Successful teaching requires us to know our content, to know our students, and to use strategies that are relevant, engaging and effective.

Knowing our students is no easy task in the early years of the 21st century.

The educational writer, Marc Prensky, calls today’s young people ‘Digital Natives’; they were born into an online community; they’re at home within it. In the words of Hedley Beare, ‘It is the air which envelopes them.’

On the other hand, most of their teachers are ‘Digital Immigrants’, still trying to master the new language and learn the new ways.

It’s a cheeky observation but there’s a lot of truth in it.

Recently, I’ve been hearing of the concern some principals have with ‘MySpace’ – an online social networking site which is a very well developed instrument for creating online content, doing research, sharing ideas and building community. It’s a territory inhabited by Digital Natives!

The concern is understandable. As with every area of social interaction, there are dangers.

But, at times like this, perhaps we should all stand back for a moment and consider the bigger picture.

Somewhere deep within our human condition is a tendency to ‘catastrophise’ every new technology that arrives on the scene. Just think of community fear and suspicion of the first comic books, the earliest radio, television, computer games, and so on.

It’s natural, and quite predictable, for us to have all kinds of reservations about new social software.

On the other side of the coin are the great educational opportunities that such developments offer us as educators. At this point in our history, I think it is fair to say that our profession is challenged to re-think the way teachers deliver the curriculum.

I have just been browsing through some students’ work posted on the Net.

In one 3-minute piece, I saw impressive evidence of critical and analytical thinking, problem-solving, collaborative editing, synthesising of ideas and very effective communication. Here was a truly integrated, quality learning experience.