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=**Welcome to Somerville's ICT Laboratory. **= = A place where those who want to experiment with previously unexplored ICT tools can share their successes and failures. A place where the cautious can learn what those who are not have discovered. = In this fast paced world of ours it is said that if you stand still you will be left behind and many of us feel this when two or more geeks are gathered together and start talking blogs and wikis and a mash up or two.

But change for the sake of change is not the answer either. For it is also said... The pace gives the illusion of change but nothing really changes.

On this website staff can review tools they have explored and give recommendations on how they have used them within the classroom programme.

If you wish to implement a tool in your own room then use this site to choose one that interests you and get support from a real person to help make it a success for both you and your students.

Entering the world of the read/write web (where we are both the audience and contributors) is not a choice. It is a requirement of the curriculum but more importantly it is an important life skill for our students.

The New Zealand Curriculum puts forward a vision for what we want for our young people.

(from page 8) Our vision is for young people: >
 * who will be creative, energetic, and enterprising;
 * who will seize the opportunities offered by new knowledge and technologies to secure a sustainable social, cultural, economic, and environmental future for our country;
 * who will work to create an Aotearoa New Zealand in which Māori and Pākehā recognise each other as full Treaty partners, and in which all cultures are valued for the contributions they bring;
 * who, in their school years, will continue to develop the values, knowledge, and competencies that will enable them to live full and satisfying lives;
 * who will be conﬁdent, connected, actively involved, and lifelong learners.

The tools that are available on the internet now provide a authentic opportunity for our students to be what the New Zealand Curriculum is asking for in its vision statement.