Code IB Course (7)
Qualification Type Other Regulated/Accredited Qualification
Qualification Level Level 3
Course type Full Time
IT in a Global Society is the study and evaluation of how Information Technology (IT) has impacted individuals and society. These impacts can be both positive and negative, in many cases benefits for some people come at the expense of drawbacks for other people. In ITGS students will study situations from across the world, from local community to an international level and in different areas including education, business, healthcare, robotics and the military. Ethics, the study of right and wrong is also an important part of ITGS. There are many uses of IT which are completely legal but which raise social and ethical concerns and may be objectionable to some people. A key part of ITGS is making decisions about the use of technology by weighing up its positive and negative impacts. Students should be able to arrive at well argued conclusions about how, where, when or even if, different technologies should be used.
Why Choose ITGS?
ITGS is an independent course not linked to Computer Science or Information Communication Technology (ICT). Students can choose to study ITGS having limited knowledge to either of the above fields. The course itself is heavily aimed at the impact, social and ethical concerns around technology and discussion based around these areas. Students will begin to study computer science and ICT as part of the course but from an introductory level to help with the different areas of ITGS.
Students will keep up-to-date with current technology news and unpick both breaking reports and key areas of ethical concerns relation to technology such as workplace surveillance, graphics editing, and e-waste, violence in computer games, privacy, piracy and internet censorship. The key to the course is understanding what are social and ethical concerns to these issues and forming a balanced argument for them.
Although ITGS shares methods of critical investigation and analysis with other social sciences, it also considers ethical questions found in the study of philosophy. Students come into contact with IT on a daily basis because it is so fundamental in the world in which we now live. The widespread use of IT inevitably raises important questions about social and ethical issues that shape our society today. ITGS offers an opportunity for a systematic study of these issues, whose range is such that they fall outside the scope of any other single discipline.
Students will also create a product using computer technology for a business or individual which could include; web design, video production, programming, desktop publishing, database or spreadsheet. The practical part of the course when complete is worth either 30% or 20% of the final grade depending on whether a student chooses standard or higher level.
Having followed the ITGS standard level course, students will be expected to demonstrate the following:
Knowledge and understanding of specified content
Demonstrate an awareness of IT applications and developments in specified scenarios
Demonstrate an awareness of the social and ethical significance of specified IT applications and developments
Demonstrate technical knowledge of ITGS terminology, concepts and tools
Demonstrate technical knowledge of IT systems Application and analysis
Explain the impacts of IT applications and developments in specified scenarios
Analyse the social and ethical significance of specified IT applications and developments
Transfer IT knowledge and make connections between specific scenarios synthesis and evaluation
Evaluate local and global impacts of specified IT developments through individually researched studies
Evaluate a solution involving IT to a specified problem using knowledge of IT systems
Discuss the social and ethical implications of specified IT policies and developments Use of ITGS skills
Demonstrate evidence of project management in the development of a well organized product to resolve a specific issue
Use IT tools and the product development life cycle (PDLC) to create an original product in consultation with a client
Demonstrate evidence of the use of appropriate techniques to develop an original IT product
Develop an original IT product for a specified client
5 GCSE at 9 - 4 (or equivalent) with a minimum of 4 in English and or Maths.
(Students that narrowly miss out on L3 entry requirements can still be accepted subject to decision of subject leader for the chosen course).
If successful on the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme students can follow a pathway onto university, a high-level apprenticeship or straight into employment post-18.