We’ve been working hard to bring a new look to the CPDMeet experience for you! Our commitment to offer at least one CPDMeet per week (of term time) is on track and we kick off the 2011 programme on January 12th with CPDMeet18: Louise Jones of Highland Council on their approach to e-safety, a subject that no educator can afford to ignore. With a few details to finalise for CPDMeet 19 which will hopefully take place the following week on Tuesday 18th, the next in the series is CPDMeet 20 on Thursday January 27th , and it will be of interest to many educators. Graeme Logan of the Teacher Education in Scotland Review Group will lead a discussion on the findings of the review, and we are hoping that many of our colleagues in Teacher Education Institutes will be able to join us on Glow for this one.
The teacher education theme is continued in CPDMeet 21 with Dr Dan Tierney of Strathclyde University talking about the MLPS experience in Scotland – have we got it right, and inviting interested professionals to discuss and offer their own suggestions as to the way forward for primary languages in Scotland. CPDMeet 22 is slightly different as it will consist of a follow-up discussion from CPDMeet 17, where Ian Stuart inspired a group of CPDMeeters with his discussion on using wikis for collaborative learning. Ian has set up a wiki in the share area for CPDMeet 17 for attendees to experiment with. CPDMeet23 takes on technology; Brian McLaren, formerly of the Consolarium team takes us through games-based learning on February 24th and the last planned one in this series so far takes a look at interdisciplinary learning in secondary, with Mary Smith of Montrose Academy sharing her experience in CPDMeet24.
The programme will continue and further dates will be posted here and on Glow. You will notice that the sign-up process has been streamlined: the new design offers one space where you can not only sign -up for the CPDMeet, share any relevant ideas, issues,or interesting practice and meet other interested CPDMeeters beforehand; you can also make your CPD experience matter afterwards by endorsing it through CPDFind, by setting yourself a follow-up intention , by recording the experience in your CPDReflect, or by finding out more about CPDMeets and the topic for discussion. All of this brought to you cost free, straight to your desktop. Happy Christmas from CPDSanta!
It is fair to say that the noticeboards at Stirling Management Centre on Thursday 18th and Friday 19th November weren’t displaying their usual lists of meetings. Yes, Scotlands’ Colleges were there, NAR people were there along with a few more seasoned regulars but one event stood out from the others: Hoo tae luik guid glaikit. This was a two day creative hothouse to give CPD leaders and managers from local authorities the opportunity to “makeover” their online communities, with the help of the National CPD team and Glow development officers.
Con Morris orchestrated the session, outlining in his introduction the drivers behind the “Glaikit” concept: not just tightening purse-strings but also the massive potential there is in Glow as learning and sharing platform, and how having it brings a responsibility to use it for sharing at every level especially nationally.
Anna Rossvoll from Aberdeenshire gave a local authority perspective on Glow communities which then lead into groups establishing their priorities and principles for online communities , before getting down to some practical work, expertly supported by the Glow development officers, Katie Barrowman, Sarah Burton, Alan Hamilton,Charlie Love, and of course each other!
As the day evolved, a really useful “makeover sample book” started filling up with useful short “how – to guides” on using web parts in Glow. A thought-provoking discussion on levels of participation online – the #Glaikit Lurkers Debate began to probe our understandings and beliefs on communities, sharing, participation and responsibility( collegiality), and spilled over into Twitter, where some people were following our hashtag with interest and joined the debate.
Progress was shared via the trusted puggy machine at the end of Friday afternoon, and before departure people were invited to share their intentions for their communities in the dedicated glaikit i-share area, which will be revisited.
We enjoyed holding our second meeting of the leadership advisory group in June. This is a consultancy group formed with the purpose of informing and advising the National CPD Team. From the evidence of the leadership survey we agreed some action points on leadership development designed to support local authorities.
The experience of Margaret Barclay, Danny Murphy, Gillian Hamilton and Charlie McAteer continues to be invaluable in determining our contribution to the national agenda. We will take forward these action points and be in liaison with CPD Managers as we do this. One of the action points is to review and redraft “CPD For Educational Leaders (2003)” which we know many of us continue to use to provide a structure for leadership development at school and authority level.
We were all inspired by the FRH Leadership conference over two days in May. We joined 42 aspiring headteachers from 11 local authorities and 22 professional development coaches. We focussed on the themes of strategic leadership, coaching and personal learning plans. We were very pleased with the positive evaluation of the programme and look forward to meeting up again withour colleagues at our next one day seminar in November.
We have attached a copy of the FRH model for your information.
Below is a video demo I prepared for City of Edinburgh colleagues whom I couldn’t meet because of the snow in December. Below that again are a set of CPD links.
CPDScotland, the website, has been given a bit of an overhaul in recent weeks to make sure it can keep up with the pace of the work of the CPD Team and the CPD Network. You will still find links to CPDFindand our email bulletin but you will find a brand-new section entitled What we do.
The What we do section is designed to provide concise summaries of the many CPD projects underway. Down the right hand side of each of these pages you will see a couple of feeds which will keep you posted on the latest news from the CPD team blog and opportunities from CPDFind which are relevant to each area.
Don’t forget the CPD-focussed, professional communities on Glow starting with CPDCentral (needs a Glow password)
We would love to hear from you on how we can improve the national CPD conversation!
It was great to see friends from North Ayrshire again today. Pam Dunsmore, Gillian Hamilton and Lorraine Facchini. That’s Gillian and Pam in the picture (as Lorraine had left before I remembered to get the camera out!) Some of their remits have been changed since my last visit but all of them are still passionate about CPD. Among the topics we discussed were; CPD on Glow, a local version of CPDFind, allowing for CPDReflect in PRD policies, how best to share practice in CFE and the EAC Critical Skills programme.
I am having a whale of a time doing the rounds at CPD Festivals, Scottish Learning Festival seminar, Orkney Integrated Children’s Services Festival, Shetland Islands In-Service event and South Ayrshire Council. Here are the links I promised all the participants.
Influences
Collegiality and impact – Richard Elmore’s work is highlighted here
Clicking the link above will let you download the 1st draft of the PRD paper. It will posted on CPDConfer over the summer period and beyond for comment. In the meantime, the CPD team would be delighted if you could leave comments on this blog post!
Blog feed
It was great to see friends from North Ayrshire again today. Pam Dunsmore, Gillian Hamilton and Lorraine Facchini. That’s Gillian and Pam in the picture (as Lorraine had left before I remembered to get the camera out!) Some of their remits have been changed since my last visit but all of them are still passionate about CPD. Among the topics we discussed were; CPD on Glow, a local version of CPDFind, allowing for CPDReflect in PRD policies, how best to share practice in CFE and the EAC Critical Skills programme.
Finally here’s the t-shirt I promised all who attended!
prd-draft-paper.pdf