Resetting Pupil iPads

It has come to our attention that schools are resetting iPads in preperation for the new Academic year. If this happens then a call needs to be logged asking for the devices to be re-enrolled into Meraki. This causes IT extra unneccessary work and the devices unusable until the issue has been resolved.

Therefore, please simply delete content and apps and do not reset the devices.

Thanks

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.

Scottish National Standardised Assessments now available

As part of the on-going implementation of the National Improvement Framework (NIF), the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSAs) have now been launched. The SNSAs are a diagnostic tool to support improvement in children’s learning and to inform teachers’ professional judgment on pupil progress.

Information about SNSA is available on a new Standardised Assessments website, there’s also a leaflet for parents and carers. Visit the Scottish Government website for further information about the National Improvement Framework.

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

 

 

 

Admin Tasks for the New Academic Year

Admin Tasks for the New Academic Year

It is that time of year again when we need to make sure that our school systems have the latest account information. Below is the procedure for new Glow accounts,

  • School office create a Seemis work/pupil record for any new member of staff/pupil
  • If the new member of staff is a teacher then they must enter their unique GTC number
  • The start date in Seemis for the new member of staff/pupil must be accurate for Scotxed reasons
  • After an overnight run these credentials will migrate through to Glow
  • Your school office are the ones who manage these accounts via the Glow Management Console
  • If it is a new account then it will be found under Download Passwords
  • If the person previously had a Glow account at another school in Scotland then they might appear under School Transfers (the office will click to approve the transfer) or they might have gone straight into Users if they have been made to leave their previous establishment
  • Your school office will then be able to obtain the unique Glow username and can reset the password if required

This sometimes takes 2 -3 days to get up and running.

CC4 Accounts

Schools should only log calls for CC4 accounts once they have obtained the appropriate Glow usernames.

Glow Data Feed in Seemis

It is also essential that the Glow Year Groups and Classes are updated via the Glow Data Feed in Seemis. This information is required if you need to print off lists of usernames by class, reset glow passwords by class, share any resources in glow by class or if you use the Show My Homework System.

Guidance re this can be found by clicking on the Glow link below.

Glow Data Feed Document 

https://glowscotland.sharepoint.com/sites/3330021/abdglowsupport/Shared%20Documents/Admin%20Docs/Glow_Data_Feed.pdf

Glow Data Sharing

There is a new feature within Seemis called the Glow Data Sharing field. This has been added so pupils and staff can opt out of having an account created in Glow. The majority of the time this field is ticked to Opt In by default. However, it has come to out attention that this isn’t always the case. Therefore, if you find that an account isn’t coming through to Glow then please check that this field is ticked.

Instructions on how to do this can be found by clicking on the link above to the Seemis Glow Data Feed doc. This will take you to a PDF supplied by the National Seemis Team. Please check from Page 2 onward for info re the above process.

Glow Data Sharing Box
Staff
Application – Staff- Edit Staff – then find your staff member once you’ve found them click on Edit Staff – Details – go in to the work record tab and the Glow Data Sharing box is right at the bottom.
Pupils

data utiltilies > access control > edit data settings and add a tick in the edit box for this tab

Issues

Please log a call with the Learning through Technology Team if you encounter any issues.