CPD Team

The national database of CPD, CPDFind is changing. Graham Wilson and his gang of gurus at LTScotland are busy working on a version of CPDFind which will better reflect the way educators in Scotland access CPD. The deadline for these changes is end of March 2011. Here are a summary of the changes:

• local authority CPD managers will be able to publish opportunities only to their own colleagues
• local authority CPD managers will be able to identify and approve their own local CPD sources / providers
• establishment CPD coordinators will be able to do the same at establishment level
• simplified publishing of CPD opportunities
• the endorsement system currently operating will become an impact evaluation system with the option to endorse.

Using the profiling available in Glow, we are setting up a system that allows CPDFind users (who are also on Glow) to be identify themselves and determine what level of access they want.

• All users will be able to search for opportunities, add them to a wish-list, evaluate the quality on completion, evaluate the impact further down the line and endorse opportunities. All users can also apply for publishing rights.
• In addition, CPD coordinators can maintain a catalogue at establishment level, including determining who can publish to it
• In addition, CPD managers can maintain a catalogue at local authority level, including determining who can publish to it.

The current endorsement system is being converted into an evaluation system with 3 levels of endorsement:

• not endorsed
• endorsed on likely impact and reminder set
• reminder received and endorsed on actual impact

The results of the evaluations will only be available to the individual in the first instance, but endorsed opportunities will be made public.

Thanks for  finding out more about CPDFound!

CPDFind is a national database of CPD for Scottish educators (although not exclusively!). CPDFound is one way of keeping up to date with the range of CPD opportunities. CPDFound will tweet you:

• when one of the National CPD Team has found some interesting CPD on CPDFind and wants to tell the world
• when certain of the many registered CPD providers add a new opportunity
• if things are a bit slow, it will randomly pick a CPD opportunity from the 1200 + currently on offer

If you want the direct route to CPD opportunities, use the search facility here.

If you want to follow real people on the CPD Team as well as databases, then try Margaret Alcorn or Con Morris  or Catriona Oates!

Thanks for following CPDFound

 Anne McGhee is an associate of the National CPD Team who has worked on many of our online CPD projects including CPDFind and facilitating the CPDStepin professional community for supply teachers.

Anne is a CPD consultant, coach and trainer in the field of personal and professional development.

We were all inspired by the FRH Leadership conference over two days in May.  We joined 42 aspiring headteachers from 11 local authorities and 22 professional development coaches.  We focussed on the themes of strategic leadership, coaching and personal learning plans.  We were very pleased with the positive evaluation of the programme and look forward to meeting up again withour colleagues at our next one day seminar in November. 

We have attached a copy of the FRH model for your information.

FRH Model

Jim Keegans 13.07.10

On Tuesday, I was invited by Julia Fenby to talk about CPDFind to the participants in the Co-Create project. This project is a collaboration between Scottish Arts and LTScotland’s Glow team. I was there to persuade them of the value of sharing on CPDFind the rich CPD that will no doubt ensue. One of the organisations, TAG Theatre Company, is already a registered provider and I look forward to a few more joining!

Apart from a couple of creative diversions to play CPD Fortunes and sing the CPDFind song, “Just Google CPDFind” you can see much of my contribution on my Prezi site.

This is part of the CPDChallenge series from the National CPD Team

Con Morris invites you to take charge of your own CPD. CPDFind is a CPD search engine from the National CPD Team and LTScotland.
What does it involve?

1. make your way to the CPDFind web site

2. try entering key words that interest you

3. add interesting CPD to your wish-list

4. email your wishlist to your own email address
Supporting CPD opportunities

Just what is CPDFind? CPDFind on CPDAnswers

Visit the CPDChallenge Glow group for more…

I had an excellent discussion this week with Catriona Oates of Scottish CILT. Like many others, Catriona is looking at how national organisations (such as SCILT) can add value to the culture of teacher-led CPD which is proving so valuable. We discussed a lot of examples such as the various TeachMeets and the recent Flashmeet about which Catriona kindly blogged. One of our conclusions was the need to facilitate online communities on Glow to ignite discussion topics and sharing of practice. Our conclusions?

• renewed determination to find, or be facilitators, for Glow groups such as CPDLead and SCILT
• use CPDShorts to focus on some key areas for debate / professional learning
• use CPDFind to bring colleagues to both of these things
• The MFLE community in Scotland (through LTScotland online service) was a leading and early success story for Scotland in the area of online CPD. Time to relight the fire?

CPDFind now features an endorsement feature. The National CPD Team has always maintained that the best people to endorse CPD opportunities are you the educators in Scotland. You can now identify which CPD has influenced your practice the most and give it your own personal, gold star!

How does it work?

Visit the descriptor on CPDFind. Scroll down to the bottom and you will see

Enter your Glow username and password and fill in the short form

A gold star (representing your endorsement) will appear on the bottom of the endorsement.

Later visitors to this opportunity will be able to select your gold star and read your endorsement. Each gold star represents one endorsement

Please note this is not anonymous rating like some other web sites. CPD can only be endorsed by named educators on Glow. This way you can be sure of its veracity and even start to identify colleagues who have the same interests as you.

I am grateful to Graham, Ralph and Gayle of LTScotland who made this feature a possibility. Like all our offerings we would very much welcome your comments.

I spent this morning in the company of colleagues from the Highland Council (mainly Dave McCartney, Terry Kerr (CPD manager) and Louise Jones) looking at the various CPD offerings on the Highland Virtual Learning Centre and highland.gov web sites. We focussed on how national CPD tools can enhance the already forward-thinking, online practice in Highland. Specifically:

• a trial of how CPDReflect could be used to exemplify and deepen understanding of the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Framework. This has recently been substantially revised for CfE
• how Glow and CPDShorts could be used to bring collegiate CPD to existing excellent awareness raising CPD on the Highland toolkit and framework
• how CPDFind could be further used to promote all types of CPD in Highland Council
• how the excellent CPD sessions from the recent CfE Showcase could be revisited through regular GlowMeet events over the coming session

I look forward to going back up in December to help take these innovative ideas forward.

I have just had a smashing (not to say privileged) few days visiting the CPD festivals in Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Orkney Islands Council and Highlands Council.

One striking feature of all 3 events was the decreasing reliance on external CPD providers and the increase in local, practitioner-led CPD. For much of the time, I was ‘manning’ a table with a rolling display and sets of the eminently collectable CPD postcards but I also managed to fit in some visits to keynotes and seminars. I had a number of rewarding conversations as a result. Here are just some of them:

• with a number of supply teachers including Lorena (see la historia de Lorena)
• with Margaret Alcorn and Ian Smith (the latter of Learning Unlimited) on the links between professional learning communities and Learning Rounds
• with Carol McManus of Orkney Islands Council on how CPDFind can be improved to support local authority CPD
• with Neil Stewart of the Glow team on how we can make more use of CPDFind to raise awareness of the growing amount of CPD using and on Glow
• with Morag MacDonald of Storlann and how tools such as Glow and CPDFind can support their valuable work in Gaelic education
• with Eddie Broadley (area adviser at LTScotland) on how CPDReflect might be used to support development of curriculum maps
• with senior Highland Council colleagues on how CPDReflect might be used to exemplify their Learning Teaching and Assessment Policy

Many thanks to all for their warm welcomes and particularly to Donald MacLeod, Carol McManus and Terry Kerr of the CPD Network.