Josef Fuchs teaches PE at St Ninian’s High School in East Renfrewshire. He was keen to learn how Glow could be used to support the activities pupils take part in in PE. After some exploration of the possibilities, he hit upon the idea of using a Custom List to record pupils’ fitness test results.

Context

The PE Department in St Ninan’s has had a Glow Group for some time, but Josef was looking for new ways to use Glow to support the work of the Department and to benefit the pupils.

He wanted pupils to be able to record the results from their fitness tests and update them after a period of time to track progress. He also wanted staff to be able to analyse the results by looking at, for example, all the results for one class or one pupil, or all the results for one particular fitness test.

He learned that a Custom List enables all of this and so began creating two – one for S1 and one for S2.

A custom list is a bit like a spreadsheet, and allows data to be entered, sorted and filtered. Unlike many other web parts, the custom list is not merely added to a page from the web parts gallery, it must first be created. This allows the person creating the custom list to choose the content, such as the data required and how it is presented to those adding an entry to the list.

In addition, it is possible to set up the custom list so that each user can only see their own entries, but that those with Administrator rights on the Glow Group where the list resides, can see all entries and so analyse them.

Josef chose to set up his custom lists so that each pupil can see only their own entries, but staff can see them all. 

Let’s look at the St Ninian’s PE Dept Glow Group and then specifically at the Custom list being used to record fitness test performance in the following video clip:

Tour of the St Ninian’s PE Glow Group and Fitness Test Custom List (7:07)
On your marks, get set, Glow!
 

Ingredients

Click to Enlarge

Josef needed a Glow Group to house the custom list, and decided to make use of the existing PE Glow Group (‘Physical Education Pupil Section’) which staff and all pupils already had access to. He needed to check the permissions for the Glow Group members to ensure that pupils could add content to the custom list. He also wanted to ensure that the Glow Group membership permissions were set in such a way that would allow staff to see all entries but for each pupil to only see their own. He therefore gave Contributor permissions to pupils and Administrator rights to staff. Josef then created his custom list and added it to the Glow Group. In the next section, learn how to do this.

Recipe

The following videos show how to replicate the custom list that Josef Fuchs created in St Ninian’s.

How to create a custom list (16:34)
On your marks, get set, Glow!
Editing the columns in a custom list (2:36)
On your marks, get set, Glow!
How to set user permissions on a custom list (4:56)
On your marks, get set, Glow!
Teacher use of the custom list: Filtering (3:23)
On your marks, get set, Glow!
 

 Impact

Josef, the other PE staff and of course the pupils, enjoy many benefits by using the Custon List in the PE Glow Group. Josef says:

“The main benefit is that pupils and staff can both access the Group at any point.  If the same information is written in booklets only pupils or staff would be able to do this at any one time.  Pupils can misplace booklets meaning that all their data is lost and them being unable to record their achievements. It also reduces the amount of paper being used and removes the need for staff to store paper booklets. Filling in booklets in all PE settings e.g. oustide, is problematic, so doing this digitally makes the experience much more positive and relevant to the pupils.” 

The way that the Custom List has been set up means that pupils can easily see their results over a period of time since they record scores at the start of a period of work and again at the end. Josef comments on this:

“Pupils can see their impovement between the start and end of the block. They can be motivated to improve their score between the 1st and 2nd time they complete each test and more between S1 and S2 for example.”

The list also aids staff, enabling them to easily look at all the results for one pupil, one class or one fitness test, by using the filter functionality. This enables staff to give specific feedback and advice to pupils to aid their improvement. Josef adds:

“Staff can sort the data easily to see who has got the best score, made the biggest improvement etc.”

Pupil Thoughts:
The pupils also have thoughts on the benefits of using Glow to record their fitness test scores. Hear what some of them have to say in the following video:

On your marks, get set, Glow!

Mini-Mentors – click to enlarge

Judith Lennox was P7 teacher at Coylton Primary School in South Ayrshire and is now DHT in the school.

This Cookbook will focus on the Mini-Mentor project that Judith ran with some of her P7 class pupils.

After Judith had received her Glow Mentor training her class and the other P7 class were using Glow regularly. Her headteacher wanted Judith to spread this use to all pupils of P3 and above in the school. This would involve giving out all usernames and passwords and making sure they were using Glow as much as they could be. Judith was given a day out of class to kick this off but as she was planning for it she quickly realised that it was going to take much longer than that. By this point Judith’s class had been making good use of Glow for some time and she thought it would be a good idea for some of them to come and help her out. She gave them the title of Mini-Mentors which made them feel really important. She also made them very official-looking badges and other accessories for their role.

Reactions from the Mini-Mentors – click to enlarge

The pupils were able to help her troubleshoot getting the other pupils logged into Glow and help them set up their new passwords. Judith feels there is no way in that day that she would have been able to get around all of the classes without the help of her Mini-Mentors.

Now, if any teachers are needing any help with Glow in their class the Mini-Mentors are called upon to go and help with anything they’re asked to do. They’ve done short presentations to classes about how to do certain things in Glow. For example, how to add Vokis to their My Glow pages. Judith feels that her P7 pupils have grown in confidence as they recognise the level of their own skills in Glow and in being able to share that knowledge with others.

Dana P7

P7 Pupil Dana explains the project:

Mini-Mentors is a group that Miss Lennox set up and we help the school with Glow things like surveys and stuff. We went down to the P5’s and we showed them how to do a survey. We got them to do it on a computer. A week after that we got them to do Vokis and put them onto their pages. I think they enjoyed the Vokis the best though!

Mini-Mentors News

Judith set up a page for the Mini-Mentors in the P7 Glow Group to allow them to share news, ad.vice and general discussions with each other.

The Mini-Mentor Page of the P7 Glow Group (0:51)
Mini-Mentors project at Coylton Primary

Ingredients

What did Judith need to do to set up the Mini-Mentor Project?

• Set up a P7 class Glow Group and have her pupils familiar with using Glow.
• Create a Mini-Mentors page within the class Glow Group.
• Select pupils from her P7 class to become Mini-Mentors.
• Enable these pupils to assist her to get the other pupils in the school onto Glow.
• Encourage these pupils to help other pupils and teachers across the school by delivering various sessions when called upon.
• The Mini-Mentors also help out by answering questions from other pupils within their class

Recipe

The Mini-Mentor project at Coylton Primary School involved practical aspects of helping with the other pupils and delivering sessions to the other classes. As such there isn’t really How-To videos using Glow which would cover this. Instead, I have included some videos below about setting up the Mini-Mentors page in the P7 Glow Group. The first two videos comprise a tour of the P7 Glow Group to set the project in the context of what the class were already doing in Glow.

Tour of the Primary 7 Glow Group – Part 1 (3:34)
Mini-Mentors project at Coylton Primary

Tour of the Primary 7 Glow Group – Part 2 (3:02)
Mini-Mentors project at Coylton Primary

Adding an image to a text editor web part (3:53)
Mini-Mentors project at Coylton Primary

Adding text to a text editor web part (2:28)
Mini-Mentors project at Coylton Primary

Creating a new News web part (2:31)
Mini-Mentors project at Coylton Primary

Creating a new Discussion web part (2:26)
Mini-Mentors project at Coylton Primary

Impact

Judith speaks about her P7 Mini-Mentors (1:53)
Mini-Mentors project at Coylton Primary

Judith talks about the impact she thinks the Mini-Mentor project has had on her P7 pupils:

I think definitely, for some of them, they would never have dreamed of standing up in front of another class to explain how to do something. I think they also didn’t  realise that they were already very good at using Glow, that they took those skills for granted that they didn’t realise they had. It has made them think more carefully about what they’re doing because they’re having to explain it to someone else. I think there’s a definite confidence boost for a lot of them but also just recognising the skills that they already had.

Dana on Mini-Mentors (0:48)
Mini-Mentors project at Coylton Primary

Dana speaks further about what she enjoyed about being a Mini-Mentor:

I found it quite fun because you were with all your friends. I was quite nervous though … I liked answering all the questions because they were quite good questions.

Earth and Space Topic Glow Group

Judith Lennox was P7 teacher at Coylton Primary School in South Ayrshire and is now DHT in the school. When it came to their topic work on Earth and Space, the P7 pupils at Coylton Primary School had lots of ideas about what they would like to learn about. Judith incorporated all of these ideas into the Glow Group she put together for the topic.

Judith’s Tour of the Earth and Space Glow Group Part 1 (3:40)
Engaging videos in an Earth and Space Glow Group at Coylton Primary

Judith’s Tour of the Earth and Space Glow Group Part 2 (2:45)
Engaging videos in an Earth and Space Glow Group at Coylton Primary

This second Cookbook on Judith’s work with her P7 pupils on their Earth and Space Project will focus on the use of video. Four further Cookbooks will look at reusing a Glow Group through a template; the use made of a wiki within the Glow Group for pupils to present research; the use made of picture libraries within the Glow Group and lastly on the use of a survey for topic evaluation.

You will find links to the other Cookbooks on the Earth and Space Topic Glow Group below as they are written:

• Working with a Glow Group template for an Earth and Space Topic
• Our Planets Wiki at Coylton Primary
• Showcasing Pupil Work in Picture Libraries
• Using a survey for topic evaluation to enable pupil voice

Judith Lennox

Although they do so much more, sites like YouTube and TeacherTube can act as incredibly powerful search engines for rich, engaging and relevant content for learning and teaching. It is estimated that at least 20 hours of video is uploaded every minute to YouTube. When teachers can sift through and find gems of content to use then they can often create a context which provides pupils with a visual connection to a particular area of the curriculum. Concepts which can be particularly difficult to teach in the classroom, like gravity, can suddenly come to life with a couple of well chosen videos which can act as a bridge to understanding and a stimulus for discussion.

You Tube Animaniacs Videos

Glow is a perfect tool to be able to share these short videos with pupils. Videos can be embedded within the pages of a Glow Group and then used in the classroom on the whiteboard but then also used by pupils at home to consolidate their learning. Of course, some local authorities may have restricted YouTube so that videos from it cannot be used on the school network. Some local authorities restrict this for pupils but not for teachers. However, if teachers have embedded well-chosen videos into their Glow Groups, pupils should still be able to access these from home.

Judith felt that the videos worked extremely well in terms of “hooking” the pupils into the Glow Group and focussing their enthusiasm for their Earth and Space topic. This was the case with a couple of the Animaniacs videos which came from YouTube, Our Solar System Singalong and Yakko’s Universe song. Judith added these to the Noticeboard page of the Glow Group to set the scene for the pupils and the pupils wanted to return to them time and time again.

Videos in the Glow Group – click to enlarge

Further use was made of video on the Mars Rover page with the Mars Rover Animations videos, again from YouTube; the first moon landing on the Space Exploration page; both some instructional and some fun videos on the Gravity page; more TeacherTube videos on the Earth, Moon and Sun page and great NASA TeacherTube videos bringing in a health and wellbeing aspect on the Future Astronauts page.

Ingredients

Click to enlarge

What did Judith need to be able to embed videos in her Earth and Space Topic Glow Group?

• A Group created within Coylton Primary School with pupils set as members of any level
• Appropriate videos selected  from YouTube and TeacherTube
• embed codes copied from TeacherTube and YouTube for each video
• xml web parts added onto pages where videos are required
• embed codes added to xml web parts and titles of web parts changed to reflect the video content

Recipe

In the videos which follow we will recreate with one video what Judith did in the Earth and Space Glow Group to add videos to several pages.

How to find a video to use in your Glow Group and copy the embed code (2:48)
Engaging videos in an Earth and Space Glow Group at Coylton Primary

How to add an xml web part (1:27)
Engaging videos in an Earth and Space Glow Group at Coylton Primary

How to add the embed code (2:13)
Engaging videos in an Earth and Space Glow Group at Coylton Primary

These are the links to the videos Judith used in her Glow Group:

YouTube Videos

• Animaniacs – Our Solar System singalong…
• Yakko’s Universe Song
• mars rover to mars holst the planets
• Mars Rover Blooper Reel
• First Moon Landing 1969
• Harry Discusses – Gravity
• Eureka! Episode 6 – Gravity
• I’m a Victim of Gravity

TeacherTube Videos

• TeacherTube Videos – Phases of the Moon
• TeacherTube Videos – What Causes Seasons on the Earth
• TeacherTube Videos – The Mystery of the Earth’s Tides
• TeacherTube Videos – Forceman Animation – Gravity
• TeacherTube Videos – NASA – Base Station Walk-Back
• TeacherTube Videos – NASA – Mission Control
• TeacherTube Videos – NASA - Crew Strength Training
• TeacherTube Videos – NASA - Do a Space Walk

Impact

Below you will find some videos where Judith talks about the impact of various aspects of the Earth and Space Topic Glow Group and also videos where pupils, Dana and Brandon talk about why they like Glow.

Judith explains how the pupils were “hooked-in” to Glow (0:29)
Engaging videos in an Earth and Space Glow Group at Coylton Primary

Judith explains how she used videos and discussion boards to teach gravity (0:50)
Engaging videos in an Earth and Space Glow Group at Coylton Primary

Judith speaks about the Mission to Mars Activities (1:05)
Engaging videos in an Earth and Space Glow Group at Coylton Primary

The videos on the first page were little Animaniacs videos from YouTube that the children loved and insisted on watching just about every time we did the topic.

But it did grab their attention and it meant that they were interested and hooked-in to using Glow from the start.

Brandon on why he likes Glow (0:29)
Engaging videos in an Earth and Space Glow Group at Coylton Primary

Dana on why she likes Glow (0:23)
Engaging videos in an Earth and Space Glow Group at Coylton Primary

Margaret Hamilton

Margaret Hamilton is PT Raising Achievement at St Aidan’s High School in North Lanarkshire. She is also the Glow Mentor for the school. As part of the many things Margaret was using Glow for she wanted to work on a Transition Glow Group which she just started before the end of term. Margaret had been impressed by what she saw in the Glow Cookbook, Transition Glow Group in Angus Schools, particularly by the involvement of the S1 pupils and also with their Interactive Map.

Some of St Aidan’s High School’s associate primary schools are as much as 12 miles away and Margaret was attracted by the idea of being able to use tools such as Discussion Boards and Glow Meet to keep in contact without having to wait for physical visits.

The video below is Margaret’s description of the Glow Group and tour of the Interactive Map:
Margaret’s Tour of the Glow Group and the Interactive School Map (2:42)
St Aidan’s High School Transition – Interactive School Map

Ingredients

The Noticeboard of the Transition Group – click to enlarge

The St Aidan’s High School Transition Glow Group has been built at local authority level in North Lanarkshire so that all primary schools will see the Glow Group name in their list of Glow Groups. If the Group had been built in St Aidan’s High school site they would have to have sent a link to each primary school.

Graphical Interface

As you can see from the screenshot a graphical interface has been used for the design of the Glow Group. This was done to simplify the interface for pupils and teachers. There are only 2 visible page tabs in the Glow Group, the Noticeboard and the Glow Meet page. The other pages in the Group have been created as ‘Hidden Pages’ and are accessible by clicking on the named button links on the Noticeboard graphic.

Content of the Glow Group

The Questions Page – click to enlarge

The Glow Group is mainly about sharing information with the schools. There are pages with pictures and information about the Senior Management Team; the captains and prefects; pupils care and support; the student council; subjects within the school; tutor time; student planners; competitions and the schedule of primary visits. However, there are also 3 more interactive areas in the Questions page, the P7 wiki and the interactive map of the school. It is planned that the following year there will be much more participation from subject departments within St Aidan’s High School. This will possibly be in the form of challenges and competitions which the primary pupils will be able to participate in.

Pupil Voice

The Questions Page is about the primary pupils being able to ask questions which the S1 pupils will answer. There is also a separate discussion board where the S1 pupils will ask and answer questions that they feel they wish they had known about before they came to secondary school. These discussion boards can be set up so that they are moderated and an administrator of the Glow Group has to approve posts before they are seen by all members of the Glow Group.

The Angus Schools Cookbook mentioned above has how-To videos which will take you through the process of setting up moderated discussion boards if this is of interest.

The P7 wiki

P7 wiki – click to enlarge

Although it is early days in the set-up of the Glow Group, Margaret has created a Glow wiki with a page for every associate primary school. It is hoped that the schools will use these pages to give information about their school to be shared with the other primary schools in the cluster. In the wiki area they can easily use text, images, audio files and even videos to describe their school. It is also hoped that they will showcase pupil work in these pages.

The Interactive Map

Interactive Map – Click to enlarge

Margaret originally made the Interactive Map in a PowerPoint document, with a separate page for every photograph of the different areas of the school. She carefully annotated the corridor photographs so that they would provide detail on the direction of further corridors and stairwells and to every classroom within them. Every photograph of a corridor links to each of the classrooms within it and onto further classrooms. Each classroom has the name of the subject and the teacher(s) who teach there. On every page there is a small version of the photograph of the front of the school at the bottom right-hand corner to allow users to navigate back to the home page. Margaret also compressed every individual photograph to minimise the size of the finished document. When it was completed in PowerPoint and the links were all set up, the file was converted to a pdf. This was to reduce the size even further. Once placed into a document library the photo of the front of the school, on the interactive map page was linked to the pdf document.

What did Margaret need to be able to set up the Transition Glow Group:

• A Glow Group set up at local authority level with Margaret given Administrator access to this
• Contributor membership set for every associate primary, for all teaching and non-teaching staff; P6 and P7 classes; teaching and non-teaching staff at St Aidan’s High School and all S1 pupils
• Several PowerPoint slides saved as images to be used as graphical interfaces at different points within the Glow Group
• Hidden pages set up for the different areas of the Glow Group
• The pdf version of the interactive map available in the document library and linked to from the photograph of the school on the school map page
• Moderated discussion boards set up for S1 and P7 pupils
• A P7 wiki created with a page created for every associate primary school

Recipe

The videos below show how you could re-create some aspects of the St Aidan’s High School Transition Glow Group in your own Glow Group.

Saving the pdf document into the document library (1:58)
St Aidan’s High School Transition – Interactive School Map

Adding a text editor and image of the school (3:33)
St Aidan’s High School Transition – Interactive School Map

Linking this image to the pdf document (1:50)
St Aidan’s High School Transition – Interactive School Map

You may wish to visit any of these Cookbooks for further information about creating Hidden Pages:

Std Grade Music – A Glow Group using a Graphical Interface

LEGO activities at SLF: Part 1 – Hidden Pages in a Glow Group

“Which Writer Wins?” Chapter 1: The Author & Book pages

FIFA 2010 World Cup in Inverclyde!

Impact

Interactive Map – Click here to enlarge

The S1 pupils were really keen and enthusiastic to be involved in the project. They did all the work to take the photos of every classroom in the school.

Some of our associated primary schools have now looked at it and they’re now going to make a map of their school. It just shows how it catches on.

The S1’s are really really keen to have a link with the primary pupils.

Click below to see the videos where Margaret talks about what she was setting out to achieve with the Transition Project Glow Group.

Why did Margaret want to use Glow for Transition? (0:32)
St Aidan’s High School Transition – Interactive School Map

Why was Margaret interested in the interactive map? (0:50)
St Aidan’s High School Transition – Interactive School Map

The Transition Project at St Aidan’s High School Cluster has obviously only just began and will grow in many exciting ways under Margaret’s steer. What a great resource the Interactive Map is for pupils, not only when they’re in P7 but also when they arrive into S1 and are having to navigate their way around the school on a daily basis!

You may wish to visit other Cookbooks written about St Aidan’s High School:

• Sharing Instrumental Performance Videos at St Aidan’s High School
• Using a wiki as an evidence store for pupil e-portfolios

The statement above comes from Katy Sowden, a teacher from Williamston Primary School in Livingston. Katy and pupils from her Primary 7 class were recently asked about the impact that Glow Science has had in their classroom. You can watch what they had to say in a video clip later on in this cookbook.

Overview

Glow Science is an online resource featuring over five hundred video clips aimed at enhancing pupils’ understanding of science in the modern world. Developed in partnership between Twig and Education Scotland, Glow Science is for teachers and for learners from age 8 to 14 and is mapped to Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes. The video content and associated learning materials, quizzes, diagrams and downloadable PDF documents cover all four science disciplines: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth Science; and present key learning points within engaging real-life contexts.

Watch a short excerpt from a featured video. 

Drawing on the highest quality film footage from around the world, researched and written by teachers and scientists and produced by television writers and film editors, Glow Science offers Scottish Education a unique and dynamic learning resource that brings science to life through engaging visuals, music and graphics.

Williamston Primary School 

In the video clip below, Katy and her pupils tell us how Glow Science has impacted on the learning and teaching of Science in class. While the pupils are keen to comment on the quality of the videos and the associated support material, Katy highlights how the real world content raises engagement levels, how the videos link directly to Curriculum for Excellence and the potential for continuing professional development offered by the Glow Science resource.

Accessing Glow Science

For information on accessing the Glow Science resource and adding a shortcut to the resource from Glow Light, please see the video clip below.

Click on image to enlarge

As we heard in the clip from Katy, Glow Science has been developed to aid teachers with their planning and implementation of Curriculum for Excellence. Videos and associated support materials are currently categorised into four broad modules – Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth Science. On their web site, the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers (SAGT) highlight the value of the Earth Science module to the teaching of Geography. A new module, Healthy Living, is planned for August 2011 and will include videos and materials to support the topics of Nutrition, Fitness, Health and Disease and Substance Misuse.

To view the Glow Science resource, click the link below to log into Glow (Glow login required), then navigate to the National Site and locate the link to Glow Science. Log in to Glow.

Building the Curriculum 5

From the recommendations contained within Building the Curriculum 5 Jennifer Richardson then South Ayrshire’s Curriculum for Excellence Assessment Team Development Officer, had decided to initiate a pilot project to use Glow to help schools meet the requirements. The documentation states that,

“children and young people should agree learning goals and should record them in ways that are meaningful and relevant.”

It also calls for the creation of a Learner Profile which should include targets and goals with information on all areas of the curriculum and wider achievement and a range of evidence of learning. It states that learners should have opportunities for reflection, sharing and dialogue.  Maintaining an electronic portfolio within Glow could provide schools and pupils with the ongoing information required for a Profile.

In this cookbook we will focus on work done in Barr Primary School in South Ayrshire as part of this pilot process.

Originally South Ayrshire were interested in some work done in East Ayrshire using Glow Groups as e-portfolios. However, since their introduction in the summer of 2010, Glow blogs have become an increasingly important tool within Glow. It quickly became obvious that they would be an excellent opportunity to provide an e-portfolio solution which would have many advantages over using a Glow Group.

Jennifer was originally keen to go ahead with using Glow blogs for this purpose as she saw the following benefits:

• they provide an accessible, electronic and manageable method of storing different types of evidence in one central place
• it can be accessed by both the learner, teachers, parents and peers (optional)
• learners can independently access and update their e-portfolio at any time and from anywhere with an internet connection
• teachers, parents and peers could comment on the learners work
• the e-portfolio can automatically transfer with the learner from class to class and from primary to secondary school.

Nation e-portfolio Glow Group

National advice and access to templates and helpsheets is available from the National level Glow Group here. The advice is given that the e-portfolios are created in a Glow Group in the pupil’s My Glow area. The My Glow area is chosen so that the pupils can have more ownership of the process but also because as the pupil moves to secondary school, if they are correctly identity matched to the same account, then they retain their My Glow and any groups within it. Rather than simply creating the blog on their My Glow it is created in a Glow Group so that membership can be set for teachers in the Glow Group without giving access to the pupil’s My Glow area. When a pupil enters secondary school membership can be reset for all teaching staff for the secondary in the way it was originally set at the primary.

Context

Barr Primary

In South Ayrshire we decided to build a template for schools to use, although local authorities are now able to work with the National Team to design a ‘Theme’ which can be used across the whole authority. Towards the end of 2010 South Ayrshire asked for volunteer schools to come along to a twilight training session. Both primaries and secondaries were keen to be involved. Fraser Baird came along from Barr Primary to find out how to get started with his pupils and kicked the process off with them when he returned to school.

Barr Primary School

Barr Primary were initially keen to use Glow Groups for e-portfolios and had already got started with doing this but then opted to give the Glow blogs a try instead. They began with creating them with the senior pupils in P5-7 but then set them up with the junior pupils as well. All pupils in P1-7 at Barr Primary have their own Glow blog to use for an e-portfolio.

To put the project in context click below to see Brian from Barr Primary take you on a tour through his e-portfolio blog:
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Ingredients

The prcess the South Ayrshire schools went through to create the e-portfolios was as follows:

• Pupils created a Glow Group with their own name as a title in their My Glow Area using the Glow Light interface.
• They added this Glow Group to their favourites.
• The pupils used the Advanced Settings link to add staff as Administrators of their Glow Group.
• They added the Glow Blog web part to the Glow Group
• They created a Glow blog, naming it with their Glow username, in order to keep the blog name unique.
• The pupils applied a template to their blog but this would now be done by adding a theme decided on by the local authority
• The pupils created their own header for the blog.
• A Glow Group was created by their teacher at school level.
• Pupils copied the URL for their blog and added this to a web links web part in the school-level Glow Group.

Recipe

If you go to the National E-Portfolio Glow Group mentioned above you will see videos and Helpsheets taking you through all the stages required for schools to set up e-portfolio with their pupils.

Brian shows us how pupils access their e-portfolios to make a post (1:22)

e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Brian shows us how to move from the dashboard to the e-portfolio (0:20)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Impact

The senior pupils at Barr Primary School

Barr Primary are very pleased with how the e-portfolio pilot is progressing and the pupils appear to really enjoy this way of working. They were generous enough with their time to let me go into the school and film their opinions on using their e-portfolios. Click on the videos in the sections below to find out what firstly, the pupils thought of various aspects and then what their teacher, Fraser Baird thought:

Introductions to the pupils (0:39)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

The pupils on creating the e-portfolios (0:51)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on why they’re using the e-portfolios (1:37)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on what they post on (2:04)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on using your blog as an evidence store (1:05)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on how to post (1:37)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on using vokis on the blogs (0:52)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on using it from home (0:30)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Pupils on getting comments from teachers (0:32)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on the decision to use blogs (1:13)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on getting started (1:27)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on e-portfolio for measuring pupil progression (1:09)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on the advantages of blogs over traditional methods (0:49)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on the pupils and blogs (2:21)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Fraser on what and how often the pupils post (1:05)
e-portfolios using Glow blogs at Barr Primary, South Ayrshire

Skateboarding skills. Click to enlarge.

Ruth Doctor teaches at Northmuir Primary School in Angus. Last year she was looking for a new enterprise activity for the P5 classes to undertake. Discussing this with the Enterprise Development Officer in the authority, she was very taken with the suggestion that the pupils could take on the planning and organisation of Health Week.

This cookbook looks at how the P5s used a Glow Group to inform other classes about Health Week, to share learning resources they’d created, to display photos of the Health Week activities and to evaluate the project.

The Ingredients section explains how the Glow Group was created and customised. Video clips in the Recipe section show how to replicate some of the key features.

Context

In undertaking Health Week as an enterprise activity, Ruth wanted pupils to take as much responsibility as possible for its organisation – for example, emailing potential activity leaders, speaking to the active schools co-ordinator, drawing up timetables of events and creating folders of work for other classes to get involved in.

While Glow had been used to some degree to support Health Week previously, Ruth was very keen last year to take full advantage of the collaborative environment. Her aim was that the Health Week Glow Group would build anticipation of the event, stimulate activities and discussions, and encourage reflection and feedback afterwards.

News…

On the Noticeboard page, P5 pupils used the News web part to post items of interest to other classes. These announcements made staff and pupils aware of the planning that was taking  place and the activities that would take place during Health Week, such as cross-country, tennis and hip-hop dancing.

Resources created by P5. Click to enlarge.

Learning resources….

In a Documents web part pupils uploaded resources they’d created. These ranged from activity sheets, to homework tasks, to certificates. Pupils in other classes were able to download any tasks they’d been set, while members of staff were able to take advantage of a range of colourful certificates to print out and award to their pupils.

Photo Galleries. Click to enlarge.

Photo galleries …

During Health Week, a large number of photos of the different activities were taken. On the Photo Galleries page, a number of separate Picture Library web parts were added, so that each could store the images for a specific event, such as archery, tae kwon-do or skateboarding. In the following weeks, pupils were keen to view the photos and add comments and captions.

Feedback….

P5 project evaluations. Click to enlarge.

Pupils throughout the school have added their views to the Discussions board on the ‘Have Your Say’ page. They’ve commented on what they enjoyed, why they think the school holds a Health Week, and about what they feel they can do to improve their own health.

A survey has also been used to gather feedback, gaining over 140 responses. Pupils have been very positive and commented about additional activities they would like to see included next time.

On the Documents page, an additional web part was added into which the P5 pupils could upload their evaluations of the project. This web part is a custom list, which allows pupils to see only what they’ve uploaded and not the work of others. Ruth and her stage partner, as Administrators of the Glow Group, were able to see the files uploaded by all of the P5s and add their comments. Pupils could respond to these comments, but again could view only what was relevant to themselves.

Ruth Doctor gives a tour of the ‘Health Week’ Glow GroupHealth and Enterprise – a winning combination!

Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes

Through the Health Week project, P5 pupils engaged with a range of Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes. These include:

Ingredients

Ruth created the Glow Group on the Northmuir Primary School site. She and her stage partner had Administrator rights and their pupils were Contributors. Other staff and pupils in the school were given Reader with Discussions rights. The Glow Group was customised by:

• renaming pages and adding new ones;
• closing any unwanted web parts on the default pages;
• adding Text Editor web parts to display information;
• adding Picture Library web parts to display photos;
• creating a custom list web part for the project evaluations.

Recipe

The video clips below show how to replicate the ideas used in the Health Week Glow Group. Information about custom lists, including how to save and reuse them, is also available in a helpsheet.

* how to add, edit or remove pagesHealth and Enterprise – a winning combination!

* how to move, close or rename web partsHealth and Enterprise – a winning combination!

* how to add the Text Editor to display text and imagesHealth and Enterprise – a winning combination!

* how to create a new Picture Library web partHealth and Enterprise – a winning combination!

* how to compress images before uploading to GlowHealth and Enterprise – a winning combination!

* how to upload images to a Picture Library Health and Enterprise – a winning combination!

* how to change the view of a Picture Library web partHealth and Enterprise – a winning combination!

* how to create a custom listHealth and Enterprise – a winning combination!

* how to modify item-level permissions on a custom listHealth and Enterprise – a winning combination!

* how to set permissions on individual web partsHealth and Enterprise – a winning combination!

Impact

Tae Kwon-do class. Click to enlarge.

Health Week was clearly a big success as can be seen in the photos in the Glow Group (see Ruth’s video tour above) and in the pupils’ feedback on the discussion boards:

I enjoyed the Skate park. It was really fun. It was so much fun I decided to get my own skateboard. The tae kwon do and CPR were really good too.

I enjoyed doing the fruit tasting session, what you had to do was stand at a table and when Fiona said so you can taste all the different fruits/ vegetables. I also enjoyed watching the P6s doing their skating on rollerblades and trying to go up the ramps, that was fun too, and I really can’t wait until Wednesday so that the P5s can get a shot on rollerblades or skate boards.

Warming up! Click to enlarge.

The activity I enjoyed most was all of them because they made me keep fit and understand how much you should take care of your body and eat very healthy.  I would recommend Health Week to other schools to help them eat healthy and stay fit.

Ruth felt that the Glow Group worked well in supporting the week, providing classes throughout the school with information, resources and an opportunity to provide feedback.

The two P5 classes worked very effectively together in co-operative learning groups, developing an awareness of audience in planning the news to publicise and the resources they created.

Ruth Doctor talks about the impact of using Glow to support Health WeekHealth and Enterprise – a winning combination!

Ruth is already looking ahead to next year’s Health Week, planning how the Glow Group will be built up over the month preceding the event, with news about discussions with the headteacher and activity schools coordinators being made available to classes throughout the school.

Photo credits (used in the Recipe video clips): IDS photos, ECI Photography

St Brigid’s Primary School in Newmains in North Lanarkshire have come to the end of their second year of using Glow. Marjory Murphy is Glow Mentor in the school and is responsible for ICT across the school. In this position she has been able to ensure that Glow is used across the school in a relevant and meaningful way at all stages. Across a series of 6 Cookbooks we will look at different examples of the school’s innovative use of Glow for learning and teaching. In this Cookbook we will focus on the P7 Glow Group and their use of a Metaphor and Simile Dictionary on their “Writing” page.

In this cookbook, we will find out:
• What the P7 Glow Group looks like
• How the “Writing” page was put together and is used

The P7 Glow Group – click to enlarge

Context

Marjory had been using the P7 Glow Group with the class and the pupils had been involved in self and peer assessment through the school’s Star Writers programme. However, their class teacher wanted to become a bit more confident with using Glow. To help with this a Glow Development Officer, Scott Clark came in to work with the teacher and the pupils on Glow on a particular day. He wanted to show the teacher what was possible within Glow and how easy it could be to set this up and extend learning in the classroom.

Star Writers Examples – click to enlarge

The pupil work used for the activity was their standard classroom work but it was intended to be used in a more active way in Glow. A selection of different pupils’ work was uploaded onto Glow into a document library by Scott on the “Writing” page ahead of him coming out. On the day he arrived, the pupils used the self-assessment web part to review their own work and all pupils used the peer-assessment web part to comment on each other’s. The main activity was the simile and metaphor work. The pupils had to choose a simile or a metaphor from their own work or from the novel and enter this into the custom list web part with an explanation in the meaning column. Pupils really enjoyed this way of working and especially the competitive element it introduced. See the video below in the impact section where Marjory speaks about the activity.

Ingredients

The “Writing” page is organised into 7 web parts. These are:

Our current writing targets

Writing Targets – click to enlarge

This text editor web part sets out the learning intentions for the pupils and can be regularly updated for different tasks.

Examples of writing in P7

An additional document library has been created from scratch for this page. For this activity the pupils’ jotter work has been scanned and saved as an image file. These image files have been uploaded to a folder in this document library.

We are Star Writers!

This is an additional image web part which has been added to the page and contains a colourful image with stars in it to go along with the “Star Writers” concept.

Metaphor Dictionary

Metaphor Dictionary – click to enlarge

This is a custom list web part which has been created for the pupils to add their own metaphors and to build these into a whole class dictionary of metaphors. It has been designed for the pupils to place their name in the post; give the metaphor and add an explanation for this. The pupils can then see their own metaphor and everyone else’s in the class in this web part.

Simile Dictionary

This is also a custom list web part and has been designed to be used in exactly the same way as the metaphor dictionary.

Self Assessment – click here to enlarge

Self Assessment

This is another custom list web part available on the “Writers” page. The purpose of this is to enable the pupils to reflect on their own work and leave comments on what they feel they did well and what they think they could improve on. Working from the scanned copy of their work which is up in Glow can often enable them to see their work more objectively.

Peer Assessment

Peer Assessment – click to enlarge

This final custom list web part enables all pupils to give 2 stars and a wish on the sample of pupils’ who have work uploaded.

What did Marjory and Scott need to do to allow the pupils to peer and self assess and share metaphors and similes on the page in the Glow Group?

• A class Glow Group for P7
• Set Contributor membership for all P7 pupils
• Add a text editor web part to the page with detail on the Learning Intentions for the activity
• Create a new document libraries to upload pupils’ work into
• Create 2 custom list web parts for the simile and metaphor dictionaries
• Create 2 custom list web parts for self and peer assessment

Recipe

The first video below acts as a virtual tour by Marjory of the P7 Glow Group. The second video is a subset of this, being a tour of the “Writing” page itself. The videos that then follow show how the elements within the page can be recreated. Details are:

Tour of the P7 Glow Group (5:19)
Metaphor and Simile Dictionaries at P7 in St Brigid’s.

Tour of the “Writing” page of the class Glow Group (2:07)
Metaphor and Simile Dictionaries at P7 in St Brigid’s.

How to add a text editor web part containing Learning Intentions (3:55)
Metaphor and Simile Dictionaries at P7 in St Brigid’s.

How to create a new Document Library to upload pupils’ work (3:15)
Metaphor and Simile Dictionaries at P7 in St Brigid’s.

How to create a Custom List web part for the simile and metaphor dictionaries (5:14)
Metaphor and Simile Dictionaries at P7 in St Brigid’s.

How to create a Custom List web part for the self-assessment (4:08)
Metaphor and Simile Dictionaries at P7 in St Brigid’s.

How to add create a Custom List web part for the peer-assessment (3:46)
Metaphor and Simile Dictionaries at P7 in St Brigid’s.

Impact

P7 Pupils – click here to enlarge

The pupils were so excited when they were working on the simile and metaphor exercise because they could see other people’s entries appearing as they were typing theirs in. It made it more fun for them than working in a jotter.

As Marjory says, “It was pretty exciting for them to do and there was a big rush on for them to get theirs up first! So much better than doing in your normal jotter work where they wouldn’t know what stage the other children were at”.

In the video below Marjory talks about the “Writing” page of the P7 Glow Group and the impact she feels this had on the pupils. The video after this is a short video with Karen Sommervile, the Headteacher describing what Glow means to the school.

Marjory speaks about the Impact of the Simile and Metaphor Activity (1:48)
Metaphor and Simile Dictionaries at P7 in St Brigid’s.

Lauren, Lauren and Christopher speak about the Simile and Metaphor Dictionary (2:25)
Metaphor and Simile Dictionaries at P7 in St Brigid’s.

Lauren, Lauren and Christopher speak about Peer Assessment on Glow (2:34)
Metaphor and Simile Dictionaries at P7 in St Brigid’s.

Karen Sommerville, Headteacher speaks about Glow at St Brigid’s Primary School (0:39)
Metaphor and Simile Dictionaries at P7 in St Brigid’s.

There are 5 other Cookbooks on St Brigid’s. As these are completed you will find links to them here.

Our Targets for Literacy at St Brigid’s P6

Using Scrolling Text for Maths Puzzles in P3 Active Maths

Peer Teaching with Videos in P3 Active Maths

Curriculum for Excellence

Through their involvement in the P6 Active Literacy Glow Group, the pupils have been actively engaging with a range of Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes. This range will depend upon many factors, namely, the different activities available within the Glow Group. Amongst others, they include:

I can spell most of the words I need to communicate, using spelling rules, specialist vocabulary, self-correction techniques and a range of resources

LIT 2-21a

I consider the impact that layout and presentation will have and can combine lettering, graphics and other features to engage my reader.
LIT 2-24a

In both short and extended texts, I can use appropriate punctuation, vary my sentence structures and divide my work into paragraphs in a way that makes sense to my reader.

LIT 2-22a

I can persuade, argue, explore issues or express an opinion using relevant supporting detail and/or evidence.

LIT 2-29a

By considering the type of text I am creating, I can select ideas and relevant information, organise these in an appropriate way for my purpose and use suitable vocabulary for my audience.

LIT 2-26a

As I extend and enhance my knowledge of features of various types of software, including those which help find, organise, manage and access information, I can apply what I learn in different situations.

TCH 2-03a

I explore and experiment with the features and functions of computer technology and I can use what I learn to support and enhance my learning in different contexts.

TCH 2-04a

I can create, capture and manipulate sounds, text and images to communicate experiences, ideas and information in creative and engaging ways.

TCH 2-04b

I recognise that each individual has a unique blend of abilities and needs. I contribute to making my school community one which values individuals equally and is a welcoming place for all.

HWB 2-10a

I make full use of and value the opportunities I am given to improve and manage my learning and, in turn, I can help to encourage learning and confidence in others.

HWB 2-11a

Click to enlarge image

Overview

Amy Lumsden and Ruth Torrance teach P1A at James Gillespie’s Primary School in Edinburgh. Following introductory training in Glow, Amy and Ruth were keen to investigate if the Glow tools and functionality could support learning and teaching in their class. ‘People who help us’ is one of the Social Subjects topics covered by P1 pupils at James Gillespie’s and Amy and Ruth felt it would be an ideal pilot to determine if Glow could be used successfully with pupils as young as P1. As part of the school’s ICT strategy, early years pupils are ‘buddied’ with older children when they go to the ICT suite. The older pupils help the younger ones by discussing tasks with them and helping with keyboard entry. With the support of P5 buddies, Amy and Ruth were able to devise Glow tasks that could be done individually in the ICT suite or covered as whole class activities on the interactive whiteboard in the classroom.

Video Clips

Impact

Amy and Ruth have shown that well planned use of Glow functionality can impact positively on the learning and teaching of P1 pupils. In addition, the Glow Group that they have developed with resources, activities and tried and tested methodology has become an invaluable CPD resource for other staff at James Gillespie’s. In the video clip below, Amy and Ruth sum up their views on the impact that Glow had on the teaching of the People who help us topic.

Click to enlarge image

Overview

Dorothy Coe is a class teacher at St Peter’s Primary School in Galashiels. Dorothy is an advocate of the use of technology in teaching and over the years has successfully introduced a range of software tools aimed at enhancing the learning and teaching process.

Aimed at encouraging the P6/7boys of St Peter’s to read more, Dorothy set up a book club in school. Tapping into the engagement children have with technology, Dorothy made use of a Wiki (an online, web-based tool, that allows people to contribute, share and collaborate) to enable the discussions the boys were having about the books they were reading, to continue outwith the boundaries of the school classroom.  With the introduction of Glow to St Peter’s, Dorothy was keen to investigate how best to use the tools and functionality to further enrich the learning experiences of the St Peter’s Bookworms.

Video Clips 

Ingredients

What Dorothy uses in the Bookworms Glow Group: 

1. A Glow Group
2. Multiple Discussion web parts
3. Text Editor web part to display images and text

Impact

Engaging pupils in their learning is critical to helping them achieve. By providing a safe and secure Glow Group for the boys to work in and utilising basic Glow tools, Dorothy is tapping into the interest that children have in technology to drive forward their progress in reading. In addition, the opportunities for discussion, collaboration and reflection provided by the Glow tools help develop the Bookworm pupils of St Peter’s as confident individuals, effective contributors and successful learners.

If you would like more information on this cookbook or would like to make links with Dorothy and St Peter’s – dorothycoe@lineone.net

Follow the link below to see how Dorothy used Glow to keep in touch with her P3 class during a prolonged spell of absence: