Laurie O’Donnell

It is now 5 days since I left the ranks of the salaried public sector to become self employed. At the moment it just feels like the school holidays in the years when I was a teacher … and I am loving it

My plan is to take most of July to get myself organised with email, website, bank accounts etc and also to have a proper break from work after LTS.

I am in the process of setting up my own website/blog  www.laurieodonnell.co.uk (currently redirected to www.ltsblogs.org.uk/laurieodonnell).

Some of my post LTS portfolio is already in place and it looks like a good mix already with more variety to follow (I hope).

Planning to blog about my reading and my future plans over the summer. Have a great summer (or winter if you are in Oz or NZ).

Lx

Not been keeping my blog up to date recently – sign of being too busy.

I spent the week before last in London attending two events. The first was a Becta organised conference which was attended by 60 ministers of education including our own Maureen Watt, MSP, Minister for Schools and Skills.

Some great speakers including:

• Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, who called for more investment in the science of the web, the fostering of a culture of sharing/the commons of the web and for governments to open up their data for public use.
• Andreas Schleicher, Head of Indicators and Analysis Division, OECD PISA, gave a stunning presentation on how quickly education is changing across the world. It is clear that it is not enough for an education system to be improving if others are improving at a faster rate. Certainly no room for complacency if our children and young people are going to be able to compete in the increasingly globalised 21st century.
• Ricardo Semler, World Economic Forum nominated young business man of the year, owner of Brazil’s Semco and founder of the Lumiar foundation. Gave a brilliant talk on 21st learning and teaching and designing a curriculum around Formula 1, fashion, popular music of the 1960s, building a bicycle etc. Inspirational stuff and worth watching for the future as traditional curriculum structures continue t to come under pressure from learners, parents, employers and teachers as poor preparation for life and work in the 21st Century.

It was also a great opportunity to network and find out what is happening across the world from Saudi Arabia (making a massive investment in education), Japan (concerned about demographics), Finland (top performing in Europe but about to undertake a radical reform programme) …

The second event I attended was BETT. In previous years I have blogged about how little I get out of the exhibition but how much I appreciate the opportunity to meet pretty much everybody in the learning and technology world.

Apart from bumping into large numbers of the people I have worked with over the last 10 years I also met with senior executives from a number of IT companies including:

• Terry Sweeney, CEO of RM Education,
• Peter Isaacson, VP Global Education, and his colleagues from  Adobe Systems
• Herve Marchet and Mike Munn of Apple Europe

I also had the honour of having lunch sitting next to Prof Tim Brighouse – great conversation about how Scotland should respond to the recent TIMMS survey.  Also had the opportunity to listen to Tony Howell the current holder of Chief Education Officer/Director of Children’s Services with Birmingham City Council – got a real sense of the scale of the challenge he faces on a daily basis.

Brilliant week, fantastic opportunity and a privilege to have this job but I was glad when my plane landed back in Dundee on Friday night.

I have been out and about a lot over the last couple of weeks and not found much time to post – so time for a bit of a catch-up.

I spent 24 hours in Belfast a couple of weeks ago with my counterparts from Wales and Northern Ireland. Looking back over my almost seven years at LTS it’s been interesting to see how the four education systems of the UK have evolved and the very different approaches that have been taken to solving common problems and modernising schooling. One thing we all have in common is a changing public sector landscape. In Wales all of the public bodies have been absorbed into central government. In Northern Ireland the library boards are being drawn together into a new public body with responsibility for education across the country. So if you think it is just Scotland that is changing think again!

Last Tuesday I met with former HMIe Walter Paterson who is doing some research on behalf of the SQA on future skills and the future IT landscape. My view is that lots of IT will become centralised/web-based and that many of the traditional local technical roles will disappear. Who needs an internal network in a wireless/web-as-the-platform world? The same goes for desktop support – when was the last time somebody fixed your fridge why do computers need so much support? After that I had a steering group for a great project on Partnerships with Employers that LTS is doing on behalf of the Scottish Government’s Determined to Succeed initiative.

Last Wednesday started with a visit to Haddington to meet the inspirational Don Ledingham, East Lothian’s (acting) Director of Education and Children’s Services. Don is doing a great job in East Lothian and I really like the thoughtful open way that he approaches his work and the focus he has on doing the right things for the right reasons. I always learn something from meetings with Don (and from reading his blog). The focus of the meeting from my perspective was to find out how LTS might better support East Lothian Council. I hope we can arrange a joint project and am very interested in building on the success of edu buzz and the recent publication of the 1,000th blog for learning by a P7 class. Blogs for public accountability might be an interesting area for development?

On my way back to Dundee I had a meeting at the National Library in Edinburgh to discuss synergies with Glow organised by Karen Gallacher. I met with seven of Karen’s colleagues including Alex Miller, Director of Comms at NLS, Jackie Cromarty, Education and Interpretative Services Manager, Simon Bains, Digitial Library Manager and James Toon, Trusted Digital Repository Project Manager. I have always been an admirer of librarians and was really impressed with the professionalism, passion and vision of all of the NLS staff I met. I got a real sense of the National Library trying to take big steps into the digital age. This is an institution in the process of reinventing itself for the 21st Century, looking to a future built on strong foundations from the past and present. Before I left the library I got the chance to see behind the scenes. The John Murray Archive now has a permanent public exhibition but I was also allowed in to see a couple of items the vast collection of papers still under lock and key. My favourite was a letter from Charles Darwin to John Murray offering to waive his fee in advance of the publication of ‘The Origin of the Species’ on the grounds that it might not be a commercial success.

Friday was one of those wonderful days when I realise just how lucky I am to have this job. It started with Graham Watson, Chief Executive of the Scottish Institute of Sport Foundation, an organisation that supports both elite and grassroots sport (a very Scottish approach). The meeting was to discuss progress with an online project called The Winning Game (see Tess Watson’s blog for details of the pilot) and how we might work together on the next stage.

After that I joined Derek Robertson who was briefing Milton Chen and Steve Arnold of the George Lucas Educational Foundation on the work of the LTS Consolarium. Then it was off to visit two P6 classes in Dundee in Clepington and Charleston primary schools. The schools were delighted to have visitors from the USA and pupils were brilliant ambassadors for Dundee and Scotland. We got a real insight into how commercial computer games, in the hands of excellent teachers, can be used to great effect in the classroom (see Derek Robertson’s blog for details).

After lunch it was off to the University of Abertay with Steve, Milton and Chris van der Kuyl. The Principal Bernard King gave Steve and Milton an inspirational introduction to Dundee and Abertay before setting us off on a whistle-stop tour to look at cutting edge research being conducted in: Computing; Complex Systems and; Computer Arts and Digital Media.

Started last week at a Scottish Government Glow Programme Board in Edinburgh. Glow continues to progress according to plan – slow and steady but supportable and sustainable. The publicity continues to be positive and the most important advocates of Glow, our pupils and teachers, seem to like what is in offer and see the potential for the future.

On Tuesday a student teacher from Canada started on work placement with LTS. She looked on the web and decided that Scotland was the place to be to learn about innovation in education (:

I also met with Frank Crawford, Chief HMIe, to discuss a couple of joint projects including the possibility of running an education futures event on the evening before the Scottish Learning Festival in September.

In the evening I was invited to the launch of the Scottish Screen archive Heritage Lottery Access project. A great project that will secure some of Scotland’s best film footage for future generations through the National Libraries of Scotland.

Wednesday was spent in Dundee with a pile of internal meetings.

Back in Glasgow on Thursday for a corporate management team followed by a ScotlandIS Technology Leaders lunch. This was an interesting event and an opportunity for me to share the ideas behind Glow with a wider audience. I got all the usual questions but was stunned to be asked by one of the lunch guests ‘what problem is Glow designed to solved?’. Not a bad question but I am now so used to the ‘problem’ being self-evident that it took me a few seconds to pull together a coherent answer. The key ‘problems’ that Glow is designed to address are, first of all the problem of duplication of effort – 53,000 teachers re-inventing the wheel in 3,000 schools across 32 local local authorities. The second ‘problem’ is that teaching is isolating profession yet we know that we get the best out of teachers if they work with their colleagues – Glow facilitates and enables collaborative working, mutual support and continuous professional development across Scotland. The third ‘problem’ is that of modernising education. What I have called bringing the 21st century into the classroom/bringing the classroom into the 21st century. We live in a world where digital communications play an important part in the lives of our children and young people. Glow builds a bridge between the world outside school and the classroom. To paraphrase a US teacher I met last year – coming to school should not be like visiting a foreign country for our students. I could go on …
Friday was a holiday and I am back in our Dundee office this morning. In a few minutes I am off to catch a train to Aberdeen for a meeting with Bruce Robertson, Director of Education, Learning and Leisure with Aberdeenshire Council, as part of the LTS corporate planning process.

Tuesday takes me back to Glasgow for more Glow stuff and external meetings with Microsoft and Teachers TV.

Wednesday is Glasgow again for an update with my boss Bernard, a catch-up Karen McCallum – the SQA’s director of operations and a ‘Directors Unplugged’ question and answer session with LTS staff.

Thursday takes me to Edinburgh to meet Eleanor Emberson the former head of New Educational Developments and one of the very important original senior supporters of Glow within the civil service.

The week ends with a joint LTS/HMIe management meeting in Glasgow. Between now and then I expect a few more appointments to land in the last few white spaces. Another busy week but really looking forward to it.

This week started in Glasgow with a LTS Corporate Management Team and a Glow Programme Board.

Tuesday was back in Glasgow for a meeting with Andy Torrance, formerly BT now with TLG (The Learning Game). I then had a very useful leadership coaching session with Martyn Sakol of ER Consulting. The value of having someone from outside to bounce ideas off and get an objective perspective is great. The day finished with the LTS ICT Programme Board which covers more than our ICT work – from the LTS Online Service to the Scottish Learning Festival. At this time of year our focus is on managing the end of this financial year (the end of a three year spending cycle) and making sure we are ready to hit the ground running for the next three year cycle.

Wednesday started with meeting Sally Fulton to discuss LTS’ role working with HMIe on Journey to Excellence. Then it was to Edinburgh to meet Sue Granville of George Street research to be interviewed on the strategic role of the Scottish Learning Festival as part of a commissioned evaluation of the event. The afternoon ended with an EIS/LTS update meeting between our corporate management team and the senior officers/elected office bearers of Scotland’s largest teaching union. Lots to discuss here but the focus was very much progress with Curriculum for Excellence and Glow.

Today I am in our Dundee office catching-up with internal meetings and a visit to our corporate distribution centre. I also have a telephone conference organised by ScotlandIS to explore the innovative use of technology across Scotland – could be really interesting.

On Friday I am off to a local authority ICT advisers, SICTDG, gathering in Aberdeen for the morning. The main item on the agenda for me is progress with Glow. I hope to finish the day back in our Dundee office so that I can start the weekend before it gets dark (:

Well it’s Tuesday and I’m on my way home from sunny Birmingham and a four nations (Scotland, England, Northern Ireland & Wales) ICT meeting hosted by Becta.

• Scotland is represented by LTS (I’m here with our chief exec Bernard McLeary ).
• England is represented by a group directors of Becta including CEO Stephen Crowne
• Northern Ireland by Jimmy Stewart CEO of C2K
• Wales by Welsh Assembly Government official Kerry Darke

So what is happening across the UK and what are the issues?

England
• Lots going on here in this highly complex system …
• Becta has two Westminster Government departments to deal with.
o DCSF schools still very important but shift of focus towards children (especially those most at risk) and families. The Children’s Plan aims to make England ‘the best country in the world for children and young people to grow up in’. Quite ambitious!
o DIUS a new dept with the ‘I’ standing for ‘innovation’ looks really interesting.
• Lots of reviews taking place including a KS3 curriculum review and refresh of ‘Harnessing Technology’ (2005) to develop thinking around a more e-confident system & better meeting the needs of learners (personalisation)
• Increasing interest in consumer spend on technology and the potential benefits for education and universal access to ICT.
• The English education system spends c£1b per year on technology how might collaborative purchasing provide better value for public money?
• Computers for Pupils Programme will soon have achieved the target of getting 50,000 computers (and connectivity) into the homes of disadvantaged young people.

Northern Ireland
• Major review of public administration. Move to single education and skills authority by 2009 – embracing curriculum, leadership, qualifications.
• Review of policy & strategy – emerging policy ‘every school a good school’.
• Curriculum more skills focus, common 4-14 with choice agenda opening up from 14-19.
• C2K provides a managed service to all schools across NI including software, hardware and services.
• Every teacher has been given a laptop (20,000)

Wales
• Wales brought all of the public bodies/agencies into the Welsh Assembly Government a few years ago – a real bonfire of the quangos
• Latest project is a pilot of laptops for a group of 11 years olds. Connectivity at home continues to be an issue that needs some fresh thinking.
• Strategic development likely to focus on continuing inequalities and what does a digitally enabled classroom look like and how do we get there.
• Like the rest of the UK the e-Gov agenda is important with citizen/learner focus through technology prominent.
• Welsh Assembly Government is about to publish a school improvement framework and this will set the context for developments in technology.

Spending a lot of the time either travelling or in meetings at the moment and my blogging is really just a ‘where is Laurie log?’ rather than much of a ‘learning log’.

Last week started with a corporate management team the highlight of this was a presentation from my colleague Ewan McIntosh on some of the work he has been doing around social media for education. I had the chance later that day to discuss with Ewan our priorities over the next six months or so. Any readers of his edu.blogs will get a sense of how much ground Ewan covers – not just in terms of geography and networking but also in terms of his sheer activism and productivity.

On Tuesday I started off at HMIe HQ in Livingston with Chief Inspector Ken Muir. The context was the LTS Corporate Plan for 2008-11 and we had a very useful conversation covering a lot of ground from sharing good practice, through Scottish Government priorities and the changing public sector landscape to suggestions for the areas that LTS should seek to cover over the next three years.

We are at the stage of pulling together the programme for the Scottish Learning Festival 2008. The event is now established as the premier national cpd event and this has been recognised by our Cabinet Secretary – SLF Makes Scotland Smarter. We are looking at more than 300 offers of presentations with only 150 available slots. Being over-subscribed is a great position to be in at one level and an opportunity to reshape the event a little bit. Look out for some creative thinking!

I had a day of ‘leadership development’ from ER Consulting on Wednesday. Some of which was little more than basic management training as far as I was concerned. However, the opportunity to get some direct coaching on dealing with difficult situations was really great and made the day very worthwhile for me.
On Thursday I led a meeting with the 85 or so staff from the Learning and Technology Directorate within LTS. The objectives of the day were:

1. Share our work with colleagues
2. Make connections between our work and the work of our colleagues
3. Network
4. Have some fun
5. Take these four objectives and make them part of our every day practice

From my point of view it was an excellent day with over 30 staff leading short-presentations. We captured everything on an internal blog (which I hope to publish) and with the help of staff from BBC Learning made a short movie of the day. [Thanks to Andy Pendry from BBC Learning. Andy, former PT computing in Edinburgh and Apple education guru, will be joining LTS next month to take the role of Glow Technology Adviser and my chief technology adviser.]

Next week I am off to a 4 Countries ICT Summit hosted by Becta in Birmingham for a couple of days. I hope to blog some of this and try to capture an overview of what is happening across the four UK education systems.

We have LTS Corporate Plan consultation meeting in Glasgow on Wednesday and I’m off to Victoria Quay in Edinburgh on Thursday for a Scottish Learning Festival Governance Group meeting at the Scottish Government.

On Friday I have the honour of being a guest of East Dunbartonshire Council speaking at their launch of Glow in Douglas Academy.

So my week looks like this: Dundee to Glasgow to Birmingham to Glasgow to Dundee to Edinburgh to Dundee to Milngavie and finally back to Dundee. Phew (:

Last Friday was Tony van der Kuyl’s ‘funeral’ – what a wonderful celebration of a life lived to the full. Over 500 people packed into the Bonar Hall in Dundee to listen to his family and friends remembering big Tony and to enjoy the music that was a great inspiration to his life. A unique event for a remarkable man.

This week started for me at the weekend with our Dundee office move. We now have a functioning office again – phew! I am sitting here on the 9th floor of City House (Overgate Centre) with what should be a breathtaking view of the Tay estuary – pity about the fog. Anyway I am delighted with the office – even if it is a temporary move. I even managed to nip out at lunchtime to get the battery in my watch replaced the kind of thing that usually has to wait until the weekend.

Tuesday is an early start by train to Glasgow for a 0900 meeting. My senior managers are briefing the LTS Board on the work of the Learning and Technology Directorate. Our remit includes:

• Promoting new approaches to learning and teaching
• Designing and delivering innovative solutions
• Exploring and implementing new technologies for learning

So an opportunity to share the work we are doing now and discuss how we plan to take our work forward into the future.

The rest of the day is taken up with internal meetings on ‘Journey to Excellence’, ‘Assessment’, ‘Community Learning and Development’ and ‘The Scottish Learning Festival’.

Wednesday is a SLF Planning Group and a Learning and Technology management group.

Thursday starts with an update with my boss – Bernard McLeary LTS CEO. Another pile of internal meetings before a LTS-SQA joint executive team meeting. I finish the day meeting with John McCarney the RM Glow Project Manager.

Friday is back to Dundee for amongst other things a staff meeting to review the office move.

Wb 28.1
Monday of this week was back in Glasgow for a pile of internal meetings starting off with a corporate management team strategic review. My first external meeting of the week was with Jim Sweeney CEO of YouthLink Scotland.

I was supposed to back in Glasgow on Tuesday to meet with local authorities to discuss the establishment of Confucius (Chinese language and culture) classrooms in Scotland. My role was going to demonstrate the online dimension but my colleague Nick Morgan stepped in to allow me to stay in Dundee and catch-up with some tasks.

Wednesday was a Dundee start with a staff meeting to discuss the imminent office move. We are due to move out of Gardyne Road on Friday 8 February and be open for business in Overgate House on Monday 11 February. Our corporate distribution centre moved to Tom Johnston Road in Dundee this week and it was not as smooth as it should have been – combination of builders and IT! All sorted now and I am hopeful that the contractors involved in the office move are going to be more reliable.

Had an LTS Schools ICT Programme Board to look at progress with the LTS Online Service, how we are getting ready for Glow (LTS as user rather than manager), progress with a £700k contract for Determined to Succeed etc …

After that it was off to West Lothian House to see Gordon Ford, Director of Education and Culture, to discuss how developments and explore how LTS might add value. Lots of great stuff happening in this highly innovative authority. I was really impressed with the vision Gordon and Laura Compton have on the future of technology and impressed by the way West Lothian is getting on with Curriculum for Excellence.

Thursday was back in Glasgow for more internal meetings including an Glow Programme Board to review progress with the roll-out. Now 7 local authorities starting to use Glow and the next group due to come online in a month. Need to start to shift the focus from getting the technology in place to realising the educational benefits. Glow is going really well but as I would expect it is slow to really get started. I don’ think I am going to be saying that in a month.

Friday was back to Glasgow for more strategy review. This time it was in the light of the announcement that LTS is to be reviewed by the Scottish Government. No big surprises here as we have been waiting for a review since 2005 and it is right and proper that public bodies are reviewed to ensure that their functions are still relevant and that they carry them out effectively and efficiently.

Wb 4.2.
Early train to Glasgow on Monday for a Corporate Management Team meeting. Finish the day with the executive of the Scottish Further Education Unit and look forward to hearing about the key issues in the FE sector.

Tuesday is back to Glasgow to brief Eugene Windsor, the secretary to the Scottish Parliament Education Committee, on the functions of LTS and for us to learn more about his role. Then I have a meeting with an external consultant to review my directorate’s strategy and policy. I finish the day at BBC Scotland on Pacific Quay with Nick Simons, Head of Learning.

Wednesday in Glasgow is dominated by an LTS Board meeting. I end the day with a regular update with my two direct reports Ian Graham, Schools ICT Programme Director, and Marie Dougan, Glow Programme Director.

Thursday is my last day in Gardyne Road after 6 and a half years. Apart from chairing the (currently) weekly staff meeting and packing my last box I am going to be meeting the effervescent Louise McDonough of Do Be to find out how her latest innovative products are doing and being!

Friday is office move day in Dundee so I need to stay out of the way of the removal vans. I will spend the morning with Ian and Marie reviewing progress and planning for next year.

Friday afternoon is Tony van der Kuyl’s funeral and I will be there with many others to pay my respects.

This is my first attempt to pick out some of what I have done and to look ahead to next week. Let’s give it a try and see how it evolves.

Some stuff from last week
Straighforward week after spending so much time in London the previous week – 3 days in Glasgow and 2 in Dundee.
• Had a great meeting at BBC Scotland with their Learning team. Despite the loss (for the moment) of the long promised and potentially wonderful BBC Jam offering the BBC continues to set a very high quality threshold. The Reithian aspiration of ‘Educate, Inform and Entertain’ (my order) provides an excellent platform for innovation and public service. The BBC in my view continues to be a world class institution. LTS has had a great relationship with the BBC over many years and the meeting continued the conversation around mutual areas of interest and in particular support for the Scottish Curriculum in the context of Curriculum for Excellence and Glow.
• Presented to a delegation from the Singaporean Ministry of Education on the Scottish Education system. The delegation were particularly interested in innovation and change, how to foster creativity and of course Glow the world’s first national schools intranet.
• Chaired a LTS Dundee Office staff meeting – nailed my colours to the mast with definite moving dates to our new Distribution Centre (Tom Johnston Road) and to our temporary office (Overgate House). Dealt with all the usual stuff about what can be taken, what has to be left behind, parking, opening hours etc. Minor concerns at one level but important to deal with properly and professionally.
• Met with Polly Purvis of ScotlandIS the Scottish IT industry trade association to discuss everything from skills, curriculum and qualifications to the gender profile and image of the IT industry. The number of school leavers taking computer science courses in HE is in decline and the gender balance is also very poor. So what might schools do? Are Computing Studies courses fit for purpose in the 21st century? Are they a good preparation for HE or for work in a fast changing sector of the economy? What can the IT industry do to help attract school leavers?
• The loss of personal data by HMRC (and the more recent loss by the MoD over the weekend) has put the spotlight on all public bodies to ensure that we have robust procedures for handling sensitive and personal data. LTS was already reviewing its policies and I met with our IT manager to monitor progress. We don’t hold a lot of sensitive data and most of what we do hold is subject to Freedom of Information. Nonetheless this is important work and we have a duty to our public responsibilities very seriously.
• Met with my senior colleagues within LTS to explore programme structures for next year. Over the last 6 years I have been closely involved in moving the organisation from an approach that involved moving large numbers of disparate projects into coherent programmes (using the Government’s Managing Successful Programmes methodology). This has involved closing many projects down, moving work from project and programme to business-as-usual and trying to establish some work as core function rather than short-term project funded.

Some Stuff Happening Next Week
Looks like 2 days in Glasgow, 1.5 days in Dundee, 0.5 days in Edinburgh and 1 day in Stirling – so a fair amount of travelling especially as the 1.5 in Dundee is over 3 days! The week starts with a 0900 in Glasgow so the 0636 train for me on Monday morning.
• First meeting is our Corporate Management Team with Michael Cross and his team from the Scottish Government to look at joint work around ‘More Choices, More Chances’
• Supporting our CEO Bernard for a meeting with an opposition spokesperson on education in the Scottish Parliament
• Meeting Greg Dempster, General Secretary of AHDS, the primary heads and deputes association to consult on the LTS Corporate Plan (ie what should LTS be doing to support primary schools) and to look at structures for the Scottish Learning Festival 2008 and beyond.
• Representing LTS at the Scottish Government Glow Executive Board chaired by Liz Lewis, Director of Schools. The main item on the agenda will be the roll-out of Glow. We now have 19 local authorities signed-up to the Customer Agreement with 2 more ready to sign so getting close to critical mass. Last week 40,000 users had been ‘provisioned’ and over the next few weeks the numbers move into 6 figures.
• Meeting Michael Kowbel of e-Skills UK with a similar agenda to that with ScotlandIS last week.
• Catching up with former Glow Programme Director John Connell
• Meeting Sally Fulton of Stirling Council. Sally is just about to take up a secondment with LTS and HMIe to work on the next phase of Journey to Excellence.
• Jim Buchan the LTS Chief Technology Adviser is just about to leave to join CISCO and I hope to able to buy him a pint and thank him for the support he has given me and for the wonderful work he has done to get Glow to where it is today.
• Ace blogger Ollie Bray from Musselburgh Grammar is coming in on Tuesday to do some work with us.
• Finish the week at a seminar on ‘New Technologies’ organised by my colleague John Low for local authority representatives.