Teaching Generation Z

Here in South Australia, we've had Learning To Learn, and now I think I'm experiencing Blogging about Blogs. In the blogosphere at the moment, I would be like the new kid at school trying to work out who to be friends with (via Bloglines and the Blogrolls of those kids who've obviously been out in the yard playing for a fair while). There is still is a fair bit of novelty involved in checking feeds and assessing if each blog author's voice resonates with me. I enjoy clarifying my thoughts via Teaching Generation Z but I spend a lot more time reading other blogs, searching for new blogs to read, downloading podcasts of interest (sometimes I even listen to them) and then reading some more. And maybe it's still because I am still finding out about web 2.0 tools but it seems that every second blog I read is about blogging. Now in my job as an ICT coordinator, my job is to lead the way for my staff and make sure that we don't have students using computers to learn word processing, or learn Powerpoint but using the tools to solve problems or create content documenting their own learning. So, if a blog is a tool for learning and connecting, how come there's so much discussion about the tool? Isn't it a bit like a group of builders discussing their hammers and saws instead of the projects they intend to complete!

I suspect that "a group of builders" might well have discussed "their hammers and saws" when they were a new innovation and still unfamilar. Adherents of the predecessors probably poo-poohed the early adopters, and made scathing remarks about "newfangled nonsense" and "this was good enough for my dad and his dad before him."

The early adopters no doubt compared the ways in which they used the new tools and gave each other hints and tips. Once the new tools became embedded in the process, that sort of conversation would have become restricted to those just learning to use them, such as apprentices or sons.

So are we at the stage of the tools being new or are we at the stage of the tools being embedded, with mentoring being offered to those new to them?