There are certainly a lot of challenges to teaching ICT. Not only does the technology itself continually evolve, so too does the landscape of our students’ knowledge. We are perpetually challenged to rise above the skills of the ‘digital natives’ that we face on a daily basis and be exemplars of the discipline. I don’t know about you, but this takes a great deal of my energy – and there are times when it is harder than others.
At the start of this year, I was determined to tackle this problem head on. I set up a wiki hosted at the wikispaces web-site and proceeded to create a structure that my Year 12 Software Development class could use and make their own. I was reminded of the mantra ‘if you build it, they will come’ from a best forgotten 80’s film about baseball. The danger in such a mantra is that it is tempting to put all the work into setting things up and then standing back.

I introduced the wiki to my class during the first week of term. It is fair to say that the class was indifferent about all the work that I had done in setting it up and my plans for the ways in which it was going to be used. Interestingly, they were not particularly vocal in their criticisms in class, but in true ‘digital native’ style, let loose in the forums on the wikispace. They asked ‘what is the point of all this?’, ‘do I have to used the wiki?’ and variations of these. All good questions, but ones which we were rapidly cutting through my enthusiasm. But I was determined to address their concerns and ‘sell’ the concept to them.
As teachers of ICT, the fact that we do not know everything, is an important admission to make to our students. I do this at the start of each year by giving students an idea of where my journey started, the types of computers and technology I have encountered and the languages or tools that I have used. Most of us have been using computers for a longer time that our students have been alive and this gives us a wealth of experience and perspective. This is the advantage that we have.
Our students, on the other hand, use the latest technologies and adapt quickly. Talk to them about technology and they will use terminology and refer to programs and devices that you have not heard of. It can be a scary experience, unless you open yourself up to the fact that it will always be this way.
This is where tools such as wikis really come into their own. In setting up the wiki, I challenged my students to shape the content of the site and build a resource that would be valuable to the class as a whole. When introducing theory topics to students, I have begun by giving them a solid grounding in the core concepts and given them examples of my own experiences. As I have always done, I have then opened the topic up by asking them what they know about it and what their experiences have been. However, this year, I had a tool at my disposal that has taken this to a new level. Instead of simply having a discussion in class, I asked students to create content, append links, images and media, start or contribute to discussions. In many ways, the content and structure of my class has become extremely dynamic.
I started this piece by discussing how hard it is to stay abreast of technology and compete with the knowledge of our students. It’s hard work, but tools such as wikis make the job a lot easier. I’ve always felt that the challenge of staying up to date is not so great if you are open to turning the problem on its head. Use the resources that you have in your classes – the students themselves. If you do this, you can create a learning environment in which the education and enrichment is not just flowing from teacher to student.