Session 3- Useful ICT tools

Of all the ICT tools which were introduced (and explored with) during session 2, there are two in particular which I believe are very useful to me personally, and for early childhood use as well. They are:

1. Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/):

This tool is one of the most useful tools to me because of facebook's availibilty to many worldwide (refer to picture), their varied functions, and their constant improvements. In fact, probably the most common question now when I meet new people, which more often than not is answered with a 'yes', is "You've got facebook?"

(Different languages offered)

I believe that this tool is also particularly useful to early childhood education as I visited and explored different early childcare sites on facebook. I saw that there were childcares who really utilised the page well, putting in videos, pictures and announcements. I also saw one parent's comments on the page, and what was really appealing to me was how one childcare allowed parents to put positive reviews on their page. However, I also thought that the pages were a bit messy and it lacked structure and clarity of what's new on the page. If I were a parent, I might get overwhelmed or confused of what I should look out for. Furthermore, I really wondered how many parents actually used the pages for updates, and I would want to do a survey with parents before I really use Facebook as a tool in the area of early childhood education.

Childcare sites refered to:

http://www.facebook.com/silverlakechildcare

http://www.facebook.com/Monarch-Christian-Academy-Kindergarten/#!/pages/Monarch-Christian-Academy-Kindergarten/110848352307412

2. Windows Movie Maker (http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker?os=other):

Although I don't use this tool often, I really loved it when I started using it to do projects in the ITA module which we took in our diploma course. I really love this tool because it allows me, with the different functions available, to create just the right emphasis to the pictures or videos which I want to showcase, which the website explained brieflyabout as well. This makes windows movie maker especially useful in selling or promoting any ideas which I have to others, which the website states is convenient to do so.

I have seen this tool being useful to early childhood settings in particular because of the presentations that teachers make to present children's work and activities and create stories for children, similar to a benefit stated by the website. I myself had alot of fun with my project group, exploring how to create a story with the tool. Perhaps what might be interesting to try is to get children to create their own stories using this tool and presenting it at the end of a certain topic. For example, if the children are learning about animals, they can create an animal story together.