A child not too far removed from me has just come home from school and described his ICT lesson.

He now knows how to make a teacher’s checklist. Should he ever need one. He’s planning on being a cartoonist or a comedian, not a teacher (too many of those around him).

Also he now knows how to do averages on an Excel spreadsheet. Fantastic. Except that he doesn’t know what an average is.

He does however, know how to tell a story in Movie Maker 2 or with the software that comes with the Digital Blue camera. He can use Acid Express or Garage Band and Audacity to write a song. Oh and he’s also got a blog and a website. He is perfectly comfortable with his own computer, his digital camera, his mobile phone and most of the appliances and digital stuff around the house.

This twenty-first century child does have some issues though. He’s a little inclined to believe the first website he sees. And he is often happy to stop at the first Wikipedia definition of his spelling words.

My boy is absolutely representative of his generation. If he wants to do something or needs to complete a task he will find a way to do it – as and when he needs to. He’s inclined to believe his friends and peers before he believes anyone more than two years older than he is. What he needs (and his friends need) is a few good solid sessions about keywords, searching, truth and voracity.

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