Curiosity, Inquiry and Creativity using Technology in the Early Years

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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

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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

Staff Digital Leaders

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Many thanks to those of you who have volunteered for the Staff Digital Leader Programme for Education.

We are now sitting at over 50 members of staff who are keen to support schools with using Technology to enhance Learning and Teaching. These people will liaise with the Learning through Technology Team to coordinate training sessions and pass on information re technology in the classroom and the National Digital Agenda.

We will be officially launching our programme on the 15th September in Committee Room 5, Woodhill House. This day will be a mixture of planning, discussions and hands on workshops.

We have a Glow Site with more information about the programme and a Yammer group for ongoing discussions.

Staff Digital Leader Glow Site

The session will be advertised via Aberdeenshire Events as soon as they move to the new Aldo system after July.

Please get in touch with the Learning through Technology Team if you would like to enroll in this new exciting programme.

james.mclean@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

susan.sey@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

New Glow Accounts

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Please note below the procedure for new or transferring Glow accounts.
Users need to have officially started at your school and have been entered correctly in Seemis before you will find their Glow account and before you can log a call for a CC4 account.
  • User (Pupil or member of staff) has a record entered in Seemis
  • If you do not enter a GTC number for a teacher then the Glow account will be set up as a non-teaching member of staff
  • After an overnight run, information migrates from Seemis to Glow
  • If it is a person who hasn’t had a Glow account before, then you will find them in the Management Console under Download Passwords or Users
  • If the person had a Glow account then they may be under School Transfers or they will have automatically went under Users if there previous establishment have made them leave

If they haven’t appeared then please give the system another overnight run to see if they will come through. If not, then please log a call with the Learning through Technology Team.

james.mclean@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

susan.sey@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

Aberdeenshire GamesCon 2017

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Well done to all schools who participated in our first ever GamesCon event.

All teams who took part demonstrated outstanding, teamwork, creativity and computational thinking skills all required in this ever changing digitally connected world.

Please click on the link below to view some pictures from the Grand Final at Robert Gordon University.

Can’t wait for next year’s event 🙂

Aberdeenshire GamesCon 2017

iPad sets

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Here at H2L2 we have renewed the sets of iPads we use for training with teachers and pupils.

We now have 3 x sets of 10 iPad Minis to give to schools, and it is very easy for your school to get one of these sets, just email me with a request.   STOP PRESS The iPad sets are now all gone.

The catch?

There isn’t one, but we would hope you would keep us informed on how the devices are being used, and maybe you would want to sign up for some of our iPad and iOS twilights that will shortly be available on our Online Technology Support Session Website

Identifiable Data Advice

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More and more schools  use social media and add pictures to their school websites. Therefore, we would like to remind everyone the advice from our Child Protection Officer.

We should not be including name information which allows pupils to be identified.

If we have a photograph or video clip , depending on the situation and the permission you have obtained from the parent and pupil , it may be permissible to

Include the pupil’s first name.

If there is not photograph or video clip , it might be that there is an article or a section of text which talks about a pupil’s success, then the full use of the name may be permissible, with the relevant permissions having been obtained.

We should also consider the nature of the photographs we use. Swim teams in tracksuits will be more acceptable that pictures just after the swimmers have left the pool, for example.

Schools should not rely solely on permissions which were obtained earlier in the pupil’s school life, say at the start of P1 or in S1.  Parental and pupil views may have changed.

It is better to check before going ahead, particularly if it is for a production which might have a long shelf life. 

Please get in touch if you have any questions or queries about the above.

Glow Authentication and Portal Services Contract Awarded

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Glow Announcement: Glow Authentication and Portal Services Contract Awarded

Following a competitive procurement exercise, RM Education Ltd has been selected by Education Scotland to continue to deliver Glow Authentication and Portal Services.

RM Education Ltd has successfully delivered the services via their RM Unify product since December 2013. The new contract will commence in January 2018 for 5.5 years with opportunities to extend up to a maximum of 10.5 years. The full cost (ÂŁ1.3 million per annum) will be met by Education Scotland and Scottish Government.

This means Glow Users will be able to continue to use the services, free of charge and in full confidence of the stability and continuity of provision.

In addition to the current services, Glow Users can expect a number of developments during the new contract including age appropriate sign in for younger users, self-service identity matching and a feature to inform users of  new functionality. RM Education Ltd will also deliver a number of community benefits to support the ICT/Digital Technologies Skills Investment Plan, including work experience for young people and digital career talks.

To build on the success of Glow, Education Scotland, the Scottish Government and RM Education Ltd are committed to working closely with customers and partners to ensure the contract continues to deliver a flexible service which meets and adapts to users’ needs. Over the coming months this will include, engagement on the deployment of Google’s G Suite for Education.

Glow supports the Scottish Government’s Digital, Learning and Teaching strategy by helping education establishments and local authorities deliver education enhanced by digital technology and its popularity continues to grow with approximately 140,000 unique users and 2,000,000 logins per month.

STEM Survey

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You may be aware that Government Ministers launched a consultation at the end of 2016 on a National STEM Education and Training Strategy for Scotland. The many responses received clearly articulated the importance of having a coherent strategy for career-long professional learning for practitioners in STEM subjects (Sciences, Technologies, Engineering and Mathematics).

Education Scotland and Scottish Government are currently undertaking further engagement with key stakeholders to help shape the actions for career-long professional learning to appear in the final strategy to be published later this year.

We’re very keen that these considerations are guided by the views and experiences of practitioners across the country. We’d like to gather practitioners’ views about their professional learning needs and the most effective way for them to access professional learning.

I’d be grateful if you could  complete the following online survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/7YF22GR

We’re keen for this to be completed by practitioners at all levels in early learning and childcare, additional support needs, primary and secondary school settings.

The survey should only take a few minutes to complete but will be of enormous value helping us to support practitioners more effectively and to improve outcomes for learners in relation to STEM.

The survey will remain open until Thursday 22nd June.