Leon Cych

Yes the BBC is excellent but working for them can be a frustrating business. I was subcontracted by the QCA to write a whole series of lesson plans on using e-mail in the classroom for Webwise back in the early days (no-one was using it at KS2 at the time in classrooms. and they needed some hard concrete evidence of activities that were in use in the curriculum in a real school). The site was pulled a couple of years ago because of lack of use by teachers - it was a little before its time - I will be reworking it and issuing it free of charge in the near future because its time has now come. B

But of course it is that combination of materials, expertise and backup but so far all I have heard about e-learning is the concentration on creating generic planning and accountability tools and resources! What is getting forgotten is the human element in all this - it's exactly what makes you able to filter your email immediately where a machine can't. And that is what I think is getting lost in the current round of rollout. At Key Stage 2 and 3 many LEA's have already tendered for and given contracts to firms for e-learning materials but I see precious evidence of the infrastructures to r

To enter this debate. I agree with market distortions happening and the failure of "e-learning" across the pond. In my analysis the reason for this failure is the very nature of the medium of the net. Because it is at once universal, fairly asynchronous, and to many, invisible, without the technology, it is therefore rootless and lacks all "meaning" to users other than to those who make specialist pro-active use of it. It is also not yet as ubiquitous and seamless as mobile phone technology. Without getting into any more debate about it - the government had high ideals and aspirations for c

I am Leon Cych - I am now a freelance consultant in ICT and learning with rich media and video in online education. I have a history of writing online resources for subjects as diverse as KS1 Maths to KS3 Physics. I work within the commercial sector and state education. My last big project was streaming out the Virtual Carmen broadcast that brought together video conferencing over 5 school sites. It was a world's first and funded by NESTA. I also advise commercial firms on the appropriate use of rich media in education. In 2002 I co-wrote the Friends of Ed book Flash MX Express. I was a te