BILL MAGEE

Scots youngsters may consider themselves hi-tech savvy as they show off their iPods and mobiles at school. Not to mention, in the not-too-distant-future, their personal laptops, as they engage 24/7 with so-called "community" websites such as FaceBook, MySpace, YouTube and multivarious blogs.

Schools, too, are increasingly engaging with the rapidly developing sphere of social media on the internet and attempting to turn it to educational ends.

However, fears over personal security online are likely to hold back the developing use of technology in education for some years to come, a global educational conference in Helsinki has heard.

The warning came from former Scottish HM Inspector for Education and e-learning consultant Walter Patterson. He says that it's all very well for the so-called Web 2.0 generation to display their individual freedom of action via the internet. For the most part, it's fun, but such internet-based social networking has a deadly serious side to it.

And the question of online safety is particularly pressing for schools, as Patterson pointed out when he represented Scotland in the Finnish capital, alongside 499 other educators from 55 countries.

The educationalists were there for a brace of overlapping Microsoft events - the worldwide innovative teachers forum and school of the future summit.

"It's good that this fully IT-literate generation picks up skills from what has become a burgeoning interactive internet," Patterson said. "But I am not optimistic that the potential of Web 2.0 tools will be fully realised because of continuing issues over security of school networks and the duty of schools for the protection of children."

Patterson's 20 years as an HMI - he retired two years ago - is viewed by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and other educational bodies as instrumental in shaping IT and computing education in Scotland. He argues that the reluctance of education authorities to adopt Web 2.0 tools because of fears over safety is understandable. But Patterson expects that the vast majority of schools will now adopt aspects of Glow, the new name for the Scottish Schools Digital Network, which includes considerable built in protection.

The programme delivers an ICT project linking every school, teacher and pupil in Scotland through a secure firewalled intranet system. Around 800,000 people are involved. Patterson believes Glow should make an impact in almost all schools, but he warned that it will be truly effective "only when it involves teachers who have an enthusiasm for new technologies in their teaching".

Collaborative Glow groups are being established throughout Scotland, and it is expected that the programme - which has built-in protection such as providing a firewalled, controlled access, intranet system, and controlled internet access - will be adapted to offer services that are similar to Web 2.0 tools to help overcome pupil internet security issues.

Numerous school-to-school intranet solutions were on display in Helsinki, along with plenty of wireless and mobile innovations. Patterson expects interactive whiteboards with live internet access will strengthen the use of ICT in Scottish schools. The whiteboards are computer-based and include technology capable of creating up to 100-inch touch screen displays, with built-in audio, and Patterson expects hardware of this type to be present in more than half of Scotland's classrooms within two years.

But he warned: "Note, this leaves half the classrooms not enabled, with a significant proportion of teachers not making regular use of such an innovation in their learning and teaching."

Some people are not convinced of the benefits of the whiteboard system, but not Patterson, who describes it as central. "It is now a well established technology for supporting classroom learning and the key to providing an easy-to-follow means of providing live internet feeds to get information and communicate with others.

"It's all about enabling pupils to interact with the data, information models and simulations made available. The end product is that learning is dynamic and engages pupils actively in the learning process,"

he said.

Patterson explained that, to his pleasant surprise, Scotland fares very well, in terms of the modern technologically-based structured programme being made possible through Glow. He said: "Other countries, both in a modern setting like ours, or more disadvantaged in terms of resources, do not yet have such a structure in place at their schools."

Within five years he hopes that the whiteboard technology, with live internet access, should be up and running in most classrooms, "in widespread use by knowledgeable teachers, well trained in such applications, including by then ubiquitous class voting systems".

One such educator who stood out in Helsinki was Emma Griffiths, who represented Scotland among projects from 71 countries at the innovative teachers conference. Emma, East Lothian's "extreme learning" co-ordinator, presented what was considered to be an unrivalled pupil project, devised by Jennifer Walker, a teacher at Ormiston Primary School in East Lothian.

The scheme developed the digital equipment and ICT skills of 10-to-14-year-old pupils by using wikis, collaborative websites that use the same method as online encyclopedia Wikipedia to create work groups for multiple users.

Microsoft's ongoing global strategic partnership with Unesco was also discussed at Helsinki. This is aimed at bridging the digital divide between developed and emerging economies and establishing "open and inclusive" knowledge societies.

However, such activity carries a health warning: Unesco states that it views the internet as an extraordinary learning and communications tool, but that online safety, especially for children, should never be taken for granted.

Ralph Young, Microsoft's worldwide vice-president in charge of the public sector, attended the summit. He told Herald Society that his company is developing a "learning gateway that provides insurance, if you like, that kids do not go on inappropriate sites, and that the technology is not misused.

The trick is to balance security with accessibility and cost. "We've got to strive to make everything transparent for all those in the learning process," he added. "We also need to improve online access which is still limited, for example in terms of affordability, so that computers are really integrated into the curriculum."