Rachel Boyd has created a class blog for her year 2/3 students. These children are 6 or 7 years old and have become involved in creating a colourful and informative class blog. This is a great example for perspective teachers on the different activities which can be included in a class blog. It’s also wonderful for parents who are able to see the work their child is completing at school. Again, the children understand that they have an audience and that is a great motivator for participating in this as well as completing their work to a high standard.

I totally agree with Matt’s posting on this subject of why it’s advantageous to let students blog. Rachel Blog’s You Tube video is quite powerful. There is no audio to this clip. Rather, single words have been carefully chosen to explain the benefits of students blogging. Words such as; empowerment, engagement and motivation. I also feel that when students know that they have the whole world as their audience (when their blog is listed on the Internet), they are more likely to participate, be motivated and excited about their project.

Matt goes on to talk about his particular learning style and how Podcasting suits his – sometimes it’s easier for people to hear audio, rather than writing and reading text. It’s fair to say that Matt and I have thoroughly enjoyed creating our first Podcasts this week!!

Last year I had a Year 1 class for Prac. The students were given the task of creating a PowerPoint Presentation (over the length of a term) which included text, photos and background themes. To be honest, I didn’t have a whole lot of expectations. However, the end results were fantastic. Never again will I underestimate children and technology!!

I came across this You Tube video and it’s a glimpse of what the next generation (Generation Z – babies born after the year 2000) are capable of and why we as teachers need to stay on top of technology! Keep in mind that the child in this video is 1 year and 10 months old. The optical ultra-portable mouse was purchased the day before.