Category Archives: Learning and Teaching

Young Scot 5Rights

 

Sexting, cyberbullying, catfishing, FOMO and digital footprints – these are just some of the topics and issues that the Young Scot 5Rights Youth Commission explored in their 15-month investigation. The 5Rights project looks beyond online safety and protection for young people online, and calls for the realisation of their rights in the digital world just as they are already realised in the offline world. With evidence gathered directly from the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Google, Education Scotland and See Me, as well as from over 2000 young people, the 5Rights Youth Commission published their findings and recommendations to the Scottish Government in their May 2017 report, ‘Our Digital Rights’, on how Scotland can become a nation that realises their rights online.

They are now looking for 15 young people, aged 11-15, from across Scotland to join them in the new Young Scot 5Rights Youth Leadership Group. The new group will spend 12 months investigating how some of their recommendations can be implemented, and create a real impact on how young people’s rights can be supported in the digital world.

Attached is a PDF flyer and digital display with more information about the project; the submission deadline is Friday 13th October 2017. I would be grateful if you could please share this opportunity with any young person between the age of 11-15, and encourage them to be a part of such an innovative and exiting project. To find out more and to apply, please visit http://young.scot/things-to-do/events/edinburgh/join-the-5rights-youth-leadership-group/

Barefoot Promotion (Computational Thinking and Coding)

Barefoot is currently offering a free ‘New Term Survival Guide’ to teachers who request a workshop before October 31st, and have it delivered before December 31st.

The Survival Guide provides great tools to help teachers get started, including FAQs, top tips, a quick reference guide, five hand-picked resources and Barefoot goodies. Teachers will receive a survival guide with their workshop packs and  can claim one by booking a workshop on www.barefootcas.org,uk and use the campaign code ‘007’.

This is what the pack looks like,…

Future jobs – are your pupils ready?

Online GLOW session – 20 September 2017 at 16.15

Google, airbnb and facebook have all changed our world by creating new ways of doing things, but did you know that these types of technology businesses also creating lots of highly paid job opportunities?  In Scotland this demand for technology skills and jobs is accelerating, and bringing with it a diverse range of exciting jobs for our young people so it important we prepare them for their digital future.

 Join this session to find out how technology is changing the careers of the future, and what we can do to ensure our young people have the skills and knowledge to take advantage of this wealth of opportunity.

This session is open to all teaching staff working across broad general education in particular we think this session would be useful for Head teachers, subject teachers and guidance staff.

Event description:

Did you know that two thirds of primary school children will have jobs in the future which do not exist today?  It is important that we can open their eyes to the careers of the future and support them to develop the skills they need to thrive in the changing world of technology.

In Scotland Digital technology businesses are booming, continuing to transform the way we live and having an increasingly disruptive effect on business. The tech sector is growing rapidly but it’s not just tech businesses that are affected, this digital revolution is impacting all businesses and organisations across Scotland’s entire economy. As it continues to pick up pace it is creating unprecedented demand for tech jobs and skills from employers and bringing with it a wealth of career opportunities for our young people.

Join Skills Development Scotland in partnership with Education Scotland to find out about some of the technology jobs and careers of the future, and what we can do to help prepare our young people for the jobs of the future.

During this Glow Meet Up you will learn about:

  • How technology is changing future careers
  • What opportunities are available to young people to embrace this change
  • Challenges we face in helping young people realise these opportunities
  • Resources and support available to young people and schools

This is a 25minute session followed by 20minute Q&A

To participate, please register here by Monday 11 September using the password GLOW.

We will email the online details to those registered the week before the session.

MIcrosoft Teams for Education (Initial notice for Academy schools only)

What is it? And why would your school want it?

Many teachers are already familiar with OneNote Class Notebooks, just imagine now the ability to create Notebooks for every class with no initial administration. Modern dynamic conversations for each class that the teacher controls. Teachers and pupils do almost everything without leaving Teams. Set tasks/homework as assignments or through Class Notebook – with the advantages of resources being stored and accessed digitally giving opportunities to reduce. All SEEMiS classes automatically set up as Class Teams from Seemis data Access to apps already used such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint online. Personalised views for all teachers and all pupils of all classes, conversations and work. Membership updated as SEEMiS changes at any time during the school year.

Why does a school need to opt in?

It’s necessary to have opt-in directly from schools for this because of the capacity of School data Sync (SDS) to create Class Teams for all SEEMiS class groups – regardless of the level of engagement by each teacher.

How do I opt in my school?

Here are the steps to have this switched on for your school:

Please contact your SLT  to discuss this  (HT’s have been advised of this proceedure)

Complete the form at this link (note that you need to sign into Glow to complete this form and read the supporting documentation):  here

The Form above is a quick set of questions to confirm school buy-in, engagement with the Local Authority Glow Key Contact (Jim Mclean or Susan Sey) and has a link to a supporting document explaining background, risks and options
http://glo.li/2wB74Mr

Once the form above has been completed the national Glow team will process the switching on of Microsoft Teams for all classes for your school.

What to expect?

After receiving the request, your school data will be briefly checked to make sure it is current. If not, the person identified as responsible for SEEMiS data in the school will be contacted. If SEEMiS data is current, your school will be added to the queue for the next sync. Syncs will be done daily but there may be a delay according to demand. When complete all teachers and pupils in your school will be assigned to O365 Groups as owners/members respectively – you will see these appear in Outlook and OneDrive. At this stage no pupils can access the Class Team. As soon as any teacher signs in to Teams – for any reason – all of their Class Teams will then activate and be accessible to all pupils in those classes.

 

Why opt-in at school level?

The national Glow programme team has decided that there should be an opt-in at school level for SDS. This is primarily because SDS will look to setup all Class Teams for a school regardless of whether or not all teachers are engaged. This will mean pupils having access to the underlying O365 Group immediately and continued access to the Class Team from first use by the teacher. The document linked from the opt-in Form has details of the key risk and what steps can be taken by teachers that don’t want to participate in Teams with their classes.

Support?

Please contact Learning Through Technology with any specific questions/requests, there will also be training as detailed below:

Support for Microsoft Teams will be provided from the Learning through Technology Team ( Dates will be confirmed shortly and sign up via ALDO)

The courses on Learning through Technology Teams Website ( http://glo.li/2wAJSxy )  relating to Office 365, OneNote, OneDrive, Word Online  also include reference to Microsoft Teams for Education.

There is also a free online course in the Microsoft Educator Community (sign in with your Glow email address to gain a certificate, points and digital badges):

https://education.microsoft.com/courses-and-resources/courses/introtomicrosoftteams

And there are guides which can be downloaded and printed if desired from here:

https://education.microsoft.com/courses-and-resources/resources/meet-microsoft-teams

We are currently seeking staff volunteers to be Digital Leaders, and we now have around 60 staff from around Aberdeenshire schools,   if you are interested please email Jim Mclean or Susan Sey. Digital Leader details are on Glow here: http://glo.li/2xv0pj8

 We have an inaugural Digital Leader event being held in Woodhill House on 15th September details for this event are in ALDO.

If you have any questions about this then please contact JIm or Susan from the Learning through Technology Team

Thanks

Microsoft Teams for Education

The update to Microsoft Classroom, Microsoft Teams for Education is now available from the App Launcher (Waffle) via O365 in Glow.

We would encourage teachers to wait before setting up classes because:

  • The integration with SEEMIS will not be in place until the end of August , so any Teams  created before then will involve you manually adding pupils.
  • If pupils were allowed access now,  then  some of the current functionality in Teams could potentially be used inappropriately. By the end of August the additional admin settings will be inplace to reduce any risk.
  • If you try to use Teams at the moment you may get an error message asking you to contact your ICT personell (Please do NOT log any calls with ICT)

The SEEMIS integration will allow your classes to be populated with the correct students, and this list will dynamically change as pupils join or leave your class. The classes will automatically be correctly named in fitting with the systems you have in place at the school.

We will be providing twilight sessions in the next few weeks to advise on how to use Microsoft Teams so please look back here regularly for updates and links to twilights.

Please direct any questions you may have on Teams for Education to:

James.mclean@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
Susan.sey@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

 

 

 

Curiosity, Inquiry and Creativity using Technology in the Early Years

This is an in-service day event aimed at Early Years practicioners.

The day will consist of Keynote Speakers and hands on workshops demonstrating how technology can be used in an Early Years enviroment.

Agenda for the day below,

Time Agenda Speaker Item
9:30 – 9:45 Opening TBC Introduction
9:45 – 10:45 Keynote Abdul Chohan Change belief, change behaviour
10:45 – 11:00 Break
11:00 – 11:30 Workshop 1
11:30 – 12:00 Workshop 2
12:00 – 12:30 Workshop 3
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:00 Workshop 4
14:00 – 15:00 Keynote Joe Moretti
15:00 – 15:15 Digital Leaders James McLean
15:15 – 15:30 Closing Susan Sey Q & A

 

Workshops
Workshop 1 Creating interactive lessons using Smart Notebook Susan Sey
Workshop 2 Embedding coding in Early Years Jim McLean
Workshop 3 Digital storytelling to promote Curiosity, Inquiry and Creativity PT
Workshop 4 Realising the potential Abdul Chohan
Workshop 5 Using animation to capture Pupil Voice PT
Workshop 6 Using OneNote to celebrate and reflect on learning Graeme Slapp
Workshop 7 Profiling in the Early Years PT

Please contact the Learning through Technology Team if you have any queries re the above event. We look forward to seeing you there 🙂

Free Roald Dahl Party Pack

 

We are delighted to let you know that the FREE Roald Dahl Day party pack is now available!

The Roald Dahl Day party pack contains everything you need to host a marvellous party – whether it’s in your living room, bookshop, school or library. Remember, Roald Dahl Day takes place on
Wednesday 13th September so make sure you plan your party well in advance.

This year we’re introducing Roald Dahl’s newest hero, Billy, as his story Billy and the Minpins is illustrated by Quentin Blake for the first time. We’ll be celebrating Billy along with all of Roald Dahl’s incredible child heroes, including Matilda, Charlie, James and George.

So, download the pack and take the quiz to find out which hero you are most like and celebrate your favourite with a hero-themed
Roald Dahl Day party!

Click on the link below to download the Free Roald Dahl Party Pack,

Free Download