How important is the net becoming as an educational tool? I think it's becoming vital. We're in a situation where the old learning paradigms are breaking down to an extent. Students are increasingly aware of, and fluent in, the new media and perhaps less interested in book learning than they might have been at one time. At the same time there are vast riches of cultural resources that haven't really been utilised sufficiently in the past that are now becoming available online.
Can you ever see the internet replacing conventional forms of research and archiving? I think it will always be complementary. I think what will happen more and more is this idea that teachers will move from being a "sage on the stage" to being a guide on the site. It's the idea that everything has to come from the person in front of you that's changing. If that person becomes someone who facilitates learning and the learning is actually coming from interaction with high quality materials, I think that's a better learning approach.
How reliable is some of the content on the net? I think complete reliability is asking too much. People talk about it as a vast digital library but it's still more like a car boot sale really! There's all sorts of stuff, some of which is good but it's a question of picking out the golden eggs from the goose droppings.
Things like Scran or other portal types of organisations that have content of their own or can point to high quality approved content can guide people around the internet. It's a question of evaluating what you get and not just assuming that if you got it off the web it must be true.
Is the net still firing the imagination or has it become part of the furniture? I think it is becoming very much part of the furniture. If people are looking for information then they turn to the net first. That doesn't mean that it's not still exciting or that it's not got a future. We talk about the net but increasingly there are wireless applications that, in some ways, are extensions of the same thing. The technology is likely to change but the idea of this vast network will just go on and on.
How do you feel the net could be best utilised for education? I think the increasing idea of portals and other "ways in" to the net that provide some sort of filter through which you can see educational resources is a very good approach. I hope that things like the National Grid for Learning's virtual teacher centre will develop in that way.
Any favourite places on the net? I'm afraid my pleasure type activities on the net are rather similar to my work ones. One of my favourite jumping off points is the Culture and Communication France site which is run by the Ministry of Culture over there and it points to a whole range of sites.
Visit Scran at www.scran.ac.uk
