some good, some bad

Having just returned from BETT - the exhibition on technology in education I am both excited and frustrated.

Some of what I saw at the exhibition was astounding, take Microsoft Surface. Having played with this first hand now I am truly amazed by it. If I had the money I would have ordered one there and then for myself. The system recognises the presents of objects on or hovering just above the surface. The objects 'within' the surface display can then interact with those objects placed on the surface.

That's all well and good and I'm sure there is a place for this in education. I saw a fantastic demonstration of some of Apples products - Garage Band for instance could revolutionise teaching of music but also add new dimensions to teaching other subjects. Having the ability to make high quality audio so easily gives new space for teaching of all subjects to move into. As an example a reciting of Shakespeare could be recorded and edited and played with and the technological understanding is gained but some is a deeper affection for Shakespeare. I admit the Garage Band demo was aided by the presence of gifted musician - always helpful with music software.

The things that really impressed me were these very fancy items, but my overwhelming feeling is one of frustration with IT in education.

In the UK the government has said that every school must a VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) and by 2010 parents must have access to a subset of management information relating to their child(ren). The big issue is that no-one has really defined a VLE. It seems to me that the VLE is simply the platform on which to host content. It's an education specific content management system; a set of tools to enable teacher to create their own pages to display whatever content they like.

The second issue is the lack of communication between products. A VLE may read from the management information but it will not write back to it. The VLE may not come with any content and the content providers may not plug into the VLE. The latter of these points is being addresses with an XML standard called SCORM. However as with most XML standards I have come across there is an element of ambiguity and resultant interpretation leading to more than one variant of the standard.

So what is the answer? I don't know to be honest. I'd like to see more of the companies talking about their products with the aim of tighter integration. It may take a third party to act as an integrator to get the products talking but it should be possible - it happens in most other industries.

What I have learnt is this. If the VLE is to succeed content is key and key to content is enabling the user to be a creator and not merely a consumer. Every child with an Internet connection at home will use some form of social networking for pleasure, they will probably use instant messaging to collaborate on coursework. Any system implemented by any school or education body needs to be aware of this; web 2.0 is about people not functionality.