Twitter, blogging, and podcasts to be added to school curriculum
By Dave Parrack
Should children be taught about Twitter, blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia, and the many other ways of interacting with the Web? Maybe. But should these subjects replace important lessons from our history, such as the Second World War and the Victorians?
This is what could happen in British primary school if the plans for a new curriculum drawn up by Sir Jim Rose, the former chief of Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education), are accepted and implemented.
British primary schoolchildren, those aged between 5 and 11-years-old, are currently taught a range of subjects, with the onus very firmly on giving them a general understanding of different aspects of life. But the Web is largely ignored.
According to The Guardian newspaper, six “learning areas” would replace the current 13 standalone subject areas. One of these new areas would see children required by law to leave primary school education with a basic understanding of Twitter, Wikipedia, blogging, and podcasting.
These proposals have caused widespread consternation amongst parents, both of young children who would be subject to the new curriculum and the older generation who remember a more traditional education. While I can certainly see their point, there must surely be some positives about teaching young children these new forms of communication and how to master the Web.
Like it or not, Twitter and social networking in general is becoming a legitimate means of communication and a way of disseminating news. While the naming of one particular app may be a little ridiculous – after all, it’s likely that we’ll have all moved on to the next big thing by the time these recommendations come in – teaching kids how the Internet works to bring us all close together does have value.
But the negatives do seem to outweigh the positives. ITProPortal spells out five reasons why this shake-up may not be in the best interests of our children, including students already knowing more than their teachers, and many social networks being for kids over 13 only. These are hard to argue with.
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March 27th, 2009
But are these new forms of media fads? Just think about the sites that were popular 10 years ago. They weren’t the ones that are popular now. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to be teach children today’s fads.