Renfrewshire ICT Blog » Renfrewshire Links

GLOW Launch

gordonmckinlay — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:00:00 +0000

Last night saw the GLOW launch in Renfrewshire at Gleniffer High School. About 250 people with representation from most schools in Renfrewshire attended the event. We heard from Alan Wait from Learning Curve about the importance of digital literacy in the 21st century. Paul Smyth gave a first live glimpse of some of what GLOW has to offer. Finally Douglas Chapelle from RM gave a presentation of the importance of thinking through the issues of ICT in learning and teaching. Douglas highlighted the Tim Brighouse book”How Success Head Teachers Survive and Thrive” which was distributed to all our establishments earlier this term. If you have not yet had a chance to look at this can I commend it to you.

This was a great evening and we are very thankful to all the contributors for the time they gave up. The next steps are all to do with implementation. Steven Wilson has been working hard at the ops training and this is ongoing with mentor training later in the month. It looks like it will be all go very soon!

Change afoot

gordonmckinlay — Mon, 14 May 2007 18:25:19 +0000

Since I took over my new post as acting senior adviser I have not had much time to do anything with the ICT blog. I am now taking matters in hand. Our new staff tutor, Steven Wilson, is about to take it over so that schools in Renfrewshire can stay up to date with what is going on.

Social networking is an important aspect of our ICT strategy both within and without Glow. It would be odd, therefore, if we didn’t use the medium ourselves! There is a lot going on that Steven will keep you up to date with. This includes;

Glow;
games and learning;
interactive whiteboards; and
child protection on-line.

Expect to see an update on all of these here very soon.

I will keep my hand in every now and then when something of relevance crosses my horizon. For example, we are currently getting the in-service catalogue finalised at the moment. A letter should be out about that this and we are working hard on the curriculum for excellence conference at the end of May.

I hope you continue to find this medium of communication useful. I know that we have not had many comments over the past year but from conversations around it seems that lots of folk read the posts.

Digital Video Festival @ Lapwing Lodge

gordonmckinlay — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 13:57:34 +0000

We have just had two days of schools digital video festivals @ Lapwing Lodge. Pupils from 12 schools have come together to create, from scratch, there own film. The aim is that they use the skills they have learned back in their own school. The days were led by Oscar Stringer and supported by Ann Crawford.

The children have all had a brilliant time working from the original idea, story boarding, filming, capture and editing the final result. Some of the ideas were really interesting and imaginative. It was great to see the children being creative and working as aprat of a group in order to get the product created.

There is huge potential for using these techniques in the school setting. The teachers involved in the day should now feel far more confident about putting the techniques into practice in their own establishment.

Glow Phase 2 Pilot

gordonmckinlay — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 19:37:57 +0000

Tomorrow sees the start of preparation for phase 2 of Glow piloting in Renfrewshire. We have two meetings tomorrow: one for the pilot schools and the second for the mentors. In the afternoon the four pilot schools: Barsail and St Fillan’s primaries and Johnstone and ParkMains High schools will learn about what is expected of them as they pilot the use of the new tools which have been added. A day’s workshop is planned for the pilot schools before Easter with the main period of time with the children likely to be the couple of weeks after Easter. The twilight session will brief the glow mentors so that they know what is going on this time round. We are also planning practical workshop sessions for these folk, one of these will be a virtual workshop. All those who have agreed to be involved in this have agreed to be involved in the workshops so that we can get some solid feedback for the Glow team. The pilot is due to run from the 19th of March to the 3rd of May. This time staff will be able to get access to the system wherever they are. This should make things a lot better for everyone trying to get a good feel for what Glow is all about.

After the meetings tomorrow I shall post the powerpoint presentation here so that anyone else can keep up to date with what is going on.

LTS Wiki

gordonmckinlay — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 19:28:52 +0000

LTS have launched a new wiki. The aim of Scotedupedia is a user created encyclopedia of education in Scotland. Have a look and start building the knowledge. I have started a very brief introduction to Renfrewshire. Hopefully you will add to it.

ICT Showcase – One Day to Go

gordonmckinlay — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 08:53:19 +0000

It’s Monday morning and I have checked the final figures for the ICT Showcase on Tuesday evening. We have 180 teachers booked with another 20 or so guests including parents and some folks from outwith Renfrewshire. All the final details should be in place. The evening will be videoed so we can create a DVD for all those who couldn’t get there on the evening. The audio should go on the website and here pretty soon after it has been recorded. Wireless conectivity should be available for anyone wishing to blog on the evening (let me know if this is you!). The accomodation is all sorted, the tea, coffee and cakes are all ready and we have the programme is all in place. David and Ewan are prepared (well so they tell me!). I think we are ready to roll.

If you are coming to Gleniffer tomorrow night then I look forward to seeing you then. If you are not, then why not!

ICT Showcase

gordonmckinlay — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 21:01:12 +0000

If you work in Renfrewshire you can now book a place on the ICT showcase. Log on to http://renfrewshire.cpdservice.net to book your space. If you don’t work in Renfrewshire and want to join us then email me at gordon.mckinlay-ed@renfrewshire.gov.uk. Find out more at http://www.ea.renfrewshire.sch.uk.

The showcase will take place on Tuesday the 20th of February from 7-9:30pm at Gleniffer High School in Paisley. This event is an exciting opportunity to find out more about the use of ICT in learning. David Muir and Ewan McIntosh will give exciting presentations on some of the possible uses of ICT in learning.

Put it in your diary and make that booking!