MDLT Blog

New approved Promethean resources

The Moray Data Protection Team have recently signed off the use of two resources which can help school staff enhance their use of the Promethean interactive panels which are in many classrooms across Moray. As with most online products staff should use their edunet or Glow email address to sign up to these services and not link their Google or Microsoft accounts.

My Promethean

School staff can now sign up for a My Promethean account to access ready created learning resources and ActivInspire flipcharts.

https://portal.mypromethean.com/

Learn Promethean

Creating an account for Learn Promethean gives school staff access to free on-demand online training . Modules focus on a variety of subjects related to Promethean products including ActivInspire and operation of different ActivPanel models.

https://learn.prometheanworld.com/

Please remember to check the RAG list to find details on how new products should be used, and to see what other products are approved for use in Moray. Links to the RAG list can be found in the weekly education bulletin on the Moray Digital Learning Team SharePoint site.

Education Scotland Cyber Security Fundamentals and Internet Safety (level 4) Materials

Education Scotland have collaborated with Girvan Academy in South Ayrshire to produce a set of resources that combine the SQA Level 4 units in Cyber Security Fundamentals and Internet Safety. These resources reinforce that every learner should have the knowledge and skills to use the internet and online services safely, allowing them to spot potential risks and recover from any potential harm they face while using online services. The course materials and teacher packs are available, along with many other resources, for all levels of learning from the digilearn.scot website.

Additional resources include a Teachers Toolkit based around the three key internet behaviours of Consume, Create and Communicate. Each of the these behaviours have different levels and types of risk. The toolkit will help educators diagnose, understand and then support learners with their digital needs.

Before starting with the toolkit, it is suggested that Educators find out what their learners are using and doing online; and the issues or risks this presents. With this information the toolkit can be used to locate appropriate information, resources and professional learning to support you in planning meaningful CRIS learning.

Cyber Resilience and Internet Safety Resources

Changes to Google Classroom Settings

To prevent students from un-enrolling themselves from Google Classrooms, Google have added a new setting which will enable whether Students can unenroll themselves from Google Classrooms.

To assist Educators the Education Scotland have decided to turn this feature on in Glow, preventing students from unenrolling themselves from a Google Classroom. A Educator would have to unenroll any learner manually from their Google Classroom if requested.

This change is scheduled for 28^th October.

YouTube – access error fix

YouTube is an additional service provided by Google that is not part of the core Google offering which users have access to with their Google account provided through Glow. This means that if you are logged into your Chrome browser with your Google account provided through Glow, you will see a message telling you that your can’t have access to the site. You may find that accessing your Google Classroom, G Drive or attending a Google Meet will automatically sign you into Chrome without you being aware of it.

The video below explains how to sign out of the Google account in your Chrome browser and how to access YouTube.

An alternative to signing out is using an incognito window to access YouTube. You can find more details on the changes to additional services which took place from 1st September in our earlier blog post – click here.

Reading Progress in Microsoft Teams – Now Live

Reading Progress is a new addition to Microsoft Teams Assignments, which all Glow users should now have access to. It is designed to support learners in building fluency through independent reading practice, and allows educators to review their progress. Within Reading Progress there are the auto-detect feature which educators can use to quickly identify errors such as mispronunciations, repetitions, phrasing, intonation, and omissions, so they can customise instruction for each learner.

Educators can upload a single reading fluency assignment or differentiate assignment for their class as required using Assignments in Teams. Learners record themselves reading and submit it within the assessment. This allow only the educator to view the recording. Educators can chose to require learners to record both their audio and video; however this should be used with caution as there is no background blur option currently available and for learners using the mobile Teams app video is automatically selected. As Reading Progress is developed by Microsoft options for selecting video and audio may change, but learners should always be aware of their surrounding when recording with Reading Progress.

As a tool Reading Progress can be used to assist learners to build confidence in their reading, fluency and can be applied to a number of curriculum areas such as Modern Languages and Drama.

If you wish to learn more please see links below:

- Reading Progress in Teams YouTube Video
- Reading Progress in Teams Article

Google Drive Links

Google are making an improvement to how sharing links from Google Drive work. A security update is being applied to sharing links for older files in Google Drive to make them more secure by adding a resource key. Newer files already have this key as part of their link.

This update will automatically add a resource key to sharing links for these older files. Once the update has been applied to a file, anyone who hasn’t previously viewed the file will have to use the new URL containing this resource key to gain access. Anyone who has viewed these files before or has direct access (i.e. signed into a Google account that the document is directly shared with) will not need the new url with the resource key included to access the file and will be unaffected.

Google will begin work from 13th September to automatically update these links. The update should finish by the end of September 2021.

Following these updates, if someone attempts to use an old link they can request access and the owner will get an alert to inform them of this. File owners will have the opportunity to remove the update through an option in the notification email from Google. This means that if a link is widely shared, for example a form for parents that is used every year, the update could be removed so that new visitors or anyone else without direct access could use the old link without having to issue an update to all to give the url with the resource key included. If a user does not take any action following the notification, they can still change sharing settings at a later date, reissuing the new link or directly sharing with other users.

We would therefore recommend that users check any previously shared files to ensure they are shared appropriately. As mentioned this only affects older files for anyone that does not have direct access and has not previously used the link so this update is not expected to have a significant operational impact.

Accessing Google Additional Services with your Glow account.

You may have seen announcements that Google are making changes to their approach to Additional Services from 1st September 2021. To clarify the situation for Glow users, Additional Services include YouTube, Google Earth and Google Maps have been switch off in Glow since 2019. This is due to requirements for consent on the collection and use of personal data obtained in connection with Additional Services. You will not be able to access these services using your Glow Google account.

As the services don’t require users to be signed in this should not be an issue, but may require users to ensure their browser is not signed in with their Glow credentials before they try to access these services. This can be checked by clicking on the user icon in the top right corner of the browser. The user icon is a circle that may have a profile picture, letters or a silhouette dependant on the account being used. Using an incognito or private browsing window will solve most access issues or signing out of the account.

As a reminder if you are signing up to any resource outside of Glow you should not select the option to use your existing Microsoft or Google account. You should select the sign up with email option and from there you can use your Glow email address, as long as the resource you are signing up for is an approved digital tool. Remember to check the RAG list in the weekly bulletin before creating any new accounts.

Mind Yer Time – Supporting Young People’s Healthy Use Of Social Media

Designed by children and young people from Children’s Parliament and the Scottish Youth Parliament to empower other children and young people across Scotland to use screens and social media in healthy ways Mind Yer Time is an online set of resources.

It has useful links for adults, children and young people, provides advice and guidance on topics such as: body positivity, children’s digital rights, online bulling and videogaming addiction.

There is no account or sign up required. You can find all the great resources at – https://mindyertime.scot/

Glow and Digital Learning Platform – End of Year Considerations

As the summer holidays grow closer here is a follow up to our earlier post on end of year preparations. Please review this important information to ensure you take any appropriate actions.

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 view/Teams, you are deleting it for everyone. Deleted Teams have to be restored by RM Unify which they can only do if they have the exact team name along with other details such as deleted time/date and Glow usernames of the team owners.

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. 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 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.

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

- Staying within the Local Authority – 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.

- 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.

Learners

- 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 outwith 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.

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 15th June at 4:30pm (places can be booked on CPD Manager).

Previously issued guidance – here.

Are you using Internet Explorer to access Glow?

As of mid-August 2021 Glow users will no longer be able to use Internet Explore and the Edge legacy browsers to access some services in Glow, such as Office 365. We recommend using Chrome to access Glow when in school to have access to all your applications. Using your Windows devices at home you can chose between Chrome or an up to date version of the Edge browser, if you have them available, as both will work with with your Glow account.

More information on how support for IE and edge legacy are being phased out can be found here: Microsoft 365 apps say farewell to Internet Explorer 11 and Windows 10 sunsets Microsoft Edge Legacy – Microsoft Tech Community