Over the hills and far away...

I am lucky enough to be able to say every day that I enjoy my job, however this week is pushing this to new heights! In the last year I have travelled far and wide across the north of England and into Scotland delivering training or teaching in a very wide range of venues, but this week I'm delivering Digital Cre8or training to a small group of teachers in the Auchtertyre Learning Centre. This is located on the shores of Loch Alsh, on the mainland not far from the Isle of Skye, it is an absolutely beautiful location and is surrounded by truly breathtaking views. The picture above shows a view looking across Loch Duich towards Ault A' Chruinn and further behind that Kintail B&B where I've been staying. This map shows the village with the little outcrop I took the photo from in the loch (under the 'nan' of Eilean nan Gall) and the B&B to the right of the Parking sign on the looped road to Morvich; whilst this stunning panoramic view shows what surrounds the area I am staying in.

The journey here was filled with 'wows,' particularly as I travelled across from Stirling where I had stopped for lunch after the first 200+ miles of my 400 mile trip. The area around Glencoe was astounding, whilst Fort William clung delicately to the shore of Loch Linnhe, with Ben Nevis (look at the web cam) looming above them both.

As I was driving through Glencoe there was a debate on Radio 5 about the merits of search engines; are they dumbing us down and stopping us thinking? Presenter Colin Murray was arguing that search engines mean that people enter queries into Google et al without thinking and that this means they don't tap into what they already know and almost 'sub-contract' their thinking to an external brain. Perhaps true at times but, as other guests argued, if use of the web is well taught and used by thoughtful, reflective learners with critical skills it is an astoundingly powerful tool.

The key is the effective teaching of the supporting skills. For years we have taught students to access texts in a library, to read, reflect and be critical of these texts before including them in their own work and adding the information to their own grey matter data base. Now we have an almost infinite library which still requires similar skills to make use of it intelligently and add to our learning. I would argue that learning can now go at an even greater pace and can be shared more effectively than ever before.

Whilst we were working today our group discussed mobile phone signals, broadband connectivity etc and its impact on life on this relatively remote location. It got me thinking about the effect that things like radio and TV signals had and further back in time the first widely available printed texts, the first Bibles in colloquial English not Latin etc etc. Were these examples of the dumbing down of the masses, or did they open up new forms of learning and give access to previously inaccessible material making it available in a more democratic way to 'learners' in the broadest sense?

When I arrived the first thing I did on setting up my laptop was to look up Glencoe; I knew of the 'massacre of the Macdonalds' but was not fully aware of the tragic horror of the story. Quickly I was able to bring up a series of entries which enabled me to consider different versions of the story and develop a deeper awareness of the issues surrounding this legendary event and to consider its powerful symbolic importance in relationships between the Scots and the English. Did I trust all the evidence? Not necessarily. Do I feel I understand this event more than I did? Of course. Did I think about it more than I would have done without search engines? Absolutely. Does this encourage me as a learner? Completely.

Rene Descartes said 'Cogito ergo sum' - 'I think therefore I am', perhaps we could now add 'Cogito ergo Googlum' - 'I think therefore I search.'