'Gilding the grid': the marketing of the National Grid for Learning

Although the National Grid for Learning (NGfL) has been thrust upon the edu cation sector amidst a blaze of publicity, the 'physical' construction of t he Grid promises to be a slow process, with the government giving an optimi stic target of 3 years before the initiative will approach full operation. In the meantime, a major initial step in the construction of the NGfL has b een the marketing of the Grid to an educational sector historically resista nt and sceptical towards Information and Communications Technology. This pa per therefore explores the emerging discourse of the NGfL by examining seve n examples of marketing and promotional material produced by industry and t he government. From these texts, we can therefore gain a sense of how the N GfL is beginning to be shaped at a macro level by its key actors. After pre senting the seven texts, the paper explores the predominant themes underlyi ng this discursive construction and highlights an underlying deterministic positioning of the Learning Grid. The paper concludes by considering the li mitations of shaping the Learning Grid in this manner and argues for an alt ernative perspective in future research.