We are in the middle of an on-line debate about the future of technologies for learning in our schools. This has already included some significant announcements regarding a change of direction to Glow and we will be continuing to develop our thinking building up to the Scottish Government ICT Summit on the 1October 17. To help inform our work I have set five objectives, the fifth of which is unpacked below.

Objective 5: Strengthen position on hardware and associated infrastructure

I have always thought that one of the ‘hidden gems’ of Scottish Education is our broadband infrastructure. The Interconnect provides high-speed broadband for each of our 32 Local Authorities. It is the role of Local Authorities to then connect the schools.

We are committed to continuing the investment of our schools high-speed broadband infrastructure and over time we will review its conditions of use and increase its capacity. We are also committed to looking at how we can improve the  “final mile” of connectivity from the LA to its schools. This is part of our wider agenda and digital ambition for Scotland. Underpinning our decisions to upgrade the network will be research into the benefits of improved connectivity and its impact on education, social and community services.

Clearly schools and LAs may also need advice on what connectivity speeds they should be aiming for. It seems interesting to me that all of our rural Pathfinder schools have a good level of minimum connectivity but in some our urban schools our connectivity is very low. Clearly, with ‘digital’ playing an increasing role in all of our lives this need to be addressed. There seems to be an unacceptable amount of learning resources being blocked from children at school where ‘safety’ is given as the primary excuse when in fact a more likely reason is lack of bandwidth.

At the heart of our Schools ICT infrastructure is Glow. Glow is a phenomenal resource and has given thousands of teacher’s access to tools and shared learning resources for a number of years. But in more challenging times we need to do things differently with a more exciting and imaginative approach. As I mentioned in my announcement on the 8th September I expect that as Glow evolves it will start to consist more of the variety of free tools and open source services that already exist on the web.

Of course there is no point in having a good infrastructure and a more dynamic national Intranet (Glow) without young people being able to access it. This is why we must start to think seriously about opening up access in schools to privately owned devices and develop a national procurement framework for hardware leasing. I commend the Local Authorities who are already ahead of the game in this area.

Finally, if we are serious about technologies in learning then any Scottish Government funded website needs to lead by example. Any Scottish Government funded online presence should model best practice, and should be a place that brings together discussion, promotes a cost-effective approach to resources, and signposts high quality content. Engage for Education is a good example of how we started this during our last term of Government. 

By moving on this objective, I hope we can increase the connectivity and the number of devices in use in schools and at the same time reduce the cost of the maintenance of devices for local authorities. By making the best use of what is already available on the web we will also reduce the cost of centrally procured or managed services in the creation of the next version of Glow. Improved access and usability should in turn increase in the sharing of good and interesting practice and increase the involvement of the Scottish education community in forming a shared understanding of excellence.

What do you think? Why don’t you have your say and contribute to the on-line discussions taking place between the 12th September – 10th October. You can find out more information and join in at http://glo.li/eduscotict.

 

Michael Russell
Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning

 

Related information

Technologies for Learning: Unpacking the Objectives – Introduction

Technologies for Learning: Unpacking the Objectives – Confidence

Technologies for Learning: Unpacking the Objectives – New Behaviours

Technologies for Learning: Unpacking the Objectives – Parental Engagement

Watch the video - Cabinet Secretary for Education Michael Russell discusses the future of Glow – the schools website