IB ITGS
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.
Key features of the curriculum and assessment models
- Two courses are offered, Standard Level (SL) that requires 150 hours of teaching time over two years, and Higher Level (HL) that requires 240 hours.
- The ITGS course is based on three interconnected strands; Social and ethical significance, Application to specified scenarios, IT systems.
- The ITGS triangle lies at the heart of the pedagogy. With an understanding of the information technologies, students must be able to evaluate social/ethical issues in specified scenarios.
- The course is continuously reviewed to ensure it is current and relevant. Minor changes in syllabus content may be introduced each May, for first examinations two years later.
- ITGS requires students to have strong research and higher order thinking skills.
- Teachers may choose any relevant contemporary article to illustrate scenarios. A vibrant wiki has been developed to help teachers share resources.
- Collaboration between schools, teachers and students is encouraged. Teachers need to keep abreast of emerging online tools, applications and hardware.
- A component (HL only) is linked to the annually issued case study. This requires students to investigate a new topic related to the subject in greater depth.
- ITGS requires students to develop a product that would be suitable for a client. The aim of this assessment is to support and prepare students for the workplace.
- ITGS is the perfect platform to study social informatics at university level.
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