Scottish schools are heading for a “rich online world” in which students and teachers will have access to the best expertise on the planet.

This at least was the vision offered to local authorities and others at a national conference on “Connecting Scotland’s Schools” which was held last week to discuss proposals from the Scottish Executive for a national schools’ intranet.

It heard from John Connell, the broadband team leader in the Executive’s education department, that the proposed Scottish Schools Digital Network (SSDN) should be in full operation early in 2003. This intranet is intended to provide a range of services to teachers, pupils, authorities, parents and other key players.

The SSDN will offer secure and “layered” access to a full range of services covering four interlinked and overlapping “virtual environments”: communication, teaching, learning and management.

Jane Morgan, head of the Executive’s Digital Scotland Unit, commented: “We want every school to have access to a rich online world and each pupil to be able to communicate by text, voice and video.”

But the participants also heard a warning from Jackie Galbraith, assistant chief executive of Learning and Teaching Scotland, that these developments must not be seen as a replacement for teachers or an entertainment for pupils. There had been so much focus on the “how” that there was a danger of forgetting about the “why” of the benefits which a digital Scotland would bring to teaching and learning.

Mr Connell told the conference at Heriot Watt University: “It is envisaged that the process of specification and consultation should take two to three months, after which procurement might be expected to take approximately nine to 12 months. With these timescales in mind, the implementation of the national intranet might be expected to begin early in 2003.”

The communication environment is “at the heart of the SSDN”, he said. It will offer learners, teachers and managers the means to enhance their workflow, increase opportunities for interaction and co-ordinate teaching, learning and management. They would be able to use broadband services which include web browsing, email, whiteboard facilities, directory services and net or video conferencing.

The teaching environment will include an indexed database of “learning objects” (small modules of learning support) covering the whole of the Scottish schools’ curriculum and more, Mr Connell continued. There would be an easy-to-use interface allowing teachers to construct modules and courses with services such as web publishing, video broadcasting, resource sharing and assessment tools.

Accessing “learning objects” would allow students to deploy a range of tools to make sense of content, including personalisation and customisation applications to enable them to produce work tailored to their learning.

They will be able to use educational “gaming” and simulation applications and set up their personal homepage while access to the internet itself will be securely filtered.

From the management point of view, Mr Connell believed that the SSDN should reduce bureaucracy and costs in schools and education authorities by improving data management and administrative procedures, including the use of pupil tracking and monitoring systems and “e-procurement”.

Ms Morgan said the new broadband technology would serve schools, libraries, doctors and hospitals, among others. The Government’s intention is to bring together procurement across the public sector, the leading players being local authorities, health boards, the police, further and higher education and the enterprise networks.

The SSDN will be piloted in the Highlands and Islands, Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders, areas with the most far flung communities. The Executive will provide additional funding to upgrade requirements, Ms Morgan said.

The BBC is to spend pound;135 million over the next five years on broadband technology, Jonathan Cardus, its London-based education policy manager, revealed.

“With regard to Scotland we can deliver on demand to the classroom a digital curriculum ranging from 5 to 14 and to Intermediate 2Credit levels,” he said.

BENEFITS OF THE TECHNOLOGY

David Sutherland, the director of a similar system in Canada (CANARIE Inc.), said that bulk-buying such services could cut phone bills by as much as 60 per cent and that the speed and efficiency of broadband technology could bring a further 20 per cent in IT savings.

“Broadband technology brings with it improved access for students, improved choices, copious support material for teachers and students, access to experts and to ‘the best’, support for new learning styles and advanced learning applications,” Mr Sutherland told the conference, which was organised by the Executive, Learning and Teaching Scotland and the National Grid for Learning.