Why are Digital Technologies and Computational Thinking important?

So what do you think of when you hear Digital Technology? I bet a lot of you are thinking someone sitting in a computer room all on their room, probably coding, perhaps ‘hacking’ into systems. It certainly surprises a lot of people when they actually realise it’s all around them!

Now that Digital Technologies and Computational Thinking is part of the Australian Curriculum people are realising and discovering what they actually are. For a definition and explanation please refer to the definitions page on my blog.

The areas of our life Digital Technology effects are enormous, but the way it is helping communities, industries and providing solutions for big world problems is even more immense.

I love the idea that inventors aren’t searching for fame, they are just searching for better ways to do things. Coding in our modern world, helps people, even young children do this!

So many jobs now require some aspect of coding. For example:

Data analysts

Graphic Designers

Engineers

Architects

Medical Researches

It’s hard to imagine with students starting coding so young where they will be able to take it in the future. If so many jobs are already require some aspect of coding, in the future our students will be learning and developing much more intricate systems showing their creativity in ways we can't even begin to imagine.

There are so many inspirational stories out there. One that is part of the module 1 shows a man who travelled to Sudan to help a boy who lost his arms. He originally planned on using a 3D printer, but instead he ended up teaching the community how to do it. This shows how technology can bring people from all different backgrounds together and how it CAN be accessible to all given the opportunity. The video shows people who hadn’t even seen a computer have the potential to learn and apply digital technologies quickly and effectively if given the chance.