CPD Team

On April 26th I travelled north with Janice MacInnes, Quality Improvement Officer in Edinburgh, and Lynn Paterson, headteacher of Kirkliston Primary School. Our mission was to describe the ways in which teachers in Edinburgh were learning together through Learning Rounds. I did a brief presentation on “What is Learning Rounds?” and “Why is it worth considering?” and Janice described the ways in which Edinburgh were taking this forward  through the establishment of a LR strategy group. Lynn told delegates of the impact that engagement with LRs was having on her school, the staff and the pupils.

My presentation is below for those who are interested:

A great turn out at UWS Ayr Campus for TeachMeet Ayrshire, with almost 40 people from across the full range of the education sector gathering to share ideas and experiences.

The event was organised largely by Val Adam & Karen Muir, who had only been to one TeachMeet previously, with great support from Catherine Miller and Morag Giblin from UWS. Bill Boyd was our compere for the evening and numerous others stepped in to lend a hand to make the evening a success.

The event was generously sponsored by a number of organisations, providing catering, raffle prizes and free trials of their products. Sponsor details on the wiki .

Despite a few technical problems much of the proceedings was streamed to the web, some of which was recorded and can be viewed at - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tmayr

In all there were 9 presentations dealing with topics as wide ranging as -

• Using Social Media in the Classroom
• Using your School Grounds for Outdoor Learning
• Twitter as a Teaching tool
• GPS and Geocaching
• Risk-Benefit Analysis for Outdoor Learning
• Hashtagged Learning Environments
• Tech tools for non-tech Teachers
• Glow Survey for Pupil Reflection
• BBC Class clips

In addition, there were three round-table discussions on -

• Using Nintendo DS to support Literacy & Numeracy
• Glow – What’s happening at the Chalkface?
• Shaping the new role of TEIs post-Donaldson review of ITE

It is hoped that some of those who attended will use this posterous site to add their thoughts on the night.

Email tmayr@posterous.com with the title of your post in the subject line and your post in the message field of the email.

This is a call to bloggers to promote their blog on CPDCentral

I watched an interesting thought-piece from Dean Shareski (aka @shareski on Twitter) which got me thinking that ‘keeping our stuff’ to ourselves runs counter to calling ourselves educators (You can see the thought-piece on CPDCentral – CPDShort 8 or on the K-12 online educator site)

Many CPDCentral members have already taken up the challenge of sharing using the I-share area. However, like Dean, many Scottish educators also share on a regular basis using their blogs. Rather than ask these colleagues to share again on I-share, we have developed an area for showcasing these educators in CPDCentral (http://bit.ly/cpdcbloggers). A ‘slideshow’ of the latest posts can also be seen on the main I-share page.

So if your blog is not featured, let’s hear from you and give all CPDCentral members the benefit of your sharing. Here’s how:

• If you’re already a member of the CPDCentral community, click on your picture, edit properties and add your blog name and link in the area provided
• If you’re not a member, see What is CPDCentral? blog post on how to join

PS – if you’re new to the world of educational blogging and want to find out more, try tackling CPDChallenge 9 set by Andrew Brown

Update on this. It would seem that, following a campaign on Twitter ( #savettv ), two organisations have set up  websites to continue streaming the programmes. More details at  Teachers Media website and SchoolsWorld.

Like many others, I got this email from Teachers TV website this morning outlining the closure of the programme.

” Following the termination of the Teachers TV contract, the Teachers TV website will cease to be available from 29th April, 2011.

Where can I find Teachers TV videos after the 29th April?
The Department for Education (DfE) will make all Teachers TV programmes available to distributors on a non-exclusive basis. Any distributor who provides Teachers TV programmes will be required to stream them for free at the point of use. Details of where you can access Teachers TV programmes can be found on the DfE website.

Where can I find more information about the closure of the Teachers TV website?

For more information please visit our help pages.

What do I need to do if I have a viewing log, or links to the Teachers TV website?
If you have completed a Teachers TV viewing log, or have links to Teachers TV videos on your website or VLE, you need to take action. Please check our help pages for details.”

As you can see, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, in that potential hosters can have free access, so I guess we will just have to wait to see who might come forward.

The SELMAS Committee are pleased to invite you to register for this year’s Forum which will have Donaldson and me as its theme

Over a pleasant dinner, guests will hear from a range of speakers from education who will talk about their personal response to Teaching Scotland’s Future, and will have the opportunity to engage in discussion and reflection with a wide range of colleagues.

The Forum will take place in St George’s School for Girls in Edinburgh, at 6.30 on Tuesday May 24^th. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come; first served basis. The cost of the evening will be £10 which will include the dinner.

Book your place by completing the form below and sending it with your £10, cheques made payable to COSLA, to Ruth Johnston, National CPD Team, Cosla, Verity House, 19 Haymarket Yards, Edinburgh EH12 5BH