Web 2.0 in the Early Childhood Classroom

Something that concerned me when we were talking about blogs and wikis was that even though they could be used in early childhood classrooms, the written aspects of class blogs and wikis were decidedly teacher-driven. This concerned me because I felt these activities would not necessarily help younger students (ages 5-8) develop their digital literacy if the teacher was the only person openly submitting data to these websites. The plethora of visual-based resources introduced in this week's lecture has given me new hope for integrating web 2.0 technologies into the early childhood years - these audiovisual mediums could be used to engage students in literacy immediately and emphasise the fun side to learning. It also introduces students to digital literacy and critical literacy from a young age, whilst not overburdening the students with written text. I was struggling with the blog I have created for my four-week science program because I think I have pitched the written text side of things at too high a level; however after today's lecture I have some new ideas for keeping the students engaged and will help me to reach literacy, science, SOSE and ICT outcomes.