ICT: Further Possibilites

While writing up my research report, I spent a considerable amount of time writing to friends and coursemates of Facebook, and I was not the only one. A friend and I decided that, over the course of a week or two, we could easily accumulated 6000 social networking words, so why was our fluency blocked when it actually counted?

I started thinking more seriously about the potential of these sites for Primary schools. Firstly, could I set up an anonymous group for research purposes? It could be a good way to elicit views and guide discussion in an environment that is secure for the child: Perhaps one of a very few ways to conduct a totally anonymous (and not just confidential) interview. Secondly, could it be a way to move away from only assessing only what pupils produce, and their responses to questioning, to include their pure ideas and inferences in an environment in which you write whatever crosses your mind?

Of course, alongside these there are questions that would need to be considered first:

• How could I ensure that pupils without the technology at home would not be excluded?
• How would I encourage students to access this alternative, anonymous, account and respond to me as well as chatting to friends on their regular account? Would it, perhaps, need to be a subject they cared enough about and thus wanted to give their views?
• If I was to monitor a group like this, children would need to be made aware that I was doing so: Would this cause them to hold back? How would I encourage openness without deception.

These are only questions, but are just some of the questions I will be exploring in my own classroom at some point in the future.