Getting started with wikis: try one!Glow wikis use a very popular open source platform called Mindtouch and a web search for ‘mindtouch wikis’ will reveal lots of help articles.
The best way to learn about wikis is actually to use one and, to this end, a sample Glow Wiki has been created.
You can access this here.
It covers areas such as:
Adding images and videos to wikis
62 ways to use iPads in the classroomThis is a great slideshow presentation called ’62 ways to use ipads in the classroom’ Some super ideas to get started. Embed wouldn’t work, so click the link to view:
http://www.slideshare.net/deang33/62-interesting-waystouseanipadinthecla
The offical Apple iPad manual might be worth taking a look at.
How to Geek’s Complete list of iPad tipshttp://www.howtogeek.com/howto/14529/the-complete-list-of-ipad-tips-tricks-and-tutorials/
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Glow e-portfolios
Tens of thousands of pupils are currently using Glow Blogs as their e-portfolio solution.
If this is the case for your school, you will be keen to know if pupils and staff will still have access to these once your Local Authority’s Glow content is migrated into Microsoft Office 365 and the current Glow becomes read-only.
The timetable for migration is currently being negotiated with Local Authorities, but it is hoped that the transfer of the Glow content which has been identified as being possible to move, will be migrated over to Microsoft Office 365 between January and August 2013. After migration, the current version of Glow will be read-only, until it is finally switched off in December 2013.
It is worth noting that My Glow content will not be migrated to Office 365 and that content held there can continue to be accessed, used and edited until current Glow ceases. Equally, it should be noted that Glow Blogs will not be migrated at this stage and a decision on the long term future of the blogs is still to be made, as can be seen below in the statement from Craig Munro.
The future for e-portfolios in Glow
Many people have been keen to know whether the WordPress Blogs, which Glow Blogs are built on, will continue to be available within Glow after current Glow ceases.
On 19th December 2012, Craig Munro, Strategic Director for Strategy, Performance and Corporate Resources at Education Scotland, made the following announcement regarding the future of Glow Blogs:
“Stakeholders raised concerns about the plan to migrate away from the current WordPress implementation of Glow Blogs. In response to this, and to increase user choice, we continue to seek clarification on the feasibility of making available a new installation of WordPress that will be available in parallel with SharePoint Online. In the meantime you have my assurance that the data sitting in the current version of WordPress will continue to be available to you while we consider the next steps.
A working group made up of representatives from Local Authorities and SQA continues to develop the user requirements for a new Glow e-portfolio solution. We will continue to keep you updated as we work towards the final solution.”
This should reassure schools that they will continue to have use of the Glow Blogs for at least the duration of current Glow.
However, there are still some limitations of access that are important to be aware of.
Creating and accessing e-portfolios during 2013
As mentioned above, over the coming months each Local Authority will have its migratable Glow content moved over to Microsoft Office 365. This will be done on an Authority by Authority basis, with each Local Authority being given its date for migration well in advance of it happening. Until that point, there will be no change in the functionality of current Glow.
After the content which is possible to migrate from Glow Groups, school and Local Authority sites is moved to O365, these areas of current Glow will become read-only. Again, note that not all content can be migrated. You may wish to read the post Migration of existing Glow content to Microsoft O365 for further information.
So, what will all of this mean for e-portfolios?
Existing e-portfolios
The good news is that Glow blogs will continue to work as they currently do once current Glow becomes read-only.
A pupil’s e-portfolio can still be accessed via any appropriate links, such as the View link in the Glow Blogs web part in their My e-portfolio Glow Group, by a button they created on their Glow Light screen, or, for both staff and pupils, via the links added to a school e-portfolio Glow Group.
Content can be added to e-portfolios as at present, as all Dashboard functionality will remain unchanged. Also, existing content can be edited or deleted. Access to the Dashboard will still be possible from the link in the Glow blogs web part or via the Edit links in the e-portfolio itself. Staff can continue to leave comments and, where appropriate, posts can still be included in the Profile page, for e-portfolio themes which include that.
Pupils will still be able to create a button on their Glow Light screen to take them straight to their e-portfolio.
So, as long as a school Glow Group has already been set up housing the links to the pupils e-portfolios, there will be no change to the access to or use of e-portfolios that have already been created, once current Glow becomes read-only.
New e-portfolio creation
If pupils are following the guidance in the National e-portfolio Glow Group to create their e-portfolio, they will still be able to do this even after current Glow becomes read-only. This is because pupils create their e-portfolio in a Glow Group within their My Glow area, and since My Glows will not be migrated to Microsoft Office 365, they will never become read-only and therefore can continue to be used, edited or added to as at present until current Glow ceases.
There is however a limitation regarding staff access to a pupil’s e-portfolio if it is created during read-only period, or, if a new pupil joins the school with an existing e-portfolio and staff need to gain access to it.
So, what can be done in these situations? Read on to find out!
Staff access
Once current Glow becomes read-only it will not be possible to create any new Glow Groups on the school site, create new web parts, add new web parts to a page, add new items to a web part, edit existing items or customise a web part.
This means that once current Glow becomes read-only it will not be possible to create a school e-portfolio Glow Group to house the links to pupil e-portfolios, as is currently the advised method. If a school e-portfolio Glow Group does already exist, it will not be possible to add any new content to the web links web parts in it. So, effectively, it will not be possible to house the links to new pupil e-portfolios within current Glow. This would mean that staff would not have any access to the pupil e-portfolios.
So, another method will have to be employed to give staff access to the link to a pupil’s e-portfolio.
It may be that you choose to place the link within the migrated web links web parts within Microsoft Office 365. It will be possible to edit these and add new content, so would be a feasible solution.
Or, the pupil could email the link to their e-portfolio to all staff who could then use the link from their email, or store it in their own My Glow in a web links web part, as My Glow areas will not become read-only. This would mean that each member of staff would have to save each link for themselves, so this option would have to be carefully considered.
Remember, this will only affect e-portfolios created after current Glow becomes read-only.
There will be no impact on existing e-portfolios.
Summary
– Glow Blogs will remain active and usable until at least the end of current Glow, in December 2013.
– Existing e-portfolios can still be used and staff can still access pupil e-portfolios from the existing links in a school Glow Group
– Pupils will continue to be able to create new e-portfolios
– The main limitation once current Glow becomes read only is that new school e-portfolio Glow Groups can’t be created and new links can’t be added to an exising Group (or existing links edited). Schools will have to use a different way of giving staff access to the pupil e-portfolios, such as using the migrated e-portfolio Glow Group within O365.
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Why Use Glow Meet?Glow Meet is Glow’s web conferencing tool. It has been upgraded and now uses a globally-popular software- Adobe Connect. The tool allows you to share documents, talk to a presentation and has collaborative tools like polls, surveys and chat. Glow TV uses Adobe connect, so a good start would be to watch one of the many recordings in Glow TV and see how it is used.
This help guide assumes you are joining a Glow Meet that someone else has set up and you are joining to take part without worrying about how to set the room up.
If you are setting up a Glow Meet room for others to join then this guide will help you with that.
The role you have in a Glow Meet is determined by the permissions you have in the Glow group where the Glow Meet room is situated. Users with Reader or Readers with Discussions permissions in the group will be Participants in the Glow Meet room.
The meeting will be managed by a user with Administrator permissions in the Glow group. They will have the role of Host in the meeting room.
The Khan Academy is an organization on a mission. It’s a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere.
All of the site’s resources are available to anyone. It doesn’t matter if you are a student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology. The Khan Academy’s materials and resources are available to you completely free of charge.
Inspirational Videos for schools
TED-Ed, TED’s education initiative, is an online library of short, captivating videos that engage inquisitive learners all over the world.
TED-Ed’s commitment to creating lessons worth sharing is an extension of TED’s mission of spreading great ideas. Within the growing TED-Ed video library, you will find carefully curated educational videos, many of which represent collaborations between talented educators and animators nominated through the TED-Ed platform.
This platform also allows users to take any useful educational video, not just TED’s, and easily create a customized lesson around the video. Users can distribute the lessons, publicly or privately, and track their impact on the world, a class, or an individual student.
There are many, many more available through Ted ed and the main Ted site
Education Scotland has been working with ADES to co-ordinate development and publication of exemplar learning and teaching materials for staff to use when working towards a qualification at National 4 and 5.
These materials are being developed from a variety of sources, with many being developed locally in schools and local authorities. Materials will be available for all N4 and N5 qualifications by spring 2013.
The materials provide suggestions on approaches to teaching and learning which will promote development of the necessary knowledge, understanding and skills for each subject and level.
Another superb resource for pupils and staff alike, Gigajam allows you to study online to learn various musical instruments.
Gigajam is a unique, interactive method of learning to play a musical instrument. Gigajam includes over 100 multimedia lessons, instructional videos of each exercise, award-winning interactive play-along software, and real-time analysis of your playing.
Gigajam is provided free to Scottish schools by Education Scotland as part of Glow.
A great way to bring your presentations and lessons to life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcCr8Cmroxw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3-opPvyVCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7PKkYX_458&list=PL09A34EF19596B7BB&index=7
Find educational clips from the best of BBC programmes in the Class Clips video and radio archive. BBC Class Clips (http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/)
Class Clips is the BBC’s archive of educational video and audio material for use in primary and secondary schools. Working with teachers across the UK, the best of current BBC programmes and back catalogue of schools television and radio the best range of clips to help with classroom teaching are chosen.
There are currently more than 10,000 clips in the Class Clips archive, all searchable by level, subject, topic and keyword and all accompanied by notes from teachers on the content and how it could be used.
Wonders of the Universe
Human Planet
and A History of Scotland through to old favourites like Around Scotland and See You See Me, clips cover a wide range of subjects across all age levels, many with broad potential for cross curricular learning.
Talkie Time
is a set of innovative videos for Early and First levels, that let you and your class interact with on-screen characters while learning about Numeracy, Literacy and Health and Wellbeing. Blethering Scots features famous faces discussing Scots language and its place in history, poetry, media and the playground.
All content on Class Clips is free to access and can be streamed directly into class. We’re also in the process of making all our clips embeddable, making it even easier to include them in blogs and web pages.
To find out what clips are available to help with your classes, visit Class Clips and start searching.
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