Google Jamboard is winding down

Google Jamboard will no longer be available after 31st December 2024.  This will be across across Web, iOS, Android, and Google Meet devices, internationally, and is not Glow specific.  Google have made this decision following feedback from customers that other whiteboarding tools have grown in capability and they have chosen to focus their resources on core content collaboration across Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Timeline for the Jamboard wind down:

Until 1st October 2024 – Your Jamboard device and application will continue to function normally.

Starting 1st October 2024 – The Jamboard app will become view-only. You’ll no longer be able to create new or edit existing Jams on any platform, including the web, iPhone, iPad and Android.

After 31st December 2024 – You’ll no longer be able to access the Jamboard app or your Jam files.

Google will be working with other digital whiteboard suppliers on the migration of existing Jams onto these alternative platforms; however currently these platforms are subscription based.  Google have suggested Google Slides or Google Drawings may be an alternative option to Jamboard in some situations

More details and a timeline can be found on the Glow connect website – HERE.

Please note that some of the products list on the Glow Connect or Google support pages are not approved for use in Moray and a DPIA would be required prior to use/account creation.

Safer School Scotland App – Reminder

As the holidays approach the Digital Learning Team would like to remind all our educators and learners in Moray about the brilliant resources available to them through the Safer Schools Scotland app.  While we have our fingers crossed for good weather so everyone can get out and enjoy everything Moray has to offer, we know that for some the holidays mean they may be spending more time online and need some support and guidance to make their online experience as positive as possible.

The Safer Schools Scotland App is a free app for mobile or tablet devices which provides school communities with up to date digital safeguarding and online safety information.  Each school has their own bespoke version of the app with their own school’s details and join codes.  The version of the app a user sees is based on their role – Learners, Teacher, Safe Guarding Lead or Parent/Guardian and has appropriate content for each role.  Schools can contact the Digital Learning Team for details of their schools join codes and log in details if required.

In addition to the Safer Schools Scotland app the we also like to highlight two other free resources from Ineqe Safeguarding Group the which families can access for guidance and support –

    • Safety Centre – contains guides on popular app, reporting/blocking content and how to use safety and privacy setting on different types of devices.
    • Home Learning Hub – library of resources, articles and guides on how to help children and young people be safer online.

All the resources listed above are constantly monitored and updated to reflect changes in the online landscape, emerging trends and to highlight credible risks.

Microsoft Office Desktop Apps Downloads via Glow

If you have previously downloaded Microsoft 365 Pro to your personal laptop/computer via the ‘Download Office Now’ Tile in Glow and signed in with your Glow credential this change from Microsoft will impact you.

Glow’s Office A1 Plus licenses used to allow Glow users to download and/or activate the Microsoft Office suite for free; however Microsoft are implementing some license changes that will impact this functionality.

From the 28th October 2024 users will no longer be able to use download the desktop applications through their Glow account.  Access will be removed staring from the 28th Oct, but may take up to 3 weeks for all accounts to be updated.

This is a change in Microsoft licensing that affects all Glow users, both staff and learners, and may impact home devices as well if the user’s Glow account has been used to download or log into Microsoft applications.

This licensing change will not affect access to Microsoft 365 web applications, so you will still be able to access Word, Excel and PowerPoint through your web browser.  The Microsoft Team app or and and Microsoft 365 mobile apps you have downloaded will also not be affected.

For more details on the changes to our Glow licenses and the actions you can take please go to the Glow support page – HERE.

New Teams Default in Glow

From 26th February 2024, RM Unify are enabling New Teams as the default within Glow. This will allow users to continue to familiarise themselves with the New Teams interface in advance of the retiral of Classic Teams at the end of March 2024.

Users will still have the option to revert back to Classic Teams between 26th February 2024 and end of March 2024; however as Classic Teams will no longer be available after March 2024 we would encourage all Glow users to explore New Teams as it will be what all users will be utilising moving forward.

Click here for more details on New Teams read our previous Teams post.  Or to see the differences in functionality between Classic Teams and New Team click – here

Changes to OneDrive storage in Glow

Microsoft recently announced changes in storage allocation on their A1 Education license, which is the license all users have through their Glow account. As of February 1st, 2024, users will be restricted to a maximum of 100Gb storage within their individual OneDrive.  This is a reduction from the 1TB currently available in Glow.  The vast majority of Moray users will be unaffected by this change as they are not using anywhere near 100Gb of storage.

Education Scotland have provided the Moray Digital Learning Team with a list of accounts whose OneDrive storage exceed these new limits, as well as users that are close to this limit (i.e. those with storage space of 90Gb and over).  We will be contacting these account holders individually.

All Glow users are encouraged to undertake regular housekeeping of their cloud storage to ensure they remain with the limits. These housekeeping tasks can range from, but are not limited to

  • Deleting unwanted / unused files
  • Delete unwanted / unused versions
  • Empty Recycle bin
  • If the material is still required, consider storing in an alternative location like G Drive
  • To learn how to review and delete large files in OneDrive, go to this site.

Tips For End Users

  • How to view your storage usage – Sign into OneDrive on the web. Review storage usage on the bottom left corner.
  • Clean up your files – Click the storage amount used and view the largest files in your OneDrive you may want to delete to free up space. After deleting the files, empty the recycle bin.

Following the licensing change in February 2024 users will receive warning notifications when approaching the storage limit. At 100% capacity, the user’s OneDrive will be limited to read-only access. Users won’t be able to upload, edit or sync new files to OneDrive but existing files will remain read-only

End of Year – Glow and Digital Learning Platforms Information

As the end of the academic year draws closer, now seems like a good time to remind Glow users of some important information regarding their accounts, information management and data protection.

All staff

  • Leaving MS Teams and Google Classrooms you don’t want to be a member of –  Leave the team, don’t Delete it.  Click here for instructions on Teams and here for Google Classroom.  If you delete a team, you are not just deleting it from your account, you are deleting it for everyone.  Deleted Google Classrooms cannot be restored.  Deleted Microsoft Teams can be restored by RM Unify for a very limited period after the deletion.  They need the exact Team name along with other details such as deleted time/date and Glow usernames of the Team owners.  If you are the last owner to leave the Team/Google Classroom please do consider deleting it as orphaned Teams will automatically select a new owner which could be a learner.
  • Learners can be removed from the Team or Classroom if you wish to use them again for the new academic year; however, you may prefer to create a new Team or Classroom.  For details on how to copy existing Teams click here and here for Google Classrooms.  Please not that there are differences between Teams and google Classroom in what is copied to the new space.
  • Archive MS Teams and Google Classrooms that are no longer needed.  Only delete when you are sure you will never use it again.  Remember you can reuse posts and assignments you have created in your new Teams/Classrooms.   Click here for instructions for Teams and here for Google Classroom.
  • If you intend to use your existing Teams or Google Classrooms again in the new year you may wish to mute all learners over the summer to ensure there are no unmonitored posts or comments added to the team during the summer holidays.  Click here for guidance on muting in Teams and here for Google Classroom.
  • Cleanse data from any other systems where learner data has been stored as per the retention policy or guidance provided when a new product is signed off for use.  Personal data should either be deleted or anonymised as appropriate for the system in question.

Glow Accounts

Staff Accounts

Staff moving to another school, role or local authority

If you are the sole owner or administrator of any of the below, you should transfer ownership to another Glow staff user(s) before you leave your post.  It is always best practice to have more than 1 owner/administrator.

        • MS Teams and Google Classrooms
        • Glow Blogs
        • Google Sites
        • SharePoint sites
        • Stream video channels
        • MS or Google Forms and Surveys

Moving to another School in Moray

Your Glow account will move to your new school however it will be inactive from the end date in your old school until the start date in your new school.  If you will need access over the summer, you should request a grace period via missupport@moray.gov.uk.

Moving to another Local Authority 

Staff Glow accounts cannot be transferred to another LA.  You will get a new Glow account in your new LA.  Your existing Glow account will be inactive from the end date in your old school.  If you will need access over the summer, you should request a grace period via missupport@moray.gov.uk.  Also, refer to Glow Connect website and scroll to section “Content that is associated with your account and will be deleted” to ensure you back up everything you require to keep before your account is deleted.

Moving to a new role in Moray

Teaching and Non-Teaching SEEMiS generated Glow accounts cannot be transferred to a non-school based establishment in Glow.  If you are taking up a role in Moray outside of a school e.g. in a supporting Education Team based in HQ, Beechbrae, etc. a new Glow account will be required.  School based Glow accounts are generated via your record in SEEMiS and when a leaving date is added your Glow account will be closed.  As per the advice above back-up anything you do not wish to lose and transfer ownership of Teams, Blogs, Google Sites etc.  New Glow accounts for non-school based staff should be requested from MIS Support.

NQT Glow accounts

Information specific to NQTs has been emailed directly to all NQTs.

Learner Accounts

Senior Secondary leavers

Glow accounts will be deleted after a leaving/closure date is added to their record in SEEMiS.  Any work they wish to retain should be downloaded and any systems using their Glow email account should be updated, for example College applications.

P7 learners going to S1

Learners Glow accounts will become inactive from their end date in SEEMiS in primary school (last day of school) until their start date in SEEMiS in their secondary school.  If they will need access to Glow over the summer you should request a grace period for them via missupport@moray.gov.uk.

Any learner moving to another school within or out with the Local Authority

Learners Glow accounts will be transferred with them.  However, learners Glow accounts will become inactive from their end date in SEEMiS in their current school until their start date in SEEMiS in their new school.  If they will need access to Glow over the summer you should request a grace period for them via missupport@moray.gov.uk.

National Password Reset

The national Glow password for all Learner accounts will take place from 9th August and 28th August for staff Glow accounts.  It can take a couple of days from the starting date for all users to be prompted to change their password.  You can find tip on how to create a secure password – here.

Accessing Glow Accounts outside the UK

If staff or learners are planning on accessing Glow outside of the UK over the summer break, please contact the Digital Learning Team to request more details on to ensure your access is not revoked as part of the RM Unify security checks.


Information Management

Data Protection – Glow

Glow provides educators and learners access to the most up to date industry standard digital tools and cloud storage which can be accessed on any internet enabled device.  It also provides them access to an email account to facilitate their learning.  Glow is the perfect place to store non-sensitive learning and teaching materials; however not all documents, information or email communications are appropriate to be stored, shared or sent through Glow.  Educators can find more information on the types of information which can be stored safely in Glow – here.

The end of the year is good time to remind learners about the appropriate use of Glow and what they should be storing, both in terms of sensitive information and copyright.

Sensitive or confidential information should only be stored in the secure school shared drive which is part of the Moray Council network.  Educators may use their Glow email to communicate with learners, but for more sensitive content should only be emailed via the moray-edunet.gov.uk address as it has higher levels of encryption.

To ensure that both Educators and Learners use Glow in a positive, safe and responsible way the Glow community rules can be reviewed – here.

Data Protection – General

Regular data cleansing in any system is vital to ensure that the fundamental tenets of data protection are adhered to.  The start or end of a term or year is a natural point at which to conduct these reviews.  Further information on the Moray Council Data Protection processes can be found – here.

Staff are also encouraged to complete the Moray: Data Protection (inc. GDPR) e-learning course on CLIVE, the council’s online learning management system.  More details on CLIVE and details on how to access the system can be found – here.


We have put together an end of year checklist to help guide you through the tasks detailed above –  click here.

If you have any questions on the above please contact learntech@moray.gov.uk or attend the CPD session we have scheduled on 5th June at 4pm (places can be booked on CPD Manager).

I am not a robot

The Digital Learning Team have been getting reports recently of educators and learners getting the following reCAPTCHA message when using Google as their search engine.

reCAPTCHA is a free service from Google that helps protect users from spam and abuse. A “CAPTCHA” is a Turing test to tell human and bots apart. It is easy for humans to solve, but hard for “bots” and other malicious software to figure out.

The reCAPTCHA message is generated when  Google notices unusual traffic from your computer network.  This activity could be anywhere on the Moray Council network, so not necessarily in your school or classroom.  The message will usually stop 24 to 48 hours after Google has established the risk has been removed.

Here are some suggestions to allow you to continue with your online activity –

    • Use an alternative search engine – Bing, Yahoo etc.
      • Type the search engine address directly into the address bar at the top of the Chrome browser, for example bing.com
    • If you know the website address you are trying to access type the address  directly into the address bar.
      • For frequently visited sites add them to your bookmarks
    • Complete the Turning test to prove you are not a robot!

Maddie is Online – digital citizenship cartoon series

‘Maddie is Online’ is an education cartoon series and classroom resources which focuses on digital citizenship skills for 9 to 12 year olds.  Developed by  Dr Konstantina Martzoukou, Teaching Excellence Fellow, at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, it is free resource focusing on developing skills to safely navigate online spaces.

Currently there are three series available focusing on –

Each series comprises of short videos playing out a common scenarios for young people online and the different ways it can be tackled.  Accompanying class resources and lesson plans can be found on the Maddie is Online blog – HERE

The project has been funded by the Scottish Library and Information Council, the Scottish Government with the support of Digital Xtra Fund and the Robert Gordon University Innovation Accelerator.

Copyright Guidance for Moray Educators

Storage and publishing of Copyright Material in Glow – action required

Education Scotland have reported that they have received concerns from publishers and content providers that some Glow users in Scotland may have contravened copyright legislation by storing or publishing non-licensed materials through Glow.  This included the posting entire books on publicly available  school websites/social media.  While it is recognised this was done with the best of intentions to assist in teaching and learning during lockdowns it does contravene copyright regulations and should be removed immediately.  The Digital Learning Team would suggest that all schools check what is currently published on their School website or other public facing communication channels.

Please be aware copy written materials should never be published or shared on School websites, Glow blogs, Google Sites or social media without a license or permission to do so.  Unlicensed materials should not be stored in Glow if they fall outside of the fair dealing requirements which allow extracts of licensed material to be used for “giving or receiving instruction”.


Back ground information and Guidance

Copyright is a form of intellectual property protection that applies to original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, as well as layouts of published works, sound recordings, film and broadcast.

While there are some copy right exceptions for educational instruction, these are fully detailed below, it is worth noting that this does not provide teachers or learners with carte blanche to use copy right materials without a license.

A teacher or learner can use an extract of a copyright work for the purpose of “giving or receiving instruction”, with full attribution of the original source.  This includes videos, images, songs and printed works issued in classrooms, during online learning or as part of the assessment process.

The use of copyright material within education should be defensible by meeting the following ‘fair dealing’ requirements set out in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  • relevant to the topic under discussion (not merely decorative)
  • fully attributed
  • a ‘reasonable’ amount
  • for a limited audience (not published on the open web)
  • for a limited time
  • with no impact on the rights-holder’s market —  if you are copying from a published work

Tips

Teaching Exceptions as listed on https://www.gov.uk

Several exceptions allow copyright works to be used for educational purposes, such as:

  • The copying of works in any medium as long as the use is solely to illustrate a point, it is not done for commercial purposes, it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement, and the use is fair dealing. This means minor uses, such as displaying a few lines of poetry on an interactive whiteboard, are permitted, but uses which would undermine sales of teaching materials are not
  • Performing, playing or showing copyright works in a school, university or other educational establishment for educational purposes. However, it only applies if the audience is limited to teachers, pupils and others directly connected with the activities of the establishment. It will not generally apply if parents are in the audience. Examples of this are showing a video for English or drama lessons and the teaching of music. It is unlikely to include the playing of a video during a wet playtime purely to amuse the children
  • Recording a TV programme or radio broadcast for non-commercial educational purposes in an educational establishment, provided there is no licensing scheme in place. Generally a licence will be required from the Educational Recording Agency
  • Making copies by using a photocopier, or similar device on behalf of an educational establishment for the purpose of non-commercial instruction, provided that there is no licensing scheme in place. Generally a licence will be required from the Copyright Licensing Agency
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