I had this conversation with students from Yarridale Senior High School during a focus group interview and it has really stayed with me:

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Penny:	So when you think of “ICTs”, what do you think of? What comes to mind?
Christy:	Computers.
Penny:	Computers? What else?
Alistair:	A lot of big work.
Penny:	Big work? What do you mean?
Alistair:	A lot, like piles on ya? Like you got these really big essays and… all sorts of things to do. It’s not like one page or anything anymoreit’s like, a mini book or something.
Penny:	Ahhh.
Courtney:	Ten pages.
Alistair:	Like ten pages.
Penny:	That’s interesting. So when you think of technologies, you think of limitless scope.
Alistair:	Yeh.
Christy:	Like lots and lots and lots and lots of work.

This sentiment was shared with other students in the other three case-study schools. Although the teachers may associate “fun” with ICTs (see my previous post on the topic), students thought “more work.” And I can see where they’re coming from! It is true, the work assigned when using ICTs is often project work. This may be due to logistical reasons (the heavily booked computer lab being reserved far in advance) or simply because the task lends itself to particular ICTs or vice versa such as creating a digital story, video recording a profile, writing an extended text and so on. These are all tasks that are made easier with ICTs and so tend to be popular. But in prioritising ICT use for such ‘”big work” and not (having the opportunity to?) normalise it in everyday learning  the students saw ICTs in the classroom as not necessarily being “Other” but as being “big work” and lots of it. Work was work was work to them – no matter whether it be with pen’n'paper, mp3 player or DVD player – but with ICTs it was often more work.

I find this sentiment (experience?) interesting, and one to keep in mind when exploring the issue of “fun”. Just because I’m writing this post on an online blog doesn’t make it more “fun” than writing it in my paper journal. Having the privilege of using a word processor to write a journal article (or thesis!) doesn’t make that task more “fun.” And as Tom Johnson recently blogged, pencils aren’t always fun either. What changes with using ICTs (and the fun part for me!) is the prospective/potential audience and the ease of editing, publishing and revis(it)ing. But it’s still big work (especially the thesis!), and there’s certainly lots of it.