Glow Scotland

June 22nd, 2009

Scottish CILT Conference a Glowing success!

Tina Stevens

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Scottish CILT hosted the first ever national virtual event for languages teachers on Monday, 15th June. The meeting took place from 4pm until 5.45pm in the Scottish CILT group on Glow, Scotland’s national schools intranet, via Glow Meet, the built –in videoconferencing facility on Glow.

Speakers had been identified from primary and secondary schools. They showed presentations on approaches to interdisciplinary work that they had been involved with in their schools and participating teachers commented and asked questions either through the chat facility or “on air.”

17 participants tuned in to the event; there was no cost and people could join from either their home or school computer. The event was well received, and many participants indicated that they would be very interested in future similar events.

“ I thought that the conference was fantastic. It was normally the kind of thing you would have to attend an inservice event to be part of, usually entailing giving up a Saturday! “

“I thought the content was excellent. It was really uplifting to see all that good practice and certainly it has inspired me! I really liked the fact that you could interact with the presenters and ask questions, as often there isn’t time for this when attending an inservice event. I was also impressed by how easy it was to use the technology once we got started and I think that using Glow to share good practice and disseminate ideas should help us to make the changes demanded by CfE.”

“I would really like the chance to take part in more of these type of conferences as I thought it was a very positive way to enhance my CPD folder.”

“I enjoyed the CPD session, there is no question that this will soon be the way to run CPD events. Congratulations on your vision!”

The event was recorded and will be made available on the Scottish CILT Glow group.
As a means of reaching a national audience, providing cost – free CPD, and providing teachers with a means to engage with us via the glow group, there is nothing to compare with the convenience and easy manageability of Glow Meet.

We intend to build on this success and run regular, similar events in the future. We will most likely incorporate a monthly session along similar lines into our existing events calendar. If you have any suggestions for themes to develop further teacher CPD in this format, please don’t hesitate to get in touch: Catriona.oates@strath.ac.uk. Looking forward to seeing you on Glow soon!

Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Events, Glow Groups, Glow Meet, National Groups