So, 2007 ends and this is the first year for a long time that I have had a lot to reflect on – qualifying as a teacher, getting my first teaching post and my first year as a ‘Mac Man’ are just a few of these things.

Having never gained any qualifications in the world of ICT before starting my degree in Primary Teaching with ICT three years ago, I have found the way we do computers in school quite alien. Until recently I’ve never studied ICT, just discovered things. This anti-education was enough to get me a job as a computer engineer at the age of 19. So the way we plough through the dated curriculum in England and Wales is bizarre. (In fact, an ICT curriculum will be dated as soon as it is printed). I think I probably had an early insight into the way most teens ‘do’ ICT now; practically, in the real world. Because that’s what ICT is now, part of the real, everyday world.

Some time in the early nineties, the geek-bound area of ‘IT’ gained a new letter. This was a reflection of the rise of the internet into the public domain (by the way, the letter was ‘C’ and it stands for communication). Now, about 10 years after the net became commonplace in the average family home, the ‘C’ now stands for a whole lot more. We used to communicate through the internet and mobile phones. Important people could communicate through TV, radio and maybe some other stuff I can’t think of right now. However, we don’t use the internet to communicate now, we use myspace, Bebo, Facebook, Twitter, SMS, video and we use the internet, 3G and bluetooth to access these things. Incidentally, most of these things are blocked and outlawed in school. You could probably pick holes in this statement like ‘SMS should be in the other category because it is a protocol’. I’m sure you understand what I’m getting at though. Most teens aren’t bothered how they get their regular fix of MyFaceBo; mobile phone, iPod touch, PSP, Hacked DS, PDA, PC, TV, Wii, XBox, PS 3; each one is just a tool.