From time to time, and sometimes with little notice, situations arise which require learning and teaching to move from in-school settings to virtual or sometimes a hybrid of some pupils/staff in-school and some pupils/staff remote.

Education Scotland’s DigiLearnScot site has a range of resources online, created from webinars drawing on experiences from many educators around the country and elsewhere, which can provide advice, guidance and illustrations of how virtual, remote or hybrid might work in different situations

The following are selected from the wide range of support available on the DigitLearnScot site at https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/digilearn

Making your virtual classroom more real

Making your virtual classroom more real – how we plan learning, teaching and assessment in a digital environment, regardless of the digital platform being used. A recorded webinar by George Milliken where he starts by asking the questions of himself as a teacher “Am I starting with experiences/outcomes, learning intentions and then success criteria?” “Which aspects will suit in-class delivery, which online?” “How does this link in with class learning?” “What happens when a learner is stuck? “How will support be provided for the parents/carers of the pupils supporting their children/young people?”

Whiteboards and Notebooks

Whiteboards and Notebooks – illustration of virtual whiteboard/notebook tools within Glow which may be useful tools for learners to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding – making them effective assessment opportunities. The recorded webinars at this section of the DigiLearnScot site https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/digilearn/2021/02/09/whiteboards-and-notebooks/ provide different videos to illustrate different tools within Glow (Microsoft OneNote, Google Jamboard, and Microsoft Whiteboard) showing use at different stages or curricular areas to suit different experiences and tools in use for different schools

Pathways for Professional Learning

What if you’re looking for the resources to support you if you are looking for support about a particular stage, or if your schools uses a specific digital platform? The DigiLearnScot Professional Learning landing page gives you a launchboard to whichever of these best suits you, whether hearing about the experience of your colleagues in other parts of the country, or all you might need about iPads in Education, Google Workspace for Education, or Microsoft Office 365, or anytime learning by a particular stage: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/digilearn/professional-learning/

How will I find what I need for my situation in my educational establishment?

The DigiLearnScot site has a wide range of posts which serve to illustrate the digital learning journeys/experiences across the country of different education settings, large and small, all stages and ages, and across the curriculum.

If your school uses Google then there are specific resources to support using the tools available in that platform, and likewise if your school uses Microsoft then there is a range of support materials available to support that platform too.

To find what will best support you then click into the search box on the DigiLearnScot site and start with a search for the tool with which you and your learners are most familiar. The following link here will present a series of posts (illustrations of experiences from different educators from around the country as well as how-to video guides for the use of specific digital tools or platforms) which can be found by entering the search term “virtual” https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/digilearn/?s=virtual