Thursday and Friday of this week brought the annual Orkney Learning Festival. This astounding feat of organisation saw every teacher in the islands attend for at least one, and in many case two, full day’s access to a wealth of CPD, including some absolutely top class seminars.

Held in Kirkwall Grammar school, the packed programme gave each teacher a wide choice of activity addressing every educational niche. These ranged from full day Learning Outdoors events, to ninety minute seminars and a walk around the small but select group of exhibitors in the exhibition hall, including but not limited to EIS learning representatives, SCRAN, Curriculum for Excellence and Glow.

The quality of presentations on offer would rival a national conference, and I’m glad to say Glow was well represented here too. Marie Dougan delivered a Glow Keynote Speech each day, updating attendees on the great work that’s happening with Glow around the country. Gerri Tait, Andrew Brown and I also held Glow based seminars, on topics including e-mentoring with Glow, Glow for Beginners, and Glow in the Primary and Secondary classrooms. Con Morris and Derek Robertson were able to give updates on and hands on access to the exciting developments in their areas (CPD and Games Based Learning respectively) both of which are represented on Glow.

Over both days, the dedication and enthusiasm of the Orkney staff was constantly evident, and the team enjoyed talking to a diverse set of visitors in the exhibition hall, including visitors from other authorities in Orkney on holiday - that’s dedication! There was a great deal of interest in Glow, and now that mentor training is complete, people are really looking forward to getting on and using Glow. The collaborative tools were a particular hit, because with many small schools across the islands the chance to work together more easily is welcomed. It will be great to keep up to date with what’s happening as the Orkney mentors get Glowing over the next few months, and the next time the Glow team visits these beautiful islands we’ll be getting into schools and seeing all the developments.

Categories: Events, Local authorities, Orkney Islands
Tags: Learning Festival, Orkney