In a lot of ways too.
Its been a long time since I last blogged anything.
Its been a long time waiting for Glow to come into being in my locality. Its early days yet, but so far (ignoring niggles over functionality) I'm really impressed. Let's see how the big, whole staff roll-out goes on Tuesday....
Its been a long time since I embarked on a project before carefully considering the possibilities - like setting up a National Glow Group for Physics Teachers. Luckily there were a few other like minded souls ready to share the task.
However, this gave rise to an unexpectedly venomous backlash against the group's existence, those involved in it and Glow as an entity in general.
It seems that the act of creating a group to help teachers share ideas, interests and resources has more than a few of the physics teaching community up in arms. Glow has been described as 'exclusive' as access is strictly controlled to registered users; 'obstructive' as Glow's structure allows users less freedom to grow their sites incorporating new features and techniques; and 'divisive' as not all teachers and authorities have access, nor do private schools or FE colleges.
Some physics teachers are demanding that the Institute of Physics (IOP) set up an open access forum in a similar vein. One especially vehement individual urged others to join him in starting a campaign of "SAY NO TO GLOW!"
Another solution was sought by Nick Hood - he has created a wiki (teachingphysics.pbwiki.com). This, like all wikis is open to all, and can be edited by any or all of its registered users (including me).
Both the wiki and the Glow group are in their early infancy, but will grow and evolve over time, possibly catering to different audiences (especially while Glow access is denied to some by their Local Authorities). But surely the fact that some people are doing something to allow colleagues to share, can't be anything other than good, can it? I understand the anger of those excluded form Glow, but that issue is not with Glow, rather the Local Authorities who are denying their staff, pupils and parents access to this potentially revolutionary facility. By setting up National Glow Groups and using these to share throughout the country, surely we're provideing those who have been excluded with more evidence of Glow's worth, giving them a stronger position from which to argue for their authoirites to get on board.
Great to see you back, and grabbing onto the potential of Glow, both in your school and nationally. It never ceases to amaze me that people are so negative. Those that criticise Glow for its capacity and structure would do well to consider the great number of people in Scottish education that have not moved to embraced technology in the classroom at all, let alone in any meaningful way for their students. A technological solution that would see the end of the 'information sheet' and put people in touch with each other across the country is in my mind a very good thing. Regarding Independant schools and those not yet having access to Glow, there are ongoing discussions with all the local authorities and SCIS to see how they can be involved. Keep going with the national Group - you couldn't be more right to set up an area for teachers to share 🙂