I have already owned up to a few people that I managed to lock myself out of the Glow portal because I couldn’t even manage to enter my password correctly. I blame the fact that I can’t tell the difference between a 1 and a I and that I didn’t get the special characters such as ( and ) right. In the font I am looking at here it all looks perfectly straight forward but it didn’t in my email.
An article in Information Week highlights the fact that when passwords are too complex we don’t remember them. Not only do we not remember them but we end up writing them down in the back of our diary. If the password rules for Glow remain this complicated (random letters, numbers and special characters) then kids are never going to be able to deal with it never mind the staff! It’s difficult to do much with Glow if you can’t even log in so the password issue may be enough to stop some even starting.
4 responses so far ↓
1
Mrs McDowall
// Dec 2, 2006 at 12:47 pm
This definitely rang true for me as one of those who locked themselves out!! I can see this being really tricky for my primary kids. I guess that is what this pilot is all about.
2
Kate Farrell
// Dec 5, 2006 at 6:03 pm
We got ‘refreshed’ during the October break (new PCs, new accounts, new passwords) and I am still handing out passwords to kids, particularly S1/2. I had to print a new set out because the first set were so worn. I now spread them out on a desk and the kids come and collect them because I was wasting so much time handing them out each lesson. I often have to lend a list of passwords to a teacher or a pupil if I am teaching and they need the passwords for a cover class. Oh, and pupils aren’t allowed to change their passwords, so if their friends find it out, tough!
I have suggested saving them on their mobile phones, sticking them on the back of their lunch card, but many kids don’t have a wallet/purse/bag/book/phone that they carry every day that they could store their password in. The problem has been compounded by the account details being supplied in a font where you can’t tell the difference between a ‘1′, an ‘l’ and an ‘i’, so many of the kids got confused about their passwords in the first place.
…and Edinburgh hasn’t even started GLOWing yet!
All the best with all the niggles and problems
3
L Gilchrist
// Dec 11, 2006 at 11:38 am
I am so glad to hear that I am not the only one who got locked out. I did eventually get on to Glow but it wasn’t easy.
4
gordonmckinlay
// Dec 11, 2006 at 1:08 pm
There is bound to be a bit of a debate about passwords but the reality is that if they have to be complex then kids (young and old) will write them down thus negating the value of a copmplex password. Until we can come up with a better form of access we will be stuck with passwords so we have to ensure they work for us.
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