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Scottish schools to receive 20 micro:bits

Every primary and secondary school in Scotland will receive 20 V.2 micro:bits, in a partnership between The Micro:Bit Education Foundation, Nominet and The Scottish Government. The roll out of these devices started in May 2022 and is still continuing.  Alongside this there is free comprehensive teaching resources and professional learning for all educators.  Primary schools will be the first to receive the devices followed by secondary schools.

The BBC micro:bit is a pocket-sized computer that introduces you to how software and hardware work together. It has an LED light display, buttons, sensors, built-in microphone and speaker, and many input/output features that, when programmed, let it interact with you and your world.

Professional Learning Offer

  • Resources and professional learning to get you started with microbit.org/primary
  • Professional learning courses from micro:bit – Micro:bit Educational Foundation (thinkific.com)
  • New 3 part course, This is Micro:bit, which can be found on the webinars page of DigiLearnScot.  This course will be offered again in the new academic year 22′-23′.
  • DigiLearnComputingScience provides a comprehensive overview of the micro:bit V1 and V2 and you can also access our watch again webinar on Getting started with micro:bit.
  • The Micro:bit Education Foundation provides extensive access to learning resources, ideas, and support to help get practitioners and learners started using the devices or to move onto more complex projects using the micro:bit.
  • Barefoot have created lesson plans to support outdoor learning with the micro:bit for ages 7 – 11.
  • Request free micro:bit posters and stickers for your school here.
  • Join our national computing science glow teams community for ELC & primary educators here.

Scottish Government Have Released £1.3m Capital Spend for Computer Science Equipment in Scottish Schools

The Education Secretary has announced up to £1.3m for Computing Science education in Scottish schools. Schools will be able to use this money, which will go directly to them, to buy physical computing resources to support engagement with Computing Science in the BGE stages. They are able to access £2000, with additional £500 available for resources that will be incorporated into transition events with associated primary schools or pupils with additional support needs.

 

She also announced two appointments to the new teacher-led the University of Glasgow ‘STACS’ initiative, which aims to help prepare pupils for careers in tech.

Read the full announcement here

Computing Science in Local Authority Secondary Schools

This paper provides an overview of Computing Science delivery in Local Authority secondary schools.

Education Scotland carried out a survey of 356 schools between July 2021 and October 2021. The survey was promoted via local authority technologies leads, Computing Science teacher groups and Education Scotland officer contacts with local authorities and RICs. At the point of writing, the survey had 309/356 unique local authority school responses. This represents 86.8% of local authority secondary schools. While this is the majority of schools, it is acknowledged that the survey data is not complete and that this paper should be treated as provisional in this respect.

The survey collected data relating to Computing teacher numbers, delivery of Computing Science in S1/2 and opportunities for learners to study Computing Science or related courses in the senior phase.

The paper also provides an overview of Senior Phase Computing Science uptake and attainment, including summary data relating to attainment and deprivation.

View the document here

Cyber Scotland Week 2022 – Capture the Flag with Try Hack Me for Secondary Schools

 

CAPTURE THE FLAG NOW

 

This page is for secondary teachers interested in entering teams into a FREE cyber security Capture the Flag event on TryHackMe.

The challenges will be suitable for complete beginners as well as experienced tech-savvy students. Try Hack Me will support teachers with three recorded lessons. This information might be useful to know before starting with the recorded lessons and the Capture the Flag event:
TryHackMe | Network Fundamentals

This video from TryHackMe gives an overview of the platform to get you started

 

 

SIGN UP NOW CLOSED

Recorded Lessons

lesson 1

 

lesson 2

lesson 3

Room for them to follow along: https://tryhackme.com/jr/introdigitalforensics

Room to complete after https://tryhackme.com/jr/windowsforensics1

digital wellbeing award

The Digital Wellbeing Award for Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety – Digital Schools Award

The Digital Wellbeing Award for Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety is designed to provide education professionals with the resources and support required to help pupils safely navigate the digital world.

Schools that successfully complete the programme receive a nationally recognised award by Education Scotland.
Register your school 

 

Find out more about:

Digital Schools Award

Digital Wellbeing Award

Digilearn.scot Shortlisted for Scottish Cyber Awards 2021

We’re delighted, and immensely proud to be able to announce that we have been shortlisted for two awards at the upcoming Scottish Cyber Awards 2021.
Even to be shortlisted is a great achievement for us and we’d like to thank all of the educators who have engaged with us, and also our Education Scotland colleagues that support us.

The awards we’re shortlisted for are:

  • Best Cyber Education Programme category for the
  • Best New Cyber Talent

We can’t wait to see you all at the Cyber Awards and hear about the impact that everyone’s work us having across the country.

#ScotCyberAwards21

P6 Pupils at Noblehill Primary School are European Runners Up in the Microbit Do Your Bit Challenge

During Term 4 of last session, P6 pupils at Noblehill Primary School in Dumfries and Galloway took part in a Micro:Bit Global Challenge.  Their challenge was to design a ‘gadget’ which would support the work currently being undertaken  around the world to support climate change.  The pupils chose Verity, Lilly and Sophie’s design ‘Shell Cam’ as the winners and this was entered into a global competition.  Shell Cam was designed to be hidden somewhere on the beach and video all the different species that spent time there.  This information would then be sent back to scientists so they could track the movement and number of species. 

We have recently heard the amazing news that the design was chosen as runner up in Europe!!! 

3 learners holding microbits and design for do your bit project

The success has been posted on the Micro:Bit webpage along with the answers to a few questions that our amazing team had to give: 

How do you feel being runners-up in Europe?
– ‘Amazed, surprised, actually can’t believe it, it’s just WOW!’ 

Why did you choose to tackle the problem of animals becoming extinct?
– ‘A lot of animals are becoming extinct and food chains are being damaged so we wanted to think of a way to help.’ 

How long have you been using the micro:bit?
– ‘We have only used them 3 or 4 times but we loved them.’ 

 How has taking part in do your:bit inspired you?
– ‘We want to know more about what the Micro:Bits can do as well as help the environment.’ 

What will you create next?
– ‘Maybe a similar kind of thing but more for plants/ flowers, different types of nature.’ 

Well done team, Noblehill are very proud of you!
Lindsey Kirkwood, Principal Teacher, Noblehill Primary School

 

Digital Thinking

The programme is structured to support digital leaders at all levels to reflect on current and emerging practice and consider the nature and purpose of digital learning and teaching. Participants will be encouraged to examine and discuss the themes of

  • developing self regulated digital learners
  • opportunities for curriculum change and flexibility
  • enhancing a digitally enabled learning environment

The programme is primarily facilitated online. There will be series of online presentations, discussions and readings, along with problem finding activities around each theme. Groups of participants will collectively use their knowledge to identify potential solutions and ideas to address these issues.

The collective outputs from the sessions will be shared nationally.

This programme may be of particular interest to groups of participants from the same setting, for example school working groups.  Individual participants are welcome to invite colleagues to particular sessions that may be of interest.

This is not a programme based on digital skills development, but the application and use of digital skills to enhance learning and teaching.  As such, this programme is best suited to practitioners and leaders who are confident users of learning technologies or have an understanding of how technology can support/enhance learning and learning environments.

There will be a short information session about the programme on 26th August at 4pm.

Register for the information session on 26th August 2021, 4pm

 

 

Term 1: Developing self regulated digital learners

Dates: 30 August 2021 – 4th October 2021, weekly meetings

 

Term 2: Exploring curriculum and flexibility 

Dates: 25th October 2021 – 29th November, weekly meetings

 

Term 3: Enhancing a digitally enabled learning environment

Dates: 24th January 2022 – 24th March 2022, weekly meetings

 

Esports Parents and Carers Guide with NSPCC and British Esports Association

The British Esports Association (@British_Esports) has developed a new Parent & Carers Guide in collaboration with the NSPCC, which aims to educate parents and carers about esports and online safety.

This guide has been created to provide information to help parents understand more about the esports industry.

The contents of the guide include:

  • Information about the British Esports Student Champs
  • Benefits of esports
  • Esports in education
  • Academic pathways
  • Inclusivity and diversity in esports
  • How you can get involved with your child
  • Parents testimonials
  • Online safety

 

Tom Dore, Head of Education at British Esports Association, said:

“At British Esports we’re helping to establish industry standards for safeguarding and keeping young people safe online. Developing the Parent & Carers guide in collaboration with NSPCC has allowed us to celebrate many of the positives around esports, and also highlight important issues around safeguarding and online safety.

It is crucial as an industry that we’re doing everything we can to keep young people safe while participating in esports. We should look to traditional sport, and other established industries, to learn from their ongoing work. British Esports strongly encourages all stakeholders in the esports industry to scrutinise their own practise around their work with young people and prioritise safeguarding and online safety throughout their organisations.’

 

Find out more about the guide

 

View the guide

Running an Esports Club – British Esports Association

Esports (or electronic sports) is a term used to describe competitive video gaming. With 81% of children playing video games online nowadays, games are arguably a larger part of their lives than ever before.

The British Esports Association (BEA) is a not-for-profit national body established in 2016 to promote esports in the UK, increase its level of awareness, improve standards and inspire future talent. As a national body, their aims are to support esports and provide expertise and advice.

They help to educate parents, teachers, media, policy makers and government around what esports is and what its benefits are. BEA aim to:

 

  • Promote esports in the UK and increase its level of awareness
  • Improve the standard of UK esports
  • Inspire future talent

There has been lots of work with colleges in Scotland so far but the BEA are keen to support more schools setup, deliver and develop esports clubs for children and young people. Running an esports club is about more than playing games, there is the setup of equipment, recruitment of friends and peers, and all the digital literacy required to produce videos of their games. In fact, capturing gameplay can become a whole production with sounds, graphics and video editing going on to showcase their gaming skills.

 

Find out more about esports and the British Esports Association with these links:
British Esports Student Champs
Student Champs Resources
Esports in Education Conference
Glasgow Clyde Case Study
British Esports Champs 2021 Aftermovie
Forth Valley College Division 2 Rocket League Interview
Scottish College Cup
Diversity and Inclusion of Esports