Glow Scotland

This morning I was at a wonderfully exciting event, shared by thousands of children all across Scotland. The Scottish Book trust arranged for Anthony Horowitz, the best-selling author of the Alex Rider novels (among many, many more fantastic books) was broadcast live over the internet on streaming video and via Glow Meet. It’s estimated that up to 7000 fans around the country viewed the event, and hundreds then joined the Glow Chat afterwards.

Anthony took questions from the children from Uphall Primary and Canal View Primary, and also answered questions that had been submitted by schools in the weeks leading up to the event. He entertained everyone with his irreverent stories of evil grandmothers and detestable teachers – according to Anthony, every teacher he has ever had has appeared in one of his books, and he’s had them all meet a sticky end!

After his very enjoyable talk, Anthony joined children on Glow Meet, answering as many as he could of the thousands of questions that flowed in – so many, that the computer eventually gave up the ghost! Not to worry, though – Anthony will be blogging about the experience on his website, www.anthonyhorowitz.com, and you’ll be able to comment there and ask him the questions that didn’t get through.

New in the Homecoming National Group is ‘Wha’s Like Us?’ This group is aimed at classes where there are pupils who have come from different countries to live in Scotland. It will allow pupils living all over Scotland to talk about their experiences living in this country, along with their classmates.

There will be regular monthly topics for classes to work on together, and a chance for pupils to upload their work, chat, discuss and Glow Meet.

The first topic will be school life, starting next week, Tuesday the 5th of May. The future topics will be chosen by the group members. Any class, primary or secondary, can get involved – just follow the instructions on the group.

Access requests are now open – come in and explore and think about how you’d like to use the group. It’s the intention that the group will change and grow to meet the needs of the classes using it, so essentially it can be designed by the users collaboratively. Hope to see you there soon! Join Wha’s Like Us and start linking across the country!