Join Google for Education at Duncanrig Secondary School in South Lanarkshire to see Google Workspace for Education and Chromebooks in action. The day will open with a keynote from the team, followed by a choice of sessions – including the opportunity to spend time in the classroom and see how pupils use the tools.
12 September 2022 at 9:30 – 12 September 2022 at 13:30
Following on from the Education Scotland live code-alongs and reflecting on the participation and engagement of young people, we wanted to build on this momentum and give learners in North Lanarkshire an opportunity to code along with their peers and dive further in to Computing Science. Knowing this needed to be fun and memorable to engage young people and staff, we planned for a space theme.
Pedagogy is at the heart of North Lanarkshire’s Digital School, and therefore the Code-Alongs, also needed to be planned in line with Curriculum for Excellence, providing learners, and teachers, with a taster session of what computing science could look like in the classroom. We know that Computing Science can be perceived as a challenging area to teach, with staff unsure where to start in planning and skills development. We issued a Microsoft Forms survey to staff in North Lanarkshire, to evaluate how confident they were teaching Computing Science. 15% of teachers in North Lanarkshire who responded indicated that they were confident teaching Computing Science and over 90% of teachers were interested in taking part in a North Lanarkshire code-along.
We planned live sessions for First and Second level, with a further session for those who are confident at Second level to ensure all learners from P4 to P7 had the chance to join. A key consideration was making sure that everyone who wanted to take part, could take part. We chose to use Scratch during the code-alongs as it is easily accessible, and learners are not required to have a login to code. To support continued access and any technical issues all Code- Along sessions were recorded. A Teacher Support Pack was created to prepare staff to support learners with step-by-step instructions and images to ensure everyone was able to complete their project. The Support Pack also contained suggested next steps to inspire teachers to continue their Computing Science journey.
There was tremendous enthusiasm and feedback to the code-alongs. We asked teachers to complete a post code-along survey and found that 40% of teachers were now confident to teach Computing Science.
We’d like to thank everyone who helped us plan, promote and deliver the code-alongs and of course, the learners and teachers who took part. We thoroughly enjoyed coding along with learners across North Lanarkshire and look forward to seeing how North Lanarkshire schools continue on their coding journey.
At Viewforth High School, we are on a digital journey to ensure all learners and educators are able to benefit from digital technology to raise attainment and improve outcomes for all.
Most of our students are familiar with Microsoft Teams accessing via Glow and staff have been using it to set work and assignments during previous lockdowns and continue to do so now we are back in school.
However, some pupils are faced with challenges when trying to access digital learning both in school and at home and to support our pupils in accessing their learning we identified areas where both the skills of staff and pupils needed to be developed. One of these key areas was the accessibility features (and knowledge of these) of digital tools for pupils and ensuring staff know how to use these tools with pupils.
In response to this, I have created several Quick Guides to support both staff and pupils in accessing and using the features of Microsoft Tools.
I created guides for each of the following tools:
These guides have been shared amongst staff and with colleagues in other schools across the country to support them to support their pupils.
At Viewforth High School, we are on a digital journey to ensure all learners and educators are able to benefit from digital technology to raise attainment and improve outcomes for all.
Most of our students are familiar with Microsoft Teams accessing via Glow and staff have been using it to set work and assignments during previous lockdowns and continue to do so now we are back in school.
However, some pupils are faced with challenges when trying to access digital learning both in school and at home and to support our pupils in accessing their learning we identified areas where both the skills of staff and pupils needed to be developed. One of these key areas was the accessibility features (and knowledge of these) of digital tools for pupils and ensuring staff know how to use these tools with pupils.
In response to this, I have created several Quick Guides to support both staff and pupils in accessing and using the features of Microsoft Tools.
I created guides for each of the following tools:
These guides have been shared amongst staff and with colleagues in other schools across the country to support them to support their pupils.
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!!!
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
Williamsburgh Primary School Using QR codes and ‘ThingLink’ for homework and resources, to encourage children to lead their learning, develop digital literacy skills, and overcome written communication barriers Aileen Mackey Early Learning and Childcare Officer gw17mackeyaileen@glow.sch.uk Twitter @mackey_aileen
Click on link 👇
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13wxuGHMd7e8vKcj7ytVJmJv82gEXiPewyt3FX2Uwj8U/edit?usp=sharing
The Noteable service providing access to cloud based computational notebooks is now available via the App Library in Glow.
Noteable provides a cloud based environment for coding activities using Python and R/R Studio. This can be used to support the delivery of Computing Science and Data Science based courses as well as Higher Applications of Mathematics.
DPIA Support
EDINA, at the University of Edinburgh have provided documentation to help with DPIAs. This documentation is available below.
Noteable Service DPIA (outwith University of Edinburgh)
Additional Questions and Answers asked by LAs
LA QUESTION:
Does the Local Authority have to request removal of material from the cloud once the qualification is done or doe this happen automatically?
LA QUESTION:
Please describe the technical measures that will be put in place to support the protection the data in the cloud
LA QUESTION:
University of Edinburgh’s website states: ‘Noteable is integrated with Learn to allow for a central launch point into a pre-set environment without the need for a separate login.’ Are you able to explain what Learn’ is?
LEARN refers to the University of Edinburgh’s specific online learning environment, and in the case of schools the word ‘Learn’ would be replaced with ‘GLOW’ as the equivalent. As these are the University of Edinburgh’s specific websites, information about Noteable will be specific to their use case. Further information on Noteable for schools can be found on our YouTube playlist and website.
LA QUESTION:
Noteable – Cookie Policy (edina.ac.uk) – are you able to clarify the third parties you rely on to sub-contract the processing if this includes personal data
LA QUESTION:
Will personal data be included on any assignments? E.g. teacher name, signature and pupils name, class, schools?
LA QUESTION:
What departmental controls or controls by University of Edinburgh etc. will be put in place to protect personal data? E.g. ‘Student Guide to using Noteable for Assignments’
LA QUESTION:
What do teachers have access to?
LA QUESTION:
Do you rely on any sub-processors? The storing of data outside the UK would have to be a yes as University of Edinburgh is a Data Processor. We need to understand if anyone else is ?
The following link showcases how QR codes have been creatively used within our school in order to enhance children’s engagement in learning and play, improve digital literacy across the curriculum, overcome written communication and interpretation barriers, provide opportunities for vertical learning through interactive displays, and deliver a sustainable and efficient method for staff training, to enhance our service provision. Evaluation and feedback on the success of these strategies is also included within this blog post.
Link to presentation – https://bit.ly/3l0oU3z
At Williamsburgh Primary School we have used QR codes, videos and drone footage to enhance viewer engagement and experience of Nursery – P1 transition. By doing so we have maintained our pedagogical approach, tailored our service delivery to the needs, interests and queries of children and families, encouraged children’s independence and digital literacy by accessing this information, and related theory from ‘Realising the Ambition: Being me’ (Education Scotland, 2020) to our practice. Examples of practice are featured within this post.
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