of IT curriculum and solving the practical problems of IT curriculum, the research on the value of IT curriculum is required by the times and the social reality.The methodology of this research included interviews, document analysis and questionnaire surveys.7 representatives who are responsible for IT curriculum implementation,20 IT teachers and 8 students from primary and secondary schools have been invited for the interview.261 IT teachers and 595 students from primary and secondary schools have participated in the questionnaire survey, and the document analysis was conducted on our country's IT curriculum guidance documents and international standards for IT curriculum as well. This study is trying to do a comprehensive and systematic research on the value of IT curriculum from ontology, epistemology and practice theory. the theoretical framework on the value of IT curriculum, which is the ideal state about the value of IT curriculum.how people understand the value of IT curriculum, which is to learn the conditions and the influencing factors of teachers'and students'understanding about the value of IT curriculum. Including the current status, influencing factors and implementation mechanism on the value realizaion of IT curriculum.After the need analysis of the subject on the value of IT curriculum, based on value philosophy, this paper proposed a value system of IT curriculum including social values, instrumental value for individuals and intrinsic value for the individuals. The social value of IT curriculum is that IT curriculum, as an educational subsystem, gives the impact and functions on other subsystems in the whole social system. The social value of IT curriculum mainly includes bridging the digital divide, building information culture, information society etc. The instrumental value for individuals mainly has survival value, development value and enjoyment value. The intrinsic value for individuals emphasize its meeting the various need of the individuals as a subject while taking the curriculum content, teaching activities as an object. It mainly consists of knowledge and operating skills of IT, information processing methods and skills, ability, emotions and attitudes, and social responsibilities. Ability includes the skills of communication, cooperation and problem solving.Based on the framework of IT curriculum's value system, this research studied how information technology teachers and students understand the value of information technology curriculum. Students'understanding about the value of IT curriculum has a major orientation of utilitarianism including the examination orientation and application orientation. Examination orientation is that the purpose of students'learning IT is to "pass the exam". Application orientation is that students focused on the application of IT knowledge and skills in real life and the problem solving through the IT curriculum learning. IT teachers' orientations about the value of IT curriculum are technical and utilitarian. Many IT teachers always have a simple understanding level of the technical tendency. IT teachers'and students' orientation of utilitarianism has led to a fact that IT curriculum learning is still just stuck to a skill training level which has a simple understanding:"To teach what is practical."The value realization of IT curriculum means the understanding and practice of IT curriculum that makes IT curriculum meet the needs of the value subject of IT curriculum. The influencing factors of the value realization of IT curriculum include the subject factors, objective factors and intermediate factors. The macro external manifestation of IT curriculum's value realization is that the value imbalance and overloading of IT curriculum. Imbalance in the value of IT curriculum chiefly refers the technical orientation of IT curriculum. The macro-mechanism of IT curriculum's value realization is the coaxial strengthening of both social and personal values, the blended symbiosis of both scientific and humanistic values. The micro-mechanism of IT curriculum's value realization is strengthening the construction of curriculum policies, curriculum contents, IT teachers' professional development and curriculum evaluation.