March 30th, 2012

Glow e-portfolio solution - Success in Fife

ggallacher

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On Friday 23rd March representatives from Glenrothes High School presented at an Education Scotland conference on Learner Voice at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. Three S1 pupils, accompanied by Mr Hunter, Depute Headteacher, were asked to highlight the good practice within the school in relation to the development of e-portfolios.

E-portfolios created in Glow Blogs and accessed via Glow, are a structured way for pupils to electronically record achievements both in and out of school. Seen as a vital part of the development within Curriculum for Excellence recording achievements becoming an integral part of any youngster’s education and offers pupils the chance to record, describe and reflect on their learning which is a core element in their overall development.

In a recent pilot project, Glenrothes High linked with Rimbleton Primary to develop e-portfolios for all primary seven pupils. Rimbleton pupils visited Glenrothes High to engage in a two hour tutorial when they successfully created their own e-portfolio and blogged about their visit to the school. This scenario can be considered to be extra special as the key drivers were former Rimbleton pupils, now in S1 at Glenrothes High who welcomed the current P7, spoke about life at the high school and acted as mentors throughout the session helping every pupil to not only create but immediately add content to their own e-portfolios.

Mr Trousdale, Headteacher of Rimbleton Primary, who was present throughout the session, said “This was a fantastic opportunity for our Primary 7 pupils to work alongside High School peers creating their online blogs. We are looking forward to sharing all aspects of our learning on the Glow platform!”.
As the primary seven pupils make the transition from primary to secondary, so will their e-portfolio which will be used to inform staff at Glenrothes High School of their latest and best achievements giving staff an important insight into each individual youngster. Such was the success of this event that three of the pupils involved told their story to a national audience of Headteachers, Local Authority Education Officers as well as representatives from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate. All present commented very positively on the presentation from the pupils involved.

Mr Hunter, DHT, was delighted with the girl’s contribution. “This was an amazing opportunity for all involved. The girls spoke with real confidence and assurance and highlighted their own good work as well as their thoughts and feelings about the use of e-portfolios in the school. The project with Rimbleton primary was a great success and one we hope to offer to our other associated primaries in the near future”.

March 28th, 2012

Live from the Traverse Theatre: Write Here – Open View

ggallacher

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The Artist Man and the Mother Woman by Morna Pearson
Director Roisin McBrinn

Join us on GlowTV, Thursday 19th April 2012 @ 16:00h

Forty-three year old art teacher Geoffrey still lives with his mother. He decides it’s about time he got his first girlfriend.

Come and see a Traverse Rehearsal in action!

When the Traverse commissions a writer, we work closely with them to develop the best version of the play they want to write.

Open View is your opportunity to observe this normally very private process, and see script development as it happens, at the source.

Sign up and join us for this Glow TV first! Find out more here

March 28th, 2012

Building the Curriculum 4: Moving into the senior phase

ggallacher

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Building the Curriculum 4: Moving into the Senior Phase. How Skills for learning, life and work develop within qualifications

Wednesday 18th April 2012 @ 16:00 on GlowTV

This Glow Meet is appropriate for all practitioners in secondary schools, and a recording of the session will be made available shortly after the event for practitioners in colleges and community based settings.

Building the Curriculum 4 supports the planning, design and delivery of the curriculum in early years’ establishments, schools and colleges. It sets out skills for learning, life and work showing the importance of developing them for all Scotland’s learners.

How can we build on skills learners have from their broad general education when they move into the senior phase? Should they be ‘naturally occurring’ or are they too important to leave to chance? During the session we will discuss how they feature in the new National qualifications, think about how they are/might be incorporated in subject areas to develop what learners need for their life now and in the future.

A key aim of this Glow Meet will be to promote discussion and to inspire practitioners to explore different approaches to skills development in the senior phase. Participants will have a key role in this session – to share enthusiasm, ideas and practice.

Find out more here

March 23rd, 2012

Sport Relief 2012

Jennifer McDougall

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Are you taking part in Sport Relief 2012 this year? Why not find out what your school can do to get involved in this fun and fit event?!

Sport Relief brings the entire nation together to get active, raise cash and change lives for 3 days per year (this year it is from 23rd - 25th March) but you can find out lots of ways to keep active and healthy in all through the year in the Health and Wellbeing Glow Group.

You may also want to download a Sport Relief quiz to get those brain cells working away on Sport Relief Day too!
Sport Relief Quiz 2012 - Primary

Sport Relief Quiz 2012 - Secondary

March 22nd, 2012

Purple Mash – How to Save Documents to your Computer.

alexduff

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As of the 6th May 2012, Glow Users will not be able to access the Purple Mash online creative tools as this is when the licence expires, unless your school has purchased its own licence for these tools. It is therefore important that Glow users save any work they have created inside Purple Mash to their own computer before this date. This post explains how this can be done.

Log in to Purple Mash, and click on Online Docs, arrowed below, to see the documents which you’ve created and then stored in Glow. Click on one of these documents to open it up.

Once you’ve successfully opened the document, there are two ways that any document may be saved: either as a picture, or as a Purple Mash file. Note that if you save a Purple Mash file, your school would need to have purchased a licence to open the file up again so that you could edit it in Purple Mash.

How to Save as a Graphic

To save the file as a graphic (picture), click on the export option, which can be seen below under number 1. The button is a grey rectangle with a green arrow curving down.

Clicking on this export option takes us to the box we can see at number 2 above, where we give our file a name, and then click on the happy ‘Yes‘ to move to the last step, or the not-so-happy ‘No‘ to cancel doing this.

If we clicked on ‘Yes’ above, we tell the computer where we’d like the picture to be saved at number 3 above, and then click on Save. Be sure to save this file to somewhere you will remember!

How to Save as a Purple Mash file

To save it to your computer, first, click on the picture of the blue disc, which is beneath letter a below.

When you do this, we are asked what we’d like to call this file, and where we’d like to save it - either online in Glow, or on your PC or mac. As can be seen in picture b above, this file has been called house, and, if saved now, would be saved online. We want to save this file on your computer, so click the down arrow after online? to change it to to my PC? as shown in picture c. Finally, as shown in picture d, decide where you want to save it and then click on Save. Be sure to save this file to somewhere you will remember!

March 22nd, 2012

Getting Started with Just2Easy

alexduff

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Glow, Glow Blogs

Education Scotland has purchased a licence to allow all Glow users to use all Just2Easy’s online tools from 8^th March 2012 for 18 months.

The tools are described in the table below.

So How do I get Started with Just2Easy?

To start using these tools, log in to Glow and go to the National Site. There is a button on this page for Just2Easy. Click on it to get to the resource.

You can also login by visiting http://just2easy.com/ and clicking on the Partners link on the header, arrowed below, and then click on the Glow logo to sign in using your Glow username and password.

This then takes us to our Just2Easy landing page, shown below. From this page, you can start any of the tools by simply clicking on the desired one.

March 15th, 2012

Drug Awareness - Do You Know the Signs?

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: drugs, SCDEA, substance misuse
 : Categories Glow Meet, Health and Wellbeing, Pupils

Substance Misuse is a problem in many schools across Scotland but do you know what the signs might be and what to look out for? Possibly not so this special CPD event is aimed at you.

Constable Dougie McClounie from the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency will deliver this Glow Meet on Tuesday 27th March from 4pm looking at the key issues surrounding drug education in Scotland.

He has wide range of experience including community policing and supporting young people in further and higher education. He was the drug awareness officer for Glasgow city centre and west end where he delivered a wide range of drug related presentations including inputs to all schools in the division.

Constable McClounie is now a member of the Interventions team at the SCDEA. He has a great interest in delivering drug education and awareness to support young people in making the correct choices in life. He also works in the planning teams for both Choices for Life and Shared Responsibility.

This Glow Meet will be useful to all practitioners working with children and young people. The importance of effective partnership working in substance misuse education will be discussed and there will be an opportunity to ask ‘tricky’ questions.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV - Health and wellbeing – Substance Misuse

March 15th, 2012

Archaeology - An Introduction

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: Archaeology Scotland
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Development, Glow Meet, Health and Wellbeing, Literacy, Mathematics, Outdoor Learning, Social Studies

Do you have an interest in archaeology and want to learn more? Why not join us for a Glow TV session on Thursday 22nd March at 4pm which introduces participants to archaeology and takes a step by step exploration of the work of an archaeologist.

The session will demonstrate how archaeology can support teaching of the curriculum, especially with regard to multi-disciplinary study and cross-curricular themes, such as numeracy, literacy, Health and Wellbeing and Outdoor Learning. It will finish with practical examples of archaeological activities which can be used in the classroom and resources which are available, including ways in which Archaeology Scotland can provide support.

On completion of the course, participants will:

• Be aware of the resources and support available to them by Archaeology Scotland
• Have gained information and ideas on how to use archaeology across the curriculum
• Have gained information and ideas on how to use archaeology to support outdoor learning in and around school
• Have gained practical examples of archaeological activities which can be used in the classroom.

So why not sign up and join us on the day in Glow TV - Archaeology - An Introduction

March 15th, 2012

Working in our National Parks - A Series of Events

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: Hermitage Academy, Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, rural skills
 : Categories Argyll and Bute, Career Opportunities and Pathways, Curriculum for Excellence, Events, Glow, Glow Meet, Outdoor Learning, Pupils

Join us for the first two Glow TV events in a series looking at outdoor learning and skills for work.

Our first session comes live from Hermitage Academy on Thursday 22nd March from 11-12pm where pupils will be meeting two employees of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park to give you an insight into the pathways to and the roles of a planner (particularly around the built environment) and a ranger (with roles in education and conservation). You will learn what qualifications, skills and areas of expertise are required and developed in both roles and have opportunities for questioning our experts.

In our second session on Tuesday 27th March from 2pm join our panel of experts, including some pupils involved, to learn about rural skills. A similar session to the one on Thursday 22nd March is featured, along with footage of a rural skills course in action with interviews from pupils, teacher and National Park ranger delivering the course.

Hear about the skills for work opportunities and how a course such as this helps the development of a suite of ‘soft’ skills which are transferable and support transition into work. There will be opportunities to interact and have your questions answered during both sessions.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV for Working in our National Parks - live from Hermitage Academy on Thursday 22nd and Working in our National Parks - Rural Skills on Tuesday 27th March. We look forward to seeing you!

March 15th, 2012

It’s Not Too Late to Sport Your Trainers!

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: Commonwealth Games 2014, Sport Your Traners 2012
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Events, Glow, Glow Meet, Health and Wellbeing, Pupils

Did you Sport your Trainers and get involved in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on 12th March? If you didn’t take part though it isn’t too late you still can by registering in the Sport Your Trainers 2012 Glow Group and letting us know how you will continue to take part.

We challenged you as a school to try and reach a partner country by Commonwealth Day on the 12th March of this year and show your support for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games by getting involved in this year’s Sport your Trainers campaign. You were free to choose what country you wished to partner from the Official List of Partners and then you needed to find out how far away they were from your school!

We now want to know what you did or are hoping to do as we will be keeping the challenge going!

You can take part by walking, jogging, rowing, cycling, and spinning or even skipping, the choice is yours and all activities count, so get creative!

Last year 820,000 people across Scotland pledged their support, and we want 2012 to be even bigger! By taking part in this fun challenge we’ll all be doing our bit to support the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Official Glasgow 2014 shoelaces are up for grabs for all schools that take part so you just need to sign up below to let us know that you are taking part!!

So what are you waiting for, get active!

Did you miss our Sport Your Trainers 2012 event in Glow TV - well Watch Again and check out the pictures on our Your Pictures and Resource page too!