3 ms·

It was also on the UK GCSE IT syllabus when I were a lad. The IT syllabus was actually incredibly good. I get very sad when i see the state of the modern one.

alextgordon 11y ago
Huh? GCSE ICT was about learning to use Microsoft Office.
- jmkni 11y ago
  Same here, I did mine in 2005 and it consisted largely of Microsoft Frontpage...
  - easytiger 11y ago
    yea.. in the 90s it was much better
Osmium 11y ago
Speak for yourself. I found the GCSE IT syllabus absolutely atrocious (this was 10ish years ago). I do remember this though, so that's something, but broadly speaking it was awful. And I mean truly, truly awful. I find it difficult to put into words. I'm so glad they're actually starting to teach programming now.
- easytiger 11y ago
  When did you do it?
  - Osmium 11y ago
    Around 2004/2005 I think. I'd always been interested in computing, and wanted to learn some programming. I'd seen these posters up with BASIC code on them and naively assumed that's the kind of thing we'd do, only to turn up and literally to given print-outs going step-by-step how to use a word processor. "Click Start" (screenshot), "Move the mouse to Programs" (screenshot), etc. It was completely demoralizing for someone young and curious. And the teacher had zero interest too--no desire to hold a conversation or explain anything. (Not sure what those BASIC posters were about after, maybe that was for A level students). I understand that perhaps you wouldn't teach programming in ICT, but I'd at least have hoped to learn more about computing generally. The whole thing was just a very sad experience. No one there learnt anything new. Most spent their time playing games or being bored. The only good thing it taught me was that I was better off teaching myself when it came to computing, at least given the alternatives available to me back then. Edited to add: The sad thing, for me, is that I chose ICT over a foreign language (I couldn't do both in my school), while I was then top of my class in German and would've liked to continue it. But I didn't, and I'm mildly irritated about that to this day--I'm only now picking up German again. My school offered very little guidance, all things considered, but I took it for granted at the time that that's just how the system worked.

alextgordon 11y ago

Huh? GCSE ICT was about learning to use Microsoft Office.

jmkni 11y ago
Same here, I did mine in 2005 and it consisted largely of Microsoft Frontpage...
- easytiger 11y ago
  yea.. in the 90s it was much better

Osmium 11y ago

Speak for yourself. I found the GCSE IT syllabus absolutely atrocious (this was 10ish years ago). I do remember this though, so that's something, but broadly speaking it was awful. And I mean truly, truly awful. I find it difficult to put into words. I'm so glad they're actually starting to teach programming now.

easytiger 11y ago
When did you do it?
- Osmium 11y ago
  Around 2004/2005 I think. I'd always been interested in computing, and wanted to learn some programming. I'd seen these posters up with BASIC code on them and naively assumed that's the kind of thing we'd do, only to turn up and literally to given print-outs going step-by-step how to use a word processor. "Click Start" (screenshot), "Move the mouse to Programs" (screenshot), etc. It was completely demoralizing for someone young and curious. And the teacher had zero interest too--no desire to hold a conversation or explain anything. (Not sure what those BASIC posters were about after, maybe that was for A level students). I understand that perhaps you wouldn't teach programming in ICT, but I'd at least have hoped to learn more about computing generally. The whole thing was just a very sad experience. No one there learnt anything new. Most spent their time playing games or being bored. The only good thing it taught me was that I was better off teaching myself when it came to computing, at least given the alternatives available to me back then. Edited to add: The sad thing, for me, is that I chose ICT over a foreign language (I couldn't do both in my school), while I was then top of my class in German and would've liked to continue it. But I didn't, and I'm mildly irritated about that to this day--I'm only now picking up German again. My school offered very little guidance, all things considered, but I took it for granted at the time that that's just how the system worked.