As we have previously seen, ICT skills are now vital in more jobs than ever before. In this article we will be looking at various jobs and seeing how the skills needed for them have changed over the last twenty years.
The Teacher/Trainer
Chalk and Talk! That is how people used to refer to teaching. The teacher would have a blackboard, some chalk and a board duster. They would then "talk" through what was to be learned - making notes on the blackboard as they progressed through the class. The students would be expected to make notes: after all, once the teacher had used the board duster, then the lesson would effectively be gone forever. The blackboard was replaced by the whiteboard and instead of chalk then pens would be used. However, the theory was still the same.
In the early nineties the concept of the SMART board was introduced to class rooms. This is a screen that is controlled by touch and it works with a computer and a projector. What is input in to the computer can be projected on to the screen and the teacher - or students for that matter - can write on the board with digital pens. The board can also be used to present information using such software as Microsoft PowerPoint.
Many education and training centres also employ what is known as a VLE - a Virtual Learning Environment. This is a tool to manage course rather than teaching itself and is becoming essential for teachers to understand as it makes the administration of a course much easier. The system can show how students are doing and can be tied in with reports that detail their attendance and punctuality. They are often used to help with "distance" learning where the educator and student are separated geographically buy they are increasingly used to supplement one-on-one and group teaching within the classroom.
As the complexity of these systems increases more tools are becoming available for teacher and student alike. Examples include interactive quizzes, discussion boards and chat rooms and wiki spaces which mimic websites such as Facebook.
One advantage of using an electronic system such as a VLE is that classes can retain a permanent reminder. Notes about classes can be posted up on the system and those students who need to revise more or perhaps missed the original class can read and review the information. The information can also be shared around other teaching professionals so that a bank of materials can be created. So, one teacher can create an excellent idea for a class and share it with many others.
Most teachers are not "digital natives" to begin with! In other words, many of them are old enough to have started teaching before ICT had made any impact on education or the classroom. So, many have had to upgrade their skills in order to move with the times and for a huge amount this has meant the acquisition of completely new ICT skills.
However, technology will never replace good teaching as the primary best way to learn!
The Architect
The late eighties saw the introduction of CAD or Computer Aided Design in to the field of Architecture. It was adopted first by technical drafting staff and a short while later by the architects themselves. Previously, designers and architects would work at a draughtboard with hardware. In other words, pencils, rulers, erasers, sharpeners - the tools of the trade! If a major mistake was made with the design of a building it would be very costly to go back and put it right: often it meant starting a design again by scratch.
CAD meant that the architect not only had to be a good architect but had to acquire additional skills. ICT skills are now essential and the architect or designer must be able to communicate their designs using a mouse or another input device such as a digitizer.
The Librarian or Archivist
Libraries used to be about books, books and more books! That is still true, but to a lesser extent. If you go to a library these days you will come across a lot of computers that can be used for a variety of things. Of course, the librarians must now be able to use ICT in order to help the people who wish to use the library.
When someone wanted to borrow a book, what would happen in the past is that the book would be stamped and a note made in the lender's record by hand that they had loaned a book from the library. Now, all of that is usually automated which means that librarians must be able to use that system and so, necessarily, be ICT literate.
Requests and searches for certain books can be done online as well, so that a series of libraries run by an authority does not need to have multiple copies of rarely read books in all of their outlets. Instead, when one is requested it can be ordered online and be sent to the outlet closest to the person who wishes to borrow it. Again, the librarians must have the associated computing skills needed to do this.
The Manager
Twenty or thirty years ago managers would have a lot more staff around to help them out than they do now. A manager would normally have a secretary who would help him or her out with such things as letter writing, filing and general administrative duties that were traditionally time consuming and would not be requisite with a manager's salary.
With the introduction of ICT, tasks could be completed far quicker than in previous years and the need for a lot of support staff lessened. Now, managers are generally expected to compose and write (and send!) their own letters, memos and emails.
Many companies would traditionally train secretaries so that they would know the standards of communications used within the organizations. This would include how letters and reports were to be laid out and the kind of language to be used. Many companies now have documents that describe these systems so that any individual worker can acquire this knowledge and use it. This is often known as an "in house" style.
Managers must generally be much more ICT literate and aware than even ten years ago. Skills that may have been taught to a typist or secretary would now be expected of a manager as well.
NEXT: Complexity - More jobs
