CPDAnswers

Many thanks for getting in touch with us about keeping your Glow account going. Here are a few points to note:

• Do not be surprised if you do not hear personally from us for a while. It’s going take us from June to August to process all the requests. That’s why we asked local authorities not  to ‘turn-off’ your Glow accounts in the meantime.
• At some point, your Glow persona will be ‘adopted’ by the CPDStepin community. We will be in touch when that happens with any action you may have to take.
• Join CPDCentral now. Get a photograph of yourself onto your computer and follow this link ; http://bit.ly/cpdhello. If you need help look at this CPDAnswers post http://bit.ly/glowhelp2
• Feel free to explore the services of CPDCentral

You can find out more about the CPD communities on Glow by following these links:

• What is CPDCentral?
• CPDStepin

The National CPD Team are delighted to be able to support the CPD and PRD of under-employed teachers by sponsoring their access to Glow in collaboration with LTScotland.

There are certain, legal requirements that  must be adhered to:

• I will only use my Learning and Teaching Scotland, Glow Guest Account for professional purposes.
• I will not disclose my Glow passwords to any third party.
• I will ensure that all electronic communications with other Glow Users are compatible with my professional role.
• I will not use Glow to browse, download, upload or distribute any material that could be considered offensive, illegal or discriminatory.
• I understand that my use of Glow can be monitored and logged and that should any abuse of guest account privileges take place my account may be terminated immediately and without notice.
• I will respect copyright and intellectual property rights.
• I will ensure that my online activity in Glow will not bring Glow or LTScotland into disrepute.

These requirements apply to CPDStepin members who received a Glow username and password from us. In addition, we reserve the right to terminate accounts of users who do not introduce themselves to the CPDStepin community.

We do hope that you appreciate that we cannot be expected to sponsor the Glow membership of someone we know little about.

Please note, other conditions may apply if your Glow username came from a local authority. Please check with your local Glow key contact.

There are 2 options to speed up the addition of your supply teachers to Glow. The first option is to do a semi-automatic provision yourself. This is undoubtedly the best way for supply colleagues. Their details are added quickly and they automatically are added to the local authority area of Glow.

However, we appreciate that some key contacts may be pressed for time in supporting supply colleagues or, due to local policy, not be able to sponsor these colleagues.

In that case, there is a plan B!

• Send us some basic data in a CSV file (forename, surname, email address, DOB, GTCS registration number)
• CPDStepin admin staff will take this CSV file and upload it to Glow
• You will be be informed that all accounts have been uploaded but not activated
• We will email supply colleagues to confirm they still need Glow access
• On receipt of these replies, we will request completion of the Acceptable Use Policy form and in turn send out login details

If LA key contacts have any questions then please contact Con Morris (c.morris@ltscotland.org.uk)

In January, we opened a professional community for supply and temporary teachers on Glow called CPDStepIn (see the CPD Team blog post – CPDStepIn- Start here)

We would now be delighted if others could join us in supporting colleagues who may have difficulty accessing CPD and PRD by the more traditional routes. We are looking for colleagues who can:

• share a CPD resource or a weblink
• host a discussion
• run a CPDMeet (a CPD session by Glowmeet)
• answer questions and give advice
• mentor CPDStepIn colleagues online through some of their PRD and CPD challenges

If you are interested, please contact Susan on stepin@ltscotland.org.uk. There are a couple of rules for joining the group that I hope you will respect:

• you must bring one of the above with you
• be prepared to introduce yourself to the rest of the group

Many thanks!

In these early days of building the online community, we have decided to restrict membership to supply and temporary teachers only. This will allow these colleagues the time and space to discuss their own requirements. Thereafter, they may well decide it would be better to open up the community to headteachers, CPD leaders, national professional advisers and the like.

Feel free to register your interest with Susan at stepin@ltscotland.org.uk and we will get back to you if the nature of the membership changes.

You can get a sneak preview of what CPDStepin does on the CPD Team blog

If you got your Glow password from anyone other than a local authority, (eg as a guest of LTScotland on CPDStepin) you will not be able to ‘see’ local information such as school and local authority sites.

In this case, you should let your local authority Glow contact know and ask if they can now issue you with a Glow user ID. You can find a list of Glow key contacts in Glow in your area page of LTScotland’s site. If he/she agrees please let LTScotland know. Your new ID details will be merged with your guest ID.

Many of the professional communities on Glow have section called About us. This is designed to help colleagues from all over Scotland to get to know each other and to keep in touch. Here’s the quick version:

1. Make your way to your CPD community of choice (eg CPDCentral)

2. Select the About us tab

3. Scroll to the bottom, select Add picture

4. Complete the short form.

A simple help sheet is available on Glow

Several steps are taken on receipt of your acceptable use agreement:

• the details are verified by our admin staff
• your name is added to a daily list of Glow applicants by RM colleagues (who manage the Glow system on behalf of LTScotland)
• it takes 2 days for the batch system to generate the passwords (one to generate and one to verify). If you already have been added by a local authority, we have to get permission to ‘add’ you again
• the Glow username and password is then issued by email to you

At times of high demand, this may take a little longer. I hope you appreciate that most of the steps are designed to guarantee the security of our young people.

Yes, there is an online community called CPDStepin. It’s on Glow and it currently includes the following features:

• a discussion area with chat, forum and web meeting tools
• a place to share resources and links
• advice on PRD and examples of free, online CPD on Glow and beyond
• a place to express views
• an opportunity to connect with mentors
• links to lots of free, online CPD

It also has a feed of educational posts from MyJobsScotland.com.

How do I join CPDStepin?

• If you have a Glow username , express an interest in joining CPDStepin here. 
• If you don’t have a Glow username, see this CPDAnswers post for how you can get one.

Most of the CPD funding available is devolved to local authorities. This can, of course, make it difficult for supply teachers and others not currently employed to access CPD.

Your first step should be to join CPDStepin. This is a professional community on Glow for supply, under-employed or unemployed teachers. See this CPDAnswers post for more details.

  CPDFind contains a wide range of CPD opportunities and much of it is free. Just type in a CPD topic into the search box to get started.

Another option is to contact CPD managers from nearby local authorities to see if it is possible to attend CPD events. You will find an up-to-date list of CPD managers on the CPD Team website.