The above headline appeared in the Guardian yesterday, March 25th. The sensational headline is a journalist’s interpretation of a leaked report on the forthcoming Rose Report on the new primary curriculum in England. Many believe that the leaked document has been misrepresented by the journalist in question and that the curriclum documents do not specifically mention Twitter or blogs. However, there is agreement that Web 2.0 technologies should be an integral part of any future primary curriculum as these tools are redefining our traditional literacy definitions. What is most interesting is that the article has hit the Irish media with George Hook discussing it briefly on The Right Hook this evening. It is certainly timely that Irish educators considered what implications, if any, Web 2.0 technologies will have on our curriculum. Discussion on the programme focused too much on the technology and did not get into what implications these new technologies will have on teaching and learning – but that is not as exciting as the headline and a bit mundane for most listeners. Well done to Newstalk for featuring the piece and raising the issue.
For more on what is Twitter click here. For more ideas on blogging in primary schools click here .
Here is a link to a recent blog posting on the BBC British Council web pages on using Twitter in education.
Young people are using these tools to communicate and we should consider how we can use them creatively and effectively in our schools. Anyone got any good education examples of Twitter and school blogs that they would like to share? Send them on.