Gareth Morgan Consultancy Ltd

23/08/2026

I spent the first couple of weeks of the summer break putting together my thoughts around the introduction of generative AI into the classroom and proposing changes to the current DCF. If you have followed many of my posts on here, or spoken to me over the last 18 months you wouldn’t be too surprised about my AI proposal. However, the DCF changes might be an eye opener for some of you, but it is very much based on where we are currently with the use of digital technologies in the primary classroom, how other countries are reevaluating technology use (especially in the ‘infants’) and questioning whether the huge amount of money spent on digital technology has had any impact on learner standards.

I suggest you read the full letter, outlining my arguments for these proposals on my blog - https://www.headinthecloud.wales/ (link also in Bio)

What do you think?

23/08/2026

Absolutely. In my opinion, generative AI products within Hwb should not be switched on by default for our learners. Both teachers and parents should have the ability to decide for themselves whether using these products are appropriate for their classroom or for their own children.
What are your thoughts on this?

Should parents be asked to approve all uses of AI in learning? 🤔

This is the question being debated in the FL Department of Education on Wednesday.

“…guidelines would have to include parental notification when an AI system is approved, and give parents the opportunity to opt in if their child’s class is set to use it.”

Opponents say it should be an opt-out process, since many parents ignore school communications.

My thoughts?

EdTech has been mishandled by schools from the beginning.

Maybe “beyond a reasonable doubt” evidence that a child is approved to use experimental tech is exactly what’s best for childhood🧒🏽 AND learning 🧠

Would you want this at your school?

Parenting with you!
Chris



Article: Tampa Bay Times

21/08/2026

Next week, LibreOffice 26.8 will bring an improved tabbed user interface. But nobody is forced to use it – the classic menu+toolbar still remains. Indeed, there is no "best" interface, only the right fit: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/08/21/there-is-no-best-interface/

21/08/2026

Until fairly recently I wasn’t aware of the word ‘technoference’, but it relates to something we are all aware of and more than likely guilty of.

Technoference is when a person’s technology use interferes with their relationships or social interactions, such as scrolling through social media at dinner or checking a text in the middle of a conversation. Technoference can impact every kind of relationship, whether it be a parent and child, friends and classmates, or even between parents.

How does mobile technology affect parent-child relationships? Are kids and parents both affected by these digital distractions?

20/08/2026

Google says Gemini just passed a billion monthly users. But Gemini comes preinstalled on many Android phones.

When something ships preinstalled across the world's most common OS, "monthly users" might sound like a bit of a stretch.

What's more, there's no way to uninstall on many of these devices, only the option to disable. You can switch it off, you can hide it, but it stays on the phone. And if you do get rid of it, your activity history doesn't go with it. That stays in your Google account until you delete it yourself.

So the question remains: if it wasn't preinstalled, would you have installed it yourself?

20/08/2026

“ He found that unlike the adult version, ChatGPT for Teens initially refused to write out a “800-word essay due tomorrow about the biggest themes in ‘The Crucible.'”

After a minuscule amount of pushback, though, the teen version relented almost immediately, producing a 608-word “model essay,” which the chatbot encouraged him to revise before submitting it. From there, it wasn’t hard to have the tool produce a 776-word essay “with about as much detail as the version generated by my adult account,” Nelken-Zitser discovered.”

Recently had exactly the same outcome when trying out the Google Guided Learning product. Very easy to get it to provide the answer. Also very easy to distract it completely from the task the learner was meant to be doing.

Did OpenAI think this through at all? https://trib.al/RimErql

19/08/2026

"Meta designed Facebook and Instagram to keep kids on the platforms longer and longer — to the point of physical and mental harm. Exploiting our most vulnerable residents to boost corporate profits is not only morally wrong, it's also illegal," said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman drew a comparison to previous industry-wide legal battles. "AGs are in the perfect position to get this done. We did it with the To***co Settlement in the 1990s. We did it with the companies behind the opioid crisis. We'll do it again with Meta," he said.

19/08/2026

China Orders Immediate Switch to Homegrown Linux Distros, Dropping Windows Now.

The country's Ministry of State Security has ordered all state-linked entities to stop using Windows immediately, moving up a deadline that was originally set for February 2027.

The directive cites "data security concerns" and pushes organizations toward domestically developed Linux alternatives.

Two distributions are being positioned as the main replacements.

The first is Kylin OS, developed by Kylin Software Co., which evolved from FreeBSD roots into its own independent Linux based operating system.

The second is Unity OS, created by Tongxin Software Technology Co., built on top of Deepin, which itself is based on Debian.

Both have been in development for years with government backing, waiting perhsps for exactly this kind of situation.

China has been signaling this direction for some time, citing concerns about dependency on American technology infrastructure. After the U.S. placed restrictions on Chinese tech firms in recent years, China accelerated its de-Americanization of tech.

Note the scale of the migration. China has hundreds of millions of government-linked computer users. Even a partial migration represents one of the largest single deployments of Linux in human history.

For context, the Munich city government switching to Linux was considered a landmark case. China doing it nationally is an entirely different order of magnitude.

And yes, China is not th only one doing. Europe has been on a similar path, with France, Germany, and several other countries pursuing Windows alternatives over the past decade, driven by data sovereignty concerns and enconmics.

Politics aside, I am happy to see that Linux is now being chosen by governmens on multiple continents.

07/08/2026

"“Unfortunately, we have a problem with AI cheating in upper secondary schools,” he said. “Action is needed now.”
AI had posed a growing challenge to teaching and exams, the education ministry said. It is hoped the new measures will help to establish clearer guidelines for when pupils are not permitted to use it.
The government is also preparing a comprehensive national strategy for AI use in all schools and the wider education sector."

I'm looking forward to what Denmark's national AI strategy in schools is going to say. 🧐

Government introduces several measures, including monitoring of computers, for pupils aged 16 to 19

03/08/2026

I thought you might like to see some before and after (mock up) images of the proposed AI hyper-scale data centre on the site of the old Ford plant in Bridgend. The images came from the planning application a couple of years ago. Even though I've been following hyper-scale data centres for some time, it's still a surprise to see the size when placed in a landscape I know very well 😳

I believe there a five of these proposed centres or campuses, across Wales (four in the south and one in the north), which according to a Senedd Research paper, consume between 148 and 600MW of energy each and huge amounts of water to cool the power hungry chips. For comparison,100 MW is comparable to the overall electricity consumption footprint of a mid-sized city (such as a population base of 150,000 to 200,000 people). A single 100MW hyper-scale facility can also consume 2.5 billion litres of water annually, drawing directly from drinking supplies, according to a 2025 report by the UK Government Digital Sustainability Alliance (GDSA). This volume is equivalent to the daily water needs of approximately 80,000 people.

If you want to know more about this, have a look at this Senedd Research webpage which was published a couple of days ago. Some really interesting information about AI data centres and links on there 👍
https://research.senedd.wales/research-articles/data-centres-in-wales-how-will-wales-manage-a-rapidly-growing-industry/

As recommended by Estyn, there is an urgent need for critical AI literacy for our learners, to help them to become ethically and informed users of technology. Understanding the impact that generative AI is already having on the environment, society and intelligence.

"Just because we can, does that mean we should?"