When I see anything I think should be in the public domain being removed from it, I just can’t help it. No! BBC jam wasn’t perfect, it was a work in progress, and the sort of stuff we pay our licences for, but would be free to all thereafter. Comment and input from teachers was welcomed and taken on board. So below is the letter I sent to the 14 or so MSP’s MEP’s who have had histories in education. Oh and also sent to Education Ministers North and South. Got my links to do so from John Connel’s blog and got that from Andrew. I can’t help thinking that we have a commercialism versus progress thing with this. And after spending much dosh on software that is now useless in our school, web based stuff that we can cache, for free, seems like a much better option. So you can pass on my letter, or edit, more suitably.
Dear Sir,
As a Primary teacher and Glow mentor I wish to express my disgust at the manner in which the BBC have been forced to withdraw their Jam service. Those who have made complaint about its progress have their own commercial interests at heart and not that of education. We, in Scotland, were enthusiastic about the fact that much of its content related directly to our curriculum, saw it as a work in progress, and I personally have found that the BBC has been receptive to constructive criticism from educators, and made appropriate alteration to content. Here, too we were anticipating the inclusion of that huge body of work in our new Glow intranet, giving our teachers free access. How many other companies have done that? I feel the whole scenario requires investigation, soonest, to enable the BBC to get on with developing what could potentially be the best, most accessible resource, for schools, nationwide.
Your sincerely,
Marlyn Moffat
Not only has the BBC suspended its ‘BBC Jam’ Digital Curriculum service but from the end of March the production of the educational TV programmes that BBC Jam was intended to replace will also cease and the staff who made them will be made redundant. It was hoped they would be resettled over in the expanding BBC Jam service, but not now, so it looks as if these people will be lost to the BBC. More serious is that the suspension of BBC Jam and the stopping of school TV production at the same time means that the BBC now actually makes no formal education provision at all for children and schools. More reason to make a fuss, write to BBC Trust, MPs, etc.