Chevallum State School teacher Karen Davidson with Sparkle and Jangles

When Chevallum State School teacher Karen Davidson was looking for a way to get her students writing in a meaningful, real life, but fun way, she decided to use a toy Hastings River mouse named Sparkle. "We were studying endangered animals," Ms Davidson said. "So this combined two purposes. Sparkle went home with the students, then they added to The Adventures of Sparkle both in hard copy and online, with digital photos, in the classroom next day."

There was great competition to take Sparkle home, Ms Davidson said. "And the children's writing was wonderful, with lots of lovely language."

While participating in the trial of Education Queensland's ICT Pedagogical Licence workshop days, held at Sunshine Coast University, Ms Davidson told other teachers about Sparkle. They were very interested, and wanted to be involved. Learning Place mentor Helen Penridge helped the group to set up Travel Buddy websites through the Learning Place. "Helen has great expertise and was very encouraging," Ms Davidson said.

Soon, students from Buddina and Eudlo schools were communicating with the Chevallum students, and Sparkle had left home and travelled to Buddina. "The children were reluctant to let him go at first, but in exchange we received Nugget, from Margie Brown's Year 4 class at Buddina," Ms Davidson said. "Nugget even went to a State of Origin match with our pre-service student teacher!"

When Years 4 boys at Buddina first saw Sparkle, they were initially unimpressed, Ms Davidson said. "They said 'It's a toy!' But before long Sparkle was going along to footy practice – and the boys were writing in his online web journal. In the meantime, Sparkle's cousin Jangles has gone to Eudlo, and the students from Chevallum and Eudlo are emailing each other."

The project will culminate with a shared picnic or sports activity between the schools, Ms Davidson said. "The project is still growing. Other schools and teachers are interested, and more travel buddy adventures are planned."

Ms Davidson said the communication and sharing with different communities was a valuable aspect of the project. "Buddina, for example, is a coastal school, quite different from our rural community. It's educational for the students to communicate with children from different backgrounds. As well, I've made professional connections with other teachers and we've become good friends. The children's level of expertise with ICTs has grown enormously, and journal writing has become a genre of writing the children enjoy doing."