enviable stuff

Initially, we gave the pupils space to play and explore in pairs… a class of 30 fits nicely into an ICT suite that way!  Worlds were created, as were Zombie armies.  Dragons were discovered, as were a number of functions that we planned to introduce later on!  Fancy that, finding stuff out for themselves, rather than waiting to be told in an order that suits the teacher… shame on them!  In a way, the next stage was quite a difficult step, to try to bring some order, some structure, some objective to the project, and share this with the class.  Do you want to create a fantastic computer game, or would you rather come here and discuss plots?  Well, actually we’re going to do both!  And, actually they did!

From Rich's post about introducing Adventure Author to pupils.

via @nwinton

@nwinton It's not a MS bash. I was embarrassed for trainers telling me how to create a web page in Glow. Utterly unusable. #glowbetter less than a minute ago from web in reply to nwinton

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@creativetallis A system built specifically for education would have been better than Sharepoint. Square hole round peg #glowbetter 12 minutes ago from web in reply to creativetallis

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#glowbetter for example, Sharepoint is just not fit for task. Everything about its structures say "corporate intranet" not "place to learn" 24 minutes ago from web

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#glowbetter the frustration of Glow is that the problems are like elephants in the room that people avoid discussing... 25 minutes ago from web

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#glowbetter the miracle of Glow is that so many people aware of so many problems are nonetheless trying to make it work...

some keepers. There has been a lot of interesting tweets about glow among the Scots Edu Tweeters, not sure twitter is best place for this.

Mirror mirror on the wall

Who are the greatest edubloggers of them all?

Why are you asking me. I don’t know.

Give them their own trumpet and let them blow.

The loudest sounds will provide a gist,

about who aspires to life on the ‘A-list’.

Another clue is link-showering determination,

to join the elite of mutual appreciation.

If for this lofty goal you wish to fumble,

Ensure everyone knows you are ‘so very ‘umble.”

Sure, Wave is big. It’s probably going to be useful. But for now, it’s really just a glorified, collaborative, polysynchronous “Hello World!” generator. Yes, you can embed Gadgets/Doodads/Whatnots. Yes, you can make it convert your text into Pirate Speak. Very cool. Awesome. I can feel the future changing.

So far, from my limited experimentation with it, it is too confusing to use as a conversation space. It’s too disconnected to use as a publishing medium. So, its real functions have yet to be discovered. It’s not email. It’s not the web as we know it. It’s something different. But that doesn’t mean there is anything necessarily wrong or broken about what we have now.

If I want to communicate, I’ll talk to people. Or IM. Or email. Or write a blog post. Or post a tweet. Or any of an uncountable list of other activities, none of which are replaced by Wave. And that’s OK. It’s not going to absorb and consume all online interaction. It’s not going to change the world. It doesn’t have to.

Scotland small? Our multiform, our infinite Scotland _small_?
Only as a patch of hillside may be a cliche corner
To a fool who cries "Nothing but heather!" Where in September another
Sitting there and resting and gazing around
Sees not only heather but blaeberries
With bright green leaves and leaves already turned scarlet,
Hiding ripe blue berries; and amongst the sage-green leaves
Of the bog-myrtle the golden flowers of the tormentil shining;
And on the small bare places, where the little Blackface sheep
Found grazing, milkworts blue as summer skies;
And down in neglected peat-hags, not worked
In living memory, sphagnum moss in pastel shades
Of yellow, green and pink; sundew and butterwort
And nodding harebells vying in their colour
With the blue butterflies that poise themselves delicately upon them,
And stunted rowans with harsh dry leaves of glorious colour
"Nothing but heather!" -- How marvellously descriptive! And incomplete!
-- Hugh MacDiarmid

I am not a political nationalist and I know this exercise could be repeated anywhere, but I love this poem's sense of place and this place.

The BBC today reports the Cambridge Primary Review.

There are many good bits and this fills me with hope: Children should not start formal learning until they are six, a review of primary education in England says. Instead the kind of play-based learning featured in nurseries and reception classes should go on for another year. There is no evidence that an early introduction to formal learning has any benefit, the review says, but there are suggestions it can do some harm.

So a big YES, YES, YES from me !! At last … but will politics get in the way of educational sesnse?

Glow will soon support user blogs and wikis, allowing pupils and classes to create web pages and online diaries to showcase their work to other schools across Scotland. Promoting individualised learning and collaboration, this will be the first time Scotland has had access to a national education blog and wiki service.

This sounds like the best glow news I have heard