Digital Technologies

Watch now: To find out more about this curriculum area, watch ‘Understanding the Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0, Digital Technologies’ on the Resources page.

Rationale and Aims

Rationale

Digital Technologies empowers students to shape change by influencing how contemporary and emerging information systems and practices are applied to meet current and future needs. A deep knowledge and understanding of information systems enables students to be safe, respectful, creative and discerning decision-makers when they select, use and manage data, information, processes and digital systems to meet needs and shape preferred futures.

Digital Technologies provides students with practical opportunities to use design thinking and to be innovative developers of digital solutions within an ethical framework, considering Safety by Design principles. Digital Technologies can also have an important role in responding to the diversity of learners and in ensuring the participation of all students in the learning process. The study of Digital Technologies helps students to become innovative creators of digital solutions, effective users of digital systems and critical consumers of information conveyed by digital systems.

Digital Technologies gives students authentic learning challenges that foster curiosity, confidence, persistence, innovation, creativity, respect and cooperation. These are all necessary when using and developing information systems to make sense of complex ideas and relationships in all areas of learning. Digital Technologies helps students to be innovative learners who are active, ethical citizens capable of being informed members of the community.

The Digital Technologies curriculum has been designed to provide practical and authentic opportunities for students to explore the capacity of information systems to systematically and innovatively transform data into digital solutions through the application of computational, design and systems thinking.

Aims

Digital Technologies aims to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to ensure that, individually and collaboratively, students:

• use computational thinking (decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, modelling and algorithms) to create digital solutions
• use design thinking to design, create, manage and evaluate sustainable and innovative digital solutions to meet and redefine current and future needs
• apply systems thinking to monitor, analyse, predict and shape the interactions within and between information systems and the impact of these systems on individuals, societies, economies and environments
• confidently and responsibly use digital systems to efficiently and effectively automate the transformation of data into information and to creatively communicate ideas in a range of settings
• apply protocols and legal practices that support the ethical collection and generation of data through automated and non-automated processes, and participate in safe and respectful communications and collaboration with audiences.