Monthly Archives: March 2016

Android, Glow, Help, Scholar

April Online Learning Opportunities

Bitesize

The BBC have updated their Bitesize app for Android

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.bbc.bitesize

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education

Twig is a premium resource for Maths, Geography & Sciences available for free, once logged in to Glow

https://www.twigonglow.com/Shibboleth.sso/RMUnify?target=https://www.twigonglow.com/secure

Scholar

All Stirling & Clacks Senior Phase pupils were sent Scholar cards earlier in the year, and should now have access to their Scholar accounts – which they can use without a password if they are logged into their Glow account (password only needs to be entered once). 

The next Scholar online live session is National 5 Maths (http://scholar.hw.ac.uk/Resources/Live_Online_Sessions/Upcoming_Sessions.html)

Scholar have also updated their ‘watch again’ service with a wide range of subjects – please share this with pupils.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/st/sctech4learning/2016/03/07/back-catalogue-of-scholar-homework-sessions-now-available/

 BrainPOP

A reminder that as part of the e-safety competition, we have free access for all Stirling and Clacks pupils and staff to BrainPOP resources until 30th April (closing date for the e-safety competition).  BrainPOP includes resources for English, Maths, Science, Technologies, Humanities, Arts, Health & Wellbeing, Computing as well as e-safety. 

To get free, immediate access to the BrainPOP resources, please log in to Glow, then select the Council Launchpad, then select the BrainPOP tile.

You will be automatically logged in and able to access all resources.  You will be directed straight to the digital citizenship resources (to support the e-safety competition) but you also have free unrestricted access to all of the other curricular related animated videos and teaching materials.

Please see below for further information on BrainPOP:

BrainPOP creates cross-curricular award winning cross-curricular digital content that engages students through animated movies, learning games, interactive quizzes, and supports teachers whilst adding excitement to lessons.

  • 700+ topics; 10,000 hours of teaching material
  • Animated movies explain concepts from across the curriculum
  • English, Maths, Science, Technologies, Humanities, Arts, Health & Wellbeing, Computing and online-safety
  • Interactive quizzes and high quality educational games
  • Lesson ideas, worksheets, and graphic organisers
  • Non-fiction research texts
  • Vocabulary guides
  • Printable activities
  • Mapped to the Curriculum for Excellence for primary and secondary schools
20#20 Strategy, Help

20#20 Technologies Toolkit

Building Society: Technologies and the Significant Aspects of Learning

On 9th March 2015, Education Scotland published the Technologies Impact report “Building Society, young people’s experiences and outcomes in the technologies”.

One year later, in March 2016, Education Scotland published “Technologies: Assessing progress and achievement in significant aspects of learning”.

The following pages and attached documents are intended to support schools to self-evaluate within this context.

Click on each title to open up a new page.

EDIT

20#20 Strategy

Technologies SALS published today

Education Scotland have published the Significant Aspects of Learning for Technologies today.

This is a significant (!) release for all Stirling & Clacks establishments, because the content and structure has been so heavily revised and remodelled.  This was a consequence of the Building Society Technologies impact report, which requires that technology be placed “at the heart of learning“.

“In scrutinising the role technologies have played in recent history Education Scotland believes a change is needed in the emphasis around the role of ICT, seen previously as ‘enhancing learning’. The review confirms beyond doubt that our children and young people need digital skills and technologies to be given an absolutely central role in the learning process, no longer an enhancement or bolt-on but a foundation of learning.”

The Technologies SALS document has been carefully mapped to the updated expectations of HGIOS 4.  Consequently, there is a clear need for all schools to carefully consider the central postion of their technology strategy within their School Improvement Planning processes.

It is particularly interesting to note the following on P4 of the SALS:

“Digital Literacy  As with literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing, digital literacy should be placed at the heart of all learning, not only the technologies area of the curriculum.  

  • Using digital products and services in a variety of contexts to achieve a purposeful outcome 
  • Searching, processing and managing information responsibly
  • Cyber resilience and internet safety” 
20#20 Strategy, Glow, Help, Mobile Devices

20#20 Strategy – What can Glow do for us?

By making use of the tools and resources within Glow, the following aspirations have become achievable.  Using Glow enables…

…learners to share their work with their peers and teachers.

…learners to access and share their work with their parents at home.

…dyslexic learners to adapt & manage their own printed materials, increasing their independence and reducing staff input and costs.

…all staff to access their own files and resources from anywhere.

…supply and peripatetic staff to work more effectively.

…easier access to help, support and useful learning resources.

…iPads, Androids and other mobile devices to become the textbook and jotter combined, with files saved and shared through OneDrive.

…schools and offices to become virtually paperless, with potential savings of thousands of pounds every year.

…life-long digital learning profiles to become a reality.

…Bring Your Own Device to become a reality.

…vibrant blogs & websites to be created free of charge, maintained by staff and contributed to by pupils.

…meetings to be more productive, with agendas pre-shared digitally as PDFs and minutes written in a shared-access notebook.

…existing hardware infrastructure (PCs, servers) to become increasingly irrelevant for learning & teaching, reducing the need for replacement leading to further long-term financial savings.

Email Migration, Glow, Help

Email Migration from Groupwise completed

The Groupwise email server will shortly be closed down, please ensure that you are now accessing your email via Outlook in Glow Office 365.

All Education establishment staff and centre staff (including education admin staff) have all been provided with a Glow account that gives them access to a fully functional Office 365 with unlimited web storage, free Office 2013 downloads on home computers/tablets, a Glow email address and an extensive range of tools provided within the Glow environment.

The reason for providing everyone in Stirling and Clackmannanshire Education with this set of tools is to improve sharing and support, communication and collaboration between

  1. Educators across all establishments
  2. Establishments and the central education team
  3. Educators and Establishments across Scotland
  • All Education staff should view their Glow account as their primary or priority account, including school admin staff in all sectors.

 

A limited number of Education staff have been provided with a second account, in the stirling.gov.uk O365 environment.  This account is limited to email, contacts and calendar – it does not currently provide any additional benefits beyond this.

The reason for providing a limited number of Stirling O365 accounts to specified staff is to

  1. Ensure that establishments continue to have access to certain corporate services (eg servicedesk, e-financials, shared HT diaries etc), and corporate staff addresses
  2. Ensure the GCSX account holders continue to have access to GCSX mail
  3. Ensure that external ‘others’, including prospective parents and agencies can continue to get in touch using the long-established email addresses that are published on the internet and in existing school and council literature
  • Corporate stirling.gov.uk accounts should be checked for new mail from external agencies, used when accessing corporate services, and when the formal corporate email address is required or deemed to be the most appropriate, given the circumstances.
Help, Scholar

Back-catalogue of Scholar Homework Sessions now available

The following recorded Scholar Live Online Sessions for students and teachers have been made publicly available to view anytime:  Click the  appropriate link to access