Author: Brian Clark

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Remote Learning in Glasgow

To date 81% of teachers and 41% of pupils now have 1:1 managed iPads through our Connected Learning Programme. The deployment has now restarted remotely firstly to teachers which will be followed by remote pupil deployment. All iPads are managed to ensure safe usage by pupils at home.

In response to the imminent closure of schools GCC created a remote learning site for teachers to access teacher, pupil and parent support materials for the main platforms used successfully in schools to engage with pupils, parents and each other: Seesaw, Showbie and Teams.

In addition we have been hosting webinars each week by teachers for teachers: Apple teacher Mondays 3.00 – 4.00 and Coffee – Break Learning 10.30 – 11.00 Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

To date we have over 1100 teachers signed up for the webinars with between 150 and 250 teachers tuning in each day. All webinars are recorded for watching at a suitable time. The Remote Learning support materials and webinars can be accessed at:

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/gc/remotelearningglasgow/ 

Twitter @DL_for_All    

#DigiLearnGla   #GCCkeepsafekeeplearning 

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Collaboration and community

This post follows a challenging week for myself, I reached out to a colleague sharing these challenges and received the comment from a colleague that I should feel proud of the leadership, compassion and support that I am offering teachers, pupils and parents during these challenging times and that my help and advice guidance have … Continue reading Collaboration and community →

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Learning at Home – Ormiston Primary School, East Lothian

Ormiston Primary School in East Lothian have documented their planning and experience of learning and teaching with technology for learning at home.  The document covers areas including

  • Pre-Lockdown Preparation Our Systems
  • Routines- Old and New
  • Pastoral Care
  • Feedback
  • Pupil Equity Fund Interventions
  • What do people think about Ormiston’s Home Learning?
  • Examples of Home Learning

Ormiston Primary School can be contacted on Twitter @ormistonprimary

teacher working at home

Case study on student engagement in virtual classrooms.

In just a few short months the entire education system has changed, not only within Scotland but across the world. In response to the current COVID-19 crisis teachers have had to drastically alter their teaching practices to meet an entirely new set of challenges.

Prior to the outbreak of this pandemic I was completing my NQT year at Williamwood High School in East Renfrewshire. Although I am a Microsoft Certified Educator and have a strong background in digital technology switching to entirely remote learning was uncharted waters. I frantically began searching for any guidance or advice when making this transition. Through my great network of support on Twitter I was recommended a course by FutureLearn called ‘How to teach online: Providing continuity for Students’. This course brings together a global network of educators to share ideas and ask questions on how to best support students during this period of remote learning. I decided to focus on the very first question posed:

What do you think is the biggest challenge in online teaching?

As you can see from the results of this poll nearly half of the 10,000 course participants, including myself, selected ‘Keeping Students interested and engaged’ as their chief concern.

Having already identified a lack of engagement from my S1 Google Classroom I decided to make this my primary focus for my upcoming Professional Inquiry. Using the knowledge I gained from the FutureLearn course as well as guidance from my network of support in Williamwood I chose to alter my approach to online learning in order to boost engagement among my students. I presented my findings in the form of a Microsoft Sway and used a mix of quantitative and qualitative data to support my conclusions. I have attached the link to this report and hope that you find this useful.

Although we are living in unprecedented and uncertain times it has provided us as educators a unique opportunity to re-examine our own practice. By continually assessing and altering our own pedagogy we are giving our students the opportunity to become 21st century learners and gain the skills required to succeed in an increasingly virtual world.

Fionnuala Glover is a teacher of History at Williamswood High School in East Renfrewshire

Twitter @MissGlover19

https://sway.office.com/s/MOKG0mh8iXxs2yse/embed

teacher in front of school

Computing Science at Stewarton Academy

Fraser McKay, Computing Teacher at Stewarton Academy takes some time to talk about Computing Science delivery in the school.  Fraser discusses gender balance, escape rooms and physical computing among other topics,  We also hear from students in S2 and S5 about their experiences. in the course of these 3 videos.

Stewarton Academy is in East Ayrshire.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/ea/stewartonacademysite2016/

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