Microsoft Educator Community

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A quick reminder that the MEC is a great place to visit for free CLPL resources, that when you complete you are rewarded with a digital badge.

Visit the MEC site here and sign in with your Glow username and this give you access to hundreds of  courses, resources and learning paths.

Completing badges also gives you the chance to become a Microsoft Innovative Education Expert,  (MIEE) and join the increasing numbers of teachers in Scotland and around the world to have earned this status.

Image below is a sample page generated when you view your profile on completion of courses, or learning pathway badges.

Additional Security for O365 in Glow

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Additional security software that has been added to Glow to further protect users’ devices and data whilst using O365.

This additional security software works alongside a wide range of existing measures that have been taken to ensure Glow is appropriate for its intended use.

PLease click here for more information , or read text below

Additional Security for Microsoft O365

A reminder to log out of sites

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We are used to using Glow, logging off and all the apps we were using in Glow would also have been logged off, however changes are being made by Google in the way browsers operate and which may have an impact on apps within Glow, particularly around the single sign-out functionality.

In simple terms this means if you are using any app  in Glow where you have to log on, then when you are finished working in the app to take a few extra seconds to log off. Doing this will keep your data and yourself safe and is good Cyber Safety hygiene.

The video ( click here ) shows how easy it is to ensure you log out of sites.

 

 

Teach Computing Science

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Teaching Computing Science   

Early to second level

Great resource for teachers beginning or experienced to find simple ways to introduce the three Curriculum Organisers for Computing Science into lessons.

The conceptual knowledge gained when working towards the first Organiser, ‘understanding the world through computational thinking’, is required to then understand computing languages and technologies in the second Organiser, before we can then ‘design, build and test computing solutions’ in the final Organiser using those technologies.

The book is arranged to quickly see the connections between the organisers, and there are many resources and activities at the end of the book.

Please click on the image below to download the PDF

 

 

 

 

 

Embed Video from Google Drive in SharePoint (and other sites)

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With video sites such as YouTube and Vimeo unavailable to pupils on our networks, it’s often frustrating linking to video files – even the ones we produce ourselves.  However, it is possible to store video files in Google Drive and share them in a certain way which allows them to be embedded into SharePoint Sites or other sites such as WordPress (ie Glow Blogs or WordPress school websites).

Since Google owns YouTube, videos linked this way will have similar controls to YouTube videos so will look familiar to users.

It is, of course, possible to save useful videos from YouTube using the various tools available online as long as you bear in mind any copyright implications, etc.

  1. Copy video file to Google Drive – you can create a new folder to keep your videos separate
  2. Right-click file and select Share
  3. Click Advanced
  4. Beside “Private” click Change
  5. Select “On – Anyone with the link”
  6. Save and Done
  7. Open the video in Google Drive then click the ⋮ icon in the top right
  8. Select “Open in new window”
  9. Click ⋮ and select “Embed item…”
  10. Copy all of the code in the window (make sure you get it all)
  11. Close video windows
  12. Go to SharePoint and open the site you wish to add the video to
  13. Edit the site
  14. Go to where you want to insert the video and select Insert, Video and Audio, Embed
  15. Paste in the code you copied
  16. Click Insert
  17. Save the SharePoint site

As mentioned, you can use the copied embed code in various other services such as WordPress.  However, at present, Microsoft Teams doesn’t allow embedded videos in the conversation window.  You can paste the link to the shared file, rather then the embed code, and this will work although it’s not terribly glamorous!

Sassoon Fonts

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In previous years when CC4 was in our schools, the Sassoon range of fonts was available. This was incredibly popular with schools. However, with the Windows 10 network, most schools now don’t have access to the font.
 
Sassoon Fonts are not free. They are included in Clicker, which many primary schools use. Clicker 5 was licenced for all primary and secondary schools, but is not compatible with Windows 10.
 
If your school has purchased licences for Clicker 7 or 8 then you should have access to the Sassoon fonts on those PCs only.
 
The owners of the intellectual property and data of Sassoon® fonts have never licensed them for sale on any online auction site. Neither have they ever offered any ‘free’ fonts. Sassoon fonts being offered for free download and/or reselling is illegal. As a result, the owners of these fonts regularly check web sites for illegal selling activity and have successfully sued sellers of pirated Sassoon fonts and will continue to do so in future.
 
There are two versions of most Sassoon fonts; one version for full-time educators such as Schools and Teachers has all alternative letters contained within the same font. Accessing alternatives is easier given the standard software available in education sector. For example ‘Sassoon Primary Infant’ font is the name of the education version.
 
Another version for commercial users such as Publishers, Designers has alternative letters in a separate font called ‘Alts’. This is standard industry practice and the fonts have been made to conform. Publishers and Designers have more sophisticated page layout software that can handle separate fonts more easily. For example ‘Sassoon Infant’ is the name of the commercial version.
 
Whichever version is chosen, the same alternatives letters are available
 
 
I have looked for quite some time for a free suitable replacement for the Sassoon fonts, but without much luck. There are a few alternatives, but neither are strictly free.
 
Twinkl offer their own font for premium subscribers of their services.
 
 
There are also similar fonts at Cursive Writing which, although not free, work out significantly cheaper to purchase for the whole school than the Sassoon fonts.
 

New Early Learning and Childcare site on Glow

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New, Early Learning and Childcare site for Aberdeenshire staff was launched on Friday at a special online event hosted by Denise Lorimer and Vanessa Reaper. Over 60 staff joined in online to see Denise and Vanessa walk through the new site.
Please click on the image above to access the site, and remember to add your voice to the feedback form on the Home page.   You will require your Glow login to access the resource

SLF 2020 Call for Seminar proposals

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Education Scotland  are excited to announce that the theme for the Scottish Learning Festival 2020 has  been agreed as:

Achieving excellence and equity, through:

  • The development and delivery of creative pedagogies which are engaging, effective and appropriate for 21st century learning and teaching;
  • High quality approaches to Learning for Sustainability which embrace Global Citizenship, Outdoor Learning and/or Sustainable Development Education;
  • The provision of high quality early learning and childcare leading to improved outcomes for very young children;
  • Progress towards a strong and confident empowered system which improves outcomes for children and young people.

All proposals must be submitted by midnight on Friday 21 February

It would be absolutely fantastic to see aberdeenshire schools and pupils delivering amazing seminars at this years event.