Overview

All Glow and no action? “Can GLOW be used as a purposeful learning and teaching tool to increase participation and attainment levels in Literacy? Using the same stimulus, how do the findings compare between two Primary Six classes in Dumfries and Galloway with different socio-economic catchment areas?”

Click here to enlarge

These were the title and the original aims of Lindsay Sim and Barbara Chierici’s Probationer Mini-Research Project running in the year 2008/2009. Literacy had been a focus on the School Improvement Plans at both Calside and Hecklegirth Primary Schools and therefore was an ideal curricular area to develop. Literacy was also a very important area identified on Dumfries and Galloway’s Service Improvement Plan. Staff development and cluster days had targeted this and Lindsay and Barbara believed the introduction of Glow, could be used as a stimulus to enhance literacy at both schools. It was very important to the project that Literacy was initially identified before Lindsay and Barbara decided to use Glow. Glow was identified as the best way the teachers could see of introducing a collaborative element to the project. They wanted more collaboration than the teachers simply staying in touch; they wanted the pupils to be able to collaborate with each other. Glow provided this purposeful link for both the pupils and the teachers. The teachers were keen that Glow could allow them to focus on the main aims in Dumfries and Galloway of

“attainment, achievement and participation”.

In a series of Cookbooks we will look at the work Lindsay and Barbara undertook for the project and the Glow Group they built to facilitate this.

In this cookbook, we will find out:
• What the P6 Literacy Project Glow Group looks like
• How Lindsay and Barbara put together the project
• What they feel the impact of the project has been

Context

Click to enlarge

Glow had only just been introduced to the schools in Dumfries and Galloway and Lindsay and Barbara thought it was something they could develop with their classes and use for their own CPD at the same time. They wanted to use Glow as a learning and teaching tool to help improve literacy in their schools. For the pupils, the excitement was very much about using Glow and with the pupils the teachers played on this and played down their main aim of improving literacy. They knew, through the pupils’ motivation for the tasks, that literacy skills were definitely being improved as part of the project.

The first phase of the project centred on writing with the focus shifting in the second phase to reading, listening and talking.

Before Lindsay and Barbara introduced Glow to the two classes they used a traffic light system to survey their pupils about whether they would like to take part in a Burns Poetry competition being run within the authority. They were shocked by the results which they believed was an accurate measure of the pupils’ enthusiasm for literacy. Across the 2 primary 6 classes only 26% said they would like to take part, 60% said they wouldn’t like to and 14% weren’t sure.

Collaboration

The Glow Group pages – Click here to enlarge

To introduce the pupils to Glow they took a space topic and began some joint work. They matched each pupil from one school up with a pupil in the other school and they had access to their “e-buddy’s” email address. However, most of the time they used the discussion web part in Glow to communicate. They initially were set the target of talking about things they had learned in the space project and getting to know their e-buddy. This was deliberately kept very informal by Barbara and Lindsay to start with. Both teachers uploaded some photographs of what they were doing in the space topic and also put some web links to information and games there for the pupils to access. The teachers also put up discussion starters to get the pupils going. This gave them prompts to inform their discussions with each other. This was their taster of Glow and the teachers believed this really captured the pupils’ interest.

Barbara comments on this, “they were so excited to have another P6 pupil to make contact with in another town.”

Sometimes it was quite difficult to get computer suite time in their schools to allow the pupils to get onto Glow and contact their e-buddy. Lindsay and Barbara were very careful on the pairings of children they made between the 2 classes. In Lindsay’s class she had 6 Polish pupils, 2 of whom needed a lot of support with their English.

Poetry sneaks in!

One of the pupil's poems – Click to enlarge

With the teachers having in mind that their objective was the Burns Poetry competition they started to introduce this through the ‘back door’ by getting them to write poems about space. They began to introduce different types of poetry format with Cinquain, Haiku and Tanka, metaphor and simile. In order to improve the strength of their link with their e-buddy the teachers asked them to publish their poem on Glow and to peer assess each other’s work. Another Cookbook on this project will give more detail about the peer assessment element.

Peer Assessment on poetry – Click to enlarge

The pupils were then asked again about entering the Burns Poetry competition and told that this would be done in collaboration with their e-buddy. This time, only a short while after first being asked the numbers were completely different with almost 100% saying that they were keen to take part. Building upon the way they had learned to work with each other ,the teachers began to get them working on poems for the competition. This was going to be the end of the project but Lindsay and Barbara thought it worked so well and that the pupils had enjoyed it so much that they decided to extend it. Both Lindsay and Barbara could see that literacy levels in their classes were definitely improving through this process. They felt that the level of participation and enthusiasm they were experiencing from the pupils warranted the continuation of the project.

On the Radio!
At this point, Create, the creative Arts Team in Dumfries and Galloway contacted the teachers. They were particularly interested in what they were doing with Glow and asked to come along and record some audio of the pupils for a local radio show on West Sound. All pupils were over the moon to participate in this, including a pupil with a communication disorder, who surprised Barbara with his willingness to take part.

Project Extension

Extending the Project – click to enlarge

For the continuation of the project the teachers decided to take the focus away from writing and onto other aspects of literacy. They decided they would use the novel Wheels by Catherine MacPhail as the focus for the next section of the project. Initially they took a Writer’s Craft approach to this, stopping at the same point and asking the pupils to write the continuation of the next part of the story. The pupils would upload this onto Glow and then take part in further peer assessment with their e-buddies, adding another stage of the story and peer assessing this backwards and forwards.

Vokis

Using Vokis – click to enlarge

To work on talking and listening the classes worked on creating their own Voki and putting this onto Glow. This was the next step of introducing themselves to their e-buddy who they had only spoken to through email and discussion boards so far. Another Cookbook is available with a focus on this aspect of the project.

Glow Meet

Learning Intentions for Glow Meet – click to enlarge

With support from development officers in the local authority they decided that the next logical step would be to have a Glow Meet between the two classes. They felt it was the next natural step for the e-buddies to be able to see each other. They also wanted the pupils to have the experience of using more of the functionality within Glow. The Glow Meet was based on the novel study. Another Cookbook is available with a focus on this aspect of the project.

Survey

Lindsay and Barbara also used the survey tool within Glow to evaluate the literacy project. Another Cookbook is available with a focus on this aspect of the project.

Ingredients
In order to set up the Glow Group in the first place Lindsay and Barbara attended Glow 1,2 and 3, twilight sessions run by Dumfries and Galloway Glow Support team.

What did the teachers need to create within the Glow Group to allow the pupils to collaborate with each other?

• A local authority level Glow Group for the P6 Literacy Project
• Administrator membership for the 2 teachers involved
• Contributor membership for the P6 pupils
• A document library for uploading poems
• A poetry discussions web part
• Vokis created and uploaded onto the Group
• A Glow Meet web part
• Videos created and uploaded onto the Group
• Document web part with Writers’ Craft Task stories uploaded and commented on
• A Survey web part

Recipe
The videos below are part of a virtual tour by Barbara Cherichi and Lindsay Sim of the P6 Literacy Project collaborative Group. Details are:

The Noticeboard Tour (1:29)
Background to a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Tour of the Wheels, Meet Zone and Voki Pages (3:46)
Background to a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Tour of the Document Library and Discussion Board (3:30)
Background to a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Further How-To videos are available in the other Cookbooks on this project.

Impact
Both Barbara and Lindsay were very keen that their project was viewed as a Literacy project and not as an ICT project as other teachers might tend to view it.

They noted that the level of writing was definitely improving as part of the project:

Lindsay Sim, “I think when it’s that external person […] giving them that feedback and ways which they can improve that they were just falling over themselves to actually improve it. Then they were desperate for more feedback to come back, thinking, look, I’ve taken on your advice and improved it, what do you think now?”

What the teachers also found interesting is that the pupils took the collaboration outwith the school, often logging on from home and speaking to each other, contributing to the discussions and even coming up with poems at home. None of this process and the decisions the pupils were making were being directed by the teachers.

Barbara also felt that using Glow, for the teachers was so much easier than having to consult 32 different jotters for the pupils’ work.

“It’s good for teachers as well because you’ve got everything on the site. Glow makes it much easier for us as practioners.”

Glow Meet Assessment – Click to enlarge

“Their literacy skills developed immensely, not to mention their ICT skills. This was things they could not do before.” Lindsay Sim.

The teachers then used video cameras to record pupil evaluations of this whole process and upload these into the Group.

Wall display for the conference – Click here to enlarge

Lindsay and Barbara were asked to present on their project at the Probationers Conference in Dumfries and Galloway. It was almost unheard of to bring pupils along to this event and they had never been anywhere like this with hundreds of people there to hear what they had to say. The pupils were able to take questions from the audience about their learning. They took the whole thing in their stride and this speaks well of the confident learners they had been encouraged to become as part of the whole collaborative project.

Lindsay uses Glow with her current class in her new school, Newington Primary, in Annan. However, she feels what really drove forward the use of Glow and literacy gains for the pupils at Hecklegirth and Calside was the collaborative nature of the project. They feel that participation and attainment in all areas of literacy was improved for their pupils. All pupils participated fully in the project.

Lindsay notices that, “going back to our original aims of attainment, achievement and participation, we can categorically say that every child had achieved those 3 basic aims. I don’t think it would have been anywhere near as successful if we’d just done it individually and there wasn’t that collaboration and correspondence between us and the pupils.”

Barbara adds to this, “the children were motivated because of their e-buddies… We might have stopped at the end of the first phase if we were doing it on our own [without Glow].”

In the poetry competition a few of Barbara’s pupils came second and third and had their entries published in a book about the competition.

Their Glow Group is also frequently used in Glow training and support sessions in Dumfries and Galloway. They noted that it was difficult to move people to appreciating that all the evidence in terms of the project and the pupils’ work was online in the Glow Group. People were still looking for a lot of paper based evidence. Throughout the project Barbara and Lindsay often used Glow in their search for good practice across Scotland, keeping an eye out for national targeted news items and the like.

In terms of future planning and challenges Barbara and Lindsay would both like parents to be more involved in their children’s learning on Glow. They also worry about their previous pupils getting so much out of Glow and this not being followed up as the pupils move on to other teachers and secondary school.

The project ran in the 2008/2009 year and was whilst Barbara was at Calside and Lindsay was at Hecklegirth. Lindsay is now at Newington Primary, Annan and Barbara is at St Andrew’s RC Primary School, Dumfries.

The next section has various video clips where Lindsay and Barbara talk about various aspects of the set-up and impact of the project.

How the project came about (3:18)
Background to a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Setting up the first part of the project (4:37)
Background to a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Extending the project to another phase (1:51)
Background to a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Children presenting their project for the local radio programme (1:19)
Background to a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Evaluation the experience on video with the pupils (0:39)
Background to a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Presenting at the Probationers’ Conference (1:16)
Background to a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Summing up the project (1:57)
Background to a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Lindsay sums up the project for us,

“I think it was not that we did the poetry competition and not that we did [the novel] Wheels, it’s that we did it through Glow that we’ve got these results [where the pupils describe their literacy skills as being enhanced]. If we had done this without the technology side we wouldn’t have these results, at all. It just shows how literacy and ICT can work together as a purposeful learning and teaching tool.”

Links to the other Cookbooks on the Project will be placed here as these Cookbooks are completed.

Click here if you wish to visit the Cookbook focussing on the use of peer assessment within the project - All Glow and No Action? Peer Assessment in a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Click here if you wish to visit the Cookbook containing more information on the use of Vokis in the Project - All Glow and No Action? Pt 3 Vokis in a P6 Joint Literacy Project in Dumfries and Galloway

Identified Experiences and Outcomes –

Links to the other Cookbooks on the Project will be placed here as these Cookbooks are completed.

Through their involvement in the P6 Literacy Project Glow Group, the pupils have been actively engaging with a range of Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes. They include:

Expressive Arts – Art and Design

EXA 2-02a – I have the opportunity to choose and explore an extended range of media and technologies to create images and objects, comparing and combining them for specific tasks.

Literacy and English – Listening and Talking

LIT 2-02a – When I engaged with others, I can respond in ways appropriate to my role, show that I value others’ contributions and use these to build on thinking.

LIT 2-03a - I can recognise how the features of spoken languages can help in communication, and I can use what I learn.

I can recognise different features of my own and others’ spoken language

LIT 2-04a – As I listen or watch, I can identify and discuss the purpose, main ideas and supporting detail contained within the text, and use this information for different purposes.

LIT 2-10a – 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.

Literacy and English – Reading

LIT 2-16a – To show my understanding across different areas of learning, I can identify and consider the purpose and main ideas of a text and use supporting detail.

LIT 2-19a -I can:

• discuss structure, characterisation and/or setting
• recognise the relevance of the writer’s theme and how this relates to my own and others’ experiences.
• discuss the writer’s style and other features appropriate to genre.

Literacy and English – Writing

LIT 2-20a - I enjoy creating texts of my choice and I regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to suit the needs of my audience.

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

LIT 2-26a – 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 2-27a – I am learning to use language and style in a way which engages and/or influences my reader.

LIT 2-31a – Having explored the elements which writers use in different genres, I can use what I learn to create stories, poems and plays with an interesting and appropriate structure, interesting characters and/or settings which come to life.

Technologies – ICT to enhance learning

TCH 2-03a – 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 2-03b – Throughout all my learning, I can use search facilities of electronic sources to access and retrieve information, recognise the importance this has in my place of learning, at home and in the work place.

TCH 2-04a – 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 2-04b – I can create, capture and manipulate sounds, text and images to communicate experiences, ideas and information in creative and engaging ways.

Art into Words – Assessment is for Learning (AiFL)

Overview
Claire Reynolds is Principal Teacher at Holy Family Primary school in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire. As part of her remit she is responsible for a Primary 7 class 0.8. David Miller is an English Teacher at St. Ninian’s Secondary in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire. David had entered his S1 class in an National Competition run by National Art Gallery in Scotland.
In this cookbook we’ll look at how Claire and David used a Glow group and Glow Meet to develop writing skills with Primary 7 pupils with support from S1 and David. The project involved a continuation of the concept behind the National Art Gallery competition and use classical art as a stimulus for writing.

Context
Holy Family PS has a very structured programme for writing and follows a writing scheme as well as incorporating topic and thematic writing for pupils. At a sharing of good practice event the HT and DHT met David Miller who was showcasing writing. Some of the excellent pieces of writing had been created by former pupils of Holy Family Primary School and the SMT members were delighted to see such a high standard. From there a discussion took place with Mr Miller using a similar approach and working with the P7 pupils to produce some literature and to develop Primary teachers skills in delivering writing in this way.
It was decided to use Glow as the communication base for the project as the functionalities within Glow suited the purpose of the project. Mr Miller was able to meet with the Class Teacher and SMT to set up the project using the Glow Meet web part. This meant that time was not taken with travelling and all time spent on the project was productive. Through discussion and experience of Glow and the requirements of AiFL to support writing it was decided to set up a number of web parts within the group. There was a Web Links part with links to the National Gallery, A Discussion Web Part for S1 and P7 to have on line discussions and A Document Store as well as a Glow Meet.
The project ran for the length of Term 1 in session 2008-2009. Pupils from St. Ninian’s shared their work, which had been inspired from pictures at the National Gallery, with P.7 pupils through a Glow Meet session with S1 reading their work while displaying the art on the Whiteboard part of the Glow Meet. The work they produced was also uploaded to the document store of the Glow Group. Mr Miller then shared pictures with the P.7 pupils via a Glow Meet and asked them what the pictures might mean and bring to mind. Some excellent lessons took place in these sessions and the children became much more able to examine art.
The next part of the project involved the Primary 7 pupils searching the National Gallery for a picture via the web link on the Glow group and then writing a short story, descriptive passage or poem about it.
Primary 7 then uploaded their work to the Glow Group in the document store. S1 pupils who had read their work would comment on it on the Discussion web part using AiFL strategy, ’Two stars and a wish’, the formative assessment strategy in use at Holy Family PS for writing. BY using Glow and the components within it and in taking part in this project the following Curriculum for Excellence outcomes where experienced by the learners.

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When I engage with others, I can respond in ways appropriate to my role, show that I value others’ contributions and use these to build on thinking. LIT 2-02a
When I engage with others, I can make a relevant contribution, encourage others to contribute and acknowledge that they have the right to hold a different opinion. I can respond in ways appropriate to my role and use contributions to reflect on, clarify or adapt thinking. LIT 3-02a
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

When listening and talking with others for different purposes, I can:
• communicate information, ideas or opinions
• explain processes, concepts or ideas
• identify issues raised, summarise findings or draw conclusions. LIT 3-09a

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 / LIT 3-10a

I can:
• discuss structure, characterisation and/or setting
• recognise the relevance of the writer’s theme and how this relates to my own and others’ experiences
• discuss the writer’s style and other features appropriate to genre. ENG 2-19a

I can:
• discuss and evaluate the structure, characterisation and/or setting using some supporting evidence
• identify the main theme of the text and recognise the relevance this has to my own and others’ experiences
• identify and comment on aspects of the writer’s style and other features appropriate to genre using some relevant evidence. ENG 3-19a

I enjoy creating texts of my choice and I regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to suit the needs of my audience. LIT 1-20a / LIT 2-20a

I enjoy creating texts of my choice and I am developing my own style. I can regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to suit the needs of my audience. LIT 3-20a / LIT 4-20a

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

By considering the type of text I am creating, I can independently select ideas and relevant information for different purposes, and organise essential information or ideas and any supporting detail in a logical order. I can use suitable vocabulary to communicate effectively with my audience. LIT 3-26a / LIT 4-26a

I am learning to use language and style in a way which engages and/or influences my reader. ENG 2-27a

I can engage and/or influence readers through my use of language, style and tone as appropriate to genre. ENG 3-27a / ENG 4-27a
I can persuade, argue, explore issues or express an opinion using relevant supporting detail and/or evidence. LIT 2-29a

I can persuade, argue, evaluate, explore issues or express an opinion using a clear line of thought, relevant supporting detail and/or evidence. LIT 3-29a

As I write for different purposes and readers, I can describe and share my experiences, expressing what they made me think about and how they made me feel. ENG 2-30a

Discussion was on going throughout the topic between teacher, learner and supporter. The writing was then redrafted as a result of this feedback. The project concluded with P.7 reading their final work to S1 via a glow meet.
The pieces of writing were of a very high standard and both teachers and pupils were delighted with the outcome of this project.
In this cookbook, we will find out:
• What the ‘Art into Words Glow Group looks like
• How to create a Glow Group and add members to the group from other establishments
• How to use the documents store and discussion forum to support AiFL

Ingredients

What did Claire and David need to create the elements of the Glow Group?

1. A Glow Group
2. Access to Glow Group for staff, P.7 and S1 pupils in the English class
3. Web cam with microphone and speakers

It was necessary to ensure staff had Administrator rights within the Glow Group to enable them to make changes to the Glow group and add members to the Group and the learners all has contributor rights to comment on the discussion board and upload work to the document store.

In the next section, we will take a look at the ‘Art into Words’ Glow Group and learn how to recreate elements within it.

Recipe

The video below shows the ‘Art Into Words Glow Group. The videos that then follow show how these elements can be recreated. Details are:

*What does the Art Into Words Glow Group look like?
Art into Words – A Primary/Secondary writing project to support AiFL

*How to add pages and change titles.
Art into Words – A Primary/Secondary writing project to support AiFL

*How to add membership within your own establishment to a Glow Group
Art into Words – A Primary/Secondary writing project to support AiFL

*How to add membership from another establishment to a Glow Group
Art into Words – A Primary/Secondary writing project to support AiFL

*Using Discussion Board for AiFL
Art into Words – A Primary/Secondary writing project to support AiFL

*How to organise content on a document store for a joint project
Art into Words – A Primary/Secondary writing project to support AiFL

*Success of AiFL Strategies
Art into Words – A Primary/Secondary writing project to support AiFL

Impact
The impact of using Glow to deliver communication to staff has been outstanding and recognised by HMIe on their visit to Holy Family PS and St. Ninian’s Secondary.
The ability to share the expertise of fellow professionals and learners has been purposeful and provided an excellent CPD opportunity.
The learners not only developed skills in Art, Art History and Literacy but also in communication and supporting each other. Through using Glow they have developed life long skills in the use of ICT to support learning.
*Impact of Project from Claire Reynolds P.7 teacher Holy Family PS
Art into Words – A Primary/Secondary writing project to support AiFL

Highlighting Relevant Capacities

Overview

Claire Reynolds is Principal Teacher at Holy Family Primary school in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire. She has responsibility for a P.7 class and is class committed 0.8. As part of school policy each child must complete a PLP involving evaluation of targets for Language, Mathematics and Health and Wellbeing. Following this evaluation new targets for each area are also set.In this cookbook we’ll look at how Claire used a Glow Group and the web parts within it to create a PLP for completion throughout the academic year 2009-2010 with her class. The cookbook will exemplify this good practice and show how to re-create it.

Context
Personal Learning Plans were introduced several years ago at Holy Family PS and are completed by all stages from P2-7 termly. Each child is required to set targets for literacy and numeracy as well as Health and Wellbeing and Personal and Social Development.
The PLPs are continually reviewed and adapted in terms of content in order to include curricular changes and in particular the impact of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE).

CFE Outcomes and Experiences met through this process are,

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

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

Opportunities to carry out different activities and roles in a variety of settings have enabled me to identify my achievements, skills and areas for development. This will help me to prepare for the next stage in my life and learning.
HWB 2-19a

Each child is issued with a paper copy of the PLP which they should complete through the year. With the support of the class teacher in a personal interview the targets for literacy and numeracy are set. The child then takes the PLP home to share this with their parent/carer and to agree these targets with them. With their parent/carer they also agree Health and Personal and Social Development targets for the term. PLPs are then returned to school and referred to on a weekly basis to ensure that each child is on track to achieve their targets. At the end of each term the PLP goes home and with their parent/carer the child evaluates their progress on each of the set targets.
While this system has worked well the potential of Glow in order to provide this support for each pupil was recognised by Claire. The ideas were discussed with the SMT to agree to Claire using Glow for session 2009-2010 with her P.7 class for PLPs. The children had been using Glow for at least one year and were familiar with some basic web parts.
While the initial introduction to using Glow for PLPs would take some time and instruction with her class the life long skills the children would acquire would be transferrable to other Glow projects and in their use of the internet when uploading and downloading documents/files.
Claire introduced this project to her class in August 2009. Children who did not have access to the internet at home were very keen to use Glow and would use a relatives or library computer. Where this was not be possible the paper copy would be sent home.

Ingredients
What did Claire need to do to create the elements of the Glow Group and the PLP structure?

1. A Glow Group
2. Access to Glow Group for all pupils.
3. Pupil familiarity with uploading and downloading from My Glow
4. E-mail accounts for all pupils, in this case, Glow mail.
5. Access to a word processing package in school and at home.

It was necessary to ensure pupils had Contributor rights within the Glow Group to enable them download the PLP, complete it and upload it to their My Glow.

In the next section, we’ll take a look at the ‘Staff Communications’ Glow Group and learn how to recreate elements within it.

Recipe
The video below shows the ‘PLP’ Glow Group. The videos that then follow show how these elements can be recreated. Details are:

*What does the PLP Glow Group look like?
Using Glow for Personal Learning Plans – PLPs

*How to remove a page from a glow group.
Using Glow for Personal Learning Plans – PLPs

*How to design a page in a glow group.
Using Glow for Personal Learning Plans – PLPs

*How to rename a web part.
Using Glow for Personal Learning Plans – PLPs

*How to send targeted news from a Glow group.
Using Glow for Personal Learning Plans – PLPs

*How pupils would download and upload documents using My Glow.
Using Glow for Personal Learning Plans – PLPs

*Teacher Video on Impact of Glow
Using Glow for Personal Learning Plans – PLPs

Impact
The impact of using Glow to create and complete PLPs as well as share them with parents has been very effective.
The pupils have gained many skills in using Glow through this project and are now much more confident in uploading and downloading items to and from Glow. This project has also helped to develop parental involvement in Glow activities and raised their awareness of some of the functionality and uses purpose of Glow as a Learning Platform.
There has been the obvious impact in terms of Eco School status and financially in terms of colour printing and paper. There has been real and purposeful use of ICT and Glow and it has been a good way to motivate the children to complete and evaluate their PLPs regularly. It has been found that the children are eager to use Glow and ICT for this task in comparison to paper copies.