Category Archives: Learning and Teaching

TWIG player is now available

TwigPlayer is here, and the Learning through Technology team have logged a call to have the software installed onto teachers computers, however if you use Twig or Tigtag at home you could download the software (link is below) and keep videos to watch offline at home..no more buffering!

Twig World has just released the TwigPlayer, an application uniquely designed for Scottish users of the science, maths and geography resources available from the Twig On Glow, Tigtag and Tigtag Junior websites.

The player allows users to download and play films offline without being connected to the internet.

Everyone can now log into the Twig website of their choice using their Glow credentials, select and download films onto the desktop of the computer they are using and then play them back directly. The films will remain available locally as long as the computer has connected to the internet (via Wi-Fi or ethernet) at least once within 30 days. If a computer has not connected to the internet for over 30 days (e.g. over the school summer holidays), the films will disappear and will need to be downloaded again from the relevant website.

To download films users must first install the TwigPlayer software application for Windows machines.  This is a very simple and quick process, but it requires admin access for the machine that is being used. It may therefore be preferable for the school IT Coordinator or the local authority IT department to install the software via the IT network. Users at home can of course install the software onto as many of their own devices as desired.

Please find below a link to the webpage containing further information about the TwigPlayer (Windows only).  The same information appears on the Tigtag and Tigtag Junior sites for users who log in with Glow credentials.

https://www.twigonglow.com/twigplayer/

Upcoming Training Opportunities

The Learning through Technology will be delivering numerous twilight training sessions after the holidays. These sessions will be open for each cluster and will be in the Academy schools.

The sessions will focus on:

Computing Science – Early to Second Level
Glow – How to make best use and engage learners
iPads – Intro to the use of iPads in the classroom

The sessions will be added to Aberdeenshire Events during the holidays.

twilights

Brain Pop – Online and app software free trial

BrainPop-e1447672119415

  • A safe way for children to study independently
  • A rich multimedia tool kit for teachers to illustrate curriculum concepts.
  • Learning games, lesson support, printable materials, and interactive quizzes
  • Mapped to the Curriculum for Excellence and available through GLOW

Log into Glow and on the RM Unify page , click on the Aberdeenshire Launch pad and if you scroll to the bottom of the page you will see the Brain Pop tiles, simply click to access the resource.

Technologies: Assessing progress and achievement in significant aspects of learning

Education Scotland have published a revised version of the progression framework  (Click here to access the document)

This document is incomplete but Education Scotland hope to add the progressions for the computing science SALs before the summer holidays. They apologise for the delay in this publication.

 

 

 

Digital Learning Week 2016

Explore the benefits digital learning and teaching can bring to every level of the learner journey. Share your stories on this Digilearnscot blog of how you’ve been using digital to support, enhance and improve classroom practice. Inspire others and be inspired.

Click here for more information.

The site has lots of good ideas for all learners, please try and contribute and shout out to Scotland how your school is using technology to excite and engage learners.

Maybe your school has digital leaders, they could collect data and post on the Digilearnscot blog, maybe learners have created a great digital resource, then consider sharing  on the blog.

 

 

 

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Scholar

Scholar logo used with permission

Scholar logo used with permission

From August 2016 comprehensive course materials will be available on SCHOLAR for NAT5, Higher and Advanced Higher English.

SCHOLAR has been supporting Scottish teachers and learners for fifteen years. The start of the new session will bring English into line with thirty courses across Maths, Science Subjects, Computing, Business Studies, Art & Design, Modern Languages and Gaelic. SCHOLAR materials are produced and monitored by Scottish teachers with extensive experience of the SQA courses in question. Two independent surveys over the lifetime of SCHOLAR have identified a clear correlation between frequency of SCHOLAR usage and pupil performance in SQA exams. Recent extensive online surveys of both pupils and teachers indicate a high level of user satisfaction with SCHOLAR.

Next session English teachers and pupils will have online access to the full suite of SCHOLAR materials for NAT 5, Higher and AH English. This includes comprehensive course notes, learning activities, targeted assessments, online tutorials, study guide books and more. Teachers and pupils will be able to access the SCHOLAR site at any time of day. In addition to pupils using SCHOLAR for home study, revision, catch up, monitoring of personal progress etc. teachers can use SCHOLAR in class as a teaching aid and as a top quality resource for directed, personalised pupil activity.

To find out about training opportunities for students and / or staff and to get specifi support with the new English materials please talk to your Scholar Co-ordinator or email me at james.mclean@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

Glow Logins

TileFor those staff and students that have not logged into Glow for over 3 years you are missing some really high tech and cutting edge features in Office 365 and Glow.

The RM unify interface once you have logged in gives instant access via clicking a tile to lots of frequently used resources and applications.

Finding and using resources created by educators around Scotland are now easier to find and use, and it is also very easy to share resources created by either you or you students.

Your Glow username remains the same, but your password may have expired if you have not logged in for over 3 years, so please ask the Glow administrator in your school to reset your password, once this is done the new password you create remains in place, and even if you forget it you can reset it yourself via an email.

Please log in and have a look you will be surprised at how up to date , and user friendly new Glow is.

 

SQA Study Ninjas Free app – but only for a short time-

A huge thanks to those of you who have already given Study Ninja your support by talking about it, sharing it and in some cases buying it.  We are already delighted with the response which has included us creeping in to the top ten in the productivity chart on the App Store.  For just a short window we have decided to make Study Ninja completely free on the App Store, so please share this information with your colleagues, parents and pupils and you can help to make quite a buzz happen during the run-in to exam time.  The link for Study Ninja on the App Store is here for all those iPhones and iPads out there.   http://www.apple.com/uk/education/it/vpp/

For those with Android devices, we didn’t want you to miss out on this offer but it did prove a little more tricky to make Study Ninja free on Google Play.  We do however have a few hundred codes that we will send out and this will allow you to claim a Study Ninja app on Google Play.  Just tell us that you want some codes and we will send them out in groups of ten at a time which you can then pass on to students.

This offer is only available until the exams start for Scottish schools in May 2016 so please don’t delay, share, and hopefully we can see the impact on results in just a few weeks’ time.  Apple Store has no restrictions on volume so you can fill your boots… so to say.  Android does have a limited number available so they will be sent out only until we run out of codes.

OneNote profiling tile

Great news! At last after direct work from Microsoft and from RM the Template for the digital profiling and profile tool is now available on Glow.

Tile

Log into Glow and access the Aberdeenshire App Library ( Shown on above image with red text “New”)

The learner would click on the Aberdeenshire Council E-Portfolio tile, and a profiling template will be created in the learners OneDrive in Glow.

This process takes about 2-3 minutes, so best to only get a few learners at a time to generate the template, or ask for this as a homework task.

Detailed information on using the tile and the profiling and profile process will be emailed to schools next week.