Information Technology in a Global Society ( ITGS)
The Information Technology in a Global Society (ITGS) course currently offered was first taught in August 2010 and forms part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme.
This innovative course lies within Group 3 which examines individuals and societies. The ITGS framework is modeled on a ‘triangle’. It uses an integrated approach, encouraging students to make informed judgement and decisions about the role of information and communication technologies in contemporary society.
Teachers are entrusted to use professional judgement in determining the best delivery of the ITGS course.
ts of three comp
Nature of the subject
Students of group 3 subjects study individuals and societies. This means that they explore the interactions between humans and their environment in time and place. As a result, these subjects are often known collectively as the human sciences or social sciences.
The IB Diploma Programme information technology in a global society (ITGS) course is the study and evaluation of the impacts of information technology (IT) on individuals and society. It explores the advantages and disadvantages of the access and use of digitized information at the local and global level.
ITGS provides a framework for the student to make informed judgments and decisions about the use of IT within social contexts. Although ITGS shares methods of critical investigation and analysis with other social sciences, it also considers social and ethical considerations that are common to other subject’s in-group 3. Students come into contact with IT on a daily basis because it is so pervasive in the world in which we live. This increasingly widespread use of IT inevitably raises important questions with regard to the social and ethical considerations that shape our society today. ITGS offers an opportunity for a systematic study of these considerations, whose range is such that they fall outside the scope of any other single discipline.
The nature of the subject is defined by the use of fundamental ITGS terms. For the purpose of the ITGS syllabus the following definitions apply.
• Information technology (IT) is the study, design, development, implementation, support or maintenance of computer-based information systems.
• Social and ethical significance refers to the effects that the development, implementation and use of information technology has on individuals and societies. Social impacts and ethical considerations are not mutually exclusive and are therefore categorized as a single entity. However, in general:
–– social impacts tend to refer to the effects of IT on human life
–– ethical considerations tend to refer to the responsibility and accountability involved in the design and implementation of IT.
• An information system is a collection of people, information technologies, data, processes and policies organized to accomplish specific functions and solve specific problems.ulsory interconnected strands that reflect the
integrated nature of the course.
• Strand 1: Social and ethical significance
• Strand 2: Application to specified scenarios
Section 1: social and ethical issues
SL/HL core
Social and ethical considerations linked to specified IT developments.
Students must study the following 12 issues.
1.2 Security
1.5 Authenticity
1.6 The digital divide and equality of access
1.7 Surveillance
1.8 Globalization and cultural diversity
1.9 Policies
1.10 Standards and protocols
1.11 People and machines
1.12 Digital citizenship
HL extension
Social and ethical considerations linked to the two HL extension topics and the issues raised by the annually issued case study.
Section 2: Application to specified scenarios
SL/HL coreScenarios based on real-life situations must be used when addressing specified IT developments.
2.3 Environment
2.4 Health
2.5 Home and leisure
2.6 Politics and government
HL extension
Scenarios based on real-life situations must be used when addressing specified IT developments in the two HL extension topics and the annually issued case study.
Section 3: IT systems
SL/HL coreThe terminology, concepts and tools relating to specified IT developments.Students must study the following 9 topics.
3.1 Hardware
3.2 Software
3.3 Networks
3.4 Internet
3.5 Personal and public communications
3.7 Database
3.8 Spreadsheets, modelling and simulations
3.9 Introduction to project management
HL extension
Students must study the following topics.
3.10 IT systems in organizations
3.11 Robotics, artificial intelligence and expert systems
3.12 Information systems specific to the annually issued case study
Resource: IB ITGS Guide
The above material is provided from http://www.ibo.org/diploma/curriculum/group3/InformationtechnologyinaGlobalSociety.cfm ther level (SL or HL) the ITGS course consis