I got to be a radio star for a day last week when I flew to London to record some podcasts and a series of radio interviews to coincide with 'Back to School' week. Hewlett Packard roped me in, after they did some research into how children use information technology in the home, and the roles parents think technology will play in the future of education. Home computers are often dominated by parents to extend their work hours, and the kids sometimes don't get a look in, but UK parents are beginning to view computers and printers as essential tools for home study according to the survey. So it's increasingly important that the parents are educated in the use of ICT too.So HP invited me in to be grilled on my opinions about the research and to give listening parents some advice on how to encourage their children to study smarter. One of my sound bites was: 'Kids will always have imagination - it's how we challenge that imagination that will help them to develop creatively.' ICT can clearly play an important part in tapping into children's imaginations and setting them creative targets, at school or at home.
And there I sat to do this series of interviews to local FM radio stations including Heart FM (syndicated out), Juice FM (Brighton), Star FM (Cheltenham) and Imagine FM (Manchester and Stockport). I really didn't know what questions the stations would ask. As each called in, I took my best shot at their questions and just 'winged it'. Some they threw at me were very open questions, such as: 'How does ICT help prepare children for the future?' Well, what can you say to that? My response was .... well, how long have you got? I replied that teachers are in an almost impossible position, because they have to prepare children for a world of work which doesn't exist yet, and no-one can accurately predict what that world of work will look like when they eventually leave school. All teachers (and parents) can do is help children to learn how to learn, I said, and to do so in a manner which enables them to be adaptable to change. Knowledge of how digital technologies such as the internet and mobile phones can be used to 'learn how to learn' will be a vital component of children's learning, I advised. Encouraging children to share the content they find on the Web through their favourite social networking sites, working outside on wireless connections and capitalising on the audio and visual capabilities of digital technologies were all things parents could focus on to support their kid's homework, I told the radio interviewers. The podcast links are below:
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