Computing and ICT

Computing is complementary to, but quite different from Information and Communication Technology (ICT). ICT is about the use of computers and their applications. Computing is about their design and implementation. To use the analogy of a car,

1. ICT is the equivalent of teaching how to drive a car, and how to navigate it. Once basic skills have been learned (how to use the clutch), the emphasis is on appropriate choice of destination, how to drive safely, how to develop a good route to the destination, how to choose which car is the right vehicle. Everyone should be able to drive, and similarly every student should possess basic ICT skills, and some knowledge of how to use them.
2. Computing is the equivalent of teaching automotive engineering: how the clutch works, how to design new cars, and how to maintain existing ones. Computing is more than just programming, which in the car analogy would be the equivalent of metalwork.

Not everyone needs to know how to design or maintain a car. Similarly, only a subset of (able) students will want to study Computing, just as only a subset want to study work in the automotive or related industry.

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