When Glow was introduced at Touch Primary School in Fife in early 2010, teacher Kate McIntosh was keen to explore how it could be used to raise attainment in literacy in her P3 class. She wanted to stimulate pupils’ interest in using the library, to encourage pupils to read for pleasure and to explore a wider range of authors and genre.

In the P3 Book Group Kate created a survey, to gauge pupils’ engagement with, and enthusiasm for, reading. This was the P3s first experience of a Glow survey, so questions were kept simple with either multiple choice or free-text formats. Kate’s pupils and the parallel P3 class responded to the survey. The two classes are not in adjacent classrooms in the school, so having them respond to the same survey and being able to view each others’ responses worked very well. Kate and her stage partner analysed the survey responses, using the graphical responses option, and were interested in the snapshot this provided, particularly in breaking some of the gender stereotypes which might have been expected.

Kate McIntosh talks about the impact of using Glow with Primary 3Raising attainment in literacy in Primary 3

Survey response. Click to enlarge.

Moving on from the survey, a discussion board was set up with a range of questions for pupils to respond to, such as ‘What is your favourite book and why?’ Pupils from both classes were enthusiastic about not only adding their own response to the discussion board, but to read their peers’ answers too. Pupils were fascinated to see that their favourites were not necessarily other peoples’! Kate was pleased to see the wide range of authors and books mentioned and the discussion and enthusiasm generated. The two P3 classes met together for a World Book Day event, where the children brought into school the favourite books which they had been talking about on the discussion board.

Noticeboard page. Click to enlarge.

Huge interest was also stimulated through participation in live streamed video events through the BBC website. Together the pupils watched an event with the author Julia Donaldson and enjoyed creating questions and emailing them to the BBC before the event. Towards the end of the summer term, a second live event with the Michael Morpurgo was due to take place. On this occasion, pupils were able to decide whether this was an author they were interested in and choose whether they wanted to watch. Web links were posted up in the P3 Book Group allowing pupils to find out more about Michael Morpurgo and his books, and to email questions to him in advance of the video event.

In the P3 Book Group pupils also had their first taste of Glow Chat. This proved a huge hit, as few had experienced a chat room before. They responded very positively to using the chat room to discuss reading with other pupils around the school, and the experience became a great topic of conversation with parents at the end of the school day.

Ingredients

Kate created the P3 Book Group on the Touch Primary School site. She used the default web parts such as News, What’s on, Web links and Discussions. A survey web part was created and added to the Glow Group, along with the web parts for Glow Chat and Glow Meet.

Recipe

* How to create a surveyRaising attainment in literacy in Primary 3

* How to add the survey to a page and customise the displayRaising attainment in literacy in Primary 3

* How to set the permissions for the surveyRaising attainment in literacy in Primary 3

* How to view survey responsesRaising attainment in literacy in Primary 3

Impact

Kate feels that Glow has proved to be a very useful tool and has had a marked effect on pupils’ attainment. Using the P3 Book Group stimulated interest in reading and writing, with pupils keen to talk about favourites books and authors. Pupils particularly enjoyed the opportunities for  personalisation and choice offered through web links allowing them to explore further information about their favourite authors, and the option to participate in video events.

Kerry Malcolm

Kerry Malcolm is P1-4 teacher at Fisherton Primary School. Her 09-10 class had 22 pupils. Kerry received an hour’s introductory training session from a Glow Mentor. Being quite computer literate to start off with Kerry immediately saw the potential within Glow for the pupils to enjoy using it and to expand learning in her classroom. She was keen that Glow would encourage pupils to be more involved in their own learning and help them become more independent learners. She notes that working in a multi-composite class there is always the challenge of gaining more time to work with pupils and ensuring that they are always focussed and on-task. She could see that using Glow would help achieve this.

click to enlarge

There are 2 Cookbooks available on Fisherton Primary’s use of Glow. You will find a link to a Cookbook on their use of Glow for a Learning Zone page – Sharing Learning Intentions with pupils and parents at Fisherton Primary.

In this cookbook, we will find out:
• What the Fisherton Primary P1-4 Glow Group looks like
• How Kerry made use of Glow Chat with the pupils for the Book Detectives programme

Context

click to enlarge

Kerry decided to create a Book Detectives page within her Glow Group. (Click here to access the Aberdeenshire Council’s Building Bridges Report with Appendix 2 giving information about the Book Detectives approach AberdeenshireBuildingBridges_tcm4-200039). Having a multi-composite class means many small reading groups within the class and anything Kerry can do to encourage independence in the pupils’ learning means more time on-task. She set it up so that older and more able pupils would be able to do paired reading together and then use the exciting medium of the Chat Room in Glow to go off and ask each other questions on the book. Kerry would then have evidence that the pupils had understood what they were reading from transcripts available with Glow Chat.

With reluctant readers Kerry is able to build in peer assessment to the activity. Kerry pairs up more able and less able pupils. Their access to the Chat Rooms is un-moderated within Glow and Kerry feels this builds responsibility and ownership of their own learning. The pupils are always aware that Kerry can get a transcript of the chat session. As the pupils are asked not to close down the chat room until she has seen it, she is able to quickly verify that they have read the book and understood it and all taken a turn at answering. To spice things up and keep the pupils motivated Kerry will introduce different challenges and stop watches with the Question Master keeping score.

There are 5 computers available in Kerry’s classroom for the pupils to work on Glow. Kerry was given some time out of class for a one-to-one introduction of Glow to every pupil. She did some more focussed training with a particular P6 pupil who supports their own P5-7 teacher and class with Glow and also occasionally gives support to the P1-4 class. Pupils had home access right from the start of using Glow although not all pupils are able to access it from home.

Ingredients

Book Detectives text editor web part

click to enlarge

The page contains a text editor web part which holds the instructions for the pupils for the Book Detectives activity using Glow Chat.

Glow Chat web part

click to enlarge

Kerry has brought a Glow Chat web part onto the page and created a chat room for the pupils to complete their Book Detectives Activity.

What did Kerry need to do to allow her class Glow Group to act as a hub for the P1-4 pupils?

• A Glow Group built at school level
• Set Contributor membership for all the pupils in the class
• Create a new page for the Book Detectives
• Add a text editor web part to contain the instructions for the pupils
• Add a Glow Chat web part
• Create a Glow Chat room for the Book Detectives work

Recipe

The first two videos below act as a virtual tour by Kerry of the Fisherton Primary School P1-4 Glow Group. Please note that the audio for this tour was recorded before the end of the 2009/2010 session but the video to go along with it was recorded at the start of the 2010/2011 session. As a result some of the aspects that Kerry describes for a page have been slightly changed for the start of the new term. The videos that then follow show how the elements within the Learning Zone page can be recreated. Details are:

Tour of the Group Part 1 (5:14)
Using a Glow Chat for Book Detectives work at Fisherton Primary

Tour of the Group Part 2 (5:09)
Using a Glow Chat for Book Detectives work at Fisherton Primary

Creating a new page in the Glow Group (1:17)
Using a Glow Chat for Book Detectives work at Fisherton Primary

Adding a text editor web part with instructions (2:51)
Using a Glow Chat for Book Detectives work at Fisherton Primary

Bringing the Glow Chat web part onto the page (1:19)
Using a Glow Chat for Book Detectives work at Fisherton Primary

Creating a Glow Chat Room (3:25)
Using a Glow Chat for Book Detectives work at Fisherton Primary

How pupils would join the Chat room (2:27)
Using a Glow Chat for Book Detectives work at Fisherton Primary

Impact

click to enlarge

The pupils really enjoy using the Chat Rooms in Glow. In particular with boys in the class, who Kerry finds don’t particularly enjoy working on comprehension, the partnership of the Book Detectives approach and Glow can add a competitive element to the task. They compete for who is Question Master and then compete for who can answer the question first once it is asked. She feels it works particularly well with this group who are perhaps reluctant readers and not keen to pick up pen and paper and answer in sentences about comprehension. She feels that because they enjoy the competitive element of it so much that they don’t realise they’re doing comprehension work at all and they are motivated to read carefully for meaning. They clearly revel in the self-directed nature of this learning. The pupils use a similar method for quick quiz work in Maths, having a Question Master and also make use of a separate chat room.

Kerry speaks about Book Detectives (2:04)
Using a Glow Chat for Book Detectives work at Fisherton Primary

Laurel, Heather, Roisin and Emily speak about using Glow at Fisherton (2:14)
Using a Glow Chat for Book Detectives work at Fisherton Primary

Laurel, Heather, Roisin and Emily talk about using Glow for Book Detectives (1:31)
Using a Glow Chat for Book Detectives work at Fisherton Primary

Please note that this cookbook refers to Glow Meet using Marratech.  Glow Meet is now delivered over Adobe Connect which offers enhanced functionality.  To find out more about Glow Meet using Adobe Connect then click here.  The principles around the benefits of Glow Meet are the same regardless of the technology used for Glow Meet.

Overview

Geraldine Shearer, Principal Teacher of Cathedral Primary in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire has responsibility for a Primary 7 class and wanted to use Glow to share ideas and resources and allow the learners to work together across the curriculum. Geraldine created a class group that is being used to support Curriculum for Excellence and to gather evidence of learners’ experiences. In this cookbook we will look at how Geraldine achieved this and the work she completed with Primary 7.

Context

*Watch a tour of the Glow Group
Primary 7 using Glow to Support Learning

Geraldine has created a group for her class and added additional pages for language, maths and social subjects. To provide differentiated content, Geraldine has created pages for each language and maths grouping within her class. She uses these pages to provide specific work and targets for each ability group. Pupils are prompted to view the CfE outcomes and experiences they will be covering on each page. They are given the opportunity to set targets for themselves, using the Discussion web part, as a way of formulating a Personal Learning Plan for literacy, numeracy and Social Subject areas. Photographs are added to each group in order to give ownership for the learners of their own working space.

Geraldine and Primary 7 have also used the Glow Meet functionality to work  on a joint project with their associated secondary, Our Lady’s High School. This project involves all associated primary schools and its focus is to explore which people migrate to Scotland and the reasons behind this.

Within the Social Subjects pages Geraldine has been able to use picture manager to celebrate the children’s work and also to gather evidence to show experiences within CfE.  She has also uploaded video evidence of the children creating a volcano during a science experiment.  This makes the Glow group come alive and allows the children to revisit the work. It also allows evidence to be stored of an experience within CfE as written evidence is not always appropriate.

Ingredients

What did Geraldine need to get going?

1. A Glow Username and Password

Recipe
*How to add pages to a Glow Group
Primary 7 using Glow to Support Learning
*How to change the title of a Glow Group
Primary 7 using Glow to Support Learning
*How to add multiple Discussions for use as PLPs
Primary 7 using Glow to Support Learning
*How to add multiple document libraries in a Glow Group
Primary 7 using Glow to Support Learning
*How to make text move across the page
Primary 7 using Glow to Support Learning
*How to add images in a photo frame
Primary 7 using Glow to Support Learning

Curriculum for Excellence Outcomes and Experiences

*When listening and talking with others for different purposes, I can:

• share information, experiences and opinions

• explain processes and ideas

• identify issues raised and summarise main points or findings

• clarify points by asking questions or by asking others to say more. LIT 2-09a

*I am developing confidence when engaging with others within and beyond my place of learning. I can communicate in a clear, expressive way and I am learning to select and organise resources independently. LIT 2-10a

*I can make notes, organise them under suitable headings and use them to understand information, develop my thinking, explore problems and create new texts, using my own words as appropriate. LIT 2-15a

*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

*Throughout the writing process, I can check that my writing makes sense and meets its purpose. LIT 2-23a

*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

*I can persuade, argue, explore issues or express an opinion using relevant supporting detail and/or evidence. LIT 2-29a

Impact

*Watch Geraldine discuss the impact of using GlowPrimary 7 using Glow to Support Learning

Overview
Geraldine Shearer, Principal Teacher of Cathedral Primary in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire was studying the topic, The Unsinkable Ship with Primary 4 and 5 and she wanted to work collaboratively with other teachers in order to share ideas and resources and allow the learners to work together across the country. Geraldine created a National Group to share the work she was doing nationally and to work in partnership with teachers across Scotland who were also studying this project.
In this cookbook we will  look at how Geraldine achieved this and the work she completed with the Primary 4 and 5 stages.

Context
Geraldine was one of first mentors trained in North Lanarkshire in January 2009 and straight away was keen to use Glow to support the teaching of the V.I.B Joyning the Learning Project by Learning Unlimited. She then used the topic The Unsinkable ship based on the sinking of the Titanic with the primary 4 and 5 stages and used Glow as a way of archiving the work she was doing with her pupils and sharing ideas with other practitioners. The site is now used regularly by other teachers and resources are being added to it from across Scotland so that teachers can support each other.

Click on the video below to see a tour of the group and the work that was completed.
*The Unsinkable Ship Glow Group
National Collaborative working on The Unsinkable Ship

Ingredients
What did Geraldine need to get going?

1. A Glow Username and Password

Recipe

Geraldine navigated her way to the National site and browsed the Glow Groups until she found the Staffroom Glow Group. In there she noticed that there was a Collaborative Group. At a glance Geraldine could see that lots of teachers from across Scotland were leaving messages and looking to collaborate with one another. Geraldine had used this group to share her work on the VIB topic and was keen to do the same as this had been very beneficial.

Geraldine created the group and used it as a place to store information such as resources and photographs of displays she had created. Through setting up a discussion group within the Glow Group she made links with St. James’ PS in Paisley, Renfrewshire, who were also about to start the topic. The children regularly used the Glow Meet component she had added to share the work they had developed and work collaboratively with each other. Together both schools planned a set of four group lessons and the children worked on one each week, rotating the groups so that each child had the opportunity to study each task. The work was shared between the two schools using Glow Meet.

Look at the videos below to see how to re-create the Glow components Geraldine used.
*How to add pages to a Glow Group
National Collaborative working on The Unsinkable Ship

*How to change the title of pages in a Glow Group
National Collaborative working on The Unsinkable Ship

*How to add Glow Meet to a Glow Group
National Collaborative working on The Unsinkable Ship

*How to find the National Collaborative Glow Group
National Collaborative working on The Unsinkable Ship

Impact

The Primary 4 and 5 pupils from both schools held regular class Glow Meets and shared Whiteboard documents, updating each other on their progress on the topic.
The pupils got to ask questions of each other and peer assess their work.
The teachers also benefited from each others experience of the topic and were able to share ideas and thoughts when planning lessons.
Geraldine has also found that this term while studying World War II she was able to use the search facility within Glow and find work someone else had created and use it as a starting point in her planning.

*Click on the video below to hear Geraldine describing the process of using Glow and the benefits Glow brought to her class topic.
National Collaborative working on The Unsinkable Ship

Curriculum for Excellence Outcomes experienced

*I can use primary and secondary sources selectively to research events in the past. SOC 2-01a

*I can compare and contrast a society in the past with my own and contribute to a discussion of the similarities and differences.  SOC 2-04a

*I can discuss why people and events from a particular time in the past were important, placing them within a historical sequence.SOC 2-06a

*To extend my mental map and sense of place, I can interpret information from different types of maps and am beginning to locate key features within Scotland, UK, Europe or the wider world. SOC 2-14a

Click image to enlarge

Peter Mulvey is a Technology teacher at Stonelaw High School in South Lanarkshire. He uses Glow as ‘a one-stop shop’ that provides pupils with the resources and support they need for their courses.

In the video clip below Peter shows the Glow Groups he has created to support the Higher Graphic Communication course.

Watch Peter’s tour of his Glow Group and Glow Learn courseA ‘one-stop shop’ to support Higher Graphic Communication

Please note: during the tour Peter demonstrates how pupils can launch tutorials from the Glow Group. Unfortunately the screen capture software used to create this tour was unable to capture these. Rest assured that files such as these tutorials do play correctly when launched from Glow!

Peter makes extensive use of Document web parts to store video clips, reference guides and help sheets to reinforce the skills and concepts covered during lessons. As the Glow Groups developed Peter found that uploading large files to Glow Groups rapidly started to impact on the school’s 5Gb storage allocation. Peter has therefore started to upload many of his resources to Glow Learn, where there is no storage limit per school. He is appreciating the ease of management of resources in Glow Learn and the scope to build his resources, and objectives, into a course structure.

The Higher Graphic Communication pupils also make use of collaborative tools within the Glow Group, particularly Glow Chat. Homework tasks are set with a deadline a week ahead, and the day before the work is due Peter makes a chat room available for an hour in the evening so that pupils can discuss the work with him, or with each other, if they wish.

 Ingredients

In developing the Higher Graphic Communication Glow Groups Peter used:

*a Text Editor web part to display a Wordle image

* Document web parts to store videos and other resources

* Glow Meet

* Glow Chat

In developing the Glow Learn area, Peter:

* Uploaded resources

* Created a Glow Learn course

* Added resources and objectives to the course

Recipe

If you’d like to replicate some of Peter’s ideas, the resources below will help you get started.

* Using the Wordle web site: click here for a help article

* Using a crumb trail to navigate between areas of Glow

A ‘one-stop shop’ to support Higher Graphic Communication

* Creating multiple Documents web partsA ‘one-stop shop’ to support Higher Graphic Communication

* Uploading resources to Glow Learn

A ‘one-stop shop’ to support Higher Graphic Communication

* Creating a Glow Learn course

A ‘one-stop shop’ to support Higher Graphic Communication

* Enrolling pupils on a Glow Learn course

A ‘one-stop shop’ to support Higher Graphic Communication

* Setting viewing and assessment options in Glow LearnA ‘one-stop shop’ to support Higher Graphic Communication

Impact

For Peter, the over-riding benefit of Glow has been the ease with which pupils can access learning resources outside school and thereby extend their learning beyond school hours.

Overview
Fiona Meney is a Principal Teacher at Forehill Primary School, South Ayrshire. She has recently started to look at ways that Glow can be used to support teaching and learning in the classroom.
In this cookbook we will look at how Fiona has used Glow with Primary 6 learners to support teaching and learning and to introduce pupils and staff to Glow and its functionality to support Curriculum for Excellence. This cookbook will exemplify this good practice and show how to re-create it.

Context
Fiona has looked at ways that she can make learning more interesting and engaging for the learner and looked at how Glow could support pupils to communicate with each other and share their ideas and work collaboratively.  Fiona has responsibility for Primary 6 one day a week and decided that she would introduce the class she has and the other P.6 class to Glow, creating a joint Primary 6 Glow group.

She has created projects within the Glow Group which encourage independent working and thinking and allow pupils to support each other and contribute to the collaborative group. 

Fiona plans next year when these pupils are in primary Seven to have them as supporters for other pupils and staff throughout the school.

Watch Fiona as she describes her Glow Group and how she uses it to support learning.

Introducing Glow to Primary 6

Curriuclum for Excellence Outcomes and Experiences
*Using what I know about the features of different types of texts, I can find, select and sort information from a variety of sources and use this for different purposes. LIT 2-14a
*I can make notes, organise them under suitable headings and use them to understand information, develop my thinking, explore problems and create new texts, using my own words as appropriate. LIT 2-15a
*Throughout the writing process, I can check that my writing makes sense and meets its purpose. LIT 2-23a
*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
*I can persuade, argue, explore issues or express an opinion using relevant supporting detail and/or evidence. LIT 2-29a
*I can use my knowledge of rounding to routinely estimate the answer to a problem then, after calculating, decide if my answer is reasonable, sharing my solution with others. MNU 2-01a
*Having determined which calculations are needed, I can solve problems involving whole numbers using a range of methods, sharing my approaches and solutions with others. MNU 2-03a

Ingredients

What did Fiona need to use to support this project.

1. Administrator rights to a Glow Group

All children had to have contributor rights to the Glow Group in order to collaborate within the group.

Recipe

*How to change discussions web part to peer assessment
Introducing Glow to Primary 6

*How to add multiple web links web parts for differentiated group work
Introducing Glow to Primary 6

*How to add a Voki
Introducing Glow to Primary 6

Impact
There have been a number of impacts from this project. The class teacher is now much more familiar with the components of Glow and now hopes to develop her skills to support teaching and learning. She also feels that the learners have now had a good experience with Glow and are capable of logging on and navigating their way through the web parts confidently so she would like to enhance their experiences.
Fiona feels that the learners are having an opportunity to learn in a style with which they feel comfortable and are skilled in. She hopes to continue to use Glow to support the learners in her class and to use their skill base to support children and staff in the use of Glow.

Watch Fiona talk about the impact of this project.

Introducing Glow to Primary 6

Overview

Sarah Coombes is a Design Technology class teacher in Firhill High School, Edinburgh. She has recently started to look at ways that Glow can be used to support teaching and learning in the classroom.

In this cookbook we will look at how Sarah and her colleague have used a Glow Group to support teaching and learning in S3/4 for Intermediate 2 Graphic Communication. This cookbook will exemplar this good practice and show how to re-create it.

Context

Sarah has looked at ways that she can make learning more interesting and engaging for the learner and looked at how Glow could support pupils to learn the theory requirements for Graphic Communication Intermediate 2.

 Watch Sarah as she describes her Glow Group and how she uses it to support learning.

Using Glow to Support S3/4 in Graphic Communications

CFE Outcomes and Experiences met through this process are,

I can use ICT effectively in different learning contexts across the curriculum to access, select and present relevant information in a range of tasks. TCH 4-03b

I can work with others to plan and use a learning group for sharing experiences, ideas and information within a secure online environment. TCH 4-08a

By examining and discussing the features of everyday products used within the home, I am gaining an awareness of the factors influencing design and can evaluate how these products meet the needs of the user. TCH 4-11c

Having sketched or drawn a series of everyday objects pictorially and orthographically, I have become proficient in third angle projection and can apply this knowledge when producing 2D or 3D images when using software. TCH 4-15a

When developing or enhancing representations of ideas or items, manually or electronically, I can apply my knowledge of colour theory, justifying the choices I make. TCH 4-15b

Ingredients

What did Sarah need to use to support this Glow Group.

1. A Glow Group
2. Access to Glow Group for all pupils in S3/4 Intermediate 2 class

 It was necessary to ensure users had Contributor rights within the Glow Group to enable them join Glow Chat and download and upload documents.

The videos below show how elements of the Graphic Communication Glow Group can be recreated.

How to add web links with notes

Using Glow to Support S3/4 in Graphic Communications

Impact
There have been a number of impacts from this project. The class teacher is now much more familiar with the components of Glow and now hopes to develop her use to support teaching and learning. She also feels that the learners have now had a good experience with Glow and are capable of logging on navigating their way through the web parts confidently so she would like to enhance their experiences.
Sarah feels that the learners are having an opportunity to learn in a style with which they feel comfortable and are skilled in. She hopes to continue to use Glow to support the learners in her classes.
Watch Sarah talk about the impact of Glow on Graphic Communication learners in S3/4.
Using Glow to Support S3/4 in Graphic Communications

Wilma Gordon is the ICT teacher at Mid Calder Primary in West Lothian.

As well as working with pupils to develop their ICT skills, Wilma is greatly involved in International education projects within the school and has used Glow in many ways to support this. One of the most innovative ways has been her use of Glow Chat to enable the school’s P6 Euro Quiz team to practise prior to competitions.

Context

Every year for the past three years, the Scottish European Educational Trust has run a national Euro Quiz for Primary 6 pupils, to help promote learning about European countries, their culture, history, geography, sporting interests, etc. In 2010 all 32 Local Authorities took part, with 400 schools and 1600 pupils participating.

Each Local Authority holds local heats, with the 32 winning teams then competing in the national final, held at the Scottish Parliament.

Mid Calder Euro Quiz Team 2010

This year, the P6 team from Mid Calder Primary won the West Lothian heats and will be representing the Authority in the final on 10th May. The team was made up of four boys – Ross, Lewis, Ben and Christopher.

As part of their preparation for the regional heats and also for the final itself, Wilma worked with the team to help them develop their knowledge of Europe and to assist them in practising answering questions from a range of topics. With parental agreement, Wilma chose to use Glow Chat for practice sessions, one evening per week.

The Glow Chat web part is in the P6B EU quiz Glow Group, and pupils were told in advance at what time the chat room would be open from. They were shown how to access the chat room and how to add a message to the chat room, taking to it with ease.

One of the rounds in the quiz is a ‘quick fire’ round, requiring pupils to be quick off the mark to ensure they are first to their buzzer. Wilma found a novel way of using Glow Chat to practice this: once she had entered a question, each of the four boys (who were in their own homes) had to try to be the first to enter their answer and have it displayed in the chat window, so simulating the ‘first to the buzzer’ scenario. Whoever’s answer appeared first was the winner (as long as it was correct!!!) The team was also able to use the Chat Room for more general quiz practice too.

Ingredients
What did Wilma need to do to set up the Chat Room and enable the team to have access to it?
• Have a Glow Group at school level
• Make the boys members of the Glow Group
• Add the Chat web part to the Glow Group
• Set up the chat room within the Glow Chat web part.

In the following videos we will look at the P6B Euro Quiz Glow Group to get an overview of it, then find out in subsequent videos how to include Glow Chat within a Glow Group and configure it to suit your needs.

Overview of the P6B Euro Quiz Glow Group (2:08)
Using Glow Chat for Quiz Team practice
How to add Glow Chat to a Glow Group and create a chat room (4:59)
Using Glow Chat for Quiz Team practice
How to set individual user permissions for Glow Chat (4:59)
Using Glow Chat for Quiz Team practice
Moderating a Glow Chat chatroom (3:00)
Using Glow Chat for Quiz Team practice
How to join and take part in a Glow Chat session (5:10)
Using Glow Chat for Quiz Team practice
 Accessing the transcript of a Glow Chat session (2:26)
Using Glow Chat for Quiz Team practice

Impact

Given that the Mid Calder team has reached the national final of the Euro Quiz, it would seem that the practice sessions they have held using Glow Chat have really paid off!

Wilma says that she has found it invaluable to have access to a safe and secure chat environment, rather than an ‘open’ one, as this helps her to promote the need for pupils to stay safe online, and so helps combine both her interest in International education with her role of ICT teacher. It has also given her a tool to enable her to communicate with pupils, and they with one another, outwith school hours in a completely safe way. The availability of the session transcripts has reassured all involved, including parents, that this is indeed a safe form of communication.

Pupils have really enjoyed the sessions on Glow Chat, and have found them a stimulating way to practise for the quiz. Comments on the discussion board from pupils in the P6B Euro Quiz Glow Group include:

“hi the page is really cool and i love the idea of our own glow group” – Ross

“glow chat is absolutely brilliant” – Lewis

Wilma and the team from Mid Calder hope that by the time you are reading this, they will have won the National final of the Euro quiz, and so the impact of using Glow Chat to practise will indeed have been fantastic!

Overview

Bruce McMaster is a teacher of Biology at Broughton High School in Edinburgh. Bruce is an advocate of the use of technology in teaching and has operated a successful blog, aimed at enhancing the learning and teaching process, for some years.

In this cookbook Bruce will talk us through how he uses Glow to support the learning and teaching of Advanced Higher Biology.

Context

The mission statement of the Biology Department at Broughton High School contains the following assertion:

• [pupils] are confident with the incorporation of ICT into the teaching of Biology

Through the appropriate use of technology in class, Bruce has aimed to enrich the experience of his pupils during their time in the Biology Department. The introduction of a blog provided his pupils with the opportunity to access advice, information and resources out with the barriers of the traditional school day. The ability of the pupils to leave comments on the blog, asking questions or adding to information, allowed them to become more active in their approach to learning.

With the introduction of Glow to Broughton, Bruce was keen to investigate how best to use the tools and functionality to further enrich the learning experiences of his pupils.

In this cookbook, we will:

• Hear Bruce outline how he uses Glow to support the teaching of his Advanced Higher Biology class.

Ingredients

What Bruce uses to support the teaching of his class:

1. A Glow Group
2. News web part to post learning intentions, project ideas and support notes
3. An XML web part to display a Voki and a news feed from the BBC
4. Web links web part
5. Discussion web part
6. Documents web part
7. A chat room
8. A Page Viewer to give students access to the Biology Blog from within the Glow Group

Recipe

In the videos below, Bruce talks us through how he uses Glow to support his class teaching:

Impact

From his commentary, it is clear that Bruce is very positive about the ability of Glow to support his teaching. Bruce makes use of a number of Glow tools to add impact:

• The News web part allows Bruce to publish lesson learning intentions, provide advice on projects and attach support documents for homework and project work
• Web Links web part provides a quick jump point to frequently used web sites
• Archived support materials – as the term progresses, Bruce is populating the document store with worksheets, homeworks and assessment materials all providing the pupils with anytime, anywhere access to resources
• The Discussions and Chat Chat web parts provide opportunities to explore topics more deeply, allow the pupils to peer evaluate and peer assess one another’s work
• A news feed that is updated automatically giving the pupils access to up-to-the-minute sources of relevant, research information

In making use of a variety of Glow tools, Bruce has developed a Glow Group that is engaging and relevant for his pupils. The group provides an easy access point for a variety of information sources, stimulus to deeper learning, opportunities for collaboration, peer evaluation and assessment.

Follow the link below to see how to set up a news feed in Glow: 

Overview

Richard Burgess is Principal Teacher of ICT Development at Broughton High School in Edinburgh. He is currently seconded as a Glow Development Officer to the City of Edinburgh Council. Due to timetable commitments and lack of specialist cover support, Richard is required to teach an Intermediate 1 Computing Studies class. For three of the five hours of class commitment, Richard is physically present with the class at Broughton. For the other two hours, when possible, Richard teaches and monitors the class remotely via Glow.

In this cookbook Richard will talk us through how he uses Glow to provide virtual support to his pupils.

Context

Richard’s Intermediate 1 Computing Studies class comprises of 17 S5 pupils. The pupils attend the Computing Department for one period, 60 mins, each day, Monday to Friday. Pupils have individual access to computers.

When Richard is not physically in the class (two lessons per week), lessons are conducted via Glow, secondment duties permitting. Richard sets this up by publishing the learning outcomes for the day’s lesson through the News web part. A Voki – a talking character/avatar which allows you to record spoken messages – is used to supplement the text information contained in the News web part.  Richard makes use of a Glow Chat room to work with the pupils in real time.

More information on Vokis and how to incorporate them into your Glow groups can be found at the end of this cookbook.

In this cookbook, we will:

• Hear Richard explain how he uses Glow to remotely support his Intermediate 1 Computing Studies class.

Ingredients

What Richard uses to support the remote teaching of the class:

1. A Glow Group
2. An XML web part to display the Voki
3. Discussion web part
4. News web part
5. Documents web part
6. Web links web part
7. A chat room
8. Glow Learn

Recipe

In the videos below, Richard talks us through how he uses Glow to support remote teaching:

Impact

This cookbook illustrates how Glow is enabling a situation that otherwise might not have come about: Richard remotely fulfilling a classroom commitment while carrying out a secondment as a Glow Development Officer.

Richard is very clear in his commentary that Glow is having a positive impact on his pupils. Apart from enabling his remote support for the class two mornings a week, Richard also points to benefits such as:

• Pupil voice – pupils who are normally quiet in class becoming confident and effective contributors in Glow Chat rooms
• Peer Support – pupils actively supporting one another during the Glow Chat sessions
• Archived support materials – as the term progresses, Richard is populating the document store with worksheets, assessment material and transcripts from the chat sessions all providing the pupils with anytime, anywhere access to resources
• Using Glow Learn to build a bank of re-usable assessment resources – helping to minimise teacher workload for coming sessions. 

Lesley Johnston, Headteacher of Broughton High School, regularly sits in with the class when Richard is conducting a virtual Glow lesson. Lesley affirms that the pupils are fully engaged in the remote lessons, probably linked to the fact that they enjoy learning in this way.

Well planned use of Glow will help pupils achieve many of the Curriculum for Excellence learning experiences and outcomes. The Glow activities described in this cookbook can be linked specifically to:

Technologies: ICT to enhance learning: TCH 0-04a, TCH 1-04a and TCH 2-04a

Technologies: Computing Science: TCH 1-08a and TCH 2-08a

For more information on Vokis please click here.

Follow the link below to see how Richard uses Glow web parts to emphasise lesson learning intentions: