Fiona MacLeod: Glowing example of e-learning

Published on Monday 2 February 2009 21:07

A GROUP of teenagers gaze in grim fascination as the body is dissected in front of them.

From inside the seabird's now open stomach, pieces of plastic and other sea litter are pulled by a white-coated scientist.

These Higher exam students are learning first-hand about the effects on wildlife of dumping rubbish into our seas. Except they are potentially more than 100 miles away from the experts performing the delicate operation.

These students might be watching this "post-mortem" live, but they are watching it via a computer screen online, through the Scottish schools website known as Glow.

The award-winning resource has been invested with 37.5 million to fund its set-up in 2004 and maintain it through until 2011.

It is at the very heart of the new school programme, known as the Curriculum for Excellence, because its aim is to help teachers share their best resources and techniques across Scotland.

Local authorities across the country have hooked up their schools to the system, which is accessible only to schools and people who have been disclosure checked.

And insiders say this "virtual learning" is not a one-off but the way of the future.

Not simply because it spreads good educational practice, but also because it has the potential to save cash-strapped councils money.

One education source said that, given the current financial situation for everyone, schools and councils would increasingly turn to the online resource in an attempt to cut costs.

She said: "It is simply economies of scale.

"Instead of hundreds of teachers creating the same resources, they can share them online quickly and for free," the source went on.

"The potential for savings is there for every local authority."

Broadcasting the fulmar's autopsy from the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick live online is just the latest way the site has been used.

It meant pupils as far away as the Highlands or Shetland could watch the procedure and ask the scientists questions without leaving the comfort of their classrooms, with potentially huge cost savings.

At the other end of the scale, primary schools are using Glow for lessons on citizenship, such as projects on Malawi, or on subjects as disparate as space or the Vikings.

The source said: "Schools have to weigh up whether things like trips and new resources are cost-effective, but Glow takes that dilemma away because it's free."