Ontario Grade 11 TGJ3M Communications Technology (Grade 11, University/College Preparation)
Chapters: 4
1. A. Communications Technology Fundamentals
A1 Core Concepts, Techniques, and Skills · A2 Equipment and Software · A3 Technical Terminology and Scientific and Mathematical Concepts · A4 Teamwork
- Communications Technology: How Messages Become Signals, Files and Media – Communications technology is the tools and skills we use to create and send messages: print, photos, audio, video, web and broadcast. A message goes from a source through a transmitter, a channel and a receiver to a destination. Signals are waves with a frequency and wavelength. Digital media turn sound and pictures into numbers, so we can calculate file size and bit rate. Every product follows a production process: plan, make, edit and share.
- Environmental Stewardship: Caring for the Planet as We Use Technology – Environmental stewardship means using the Earth's resources carefully so they last, and fixing harm where we can. Every product, from a phone to a hospital machine, has a life cycle: raw materials, making, transport, use and end of life. Each stage uses energy and makes waste. Good stewards keep products longer, choose efficient machines, follow the waste hierarchy (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, then dispose), send e-waste to proper recyclers and support laws and company practices that protect nature. Technology can harm the environment, but it can also help: solar panels, LEDs and smart sensors cut waste.
2. B. Communications Technology Skills
B1 Project Management · B2 Problem Solving · B3 Process and Production Skills
- Leadership and Management: Leading People, Teams and Change – Management gets work done through planning, organising, staffing, directing and controlling. Leadership inspires people to work towards a shared goal. Leaders choose a style that fits the people and the task, build qualities like communication and integrity, guide teams through their stages, plan projects with schedules, delegate well, and help people accept change.
- The Design Process: From Problem to Product – The design process is a loop of steps designers use to solve a real problem for real people: investigate the need, define it in a brief and a measurable specification, generate many ideas, build a prototype, then test and evaluate it against the specification. Whatever fails sends you back round the loop. This repeating is called iteration, and it is how almost every product, app, building and artwork is improved.
- Communications Technology: How Messages Become Signals, Files and Media – Communications technology is the tools and skills we use to create and send messages: print, photos, audio, video, web and broadcast. A message goes from a source through a transmitter, a channel and a receiver to a destination. Signals are waves with a frequency and wavelength. Digital media turn sound and pictures into numbers, so we can calculate file size and bit rate. Every product follows a production process: plan, make, edit and share.
3. C. Technology,the Environment, and Society
C1 Technology and the Environment · C2 Technology and Society
- Environmental Stewardship: Caring for the Planet as We Use Technology – Environmental stewardship means using the Earth's resources carefully so they last, and fixing harm where we can. Every product, from a phone to a hospital machine, has a life cycle: raw materials, making, transport, use and end of life. Each stage uses energy and makes waste. Good stewards keep products longer, choose efficient machines, follow the waste hierarchy (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, then dispose), send e-waste to proper recyclers and support laws and company practices that protect nature. Technology can harm the environment, but it can also help: solar panels, LEDs and smart sensors cut waste.
4. D. Professional Practice and Career Opportunities
D1 Health and Safety · D2 Professional Standards and Ethics · D3 Career Opportunities
- Health and Safety: Hazards, Risks and Controls – A hazard is anything that can cause harm. Risk is how likely the harm is and how bad it would be: risk = likelihood × severity. A risk assessment finds hazards, decides who could be harmed, rates the risk, adds controls and is reviewed. Use the hierarchy of control: eliminate, substitute, engineering controls, admin (rules, training, signs), then PPE last. Safety signs use colour and shape. Workshops, art rooms and workplaces need guards, ventilation, labelled materials, clear exits and first aid. Laws in most countries make employers and workers share the duty to stay safe.
- Ethics: How to Decide What Is Right – Ethics (moral philosophy) asks what we ought to do and why. Values such as honesty, kindness, fairness and respect guide choices. Three main theories help: consequences (utilitarianism, Bentham and Mill: most good for most people), duty (Kant: act on rules you could want everyone to follow; treat people as ends, never only as means) and virtue (Aristotle: build good character; virtue is the mean between extremes). Conscience is our inner sense of right and wrong. Freedom brings responsibility. Meta-ethics asks what "good" means and whether values are universal or relative. Applied ethics deals with the environment, animals, work, friendship and peace.
- Career Planning: From Knowing Yourself to Your First Job – Career planning has five steps. 1) Know yourself: interests, skills and values. 2) Explore career families and find out the work, study needed, pay and demand. 3) Plan a pathway with SMART goals and a plan B. 4) Search for jobs with a CV, cover letter, digital portfolio and interview practice. 5) Make the move from school to work and keep learning, because careers change over a lifetime.