CPD Team

As a result of a discussion in a Dumfries and Galloway Glow group about teacher self-evaluation, I had the pleasure of an invite from Elspeth Penny (CPD manager) to a wee twilight session in Dumfries on the subject of CPD Tools for CfE yesterday.

Colleagues, 25 in total, were based across 2 sites, Lochside Educational Centre and Langholm Academy. The link was made using a videoconferencing  technology (PolyCom I think) which is currently being rolled out across many local schools. It seemed to cope remarkably well with a fast-moving Prezi and my singing!

The focus of the CPD sessions was largely on CPDReflect as a Swiss army-knife for PRD but we managed to maraude through CPDFind, Twitter, Teachmeets, CPDShorts and discussion on the types and sources of CPD. Dumfries and Galloway use an online CPD catalogue (CPD Solutions)

It was heartening to arrive and find that all of the colleagues had Glow user IDs which allowed me to eschew my usual “here’s the link to the CPDLinks blogpost”. Instead we were able to build, on the fly, a Glow page which hosts our follow-up activities. The event started with Glow and will continue on Glow as I hope to be able to keep in touch with the impact of the session and offer ongoing support through the Glow site we built.

There has been some recent discussion about the usability of Glow. You may have noticed the recent changes in Glow’s interface at national level (see the National Site) or may have been following Andrew Brown’s initiated ‘Glowbetter’ work. While navigation through Glow might be a bit daunting, one of its saving graces for me has always been its ‘hyperlinkability’. It means if you put a resource on Glow, you can copy the shortcut and publish that shortcut anywhere you like, ie add a bit of Glow, or +glow it!

What does this mean? For CPD, +glow usually means ‘now with added collegiality!’. For example, I might recommend a CPD thought-piece (eg Temple Grandin’s TED TV talk – The World needs all kinds of minds). The problem with this approach is it’s an open loop – there is no feedback. I have no idea who follows the link, or what they think about it, or what one thing might they change in their practice as a result of watching and reflecting on the video. But more importantly, numerous colleagues from all over Scotland may be accessing the same video and not realising they have something in common, or know of better examples, or have CPD resources to support teachers of autistic students and so on.

I like the analogy of building escalators not just stairs. By putting that same video onto Glow and asking colleagues to ‘sign up’ you turn a stair into an escalator. Participants get to see the video and also get an instant snapshot of interested colleagues from around Scotland. They can start (or contribute to) a discussion and share practice collegiately.

Try the Temple Grandin +glow version by following the link from CPDFind. Of course, you will need a Glow password for this version.

We have been developing these +glow CPDShort thought-pieces since the turn of the year. A thought-piece doesn’t need to be a video. It could be a discussion paper, an example of student work, a vox pop, results of a survey, etc.

Furthermore, +glow doesn’t just stop at thought-pieces. In future posts I will look at how colleagues +glow lots of different types of CPD; newsletters, face to face events, skills training and more.

Go on, if you are on Glow, start building escalators instead of stairs. You rarely see an escalator marked ‘Out of Order’.  The worst that can happen when you build an escalator is that folk use it as a stair.

So, +glow those thought-pieces and send me a link!

image courtesy of victoriapeckham on Flickr

At the end of a busy week, I attended the ADES-led CfE Implementation Partnership in Edinburgh where representatives LAs and other partners got together as part of their monthly schedule of events.

All of this week I have been struck by how Glow has enhanced the various CPD events; Co-create, Building Champions and East Ayrshire workshop.  Each of the events had its own Glow group where all sorts of things happen before, during and after the event; agenda, introductions, sharing of links and resources, picture records, discussions, treasure hunts, challenges and pledges to improve practice.

This month, I hope to write a series of blog posts about ‘+glowing’ CPD opportunities. It would be great to showcase examples from your CPD. If Glow has featured in your CPD event, please let me know!

On Thursday, Neil Stewart of the Glow team and I worked with Pam Dunsmore and East Ayrshire colleagues on the use of CPDFind and Glow for CPD. East Ayrshire (like Aberdeen City, Falkirk and Orkney Islands Council) are now a registered provider on the system and Pam is hoping to use CPDFind as a complement to the course booking system currently offered by Gateway.

We also looked at the structure for local authority CPD that is under development by Fiona Taylor and her team in South Ayrshire and were impressed by its simple but powerful cycle; reflect-identify-practice-impact. Pam will be hosting a session in April where establishment-based CPD leaders will be invited to help us build the online CPD provision for East Ayrshire – just like that!

Neil in the meantime was supporting Audrey Brotherston of the CfE team to develop a simple front-end to national and local CPD materials for Curriculum for Excellence.

On Wednesday, I was at a Web Champions shindig in South Ayrshire Council, an event based around the format the CPD Team pioneered at the Building Windmills event last year. I followed Katie Barrowman of the Glow team who was running a Glow Treasure Hunt, great fun! I used the subject of CPD tools for CfE to introduce a series of CPD-based challenges. You can see my Prezis below and  the challenges are in (or under development ) in the CPDChallenge Glow group.

On Tuesday, I was invited by Julia Fenby to talk about CPDFind to the participants in the Co-Create project. This project is a collaboration between Scottish Arts and LTScotland’s Glow team. I was there to persuade them of the value of sharing on CPDFind the rich CPD that will no doubt ensue. One of the organisations, TAG Theatre Company, is already a registered provider and I look forward to a few more joining!

Apart from a couple of creative diversions to play CPD Fortunes and sing the CPDFind song, “Just Google CPDFind” you can see much of my contribution on my Prezi site.

This is part of the CPDChallenge series from the National CPD Team

CPDReflect is the online PRD toolkit from LTScotland to help educators reflect on their work. Con Morris challenges you to start looking at this valuable toolkit
What does it involve?

1. enrol with CPDReflect
2. have a play
3. add an example from your own area of practice

Supporting CPD opportunity

What is CPDReflect? CPDReflect users group help

Visit the CPDChallenge Glow group for more…

This is part of the CPDChallenge series from the National CPD Team

Would you like to cut down on your travelling, meet people you can’t usually meet or take part in a CPD event without leaving the comfort of your own home? Katie Barrowman challenges you to learn about Glowmeet!

What does it involve?

1. take part in a Glow meet

2. tell people about your work

3. add a document or a slide into the mix

Supporting CPD opportunities

Glowmeet pathway Find out more about Glowing Thursdays

Visit the CPDChallenge Glow group for more…

This is part of the CPDChallenge series from the National CPD Team

Con Morris invites you to take charge of your own CPD. CPDFind is a CPD search engine from the National CPD Team and LTScotland.
What does it involve?

1. make your way to the CPDFind web site

2. try entering key words that interest you

3. add interesting CPD to your wish-list

4. email your wishlist to your own email address
Supporting CPD opportunities

Just what is CPDFind? CPDFind on CPDAnswers

Visit the CPDChallenge Glow group for more…

This is part of the CPDChallenge series from the National CPD Team

Sat Bance challenges you to discuss and share your work at a national level and provide collegiate CPD opportunities for colleagues from all over Scotland
What does it involve?

1. Have a browse through some of the National Glow groups

2. Post to a relevant discussion thread

3. post one of your resources or links to a relevant area

4. start (or contribute to) a Glow group in your speciality area!
Supporting CPD opportunity

Developing your skills – Glow groups

Sat’s links

Getting started with Glow Glowing Potential Sharing Glow Groups Malawi group Homecoming Staffroom

Visit the CPDChallenge Glow group for more…