Glow: Setting an Example for the World in Connecting Education across Scotland
published 9 November 2009
Glow removes barriers and enables collaborative learning throughout Scotland, providing a networking model for the rest of the world to emulate
Scotland has taken networking to a whole new level with the creation of Glow, the world’s first national intranet created solely for education. Conceived in 2001 and launched only recently, the Web-based collaboration platform is quickly transforming the way education is delivered throughout the country.
Glow is the result of a joint collaboration among Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS), the government-sponsored agency responsible for curriculum reform, RM, the company implementing and managing the technology, and members of the Scottish educational community.
“The idea for Glow actually began by answering the question of: ‘how in the future can we use technology to better support teaching and learning?’” said John McCarney, head of RM’s education services. “’How can we move to online learning and what might that be like?’”
The platform, which went live in 2007, cost $75 million to implement and took four years to develop. In the short time that it has been operational, all of Scotland’s 32 education districts are participating in the volunteer project. Because the government paid for its development, there is no cost to the individual districts to participate. The initial aim for Glow is to serve more than 800,000 students, teachers, parents, and education professionals, and that number is estimated to eventually reach 1.5 million users.
What Glow provides is a trusted and safe environment in which students and their teachers can access a variety of online tools, converse in safe and secure chatrooms, and collaborate on various projects across districts. Users can access the network 24/7 from any Web-enabled computer as well as from their schools. One of the features currently in use on the site is called Glow Meet, which allows for video conferencing. “With a single sign-on,” said McCarney, “you don’t have to go anywhere else. Teachers and parents can video conference from the comfort of their homes.”
McCarney added that the beauty of the system is that it can be whatever the users want it to be. “Any user can set up their own group to do exactly what they want. It can have a development focus or a curricular focus, because the user controls it. Glow provides user-generated collegiality. It’s user governed.”
LTS initially purchased content to populate the site. But now, as Glow continues to develop, original content is being shared and adapted for use in other districts. “Before the introduction of Glow, districts were like most in that they tended to be self-contained without a lot of sharing taking place between them,” said McCarney. “Glow has eliminated those barriers and enabled the free sharing of information and ideas across institutional and district borders.”
McCarney said the Glow educational team, comprised of both RM and LTS employees, is working to improve the look and feel of the platform as well as add additional features such as the use of blogs and wikis.
Glow is the first national intranet established for education. The network is so revolutionary that last year, Star Wars producer George Lucas, who heads up his own not-for-profit education foundation, told members of Congress that America should adopt Scotland’s model and equip its schools with 21st century technology. In his remarks, he said, “This kind of common platform makes perfect sense. As companies and government agencies do, school districts and states should invest in ensuring that each of their locations has the same suite of online tools for their work and communications.”
Glow was honored at the IMS Global Learning Consortium’s Learning Impact 2009 last May with a Platinum Award for its innovative use of technology in enhancing learning.
Educators from as far away as China and Australia have visited LTS to learn more about Glow and ways they may adapt the technology to their own environments.
To
learn more about Glow, visit the RM website
http://www.rm.com/Home/RMComHome.aspx
About IMS GLC
IMS Global Learning is a nonprofit member organization that strives to enable the growth and impact of learning technology in higher education, K-12, and corporate education worldwide. IMS GLC members are leading corporations, higher education institutions, school districts and government organizations who are enabling the future of education by developing interoperability and adoption practice standards for educational and learning technology. IMS GLC sponsors Learning Impact: a global program and conference that recognizes the impact of learning and educational technology on access, affordability, and quality - the world’s most significant educational challenges. For more information, visit www.imsglobal.org.
Citation
To reference this article please cite:
Humes, L. R. (2009). Glow: Setting an Example for the World in Connecting Education across the Nation of Scotland. IMS Global Learning Consortium Series on Learning Impact. November 2009 from http://www.imsglobal.org/articles/nov2009Glow.cfm
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