Glow Scotland

October 30th, 2009

Videos now up from the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Katie Barrowman

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Glow and the Edinburgh International Book Festival brought you two exciting events in August via Glow Meet- a CPD session with Dr. Mel Gibson, an authority on the use of comics and graphic novels, and an author talk and question and answer session with Michelle Paver.

The videos of both of these Glow Meets are now available to watch in the Edinburgh International Festival Glow Group - feel free to drop in and watch at any time.

PS - If you and your class watched the Michelle Paver event through Glow, we’d love you to fill in a survey for us about the event, to help us plan similar work in future. Click here to fill in the survey.

October 30th, 2009

James Robertson - Scots Writer’s Workshop on 5th November

J Jelly

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: books, English, Glow Meet
 : Categories Dundee City, Glow Meet, Literacy, National Groups

Have you read these books? Could you write a story in the Scots language?

The author, James Robertson, is a founder editor and a contributing author to the Scots language children’s imprint Itchy Coo. As an Itchy Coo author he has translated Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox into Scots and A. A. Milne’s classic Winnie The Pooh.

A Glow Meet with James will be held in the Writer’s Workshop Glow Group on November 5^th at 10am. James hopes S2 pupils will be interested in this session about writing in Scots. There will be a follow-up session on 19^th November at 10am. Menzieshill High School in Dundee is hosting the event and S2 pupils there will have the chance to meet James face to face, but pupils across Scotland will be able to join in via Glow Meet.

His first Glow Meet will look at the background to his translation of Winnie the Pooh into Scots, and include: short readings from the original and the translated editions; a general discussion about dialogue, names changes and the impact on the tone of the writing; and a challenge for pupils. James’ second Glow Meet will be a feedback session, looking at the pupils’ responses to his challenge.
Join the Glow Meets and learn to write well in Scots.

October 23rd, 2009

English Teacher masterclasses are back!

Tina Stevens

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Development, East Dunbartonshire, Events, Glow Groups, Glow Meet, Literacy, Uncategorized

After a long summer break I am pleased to announce that the English teacher masterclass sessions have once again resumed. These one hour sessions offer teachers all over the country the opportunity -through Glow Meet- to increase their knowledge through participation in on-line CPD sessions run by ‘experts’ in a variety of fields.

Returning in the first of our autumn sessions is 2008 UK Teacher of the year David Miller who delivered a fantastic masterclass on Robert Frost Poetry way back in March.
His latest session - entitled ‘Literacy in Action’ will focus on an Interdisciplinary Learning project between English and Art & Design called Poetry in Motion. As well as exemplifying the Outcomes and Experiences in English, Literacy and Expressive Arts at Level 3, the session will also illustrate examples of Literacy in Action across a range of other subjects.

The session will take place on Thursday 29th October at 4.30 and is open to all teachers with a Glow log-in. You do not have to be an English teacher but you must be a member of the national English Teachers glow group to participate. Click on this LINK to go to the group and request membership.
The masterclasses will cover a wide variety of subjects and will run once a month as before - watch this space for more exciting events coming soon!

October 15th, 2009

Chartered Teacher Glow Group now open

Katie Barrowman

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Guest post from David Noble, teacher at Hillside School and Chartered Teacher

The Association of Chartered Teachers Scotland committee members are involved in establishing and running the Chartered Teacher Glow Group. One tool which the Chartered Teacher Glow group will attempt to make full use of is Glow Meet. The schedule for the coming session is:
October Glow Meet - 29/10/09 17:30: Discussion on the Revised Standard for Chartered Teacher.

November Glow Meet - 17/11/09 16:15: Discussion on the Code of Practice for Chartered Teachers
December Glow Meet - 02/12/09 16:30: CPD for Chartered Teachers
January Glow Meet - 18/01/10 19:30: Chartered Teacher - Getting Started
February Glow Meet - 06/02/10 16:00: ACTS AGM
March Glow Meet - 06/03/10 10:00: International Perspectives on Chartered Teacher
April Glow Meet - 28/04/10 16:30: Chartered Teacher and Leadership
June Glow Meet - 10/06/10 20:30: “CTMeet”

To join the Chartered Teacher Glow group click here

The first session takes place on Thursday, 29th October from 7.30pm to 8.15pm, and is a Discussion on the Revised Standard for Chartered Teachers.

David Noble and Dorothy Coe from the Association of Chartered Teachers Scotland will chair this discussion session. In preparation, the Standard for Chartered Teacher is available for download here.

To enter the Glow Meet, click on the link in the Chartered Teacher Glow Group before 7.30pm on the 29th. We hope to see lots of you there!

October 14th, 2009

Arts Organisations seek New Media Partners to Co-Create!

Julia Fenby

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Co-Create, Curriculum for Excellence, Development, Events, Expressive Arts, National Groups, Technologies

A ‘Speed Dating’ event with a difference was held at the DCA in Dundee last week to foster new partnerships between arts organisations and new media and technology companies.

The Co-Create project is inviting Scottish Arts Council funded arts organisations to develop proposals for projects with schools using Glow, working in partnership with learners and with media companies who can help create innovative new resources for Glow. Co-Create provides a fantastic opportunity to illustrate the key role the arts can play in supporting Curriculum for Excellence via Glow.

Almost 30 representatives of arts and media organisations attended the Speed Dating event with a view to meeting new creative partners. Media companies were each given a five minute slot to present their work and this was followed by a networking session where arts and media companies met each other for short introductory conversations on a rotational basis.

The event generated a real buzz, with lively conversation and ideas exchange. A follow up Open Day at the Optima Building, Glasgow on 15 October will allow participants to find out more about the technical possibilities of Glow.

‘Glow is an exciting idea…..allowing interaction with us and several schools at the one same time is very exciting…..’

Sonja Lowe, Playwright Studio Scotland

‘It’s been particularly good to share with people…. and to hear about how other companies are utilising new media in reaching different sectors within education…’

Sara Kinnear, Screen Media

Arts organisations have until 16 November to submit their proposals to Co-Create. Successful applications will be announced in January and projects will take place throughout 2010.

If you would like to be involved in the Co-Create Project, please contact the Glow Arts Development Officer by emailing [email protected] or via the Co-Create Glow Group.

For more information on Co-Create visit the Glow Scotland website or
Visit the project page on Scottish Arts Council website
Follow #CoCreate on Twitter

The Glow Arts Project Co-Create is funded through a partnership between Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund

October 14th, 2009

Glow Meet and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Joan Martin

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 : Categories Uncategorized

Some Mac OS X 10.6 users may experience problems when using Glow Meet (Marratech) - they may find that they get an “Unable to Launch the Application” error message.

This is because Mac OS X 10.6 introduces full 64 bit support, and by default Java attempts to launch all applications in this mode. The Marratech application only supports 32 bit mode, hence the error message.

The default behaviour of Java in Mac OS X 10.6 can be changed back to ensure that the applications are launched in 32 bit mode, which will allow Glow Meet (Marratech) to launch correctly. Details of how to make this minor configuration change can be found at

http://www.rm.com/Support/TechnicalArticle.asp?cref=TEC1534703&nav=0

October 12th, 2009

Growing and Glowing

Lorna Arbuckle

Comments: 6 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Development, Technologies

As part of an ongoing refresh, Glow is to undergo a period of enhancement based on user feedback allowing the system to Glow brighter than ever before and we want you to get involved.

A two year extension to the original five year contract with RM will deliver improvements to the service designed to create an enriched user experience. These improvements have come as a direct result of comments received by the National Glow Team through the online discussion forums and help group.

Glow will soon support user blogs and wikis, allowing pupils and classes to create web pages and online diaries to showcase their work to other schools across Scotland. Promoting individualised learning and collaboration, this will be the first time Scotland has had access to a national education blog and wiki service.

From now until summer 2010, the improvements will begin to go live, starting with the introduction of four new graphical ‘themes’, allowing users to choose their favourite presentation. In addition to the new themes, blog and wiki services, users will also benefit from an improved service from Glow Mail, with richer features.

A Glow Refresh Group has been created as a one-stop-shop to tell you what’s happening and how you can get involved. The group explains the plans for improvements within Glow and how you can provide your feedback. Find out what new Glow themes are available and join in the discussions in the ‘Glow Forums’ area of the group.

We are dedicated to providing the tools that teachers and practitioners expect from a modern learning environment to support the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence. Every day, Glow users across the country are exploring the opportunities and benefits that the secure network offers to enhance their education experience and it is through your feedback that we have begun a period of enhancement to the service.

Through Glow, Curriculum for Excellence will continue to transform learning experiences and teachers’ approaches.

October 6th, 2009

Calling all Animators and Film Makers……

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: change, climate, Development, Sustainable, Weather
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Development, Glow Groups, Local authorities

Win a Flip Camera for your school!

Learning and Teaching Scotland is currently developing a Primary Climate Change website.
This website will bring together a series of web-based activities which will allow pupils at First and Second Stages to explore and learn about climate change, how it will affect them and what they can do about it.

We are looking to have some demonstration clips built into the site. These will include recording weather, the water cycle, movement of warm and cold air & adaptations to change. We are challenging secondary school pupils to come up with innovative and creative approaches to this.

The film shorts can be up to a maximum of 1 min and can be shot on anything from a camera phone to home video or professional equipment, or can be done in animation.

Please note that the closing date has been extended to 21st December. All completed entries can be emailed to Jennifer McDougall.

All will be exhibited in the new Sustainable Development Education National Glow Group and the most suitable, from an educational point of view, will be incorporated into the Primary Climate Change website.

Flip cameras will be awarded to those schools whose clips are used on the website.

For more information on the experiments and activities please contact Jennifer McDougall: [email protected]

Visit the new Sustainable Development Education National Glow Group.

October 5th, 2009

Pupil Peer Support in Action in Stirling

ronnierankin

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Allan’s Primary in Stirling today hosted some very special guests, the Glow Club from Bannockburn Primary.

This elite band of P5, 6 and 7’s went along to Allan’s to help pupils new to Glow with logging on for the first time.

The Glow Club also gave a short tour of the resources available and the work they have already produced on their My Glow pages.

With the pupils from Allan’s keen to get started, the Club gave support as the P6’s began to explore Glow and construct their own personal space.

It was a very successful and rewarding morning, with both sets of pupils thoroughly enjoying the chance to collaborate. Both schools now plan to work together on their Victorians topic using Glow as their main means of communication.

We wish them every success and watch this space for further updates on their progress.

October 5th, 2009

East Meets West at St. James’s Primary

Lesley Dickson

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Development, Renfrewshire

St. James’s Primary School in Paisley recently hosted a delegation from Hanban, the executive body of the Chinese Language Council International. Hanban, established in 1987, is affiliated to China’s Ministry of Education and is committed to making teaching resources for Chinese language and culture available to the world.

Hanban are well known as the organizers of the ‘Confucius Classrooms’ project which involves Scottish schools in learning about Chinese language and culture.

To find out more about Confucius Classrooms click here.

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/mfle/confuciusclassrooms/index.asp

The three delegates, Ms. Gu Lei, Deputy Director of Confucius Institute, Ms. Zhu Dan and Mr. Liu Bochao, Officers of Confucius Institute On-line, were delighted to see Glow in action. The St. James’s pupils, who are old hands at describing how they use Glow in their learning, gave the visitors a full explanation of the various activities they were taking part in and answered their many questions.

The visitors presented several gifts to the Head Teacher as mementos of the visit including a beautiful silk scroll and some postage stamps printed specially for Hanban.

A special thanks to Sarah Guthrie, Head Teacher, and to Anne Louise Nicholson, Acting Principle Teacher for welcoming our guests to St. James’s. This was particularly appreciated since some of the pupils were in the middle of preparation for presenting at the Scottish Learning Festival the next day.