Here is the Department of Education
& Skills (Ireland) press release announcing free Encyclopaedia
Britannica access for students at school and at home.
The Minister for Education and Skills,
Ruairí Quinn T.D., has today announced free home access to the online
edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica for all school-going children. For
the past three years, primary and post-primary schools have had access
to the resource, and today’s roll-out is an expansion of this service.
Britannica Online School Edition is a unique and comprehensive resource
designed for all levels of learning. It has four age-specific learning
areas which contain various engaging teaching and learning materials,
all designed to build confidence and inspire continuous discovery.
Announcing the new development, Minister
Quinn said, “I am committed to providing digital content to students
that enhances their learning through the use of technology. Our children
and young people will now have access to Britannica Online in their own
homes and this means that whatever their ability, they can learn at
their own pace. Access is available to Britannica remotely via the
scoilnet.ie website and will encourage students to continue the process
of learning at home.”
Britannica Online has more than 129,000 articles with over 46,000
graphics, 4,000 videos, plus audio clips, interactive games and quizzes.
It is updated with new material daily. With an average of 160,000
visits per month, scoilnet.ie provides a central resource to teachers,
pupils and parents, offering access to a growing repository of advice
and information.
Today’s announcement comes as the roll-out of high-speed broadband to
second level schools continues, with a further 200 schools expected to
be connected by September of 2013. ENDS
So, there you have it. Free access to
the famed Britannica, thank you very much Mr. Quinn. However, several
points come to my mind.
Firstly, as I explained the details of this wonderful resource to my
class of pupils this morning one very perceptive 9-year-old mentioned
that it is great news…and then (out of the mouths of babes): “But, sure,
isn’t google free?” Her point being, Mr. Quinn…what’s the big deal? As
if to reinforce the point, as part of our Great Famine history lesson we
had been googling for reliable information from several noted sources
(here, I use my blogger’s licence to recommend
Waterford County Museum),
but when we searched Britannica for information about “coffin ships” we
came up with NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Isn’t that rather
interesting? Try it for yourself. So, what’s the big deal Mr. Quinn?
Secondly, I have to bring to my readers’ attention the fact that in many
Irish schools broadband provision is a joke. The last sentence of the
press release above refers to increased provision for secondary schools.
As a primary school teacher / principal let me tell you my story. My
small rural Waterford school in Stradbally
received grant assistance ten years ago to purchase equipment, a
satellite dish was installed and the school was networked. I began my
teaching in Stradbally in 2007, and quickly became aware that whereas
the local infrastructure was in place, and a government contract was in
place to provide (slow speed) broadband to my school, the system simply
did not work. I spent hour after hour on the telephone to the help-desk
in Limerick. Lovely people they all were; very pleasant, and very
professional…but I suspect that they too were aware that they were
attempting to support/fix a system that simply did not work on a regular
basis. Here, I am adding
a link written by a past-pupil reflecting several years later on our experiences and frustrations at that time.
Our situation worsened until 2010, in particular because we invested
heavily in technology and attempted to integrate this technology into
everyday school life, without a reliable broadband connection. We
certainly were frustrated. Finally, we had to make the decision to
abandon the ill-fated Department of Education & Skills broadband
provision. I am informed that more than 700 rural schools were in the
same terrible situation, and some still are. It seems also that the
Department Gurus were aware that they had signed a ten-year contract
(reliable information?) and had been sold a pig-in-a-poke. Maybe they
were able to secure some refund? Maybe, but that does not solve our
problem. We decided to source our broadband from a local supplier,
Solar Broadband.
Quite literally, we have not looked back since then. We can look
forward, and we can plan with confidence. We can attempt to educate to
21st century requirements. We can google reliably; we can research; we
can play; we can bring the outside world into our classroom.
This is entirely as a result of reliable broadband provision.
Encyclopedia Britannica might be cool, but it’s only a tiny part of the
bigger picture. Broadband versus Britannica? You can’t really have the
cream without the cup!
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