Glow Scotland

December 5th, 2011

Panda-monium as Sweetie and Sunshine land in Edinburgh

pcurrie

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE, China, Chinese, early years, edinburgh, environment, Events, Glow, Glow Meet, Glow TV, Literacy, pandas, Tian Tian, video, Yang Guang, zoos
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Early Years, Events, Glow, Learner Resources, Literacy, Pupils

Our Glow TV team had an unusually early start to their Sunday as they braved the cold and snow and made their way to Edinburgh zoo for the arrival of two very special black and white guests. Known as Tian Tian and Yang Guang, or ‘Sweetie’ and ‘Sunshine’ the Pandas arrived just after lunchtime on Sunday 4th December to an excited throng of flag-waving well-wishers and a tartan-clad pipe band playing ‘Scotland the Brave’.

The pandas’ arrival marks the start of a ten year stay at Edinburgh Zoo, which many people hope will result in a baby panda. Baby or not, the new residents are sure to bring the zoo many new visitors, keen to catch a glimpse of these endangered bears. They arrived at Edinburgh airport, having made the 12 hour journey from China in a special ‘panda express’ Fed Ex plane with panda livery and a crew dressed in kilts.

Our Glow TV team of junior reporters, Callan, Cammy, Daniel, Emma and Evan, were at the zoo’s Education centre all morning, making Chinese lanterns and watching a panda presentation as well as capturing interviews with zoo staff. They, and lots of other children were then given special black and white jackets and hats and Scottish, British and Chinese flags to wave, before making their way down the hill to welcome the pandas from the airport.

The panda reporters did, of course, capture lots and lots of footage of the arrival excitement for Glow users and this week sees Glow TV turn into ‘Pandamonium’ as we bring you as much panda-related content as we can. Pam Currie from the Glow team will kick this all off on Tuesday at 2:30pm as she gives viewers a taste of what’s to come and provides sneaky early details of an exciting panda competition we will be launching. After that, on Wednesday morning at 10:00 am, Pam is joined in the TV studio in Glasgow by Louise and Melissa from the Daily What News, our Glow news service for schools. They will share panda facts, discuss the related news articles and resources, and give more details and tips on the competition to win ‘Pandaphernalia’, or ‘cute black and white panda stuff,’ if you are groaning at our panda puns by now!

Later on Wednesday, at 2:30 pm Glow TV viewers can watch our ‘Pandamentary’ which offers a truly behind-the-scenes look at all the zoo arrival excitement we captured on Sunday. Watch our intrepid panda reporters take part in fun panda activities and see the zoo keepers’ panda presentation from the Education centre. We even managed to grab a real scoop, when our reporters were relaxing with a hot drink in the cafe, only to see Yang Guang’s truck being reversed alongside us as the zoo staff prepared to unload him to his new home. As true reporters would do, they quickly grabbed their cameras and ran back out to the cold to try to get some sneaky footage of Yang Guang in the back of the truck.

‘Pandaphernalia’ competition details will be revealed in all of these Glow TV broadcasts this week and entries will run until December 16th. Tune in and find out how to enter. A good few black and white panda prizes to be had, including two cuddly panda toys, panda wristbands, panda rock, panda sweets, panda pens and a panda keyring, as well as some limited edition Glow TV t-shirts.

Education Scotland has set up a special ‘UK Pandas’ blog to celebrate the arrival of Sweetie and Sunshine and suggest CfE learning ideas as an inter-disciplianary resource. The blog also contains integrated links to the Chinese Embassy’s excellent ‘Panda Pals’ site, the Fed Ex blog that tracked the journey from China, the Edinburgh zoo homepage and a special Edinburgh Zoo panda site as well as videos and a host of other links.

September 2nd, 2011

Screening Shorts – New Moving Image Education Resource

GerryQ

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE, CPD, Creative Scotland, Education Scotland, English, Expressive Arts, film, Glow, Glow Groups, Learning and Teaching Scotland, Literacy, media literacy, moving image education, National glow groups, video
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Expressive Arts, Glow, Glow Groups, Learner Resources, Literacy, Media Literacy, Moving Image Education, National Groups

The team is currently busy working on Screening Shorts, a major new online resource to help teachers exploit moving image education in the classroom.

Developed by Creative Scotland and Education Scotland, Screening Shorts will be unveiled at SLF 2011, 21-22 Spetember 2011.

The resource will provide:

• Approximately 50 downloadable short films, free to Glow users
• Film tutorials explaining the core concepts of film language
• Lesson examples in film format showing how short films can be used for a wide variety of classroom activities
• A link to CPD opportunities and activities for teachers wishing to explore how to use moving image across Curriculum for Excellence
• A gateway to the growing Moving Image Education online community on Glow.

Watch this space for more information before and during SLF 2011…

July 26th, 2011

Glow TV

pcurrie

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE, CPD, Edinburgh International book Festival, Education Scotland, Glow, Glow Featured, Glow Meet, Glowscotland, glowtv, Scotland, Scottish Book Trust
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Early Years, Events, Expressive Arts, Glow, Glow Meet, Health and Wellbeing, Learner Resources, Literacy, Local authorities, Mathematics, Moving Image Education, National Groups, Pupils, Religious and Moral Education, Sciences, Social Studies, Technologies, Uncategorized, modern languages, research

Glow TV is our way of bringing the National Glow Meets to you from the one, easy to find, place. Launching for the start of the new term, we have a major schedule of ‘programmes’ planned for the coming session, including, hopefully, a whole series of programmes on topics such as: CfE, SQA, Glow, Glowing Thursdays, World of Work Wednesdays, Creativity, Games Design and Moving Image Education.

This is, of course, in addition to the many exciting events we already broadcast through Glow, such as the author events from the Scottish Book Trust and Edinburgh Book Festival, as well as those hugely popular one-offs like the Dr Who event and the NASA astronauts one, for example. All of these Glow national events will now be accessed through the one central place, Glow TV.

We are now using new software for Glow Meet (Adobe Connect) and this software allows us access to a recording of a Glow Meet, instantly from within Glow. That got us thinking that we could really develop the idea of Glow Meets further and offer a kind of ‘Watch Again’ facility, a bit like the online efforts of the major TV channels. Okay, so we don’t have the equipment or resources that the major TV channels do, but we have created an area in Glow that provides users with a schedule and allows users the opportunity to add programmes to their own, personal, schedule when they sign-up for events.

Signing-up for these events/programmes is easier now, too. Instead of having to complete a sign-up form for every event you want to take part in, all you have to do is register once for Glow TV and then choose your username from a drop-down list whenever you wish to sign-up to a specific event. Easy.

It is hoped that a lot of the programmes we bring you will include live debate/discussion on important topics in Education, as well as many online training programmes.We have managed to procure a little room in Education Scotland’s Optima office in Glasgow and turn it into our very own Glow TV studio, which even has a couch and a coffee table, so that our presenters look like true TV professionals in the making!

So, with a whole schedule of programmes you can tailor to your own personal guide, easy sign-up and channel categories to make it easy to find recordings and watch again, Glow TV is a brilliant addition to Glow’s assets. To register for Glow TV and then be able to have your own personal schedule and easy sign-up for programmes, click here.

January 26th, 2011

Chalk Face CfE: supporting practitioners in primary, ASN and early years settings

Gail Cairns

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence

Chalk face is an exciting new blog which aims to support the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence in primary, additional support needs, and early years settings.

Schools and early years centres are in a strong position to take CfE policy and turn it into practice by applying it actively within their classroom or playroom. Improvements in practitioners’ practices are often influenced through discussion within like-minded community networks. CfE will be alive and thriving where the relevance of policy is recognised and where practitioners can see the positive impact of their own changes, know what next steps to take and how this can be achieved.

This CfE blog has been set up for those who are working at the chalk face, who are asking each other questions such as “What are you doing? Can I see how you go about it? What could I do now and how might I do it?” This can take place anywhere, from the the staffroom to the corridor, and it is often at these times that valuable practical advice and information is shared.

Many Primary, Early Years and ASN practitioners are considering the following areas at this time:

• Experiences and Outcomes
• Tracking and Progression
• Assessment
• Reporting
• Transitions
• Building Your Curriculum

Visit the Chalk face blog to see and hear what other practitioners have been doing and find links to other related support and guidance on the LTS website.

November 1st, 2010

Mary’s Meals Backpack Appeal

Gail Cairns

Comments: 4 Comments » Tags: Tags: CfE
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Glow Meet

Mary’s Meals is an international movement to set up school feeding projects in communities where poverty and hunger prevent children from gaining an education. Based in Dalmally, Argyll, Mary’s Meals feed over 400,000 children every day.

Join Mary’s Meals Lead Fundraiser, Abeer Macintyre on Friday 12th November as she talks about the Mary’s Meals “Backpack Appeal”. Schools, nurseries and young people’s organisations throughout Scotland already work closely with Mary’s Meals, learning about global citizenship, developing citizenship skills and discovering how they can support international society.

The Mary’s Meals “Backpack Appeal” invites donations of used backpacks, filled with pencils, notebooks and stationery to support children attending school. An inspiring whole school learning experience, a Mary’s Meals project can provide excellent opportunities for Interdisciplinary Learning, a key feature of Curriculum for Excellence.

Sign up now for this Glow Meet, suitable for all nursery and primary pupils and help launch Mary’s Meals Backpack Appeal for 2010.

October 29th, 2010

Scotland on Screen – a Moving Image Education resource

GerryQ

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE, CPD, Creative Scotland, English, Glow, Glow Groups, History, Learning and Teaching Scotland, Literacy, moving image education, National glow groups, National Library of Scotland, Social Studies
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Glow, Glow Groups, Homecoming, Literacy, Moving Image Education, National Groups, Social Studies

Scotland on Screen is an exciting educational resource that puts hundreds of important historical film texts online, providing a rear-view mirror on our society over the past century.

It’s a web-based resource developed by National Library of Scotland, Creative Scotland, Learning and Teaching Scotland and Scran.

Scotland on Screen has now been up and running for over a year and has proved to be very popular among teachers and practitioners across Scotland. During 2010, the resource was further developed with the inclusion of a considerably enhanced collection of archive material that can be used across the curriculum.

The website provides short film material and resources for Glow users to use as part of their teaching in the classroom. The public can browse and view the collection of clips on the website but Glow users can log into the site via Glow to also download film clips of interest for reuse in the classroom.

Sitting underneath the main Moving Image National Glow Group, Glow users can access the Scotland on Screen Glow Group – a place to share knowledge, information and content surrounding the resource. Users can also catch up on the latest news and information as well as discuss topics of relevance and interest through the Scotland on Screen Glow Forum. So far, we’ve found that the resource has been of interest and benefit to teachers using it across a variety of subjects and curricular areas including social studies, literacy and health and wellbeing. Scotland on Screen has also been of value to Moving Image Education practitioners.

October 27th, 2010

Languages on Screen – a Moving Image Education resource

GerryQ

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE, Creative Scotland, film, Glow, Glow Groups, Learning and Teaching Scotland, Modern Foreign Languages, modern languages, moving image education, National glow groups, video
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Glow, Glow Groups, Literacy, Moving Image Education, National Groups, modern languages

Languages on Screen is a web-based resource developed by Creative Scotland, Learning and Teaching Scotland and Scran. The website provides short film material and resources for Glow users to aid the teaching of Modern Languages in the classroom. The public can only access parts of the website but Glow users can log into the site via Glow to access all its content. This includes the ability to browse and download film clips of interest for reuse in the classroom.

Sitting underneath the main Moving Image National Glow Group, Glow users can access the Languages on Screen Glow Group - a place to share knowledge, information and content surrounding the resource. Users can also catch up on the latest news and information as well as discuss topics of relevance and interest through the Languages on Screen Glow Forum. We hope this resource is of interest to Modern Languages teachers as well as Moving Image Education practitioners.

October 27th, 2010

Moving Image Education – Glow National Group

GerryQ

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE, CPD, Creative Scotland, Glow, Glow Groups, Learning and Teaching Scotland, Literacy, media literacy, moving image education, National glow groups, National Library of Scotland
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Expressive Arts, Literacy, Moving Image Education, National Groups

Moving Image Education (MIE) is fast becoming an integral part of 21^st century literacy and modern teaching practice. Using moving image texts as a source in addition to the written word has been proved to vastly increase wider literacy skills, confidence, engagement and fun in the classroom.

Learning and Teaching Scotland is working in partnership with Creative Scotland to make moving image education more accessible and active within Glow

We now have a Moving Image Education National Glow Group which is steadily being populated with information, resources and CPD opportunities. Work is also underway to engage with Glow users across Scotland and encourage them to participate in interesting and relevant topics of discussion through the group’s Glow Forum. There are some Glow Meets planned too.

We look forward to seeing you on Glow.

September 21st, 2010

The Daily What News service is now live

pcurrie

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE, cross curricular, English, Glow, health and wellbeing, Literacy, Literacy and English, Mathematics, Maths, news, news service, Numeracy, politics, relevant learning, science
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Glow, Literacy, Mathematics, National Groups, Pupils, Sciences, Social Studies, Technologies

The Daily What News is the all new Glow news service for schools. Launched this week, the service provides a sophisticated and interactive news service for Glow users, with articles written by a specialist news content editor especially for a schools’ audience. Articles will be published every school day and there will be two versions of each article: What? gives readers a less complex approach to the story; What’s More…provides a bit more of a challenge. In the very near future, there will also be three articles each week which will be published in Gaelic.

The articles are arranged in news categories and will be tagged according to CfE subjects and experiences and outcomes. The articles will be archived and searchable from the main homepage, giving users a rich learning resource that offers learners the opportunity to make meaningful and relevant connections across different curricular areas. Many of the articles will feature an interactive activity that will provide Glow account holders with a fun way to extend or cement users’ learning on the story’s topic. Users can also use their Glow logins to take part in forum discussion topics for each article.

Teachers will find the Teachers’ Area Blog an excellent resource. Beneath each daily news article there is a link to a blog post that provides Glow users with a wealth of lesson ideas and suggestions for several curricular areas from the one news story. The posts are written by a specialist education content editor who links the news story to CfE outcomes and experiences and provides links to other interesting and relevant content. Teachers themselves are encouraged to contribute to these posts so that we build up an extensive bank of cross-curricular lesson suggestions for each news story. The blog is organised in the same way as the news site itself and offers users the option to browse in several different ways or search for specific content.

From each blog post, there is a link to a Glow group that allows users to upload resources to a document store. The documents will be tagged according to CfE level, subject area, date the article was published and article title, offering users the ability to filter searches in several different ways.  In delivering their curriculum outcomes through The Daily What News service, Teachers are encouraged to upload any materials they develop and share with other Glow users, so that we build up an extensive store of learning resources that can be archived for future use.

Feedback received so far has been very encouraging indeed and the service provides educators with a real opportunity to have relevant curricular content that can be accessed through a number of different subject areas in a truly meaningful way.

A recent article in the Sport category focused upon Rangers’ fans’ trip to Manchester and how their behaviour was better than on a previous occasion that had led to trouble in the city centre. The article would surely be a popular one with young people and, because they are known for their reluctance in reading, it is of note that it would be of particular appeal to boys. There is even an interactive activity attached to this article which invites learners to test their knowledge of SPL club nicknames. What better way to engage reluctant learners in purposeful and relevant learning? In the Teachers’ Blog, lesson suggestions were offered in a number of CfE subject areas (Social studies, Health +Wellbeing, English+Literacy) and links were provided to video content and discussion stimuli that would encourage even the most reluctant learner to engage with such relevant and meaningful subject matter.

This is, of course, just one example. There is already a good stock of interesting content on the site, with stories ranging in topic from the floods in Pakistan, for a World focus, to how young people made an impression on the Scottish Parliament, for a story that is closer to home. Each school day sees another story added to the archive, so we are building a wealth of content that Glow users can benefit from.

Whatever the story’s subject-matter, it is always the case that it will be written in a manner that is appealing and relevant to our learners. Add to that the interactive activities and lesson suggestions in the teachers’ blog, and you might just find that The Daily What News is just what you have been looking for!

September 13th, 2010

Curriculum for Excellence and Glow – Seamless Transitions Spotlight

Gail Cairns

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE, Glow, SLF
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Events, Glow

The Scottish Learning Festival 2010 is just over a week away now! Beginning this year’s Spotlight sessions is the very promising “Seamless Transitions – Curriculum for Excellence and Glow” presentation.

This spotlight will demonstrate how practitioners across all education sectors have successfully turned transitions into meaningful learning experiences, contributing to the delivery of Curriculum for Excellence. The presenters also offer examples of how staff are coming together and using the tools within Glow, to share and enhance professional development opportunities within their own settings.

Delivered by teaching practitioners and LTS staff this spotlight session is guaranteed to be  unmissable.

Places are limited so register now for the Scottish Learning Festival and your place at the “Seamless Transitions – Curriculum for Excellence and Glow” Spotlight on Wednesday the 22nd of September at 9.30am.