Ours is the new age of wonder and discovery. Perhaps it began with two sticks rubbed together to make fire. Or perhaps it began with the telephone, an invention so important that, as predicted, one day every town would have one. And then computing machines… Prediction? There would be a world market for about five computers. Now, we don’t think it’s too ambitious to imagine a computer on every desk and in every home. But why stick to desks and homes when we can carry tiny miraculous computers with us wherever we go?

 

Yet we can still remember the old school desk: a wooden construction, with an ink-well, a space for books. Students sat in rows and spoke one at a time, when invited to do so. Their teacher stood on a raised platform, wrote on a blackboard and, possibly, had the answer to all questions.

 

Just ten years ago, teachers and pupils used books as the main tool for research. Today’s first port of call? Online search engines. But the landscape of learning extends far beyond the linear transfer of data or goods. Interactive instruction, flexible teaching, personalised learning… Teachers, managers, students and parents are instantly connected, in complex ways, no matter where they are.

 

We have found more dimensions, and we will find more. With the borderless territory of the internet, with remote and mobile technologies, we have unflattened the earth again. The possibilities for creativity and the sharing of knowledge are infinite.

 

But with exploration there are risks. Exposure to undesirable forces. System failure. Uncontrolled expansion. Costly investment today, for an unpredictable tomorrow. The South West Grid for Learning exists to minimise these risks for you.