Author: Martin Coutts

Digital Skills Development Officer

Test themed wee example 2

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  • Digital Skills for Scottish Educators - This guidance is an update to the Teacher Digital Skills published previously. It aims to support the development of digital skills for all Scottish educators, including Early Years and Childcare, school and Community Learning and Development sectors.  Education Scotland digital skills for Scottish educators 2025  I want to take the survey Use this link …
  • Building Digital Citizens: My Experience with Scotland’s Curriculum Improvement Cycle by a Primary Digital Lead - My decision to engage with Scotland’s Curriculum Improvement Cycle regarding digital literacy began primarily when I began to lead my school through the Digital Schools Award journey. This experience revealed the Dunning-Kruger effect in action early in my school’s digital journey – while I started the process full of confidence, I gradually realised how much …
  • Blackness primary school logo Digital Schoolhouse: Festival of Play 2025 by Blackness Primary, Dundee City - We were lucky that a parent of a child in our class works with Digital School House and they let us know about the event. There were spaces available and the children were really enthusiastic and keen to go. It would be great to let more schools know about the event – I am sure …
  • CSW2025: ACE Cyber Security Competition (S3-S6) - See below for a team competition that learners can participate in.   ACE Cyber Security Competition (S3-S6) Competition Sign up window is now open! Register Here Teams can include up to four students, with mixed ages and genders permitted. All team members must be aged 14–18 (S3-S6) and in full-time education. Each team must have …
  • scottish esports schools and colleges survey Scottish Schools and Colleges Esports Competitions – Expression of Interest - Scottish Esports are the national body for gaming and esports in Scotland and are conducting a survey to assess the viability of a national esports competitions for Scotland’s schools and colleges. This initiative aims to provide a structured competitive framework that supports Curriculum for Excellence, develops learners’ meta-skills, enhances digital skills, and aligns with national …
  • Digital Skills Big Ideas - Digital technology  Digital technology is used to store, process and share computer data about almost all aspects of our lives and society. This is underpinned by computer technology, including hardware, software and networks. It is essential that these systems and their data should be secured to protect them, and us, from cyber threats.      …
  • Ada Scotland Festival 2025 - Welcome to the Ada Scotland Festival 29 September – 10 October 2025 The Ada Scotland Festival champions gender balance in tech and computing, providing inspiration for our young people and to build a stronger, fairer, more diverse work force of the future.   An innovative and representative workforce will develop systems for all genders as end …
  • CILIP the library and information association SuperSearchers – information literacy with CILIPS and Google - Information literacy is a key skill for people who are trying to navigate an increasingly complex information landscape. To help empower people to understand the tools and tactics that they can use to make sense of information online, Google is partnering with CILIP to launch the Super Searcher training programme in the UK. Google have …
  • Island Saver from NatWest - Island Saver is a free-to-play game from NatWest. It is designed to develop children and young people’s understanding of finance, including saving and tax. It can be played on consoles or iPad. Find out more about the game here: Island Saver Wiki 
  • ELC Digital Award Professional Learning Network - This 4 part professional learning network is for ELC practitioners working in ELC settings in Scotland who aspire to become DSAS awarded settings with the new Digital Learning Through Play in ELC Award. You can join any or all four sessions. Guided by Education Scotland’s Digital Team and supported by ELC practitioners in Scotland, already awarded, …

Create-A_Long comic book with custom images

Create-A-Long Activities – Create a custom comic book

Communicate visually wit colourful graphics to tell a story, explain a concept, summarise a plot, or show how a pattern can be represented visually.

Comics can be a great way for learners to showcase their storytelling skills, explain concepts, and visually represent a concept. For learners with limited or no communication skills, this can be an excellent way to have them contribute to the wider conversation in class.

For this activity we have used a modified version of the Create a Comic Activity from the  Everyone Can Create Apple Teacher Learning Centre section.  

image of an iPad with a comic book literacy example

For this activity we used

an iPad, Apple Pencil, pages app, adobe express icons

We used an iPad, an Apple Pencil, Pages, and Adobe Express using our Glow Scotland credentials. Whilst these are very specific examples we appreciate that not every school has access to these resources. An alternative might be to use a web based tool such as Book Creator which has excellent comic book templates and Pixabay which has free to download graphics. 

Step 1: Create-a-long: Download the Activity

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Step 2: Create-a-long: Create Your Characters

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Step 3: Create-a-long: Put your comic book together

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Now that you have tried all of the steps and put the comic together, you have developed the skills in your learners to apply this knowledge in different situations. Using comic book style activities can be a great way to Visualise concepts, retell failure Argos from history with custom characters, or even explaining concepts like the water cycle in new and engaging ways. 

Try it yourself and feel free to share your stories of success with us via social media:

Bluesky: @digilearnscot.bsky.social

techfest 24 save the date

Scotlands Digital Science Festival 1st to 8th November – Powered by Techfest

As part of Scotland’s Digital Science Festival, powered by TechFest, a number of online sessions are taking place that your Secondary School students won’t want to miss!

These dynamic events are packed with fascinating content and practical insights that are sure to inspire and engage your pupils!

Friday 1st November, 18:30 via zoom:

An Eye Below Zero, a Long Term Look at the Poles 

45 years of polar experience have given Doug Allan a unique perspective on both the Arctic and Antarctic. He’ll be telling exciting and inspiring stories about the winter he spent with Emperor penguins, and his face to face encounters with polar bears. But Doug has also witnessed how the warming of the poles is affecting the animals. He’ll explore the innovative and imaginative steps and solutions that we can adopt to take on the challenge. We can still turn the tide.

Register Here

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Saturday, 2 November, 19:00 via zoom:

Campaigning for Change: Banning Disposable Vapes 

Can grassroots activism really create meaningful change? Absolutely! Join Laura Young who proved this theory true. Laura is the founder of the campaign to ban disposable vapes, which has prompted legislative change across the UK. She will share her campaign journey, top tips & key takeaways at this online talk!

Register Here

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Sunday, 3 November, 19:00 via zoom:

How to Robot-Proof Your Kids

AI makes many promises about making life easier. Companies are selling AI to read your emails and then write your responses. But at a time when all of the world’s knowledge is free in your pocket, your value is your unique voice. From augmented intelligence to neuroprosthetics, Dr. Ming will explore how we can use AI not to make life easier but to make ourselves better.

Register Here

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Wednesday, 6 November, 19:00 via zoom:

The Straight A’s Brain

What if your child could remember superhuman amounts of information and never forget what they studied for exams? Can they boost focus and concentration while taking care of their brain? Join Dr. T, Aberdeen’s TV psychiatrist, for an exciting online workshop where they’ll unlock powerful memory techniques, brain health tips, and study hacks for kids and teens (ages 8-16). Parents can join too, learning top tips to help their kids ace school and study smarter than ever before!

Register Here

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Thursday, 7 November, 11:00 via teams:

Pokémaths: The Maths of Pokémon

Delivered by fantastic Dr Tom Crawford aka Tom Rocks Maths, the Pokémaths: The Maths of Pokémon session will investigate how many Pikachu’s it takes to power a lightbulb. How much a Charizard eats? And why the world of Pokémon seems to ignore the basic laws of physics! Dr Tom Crawford looks at the maths one of the world’s favourite video games.

Register Here

 

#CSW24 featured image

#CSW24 – Computing Science Week Scotland 2024

Computing Science Week 2024 will run from November 4th to 15th 2024. Both weeks will comprise of Live Lessons, Success Sharing Sessions, Educator Webinars, and a face to face event in between to bring educators together and share good practice.

Week 1 has a mainly low code theme, with a few exceptions. It showcases the ways in which Computing can be explored without always having to focus exclusively on code based activities.

Week 2 will be hands-on coding activities for pupils and educators alike.

Watch a recap of the week below:

TechTok Recap University of Edinburgh, digilearnscot and Education Scotland logos

TechTok 2024: Video Recap

Below is a playlist of the sessions that were delivered by practitioners during TechTok24. Each video is linked below. Thanks to Russell White from Moray House for organising and hosting this successful virtual conference.

iPadOS Top 5: Keynote

YouTube player

Keynote on the iPad allows learners the chance to create everything from simple to more complex animations directly out of the box on their device. 

Top 5 is aims to take you through 5 of the main features and techniques that you can use on all core apps on the iPad. 

Follow along with each of the lessons and download the sample files to get started with your pupils and be sure to share any results using @digilearnscot on X (Twitter) and Threads

Lesson 1: Magic Move

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Download Sample File


 

Lesson 2: Motion Paths

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Download Sample File


 

Lesson 3: Animating GIFs

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Download Playground File

Download Dog Running


 

Lesson 4: Movie Making

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Download Sample File


 

Lesson 5: Animated Timelines

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Download Sample File


 

Microsoft Testfest Resources and Exams Available

We are delighted to announce that in partnership with Prodigy Learning, the licences for Microsoft learning resources (LearnKey) and the Microsoft Practice tests (GMetrix) have been renewed until June 2025!

 

Moreover, we are excited to offer you a valuable opportunity for professional developmentFREE Microsoft Certification exams throughout June 2024. 

 

This is a fantastic opportunity for educators across Scotland to develop and enhance their digital skills with Office applications, such as Word and PowerPoint, and discover how to use your digital skills to deliver classroom experiences that will develop students’ 21st Century Skills.

 

Ensure you take the time to review the Channels in the MOS Training and Certification Scotland Team and the MCE Training and Certification Scotland | General | Microsoft Team to make the most of this opportunity!

boy girl jump device

#SDLW24 Video Recap series

Below is a playlist that shows the Curriculum Live Lessons, Professional Learning, and sharing practice sessions that were delivered as part of Scottish Digital Literacy week 2024.

Continue to share the amazing work that is taking place in your settings and be sure to mention us @digilearnscot using #SDLW24

#ScotAI24 – Scottish AI in schools week recap

Thank you to everyone who made Scottish AI in schools week a success. We were overwhelmed by the amount of schools, teachers, and students who took the time to participate in the activities laid out during this week of collaboration and learning.

We hope you all found it useful and look forward to the updates that will present themselves in the future.