I just read a TechCrunch article on something called Aardvark. Aardvark looks like a promising social Q&A tool, but it was the example (below) that Michael Arrington shared that caught my eye.

I had to laugh. I also thought how this was a good example of needing to know your audience.

I read this on the back of meeting my last ICT group today. This was the batch that was two weeks behind another batch, so things got confusing in terms of weekly topics. It had been a lot worse with the other course that I facilitate, EdPsych2 (EP2), overlapping by the same two weeks. I not only had to wear different hats, I had to wear different suits!

Or so I thought at first. I find myself blending the suits as I think of ways to integrate relevant forms of pedagogy and technology into the content-heavy course that is EP2. Why? It starts with knowing your audience.

I know that my audience comprises of future teachers, so I must give them opportunities to design, teach and reflect. I know that they are more technologically savvy with each passing batch. (My recent survey revealed that at least half were already users of Google Docs.)

I think I know my ICT audience pretty well as a whole. As I say goodbye to another batch of ICT classes, I am heartened by their tokens of appreciation, group photos, and their expressions on how they will miss the course. I recall some of their blog entries about how hard they are pushed to think, how their mindsets change and how much they look forward to attending class.

Now I think that if I can create half the energy and feeling for EP2, I’d be very happy!