ITGS stands for Information Technology in a Global Society. If you think cell phones, blogs, emails, instant messaging and iTunes are interesting, this class is for you.

The class investigates how these new technologies are changing the way we live, work and play. The class is a social studies class so it involves reading newspaper articles, searching for information on the web and writing essays. As a result, students who sign up for this class should feel comfortable reading and writing in English.

Although the class takes place in the computer room, it is not a computer class. We do not learn how to use the computers, we simply use them for doing research and for writing. So students who sign up should know how to use Word and how to find information on the Internet. As is true for many other subjects in the IB, each student must work on a project of his or her own. It could be creating a web site, a brochure, a Power Point presentation or a video on DVD. We investigate questions such as...

Is it possible for the police to find you by tracking your cell phone?
Is it safe to use a credit card to buy something on the Internet?
In the world of Peer 2 Peer music sharing, who are the winners and who are the losers?
At a hospital, would you trust a robot to perform an operation on you? Would you allow the staff to put a radio bracelet on you to know where you are in the hospital?
In an election, can we trust electronic voting machines?
Can a student be expelled from school for making fun of his math teacher on his personal web site? In a company, can the boss read the emails of the employees?

Positive points about ITGS: interesting topics and debates, always looking at real-life situations, small class size (around 10 students)

Negative points about ITGS: it is sometimes challenging keeping up with all the new technology and vocabulary and you have to put up with Mr. Damon's bad jokes