Third-party Solutions: UK Learning Grid

The third solution that I will offer to the issue of effective integration of technology into the classroom is that of third-party solutions. The ordinary or even extraordinary classroom teacher typically does not have the time or expertise needed to develop, evaluate, and present or implement online educational content and models for using technology. A third party could develop these and then teachers could be trained to implement the technology into classroom practices.

In the U.K., Prime Minister Tony Blair and his government began a project in 1990 for the development, evaluation, consolidation, and delivery of online educational content for teachers, parents, and students in one place: the National Grid for Learning portal. A government document describes it as "both an architecture (or structure of educationally valuable content on the Internet) and a program for developing the means to access that content." This program still exists today and is not only a great national resource (with regional sections) but also provides a global model for the use of technology in education.

Source: Peters, Laurence. "Bridging the New Digital Divide: Lessons from Across the Atlantic." Technos: Quarterly for Education and Technology, Summer 2000 v9 i2 p26.