Glow...are we really on the dark side

It was with interest that I read Tom Conlon's article about the Dark side of Glow in today's TESS. After reading it I couldn't help but feel as though I was in some way an acolyte of Darth Vader and the Empire due to my and others 'irrational exuberance' for such a technology. Don't get me wrong, I am not on here to have a dig at someone that is looking at what is happening in the education world with such a critical and questioning eye. We always need that and I have taken on board and am still in the process of digesting what Tom Conlon says...however. I do feel that the view that comes across is somewhat negative and the article is significant for me in the sense that there is no mention at all of the positives that the initiative that is Glow can, and, is bringing to teaching and learning in classrooms across the country.

I was recently in a class in Bishopbriggs (blog post to follow on the Consolarium's blog) led by a teacher called Susan Yeoman. Glow had become integral to what was happening in this class and the evidence of learning that I witnessed was, in my opinion, damn good. The class site/s were packed with evidence of rich learning, they were engaging with other children, developing their skills in the field of technology, enthused about learning, sharing their work at home and using technology in a purposeful and relevant way. I have seen this in many other classrooms too. I thought that we had moved past the trough of disillusionment in Gartner's Hype Cycle (particularly in view of a recent key contacts meeting) and were moving towards the plateau of productivity but Tom's article still urges caution, a little too much in the negative for me.

I have some comments to make about what Tom has to say:

• I question Tom's suggestion that a free laptop for every teacher might have been a better option. Where is the evidence to support that?

• I also question Tom's focus on the phrase 'the speeded-up school'. I look forward to a 'speeded up school' that engages with technologies in as informed and evaluative a process as possible. This work will continue to evolve and develop and I believe that we need to be in there actually doing it in class. Why shouldn't we aspire to have schools where learning is speeded up...

• I sympathise with his comments about the digital divide but should this stop us from building the infrastructure that learners might be able to access via a PSP, a DS, a Wii or any other cultural significant technologies that young people use? Such an initiative, aspirational in its conception and desire, could and should play a part in cementing the arguments for the support and provision of access for all.

• The final part of Tom's article that I must say is disappointing is his comment about the cultural trivialisation of amateur chatter within Glow. What exactly does he mean by this? The work that I am seeing with young people engaging with Glow and some of the professional discourse that is happening in some Glow groups is, in my opinion, far from amateur but wholly professional and enlightening and evidential of the superb and thoughtful range of teachers there are in Scottish schools.

I realise that as an employee of LTS that this blogpost may come across as on message and partisan but I hope not, We need people like Tom Conlon to make us step back and out of any blind enthusiasm for new technological initiatives and to always keep a critical eye on what we are doing. We do however, I believe, also need to make the best use of technologies to engage learners and in so doing continue to contribute to the discourse about effective practice in such a domain. Glow has great potential and there are of a great many teachers out there who are making it happen, I wonder how much of this Tom has actually seen? I look forward to reading more of Tom's thoughts when they come out in the Scottish Educational Review.

Now I'm off to construct my own light sabre and find that pesky Yoda!

Comments

[Joe Wilson]

We need this national infrastructure and we need it much faster than it is arriving and .. well we in SQA are just bursting to set up some qualifications developments groups and have new models for moving forward assessment

But we also need learners with their own devices connected to a network that isn't moderated by John Knox , Corporal Frazer from Dads Army and the other stereotypes that appear to be running local shops for local people. Not like this at all I know.

With laptops now costing less that some mobile phones surely teachers can bring their own into work ;-)

We need to keep Glowing and do more things too - we need a speeded up system. Glow is just start.

[Anna]

I have tried searching for Tom Conlan in Glow - but to no avail. Is the article based on his real experience of Glow?

[jaye richards]

Is the amateur chatter he refers to actually the communication, creation and collaboration between our pupils, teachers and other users ? I think it is, and it's a major strength of GLOW. In fact, it's a big part of the future of learning in this country. To trivialise it as innane and unimportant, as Conlon does is to denigrate the contribution of these voices as somehow less worthy than the so-called academic 'experts' in the TEI's. I know, as I'm sure do many others, just which has been the biggest influence on my own classroom practice, and it's not the theoretical posturings of folk who have not set foot in a classroom (in any meaningful sense)for many years...

[Derek Robertson]

@ Jaye the amateur chatter reference troubles me also. I'm not sure what he means by this but I'm sure he'll elaborate in his article in the Scottish Educational Review.

@ Anna maybe we should get a guest account organised.

[Andy Wallis]

I've read this article several times; each time I'm left feeling more and more aghast.

One thing I continually do not understand is how could £40million have been better spent on "increased adoption of "open-source" software"?! Does Mr Conlon really understand what he is commenting on?

[martin brown]

Derek, thanks for writing this up. I have just returned from Greenock and Glow training. What a great place.. Teachers in Inverclyde like many other LAs I have worked with over the last year, have great ideas for using Glow.
I will be working with Aberdeen University next, and hope I can be involved in Glow training for the UoE in 2009? Hopefully Tom will be there.

[km]

unfortunately tom conlon passed away, not suddenly, on christmas eve. i knew him from UofE - a great lecturer who knew his stuff

[Derek Robertson]

@km I heard about the passing of Tom Conlon. Sad to hear of this too although this post and the subsequemt thread is a very small example of the debate/s he engendered in the Scottish education community.

[Ian Cameron]

I wish Tom Conlon had experienced the wonderful work that has gone on in Dundee utilising Glow and it's potential in an educational context. Maybe his report may have been different. One Dundee teacher, a Glow pioneer, has used Glow with great success. His class (P6) were from a predominately poor economic background and not all had direct access to a PC at home. It was one of the first times he had received a 100% return on his homework. His youngsters were, off their own backs, going round to Grannies, Aunts, Libraries, Community Centers or wherevever they could access the internet. This teacher now has many others following in his footsteps. Glow is in it's infancy, but very quickly becoming a stroppy teenager. Yes I agree we should be careful not to evangelise......but neither should we spend the university trust fund before the bairn can walk....