Glow Scotland

June 25th, 2012

Check out the next evolution of Choices for Life!

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: none Tags: Tags: alcohol, Choices for Life, drugs, substance misuse, tobacco
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Events, Glow, Glow TV, Health and Wellbeing, Pupils

Last year Choices for Life successfully moved from the large scale concert style event delivered to Primary 7 children at venues around Scotland to an online environment delivering live webcasts to pupils in Primary 7 through to S6 on substance misuse issues and making positive lifestyle decisions. A key feature of the live webcasts was short TV-style dramas highlighting the difficult choices faced by young people and the possible consequences of substance misuse. Also included were interviews with bands, singers, athletes, Scotland football manager Craig Levein and an inspiring message from Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond. Interactive panel discussions were held as part of the webcast.

So that the messages of Choices for Life can reach a larger audience and get the information out in a way that people can access at a time and place and in an manner that suits them the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) and Young Scot are developing a new Choices for Life website. It will be a one stop shop for young people, teachers, parents and carers and youth workers to gain relevant and credible information and advice on various topics including tobacco, alcohol, drugs and internet safety. In addition there will be a mobile site allowing people to check in while on the go. The materials for educators will be fully aligned with the Curriculum for Excellence.

A consultation with young people in the target audience has been undertaken by SCDEA and Young Scot. The purpose of this consultation was to find out what information and content young people would like and need on the Choices for Life website and how they would like it presented. Young people, teachers and youth workers have also participated in user experience testing, inputting their thoughts and ideas to the design and content of the website. A taste of what you can expect from the website can now be seen at www.choicesforlifeonline.org.

The website will be fully launched on the 12th September from the Glasgow Science Centre and will be broadcast live on GLOW and YouTube to give as many people as possible the opportunity to view it. There will be a mix of music, special guests and VIP’s. Keep checking out the webpage www.choicesforlifeonline.org for further updates and information.

June 22nd, 2012

End of term news from Glow

ggallacher

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Uncategorized

Introduction from Kenneth Muir

The Glow journey over the past 12 months has been challenging and I know that many Glow users have felt uncertain about what was happening. The purpose of this bulletin is to explain what decisions have been made and to reassure you of our unwavering commitment to continuing to provide and develop Glow as the fantastic resource which many, many teachers, pupils and parents across the country use as an integral part of their learning day.

When the Cabinet Secretary first talked about his vision for the next generation of Glow we all anticipated that this would generate a lot of discussions, opinions and different viewpoints being expressed. This level of debate and challenge is absolutely essential as we continue on this journey. We recognise that Glow, which enhances the quality of learning and teaching in the classroom, must change in line with the rapid pace of global technological innovation. Therefore, in early September 2011 the Cabinet Secretary for Education Michael Russell announced a change in approach to ICT in education, beginning with an online discussion launched on 12th September to help share current thinking on the subject.

On 17 October 2011 the Scottish Government held an ICT summit at Stirling Management Centre with educationalists and learning technologists from across the country. The level of debate that has taken place highlighted to me the genuine passion that is felt across Scotland in maintaining our position as leaders in the innovative use of ICT in our schools.

Our aims have remained constant this year in that we want to ensure the continuity of Glow so that it continues to be the highly regarded resource that has gone from strength to strength over the years. Additionally we want to work with world leaders to deliver the next generation of Glow which inspires all users, whether they are teachers, pupils or parents and is firmly established in the delivery of the Curriculum for Excellence.

To go towards the achievement of these aims two significant announcements were made recently by the Cabinet Secretary. To support and secure the long-term future of Glow. We have extended the current RM Education provision through to December 2013. This means that Glow in its current format will continue, which provides us with both security and time as we develop the next generation of Glow.

Second, Microsoft has agreed to provide their integrated application suite ‘Microsoft Office 365 for Education’ for free through to December 2014; a world first for a national schools project and global endorsement of Glow’s value from the world’s largest software company. As we rapidly approach the end of term we wish you all a safe and enjoyable summer break.

Glow: What’s Next?

Glow’s core mission to use online tools to support teachers and pupils in order to enhance Scottish education remains paramount.

The ICT in Education conference, alongside feedback from a variety of other mediums including social networking channels like Twitter, has crystallised the need for the long-term future of Glow to be user-led, and potentially user-delivered. Therefore, the Scottish Government’s new Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Muffy Calder, has been asked to convene an ICT in Education Excellence group that will call on the expertise of information and education technology specialists as well as current and future Glow users.

The excellence group will have the immediate task of scoping the long-term user-centred future of Glow, and work to provide a seamless end-user experience and connectivity on the one hand, and an open pluralist range of tools and applications on the other.The future vision for Glow is as a service that evolves with the demands of teachers and pupils, utilising new tools as they emerge and creating a user-centred environment that remains vital and relevant to Scottish Education into the next decade.

A project team within Education Scotland, working closely with RM Education and Microsoft, will develop a detailed project plan comprising work streams to take forward the development of Glow. The next issue of this bulletin will provide further information on this work.

Q&A Development

As part of the development process to create a more user-led and seamless experience on the world’s first national intranet for education, Education Scotland has undertaken a question and answer (Q&A) initiative with schools and local authorities, who comprise key Glow stakeholder and end-user audiences.

Frequently asked questions from local authorities spanned the areas of business continuity, technical difficulties, account authentication and information security. Frequently asked questions from schools concerned information migration, transition to the next generation of Glow technology, planned enhancements and any expected disruptions to the virtual learning environment (VLE).

The Future of Glow: FAQ’s from Schools and FAQ’s from Local Authorities can be accessed here.

June 19th, 2012

Fife’s Secret Song – ‘Fife Goes Olympic’

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: none Tags: Tags: Dunfermline, Olympic Torch Relay
 : Categories Creativity Portal, Curriculum for Excellence, Events, Fife, Glow Blogs

A Flashmob of children from four Dunfermline primary schools performed a secret song they helped compose called ‘Fife goes Olympic’.

Around 170 primary 6 &7 youngsters gave unsuspecting shoppers at the Kingsgate Shopping Centre a big surprise on Wednesday afternoon when they performed their song for the first time ahead of the Olympic Torch Relay in Dunfermline

Visit Fife’s Creative Learning Network blog for all the info and videos!

June 18th, 2012

Organ Donation and You

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: none Tags: Tags: emergency departments, organ donation, transplantation
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Events, Glow TV, Health and Wellbeing, Pupils, Religious and Moral Education, Sciences, South Lanarkshire

Join us on Wednesday 20th June at 11am live from Holy Cross High School South Lanarkshire to hear how schools have been using the ‘Organ Donation Teaching Resource Pack’ and find out how important organ donation can be with a live panel including;

John Forsythe – Scotland’s Lead Clinician for Organ Donation and Transplantation. He has worked in the field of transplantation since 1991 when he was appointed as a consultant surgeon at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle before transferring to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1995 where he is currently a Consultant Transplant Surgeon. Mr Forsythe will outline the facts about organ donation, as well as address any myths which learners might believe on the issue e.g. ‘organ donation will hurt’.

Neil Healy – a Specialist Nurse for Organ Donation (SNOD). SNODs work closely with intensive care and emergency department staff to identify potential donors as well as supporting bereaved families through the organ donation process. Mr Healy will talk about facts surrounding organ donation, including the process itself.

Gill Hollis – Gill received a single lung transplant in 2004 due to a rare lung disease. She lives in Edinburgh and regularly visits schools across Scotland to talk about the importance of organ donation and transplantation. She will be able to talk from the point of view of someone who has had a transplant and how it has changed her life.

Find out about their different experiences in the field of Organ Donation, ask the panel any questions that you are curious about on a very thought provoking subject.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV.

June 14th, 2012

Glow – maintenance notification

ggallacher

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Uncategorized

This year we are planning a shorter maintenance period over the summer break. We are therefore planning to make Glow unavailable for three days, from 08:00 on Friday 20th July until 08:00 on Monday 23rd July.

Glow Mail will be available from 08:00 on Sunday 22nd July.

Please do get in touch if you have any queries.

June 12th, 2012

Ready for Emergencies?

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: none Tags: Tags: flooding, security, Weather
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Glow TV, Pupils

The Ready for Emergencies website which launches on the 13th June is a new and exciting context for learning in line with Curriculum for Excellence.

This session hat follows the launch will be interactive with opportunities for learners to share their thoughts and experiences and reflect on emergencies and ask questions in relation to key topics such as emergency situations arising from severe weather, flooding and security preparations for the Olympic Games and Torch relay by the police forces across the country.

Presenters on the day will include the Stewart Borthwick (Strathclyde Emergency Coordination Group), Stewart Prodger (SEPA) and Sally Dempsey (Red Cross) who will be providing exiting background information on a variety of national as well as international approaches to emergency situations and will answer any questions on the issues arising.
This Glow TV event is aimed at learners from upper primary to upper secondary (but relevant for senior school as well)
Sign up and join us in Glow TV.

June 11th, 2012

GTC Scotland Professional Standards

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: none Tags: Tags: consultation, GTC Scotland, headship, leadership
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Development, Events, Glow TV, Local authorities, Probationers

For the last few months, GTC Scotland has been working with colleagues across the profession on a revision of the GTC Scotland Professional Standards. The working titles of the revised standards are: Standards for Registration (encompassing a Standard for Initial Registration and a Standard for Full Registration), the Standard for Career Long Professional Learning, and The Standards for Leadership and Management (encompassing A Standard for Middle Leadership and a Standard for Headship). A generic set of values has been developed to be used across each of the standards.

The revised standards will be available online in August, as part of a consultation exercise. A programme of Glow TV events has been arranged, to enable teachers to hear our thinking about the content of the revised standards, and to engage in discussion about this. These Glow TV events will take place on the following dates 30th August, 6th, 13th and 27th September, with the first three focussing on the individual standards and the final session looking at the overall standards framework.

Further details and an opportunity to sign up to take part in these events will be available on the Glow TV schedule before the summer break. GTC Scotland Professional Standards Glow TV Events.

June 8th, 2012

Be What You Want!

Jennifer McDougall

Comments: none Tags: Tags: attainment, International womens' day, subject choices
 : Categories Career Opportunities and Pathways, Curriculum for Excellence, Events, Glow TV, Pupils

In March Glow TV was delighted to broadcast an event entitled International Women’s Day – Be What You Want! It was a great success with many schools across Scotland joining us on the day. If you missed it the recorded version can still be viewed in Glow TV’s Watch Again.

Following on from this is the Be What You Want campaign which may be of interest to schools and pupils. Despite the improvement in educational attainment of girls and young women, choices are constrained by assumptions about women’s capabilities and suitability for specific roles. Women and men are still segregated into jobs and industries which are based on stereotypes. The subjects that girls and boys study at school, and in further and higher education, are also heavily segregated according to gender.

The Be What You Want campaign aims to help young people make informed decisions about subject and career choices. The campaign, which was launched by Close the Gap in 2011, has produced a series of posters and comic strips depicting the different situations young people might experience when making decisions about their future. A campaign pack, which also includes a resource for teachers, has been sent to every primary and secondary school in Scotland. Close the Gap has also delivered a number of sessions on the Be What You Want campaign to pupils in schools across Scotland, which explore gender stereotyping and the causes of the gender pay gap.

For further information, campaign materials, or if you are interested in Close the Gap delivering a session in your school, please contact Anna Ritchie, Email: aritchie@stuc.org.uk or Tel: 0141 337 8146. Information on the Be What You Want campaign can be found at www.bewhatyouwant.org.uk where campaign materials can also be downloaded.

June 8th, 2012

Join our Glow Meet from Rio

ggallacher

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11am – 12pm Tuesday 19th June 2012

What are your green dreams for the future?

What message will you send to world leaders?

How can Scotland become more sustainable?

What can we expect from this globally important event?

Over 150 heads of state and world leaders will gather in Rio de Janeiro from 20-22nd June 2012 for crucial talks at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Stewart Stevenson MSP, Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, will be one of those travelling to Rio as part of the official UK delegation.

Education Scotland, through Glow, is giving you the chance to link with the Minister live from Rio to learn more about the event and the hopes and expectations of the UK delegation.

The conference, referred to as Rio+20, will mark 20 years since the historic Earth Summit in the same city in 1992 which put issues such as climate change and the protection of biodiversity on the map and gave birth to Agenda 21 – an action plan for a sustainable future which was adopted by national governments, cities and local authorities across the world. Rio+20 will focus on seven priority areas including: decent jobs, energy, sustainable cities, food security and sustainable agriculture, water, oceans and disaster readiness.

Rio+20 provides an opportunity to move away from business-as-usual and to take bold steps to end poverty and address environmental destruction.
This will be an interactive Glow meet so get your questions, messages, ideas and green dreams ready for Rio!

• What is Scotland doing to protect the environment and promote sustainable development? What more could we be doing?

• What are your green dreams and ideas for the future? What should we have achieved by the time Rio+40 comes around?

• What messages would you like the Minister to pass onto other government officials and world leaders when he meets them for discussions?

This Glow Meet will be suitable for learners in primary and secondary schools.
Visit http://bit.ly/glowrio20 to register and join the Glow meet on the day. Free Rio+20 resources are available at: http://bit.ly/JxZr5G

June 8th, 2012

Glow’s Next Phase

ggallacher

Comments: 1 Comment Tags:  : Categories Uncategorized

Michael Russell, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning blogs about Glow’s Next Phase

This is an extract below or read the entire blog post here

Context
I articulated in September last year my vision for the future of Glow, and in October the ICT in Education conference took place and the user community generated invaluable insights on how Glow could develop in future. Debate and suggestions examined how we could deliver on my 5 key principles for Glow:

- Change the culture of use of ICT
- Improve confidence in the use of ICT for learners, teachers, school leaders and parents
- Promote new behaviours for teaching
- Deepen parental engagement
- Strengthen position on hardware and associated infrastructure

Immediate Future
To ensure continuity we have taken the step of extending the current RM provision through to December 2013. Microsoft have agreed to provide the tools and services of their integrated application suite ‘Microsoft Office 365 for Education’ for free through to December 2014; this was the first offer of its kind in the world for a national schools project.

Microsoft have also agreed to go further and deliver a package over and above the integrated application suite to deliver on the 5 key principles for Glow. For example, the improvements to the functionality and ease of use of the Glow application suite will be aided by a full-time dedicated staff member funded by Microsoft to help support and promote the service.

As a Government we will also work to integrate the ICT choices made by local authorities for their own education communities within our co-ordinated national effort.

User-centred Glow
As I set out in September 2011 Glow must continue to evolve and become more dynamic. At the heart of this is seeking a secure way through Glow for pupils, parents and teachers to utilise the free tools and the open source services that already exist on the web or that will emerge in the future.

With the roll-out of the new and improved integrated application suite and the agreement to extend the services of RM, the work of the current iteration of the ICT in Education programme board will draw to a close. To oversee the next phase in development I have asked the Scottish Government’s new Chief Scientific Adviser, Prof Muffy Calder, to convene an ICT Education Excellence group. The excellence group will call on the expertise of education technology specialists and end users.

The excellence group will have the immediate task of scoping the long-term user-centred future of Glow. Their challenge will be to imagine a future for the service that provides a seamless user experience and connectivity on the one hand and an open pluralist range of tools and applications on the other.

The group will draw on the contributions made to date and further explore community generated contributions like Glew.

Future
11 years ago when Glow was first conceived it would have been hard to imagine the range of free online tools and services that could be used to enhance education today.

The exciting opportunity is to develop Glow to be a service that evolves with the demands of teachers and pupils, and utilising new tools as they emerge. Only by creating a user-centred Glow will we ensure that in 2023 the service remains relevant and vital to Scottish Education.