Glow Scotland

October 8th, 2012

Migration of Glow to Office 365 – October Update

ggallacher

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Glow, Glow Blogs, Glow Component, Glow Groups, Glow Learn, Glow Light Images, Local authorities, Pupils, Technologies, Uncategorized

As you are aware, the Migration of Glow to Office 365 has been developing over the summer and we are now at a key stage where we feel it is important to outline where matters are as well as the key milestones you can expect. Over the last few months staff in Education Scotland, Microsoft and RM have been engaging with various stakeholders, in particular ADES and Local Authority representatives, to plan the most appropriate way forward for the project. We will continue to do this and, as you know, ADES has arranged for an ICT in education conference on 1 November where further, more detailed information will be shared. In the meantime we hope that this briefing keeps you and your staff up to date with progress to date.

Migration

RM Unify
RM Unify consists of three core components, a Launchpad, the App Library and the Bus.
1. The Launchpad: Access applications and services centrally and launch via a single logon
2. The App Library: Discover what’s out there and bring together the best services and applications to support teaching and learning
3. The Bus: Manage users through simple, seamless and secure provisioning of accounts

Piloting RM Unify
RM Unify piloting started w/c 1st of October. The pilot will be carried out with specific schools from Edinburgh, North Ayrshire, Scottish Borders, East Renfrewshire, West Lothian, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire. The pilot runs from 1st of October until 24th of October.

Feedback will be encouraged from all and will come in to the national Glow Group – using a survey, forum and paper on the day. We will collate and use this feedback before proceeding to the next stage.

In this pilot we will be piloting RM Unify only, not Office 365.

Office 365 for Education
RM Unify needs to be in place to pass the single sign-on authentication into the Office 365 for education platform and applications. Once Unify has been piloted and implemented, Office 365 will be connected and further pilots will be organised. Timelines showing the detail of the implementation plan will be communicated as soon as they have been completed and will contain accurate dates and information.

The elements of MS Office 365 that will be available to Glow Users across Scotland are listed below.

• Exchange online with full mobile experience – email, calendar, web-app, 25Gb email storage per user.
• Lync online service – peer to peer video communications, Presence and IM, integration with Exchange and Sharepoint online, usable on mobile devices.
• Sharepoint online – 512Mb personal plus 512Mb pooled data storage.
• Office Web Apps – online browser based versions of the familiar MS Office suite including Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote. This will remove the requirement to have an underlying MS Office installation on a device, however when the apps are on the client, they will work together.
• Blogging and Wiki tools with social networking integration.
• Powerful document collaboration including multi-user editing facilities.

Some of these applications were demonstrated at the recent Scottish Learning Festival.

Client Requirements Document
This gives details of the minimum client requirements needed for the migration of Glow. It is posted in the Migration of Glow to Office 365 national group listed in the Glow Users section below.

Engagement

1.  Glow Stakeholder Focus Group
As part of the migration of Glow we’ve set up a small but key Stakeholder group. The remit of this group is to help inform decisions about the user experience for the current migration project. These include:

•  Setup options for MS Office 365 for education
There are several different setup options for this application
• Email domain strategy
Structure for the new email service. (rollout to authorities is imminent, with all authorities having access to the new email solution before March 2013)
• Migration strategy
Looking at moving legacy services to the new solution. We aim to have all migration to be complete by summer 2013
• Launch pad (Home Page) applications
Look of the RM Unify landing page & applications displayed
• Exemplification
Best way of exemplifying use of Glow in learning and teaching
• Engagement
Preferred methods for engaging with the Glow community

2.  Working with Microsoft – E-portfolio Migration
Education Scotland is in contact with Microsoft to agree the next steps around the migration of the Glow e-portfolio solution, the aim is to work with a Microsoft SharePoint developer and pull together a short-term working group. The group will deliver their findings in due course. WE WILL NOT MIGRATE ANY E- PORTFOLIOS UNTIL SUMMER 2013.

3.  Glow Key Contacts

KC/ADES Update @ SLF
The Glow Key Contacts and representatives from ADES attended a closed meeting at this year’s festival. The meeting went extremely well and delegates were given a demo of RM Unify and O365 for education. Component migration paths were also shared.

Next Meeting
The next Glow Summit, in conjunction with the ADES – ICT in Education Conference – will be held at the Glasgow Science Centre early November.

Communications

General Update
We continue to use our existing communication channels to promote our Glow messages and updates:

Public Facing
• Education Scotland Online Service
• Glowscotland blog
• facebook/glowscotland
• Twitter.com/EducationScot
• Glow login i-frame

Subscription Based
• Glow & CfE e-bulletin
• e-cards

Glow Users
• Glow Light image
• National Site
• Glow Replacement Project – new national group

Scottish Learning Festival
We received extremely positive feedback from our seminars, presentations and stand demos of Glow.  Delegates were excited to see the changing solution, including the new RM Unify interface and tiles directly linking users to great Learning and Teaching products such as Office-365, RM Books, Twig World, J2E to name but a few.

Useful Links
GlowScotland Blog – GlowScotland Blog
Glow on Facebook – www.facebook.com/glowscotland
National e-portfolio group – *e-portfolio
The Glow national site – Glow National Site

We hope that this briefing has outlined where we have got to and where we are going with Glow and we look forward to an exciting future.

Glow is evolving

November 29th, 2011

Écoutez! Using Glow Learn to support listening practice in Modern Languages

ggallacher

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Glow, Glow Learn, West Lothian

The Modern Languages Department in James Young High School in Livingston, West Lothian, is always looking for ways to provide pupils with innovative and interesting resources and activities that will help them develop their language skills.

Sophie Martin and Amanda Lyons have been using Glow Learn this year as a means of sharing resources with pupils.

Sophie and Amanda have created Glow Learn courses to share resources with their Advanced Higher German and Higher French classes respectively. As well as using Glow Learn, they also created a Glow Group for each class. You can find out more about the Glow Groups in the following cookbooks:

To find out more read the Cookbook here

October 24th, 2011

Using Glow to support the revision of Standard Grade Biology

ggallacher

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Edinburgh City, Glow, Glow Groups, Glow Learn, Sciences

Karen Maitland is a teacher of Biology at Queensferry High School in Edinburgh. Karen is an advocate of the use of technology aimed at enhancing the learning and teaching process. In this cookbook Karen will talk us through how she uses Glow to support the learning and teaching of Standard Grade Biology.

Through the appropriate use of technology in class, Karen has aimed to enhance the experience of her pupils during their time in the Biology Department. Through various websites and podcasts, Karen looks to provide her pupils with the opportunity to access advice, information and resources out with the barriers of the traditional school day.

With the introduction of Glow to Queensferry HS, Karen was keen to investigate how best to use the tools and functionality to further enrich the learning experiences of her pupils. In this cookbook, we will hear Karen outline how she has created a Glow Group to act as a one-stop-shop revision source for her Standard Grade Biology class.

Find out more in the Cookbook here

September 20th, 2011

Glowing across the curriculum at Glenwood High School

ggallacher

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Fife, Glow Groups, Glow Learn, Glow Meet, Literacy, Social Studies, Technologies

In this Glow cookbook find out how a number of staff, from different departments, have been using Glow to enhance learning and teaching. The video clips and Glow Group tours show the work that has been undertaken, the pupils’ responses and the lesson learned. Additional cookbooks focus on each teacher in turn, and provide the detail of how you can replicate (or adapt) their ideas.

The use of Glow at Glenwood has grown very rapidly over just a few months – thanks to the hard work of teaching staff and to those responsible for creating the accounts. Glow is becoming well embedded in the curriculum: it’s not viewed as an adjunct, but a tool to be used, when appropriate, to enhance learning and teaching.

In the new academic year, each department has been asked to have a Glow representative and for Glow to be included in development plans.

Read more here

September 15th, 2011

Daily Quote – Using Glow to support Standard Grade English

ggallacher

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Glow, Glow Learn, Literacy, Scottish Borders

” User friendly Glow learn is an area I will definitely make more use of in the future”

Judith Weston, teacher of English at Earlston High School, Scottish Borders

Find out more by visiting the Glow Cookbook here

July 25th, 2011

New Glow Cookbook – Spanish Resources in Glow Learn

rsibbett

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Glow Learn, modern languages, Pupils

There is now a large amount of Spanish content available on Glow Learn. With around 150 Sonica Spanish activities available this resource is relevant to both primary and secondary pupils. The content is particularly suited to second and third levels.

The different activities are located in two places within Glow learn – both in the Resources Tab and the Courses Tab. Where you access the activities from will impact on how you can use them and where or not pupils will have access.

To find out more about these exciting activities visit the Glow cookbook

July 7th, 2011

New Cookbook available

Lesley Sneddon

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Glow, Glow Learn, Mathematics

A large amount of new maths content has been added to Glow Learn. This content comes in the form of Maths Alive Games and Maths Alive Videos and is suitable for both Primary and Secondary pupils, containing nearly 200 activities from first to fourth levels.

In Part 1 of this cookbook, we look at how the resources can be accessed and used. In Part 2, we’ll learn how one school has been using the games and videos with pupils.

Click here to have a look.

September 10th, 2010

Glowing Cookbook – Developing confident and independent learners

Gail Cairns

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Angus, Benefits, Curriculum for Excellence, Development, Glow Groups, Glow Learn

Lisa Chalmers is a Support for Learning teacher at Arbroath High School. Lisa was keen to explore how Glow could enrich learning for a small group of S1 pupils who need additional support with English, Maths and Social Skills.
Glow was introduced at Arbroath High School just a few years ago and is now used widely throughout the school. Last year,  a very successful Transition Glow Group linked the school with its associate primaries: this work is featured in the cookbook Transition Glow Groups in Angus schools.

Lisa felt that Glow was the perfect tool for her S1 Social Skills class. This small group of pupils required additional support to consolidate basic skills in English and Maths. Individual needs range from a pupil who had recently arrived in Scotland and required time developing her skills in English as a second language,  to pupils with poor reading skills or mild dyslexia.

Many of the pupils also required time and support to develop independent learning skills, such as developing confidence in their own ability, taking responsibility for their learning, staying on task, and interacting and supporting their peers.

With such a diversity of abilities and needs, it was often impractical to teach pupils together as a class. Lisa aimed to find time and space in each session to work in a focused way with one or two pupils at a time. This required providing pupils with the skills  to work unaided and remain focused.

As Lisa has access to 4 computers in her room, she was able to rotate pupils around a number of activities, including using Glow.

Visit this Cookbook.

September 1st, 2010

Glowing cookbook – Supporting an interdisciplinary project using Glow & Glow Learn

Gail Cairns

Comments: 3 Comments » Tags:  : Categories Glow Groups, Glow Learn, Literacy, South Lanarkshire

The English department at Carluke High School in South Lanarkshire has used Glow extensively over the last couple of years, with topics ranging from novel studies in S2 through to creative writing assignments at Higher.
Last autumn the English department worked in collaboration with other departments on a ‘Scottish Heritage’ project. In this cookbook English teacher Barry Wright describes how Glow was used to support this interdisciplinary project.

The Scottish Heritage Project encompassed all S1 pupils and staff from the English, History and Computing departments. The project’s aims were:

• Developing pupils’ understanding and appreciation of their local heritage
• Encouraging pupils to make connections between different areas of learning
• Building pupils’ skills in working independently
• Developing pupils’ skills in working in partnership and in teams

The project explored a number of different themes of Scottish heritage, including music and arts, local industry and famous buildings.

Visit this cookbook to find out how Barry created a ’Scottish Heritage’ Glow Group and then sub-Groups for each of the different themes. All S1 pupils and the staff involved in the project were given membership of each of the Groups. Each Group contained links to web sites for background reading and for research tasks, discussion boards for pupils’ questions and feedback, and assignments created in Glow Learn.

August 19th, 2010

Glowing Cookbook – Supporting Higher Geography with Glow Learn

Gail Cairns

Comments: none Tags:  : Categories Glow Learn, Scottish Borders

Emily Greenhorn teaches Geography at Jedburgh Grammar in the Scottish Borders.  

Following an introduction to Glow Learn (the virtual learning environment available to Glow users), Emily was keen to capitalise on the functionality provided to produce a Glow Learn course to support the learning and teaching of her Higher Geography class outwith the classroom.

With Glow Learn, Emily was able to create a virtual course structure that matched her classroom course. She populated lesson and topic folders with digital resources such as worksheets, presentations, audio and video clips which allowed Emily’s pupils to access material anytime/anywhere.

Visit this Glowing Cookbook