Glow Scotland

October 12th, 2011

New Global Citizenship Drop-In in Glow TV

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: Developing Global Citizens, Games Legacy, global citizenship
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Development, Events, Glow, Glow Meet

Every month the Developing Global Citizens team will be available on our new Glow TV channel to answer your questions about global citizenship and to signpost you to resources and ideas to help you embed global citizenship in the curriculum. This is an informal session open to any school leader or practitioner in Scotland – just drop into the Glow meet to pick our brains, find out what’s coming up or tell us what you’re up to.

The inaugural session will take place from 3.30-5.00pm on Wednesday 26th October. The theme for the first 45 minutes of this session will be A Games Legacy for Scotland and will showcase how the London Olympics 2012 and Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 can be used to create exciting learning opportunities for global citizenship activities and interdisciplinary learning. Find out how to get free tickets to the Olympics, hear about the Forest Pitch football strip design competition and how the organisers plan to Get Scotland Dancing.

A general Q & A/open floor session will follow from 4.15pm to 5pm. Put the day in your diary and join us for all, or part of, this event to discuss and share or get help with a particular issue.

Visit Glow TV to sign up and take part on the day.

September 9th, 2011

Cabinet Secretary Glow Futures Announcement

alexduff

Comments: 35 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Development, Glow, Technologies

Yesterday Michael Russell, MSP the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning made a significant announcement on the future of ICT in Schools including how Glow will be developed after September 2012.

You can watch the full announcement on YouTube.

The key points of the announcement are:

• From immediate affect the current Glow Futures procurement has been stopped.
• Over the next few weeks an open on-line discussion will take place to help share the current thinking and shape what Glow will become.
• On the 17th October the Scottish Government will hold an ICT summit in Stirling where we will consider were we have come from, the results of the on-line discussion and where we go next.

Within the Emerging Technologies Team at Education Scotland we are very excited about these announcements and look forward to having the opportunity to working with educators all over Scotland to help develop the next version of Glow. We would encourage all of you to get involved in the conversation too.

We also expect further information to be released by the Scottish Government next week on the Engage for Education website, including more details about the on-line discussion and Octobers ICT Summit.

October 7th, 2010

Glow: Listening to you and improving

Gail Cairns

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: Glow
 : Categories Development, Glow

Glow has seen many exciting developments over the past six months. Learning and Teaching Scotland has been engaging with Glow users asking them what developments and improvements they would like to see. As part of our continuous improvement of Glow, we have introduced a number of new components and features. These include an easier to navigate homepage known as Glow Light, the opportunity to publish and share information with Glow Blogs and an area to interact with other users in Glow Forums. Other improvements encompass an increased log out time, a new Glow Mail interface and an enhanced search function.

To find more about all the new tools and improvements within Glow visit our support leaflet which can be found alongside a host of support videos on the Improving Glow Section of the Using Glow and ICT homepage.

September 15th, 2010

Glow Live – Bringing the Scottish Learning Festival straight to your desktop!

Gail Cairns

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: Events, Glow Meet, Literacy, National glow groups, Numeracy, SLF
 : Categories Development, Events, Glow, Glow Groups, Glow Meet

Glow Live at SLF – Literacy Across Learning Primary
Wednesday 22nd September, 9.15-10.30am

Join us for the Literacy across Learning Primary seminar as it’s streamed live via Glow Meet! Ideal for all practitioners, this Glow meet will feature an introduction by one of the presenters, talking about the areas that will be covered in this seminar. Join our panel of experts before the seminar as they discuss various topics closely linked to Literacy across Learning.

Sign up for this Glow LIVE meet on Wednesday 22nd September at 9.15am and take advantage of the opportunity to ask questions throughout the seminar, which will be answered by the panel or the speakers at the end of the presentation.

With feedback from members of the live audience at the end of the seminar, this action-packed Glow meet is a must-see event.

For more information or to sign up for this seminar click here.

OR

Sign up for the Glow LIVE Meet here.

Glow Live at SLF – Enhancing Experiences for Pupils on the Autism Spectrum in Mainstream Education: The Autism Toolbox: An Autism Resource for Scottish Schools
Wednesday 22nd September, 3.30–4.45pm

Join us for this Glow LIVE Meet as Professor Aline-Wendy Dunlop’s seminar on Enhancing Experiences for Pupils on the Autism Spectrum in Mainstream Education: The Autism Toolbox: An Autism Resource for Scottish Schools – is streamed live via Glow Meet.

An event suitable for all practitioners this Glow meet will feature a discussion by a panel of experts on three areas closely linked to Autism before the seminar begins. This Glow LIVE meet on Wednesday 22nd September between 3.30–4.45pm welcomes questions throughout the seminar, which will be answered by the expert panel or the speakers at the end of the presentation.

Feedback from members of the live audience can also be seen at the end of this event!

For more information or to sign up for this seminar click here.

OR

Sign up for the Glow LIVE Meet here

Glow Live at SLF – The National Assessment Resource – Nuts and Bolts
Thursday 23rd September, 9.15-10.30am

Ideal for all practitioners this Glow meet will include an expert panel discussion on the various topics surrounding the National Assessment Resource – Nuts and Bolts seminar. Watch the seminar as it is streamed live via Glow meet on Thursday 23rd September between 9.15-10.30am.

Post your questions throughout the seminar and see the responses by our expert panel or seminar speakers at the end of the presentation. Hear from live members of the audience, as they give feedback on the National Assessment Resource seminar.

For more information or to sign up for this seminar click here.

OR
Sign up for the Glow LIVE Meet here.

Glow Live at SLF – Numeracy across Learning into Action in Secondary schools
Thursday 23rd September, 1.45–3.00pm

Join four teaching practitioners from Earlston HS via Glow Meet as their seminar on Numeracy across Learning into Action in Secondary schools is streamed live from the Scottish Learning Festival.

Watch the practitioners from Earlston showcasing their unique approach to promoting Numeracy amongst the staff in their school. This Glow meet is an ideal event for all practitioners and will include contributions from a specially selected expert panel.

Listen as our experts discuss three topics closely linked to Numeracy across Learning and ask your questions within the Glow meet. These will be answered by the speakers or the expert panel at the end of the presentation.

Watch members of the live audience as they give their feedback following the seminar. Join this Glow LIVE meet on Thursday 23rd September between 1.45–3pm.

For more information or to sign up for this seminar click here.

OR

Sign up to the Glow LIVE Meet here.

For more information on any of the Glow Live Meets visit the National SLF Extra Glow Group.

September 15th, 2010

Have your say on the future of Glow

Gail Cairns

Comments: 4 Comments » Tags: Tags: Glow
 : Categories Benefits, Development, Glow

Glow is the world’s first national intranet for education. It is transforming the way the curriculum is delivered in Scotland. Now, Glow is looking to the future to ensure that it equips practitioners and learners with the tools they need today and tomorrow.

School staff, pupils, parents and other stakeholders are invited to help shape the future of Glow by having their say on how they would like to see it developed.

We would like to hear from all these groups, it doesn’t matter if they haven’t used Glow very much or have not yet had the opportunity to use it at all, we would like everyone to complete the survey to help us understand all views.

September 10th, 2010

Glowing Cookbook – Developing confident and independent learners

Gail Cairns

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Angus, Benefits, Curriculum for Excellence, Development, Glow Groups, Glow Learn

Lisa Chalmers is a Support for Learning teacher at Arbroath High School. Lisa was keen to explore how Glow could enrich learning for a small group of S1 pupils who need additional support with English, Maths and Social Skills.
Glow was introduced at Arbroath High School just a few years ago and is now used widely throughout the school. Last year,  a very successful Transition Glow Group linked the school with its associate primaries: this work is featured in the cookbook Transition Glow Groups in Angus schools.

Lisa felt that Glow was the perfect tool for her S1 Social Skills class. This small group of pupils required additional support to consolidate basic skills in English and Maths. Individual needs range from a pupil who had recently arrived in Scotland and required time developing her skills in English as a second language,  to pupils with poor reading skills or mild dyslexia.

Many of the pupils also required time and support to develop independent learning skills, such as developing confidence in their own ability, taking responsibility for their learning, staying on task, and interacting and supporting their peers.

With such a diversity of abilities and needs, it was often impractical to teach pupils together as a class. Lisa aimed to find time and space in each session to work in a focused way with one or two pupils at a time. This required providing pupils with the skills  to work unaided and remain focused.

As Lisa has access to 4 computers in her room, she was able to rotate pupils around a number of activities, including using Glow.

Visit this Cookbook.

August 30th, 2010

Glowing Cookbook – Glow Meet with a dragon! Early Years Fairyland topic

Gail Cairns

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Development, Glow Meet, West Lothian

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away (well, in Bathgate, West Lothian) the Primary 1 and 2 teachers in Windyknowe Primary School set themselves a huge task. They embarked upon a ‘Joining the Learning’ Fairyland activity that involved every one of the 100 Primary 1 and 2 pupils taking part in an Enchanted Forest project which culminated in them having a Glow Meet with a dragon!

The teachers were keen to provide an engaging and enjoyable learning experience for the pupils and so did a lot of preparation and planning in advance of embarking on the 6-week project. Firstly, they visited other schools who had already been involved in the project to get advice and ideas from them. This allowed them to clarify the things they would like to do themselves.

They decided then that they would like to mix up the children from the P1 and P2 classes to enable them to select the activities they would like to take part in and so provide opportunities for personalisation and choice.

The project started after the Easter holidays with a letter arriving from a dragon! This was accompanied by dragon dust (which strangely resembled glitter!), footprints on the floor and scorch marks on the letter itself. All of the 100 children were gathered together to be read the letter from the dragon. Immediately they were captivated. In his letter, the dragon asked the pupils to turn the rooms into an Enchanted Forest. He left articles for the children and these were then used as a basis for the themes that the classrooms were given.

Visit this cookbook to find out more.

August 30th, 2010

Glow Light is now live!

Andrew Brown

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: feedback, glow light, gui, refresh
 : Categories Development

The new Glow landing page is now live! The page is designed to help with navigation of Glow through an easy to use homepage.

Initially, Glow Light will be live for users in the following local authorities:

Aberdeenshire
Edinburgh
Clackmannanshire
Dumfries and Galloway
East Ayrshire
East Lothian
East Renfrewshire
Eileanan Siar
Fife
Glasgow
Moray
Inverclyde
North Lanarkshire
Renfrewshire
Shetland
South Ayrshire
West Dunbartonshire
West Lothian

Some local authorities have decided to turn on the new homepage at a later date, which is why it will not automatically appear for all users.

What do you thinkof it? We’d love to hear your feedback, and make improvements where we can.

August 25th, 2010

MR BIG – The tale of a literacy project!

Gail Cairns

Comments: 1 Comment Tags:  : Categories Angus, Development, Glow Meet, Literacy

“What can Glow do for my pupils?”

One teacher’s question led staff tutor Graeme Reid down some quite unexpected routes, developing a literacy project encompassing early reading skills, functional writing and regular use of a gorilla suit.

Over the last year,  Graeme Reid has been seconded out of school three days a week to be a staff tutor in Angus.  Graeme’s remit includes supporting schools to use Glow to enhance learning and teaching. On one of his school visits, Graeme was asked by the P1-P3 teacher how Glow could be used with, and by, young pupils.

As copies of the picture book “Mr Big” had recently been given to all P1 pupils by the Scottish Book Trust, Graeme decided to use the book as the focus of a literacy project. “Mr Big”, by Ed Vere, is the tale of an enormous gentle gorilla who finds it difficult to make friends, as his physical appearance scares people away.

The Mr Big project focussed on developing pupils’:

• Early reading skills
• Listening and talking skills
• Functional writing

Visit this cookbook to find out how Glow was used to support the project by:

• Providing a wider audience for pupils to share their learning
• Providing pupils with opportunities to communicate with pupils and adults beyond their own school.

August 23rd, 2010

National Glow Group launched to support Site Collection Administrators

Gail Cairns

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Development

We are delighted to announce the launch of a new National Glow Group, designed to provide an online training area for all Site Collection Administrators (SCAs) across Scotland.

The SCA Support Group hosts videos, user guides and a forum to assist in a SCA role. Questions can also be posted in the National Glow Help Forum linked within the Glow Group.

The SCA Glow Group welcomes suggestions with regards to areas you would like to see covered or specific training sessions you would like to undertake for the SCA role. Any suggestions can be posted within the forum area of the Group.

Access to the group can be found on the National Site Glow Groups page or by clicking here.