"EXCITING times are ahead," said the leader of Monmouthshire County Council following a bid for funding for state of the art technology to transform secondary education.

At a special meeting of the cabinet last week members voted to agree in principle the bid from the Welsh Assembly Government to support technology rich learning.

The bid will be made jointly by Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen aiming to "transform" secondary education within the county as well as detailing a range of bids against the third tranche of capital funding.

The in principle bid would enable technology rich learning to be promoted within all secondary schools within the three authorities and would provide connectivity between learners, teachers, schools and local authorities.

All course materials would be banked and available to all in a digital format. Infrastructure and equipment within schools would enable all students aged 14 to 16 to access technology rich learning through an Integrated Learning Management System with continual access to a laptop.

Members were told at the meeting in County Hall that there would be a significant training commitment required for teachers and other school based staff if the opportunities for improved educational outcomes are to be realised.

Indicative costs for connection and storage, premises adaptation, hardware and software are around £800,000 per secondary school.

On a 30 percent commitment from the authority this could mean a £960,000 requirement from Monmouthshire.

Set against this, discussions are ongoing with WAG over what costs might be set against this contribution, these could include; the development of the Integrated Learning Management System; the training of the workforce; existing planned capital expenditure; private sector contributions.

Members were told, "It should be noted that no budget, either capital or revenue, has currently been identified to support this in principle bid."

For learners it means all students at Key Stage Four will have access to laptops, PCs for layout and design, learning tools such as email, Microsoft office, WIFI enabled classrooms, video conferencing facilities, TV studios, 3D learning environments, all assignments and assessments that form part of their individual courses.

The students will also have access to comprehensive advice, guidance and support for their courses online. For those young people who are not able to access courses via schools the IMLS will enable them to benefit from the same curriculum offer and support as other students.

For teachers it means classrooms enabled for 21st Century teaching and learning it will give them access to digital learning facilities and the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

Cabinet papers state, "The VLE will provide teachers with access to a wide range of excellent lessons, digital learning resources and opportunities. It will provide them with the facility to assess, set coursework and assignments and receive feedback digitally."

Cabinet member, Councillor Bob Greenland said, "It's very exciting. There's no doubt that we have to take on board all these developments in IT. We have to admit that we are lagging behind. As adults, our kids can teach us a lot. We want to use it so that they can develop their own education. The opportunity to collaborate with Newport and Torfaen makes absolute sense. I hope we will be successful in this initial bid.

Leader, Councillor Peter Fox said, "These are indeed exciting times which lay ahead of us."