Last session, the Computing Department in John Ogilvie High School, South Lanarkshire, decided to create a Glow Group to host all of the resources that pupils studying Higher Computing would need access to throughout the year. Joe Kane is Head of the Business Education and Computing faculty and undertook the task of building the Group,

Context

Click to see full image

Joe was keen to ensure that pupils studying Higher Computing had easy access to all information and resources they would need for the course and also would have a place where they could give feedback.

He wanted to simplify the look of the Glow Group and aid pupils’ navigation around it and so decided to use a graphical interface along with hidden pages.

On the Noticeboard page of the Group, Joe deleted the default web parts from the page, added a Text Editor web part and uploaded an image to it. He then created ‘hot spots’ on the image to provide links to each of the hidden pages.

Each part of the image then acts like a button, linking to a separate hidden page and gives pupils access to course notes, tests, past papers, homework, study information, useful web links, a pupil voice feedback area and a blog giving specific course information.

Because of the use of hidden pages, only the Noticeboard page tab is visible in the Group, so Joe chose to create a navigation system on each page, to enable pupils to go from page to page without having to go back to the main page each time.

Like the Noticeboard page, this was done by uploading an image to a Text Editor Web part and creating hot spots to each page.

The Pages

Each page in the Glow Group is beautifully simple and easy to use, containing only a few web parts. For example:

Past Papers Page

Click to see full image

This page contains only three web parts – two text editors and a Document Store. Both text editor web parts have had their borders and title bars removed so that only the images which have been uploaded into them are visible.

The Document Store hosts Past Paper exam questions and marking schemes to aid pupils in their exam preparation and enables the staff in the Department to ensure that all relevant information is shared with pupils.

Notes Page

This page also contains Text Editor web parts (3) and a Document Store.

In order for Joe to ensure that each page contained a different Document store, containing the folders and documents relevant to the purpose of the page, he had to create new Document Library web parts from scratch for each page, using the Advanced Settings link in the Glow Group. Had he not done this and had simply added a document store to each page from the web parts gallery, he would have had the same document store, containing the same documents, on every page. You can find out more about this and how to create new web parts from scratch in the ‘how to’ videos in the Recipe section below.

Blog Page

Joe created a Higher Computing blog to enable him to give up to date information to pupils. Once he had created the Glow Blog, he copied the web address of the view of the blog. Joe then removed the blog web part from the page and instead added a Page Viewer web part, adding in the web address of the view of the blog to it. This enabled pupils to have a direct view of the blog content.

In the blog, Joe was then able to write posts to share information about the course revision guides, holiday revision and Supported Study.

Pupil Voice Page

The Pupil Voice page gives pupils the chance to give feedback on the Higher Computing course, to enable staff to then make changes in order to help them continually improve the learning experience for pupils.

On the page there is a Document store with evaluation documents which pupils can use to give their opinions on Positive, Negative and Interesting elements of the course. In here also are the results of a survey which Joe did with pupils last session to gather their thoughts on the course. This was done using ‘Survey Monkey’, however this year, Joe has decided to use a Glow Survey instead and so the web part for this is also on the Pupil Voice page. Using the Glow Survey will enable Joe to have an overview of the whole class’s feedback, as well as being able to see individual pupil responses. Results can be displayed in a variety of ways, including graphically.

These are just four of the pages in the Glow Group. In the following video we can take a look at the whole Group:

Tour of Higher Computing Glow Group (13:44)
Higher Computing- Pupil support and Pupil Voice

Ingredients

Joe chose to create the Higher Computing Glow Group using hidden pages, with links made to them via a graphical interface. This is done by uploading an image to a Text Editor web part then creating ‘hot spots’ to each of the pages on selected parts of the image.  In order to do all of this, Joe therefore needed to do the following:

-    Create a Glow Group at school level
-    Delete the Documents, Discussions and Glow Groups pages
-    Create Hidden Page
-    On the Noticeboard Page, delete the default web parts, upload an image to a Text Editor web part and create hot  spots on the image to link to each of the hidden pages
-    On each of the hidden pages, upload an image to a Text Editor web part and create hot spots on the image to link to each of the other hidden pages.

Since Joe needed separate document stores on many of the pages in the Glow Group, he also needed to create new Document Libraries from scratch, to avoid simply having the same Document store duplicated on every page.

A Glow Blog had to be created. Joe chose to then use the Page Viewer web part to show the view of the Blog.

A Glow Survey was created, with multiple choice questions using the ‘ratings scale’ option, to enable Joe to gather pupil feedback on the Higher Computing course.

Recipe

The following videos explain how to replicate some of these elements of the Higher Computing Glow Group. The context of these videos is different, but the process is exactly the same.

How to remove pages from a Glow Group and close web parts from a page (2:22)
Higher Computing- Pupil support and Pupil Voice

How to create a hidden page and hyperlink text to access it (10:39)
Higher Computing- Pupil support and Pupil Voice

How to hotspot an image and link it to a hidden page (6:22)
Higher Computing- Pupil support and Pupil Voice

How to create a new Document Store (5:57)
Higher Computing- Pupil support and Pupil Voice

How to add a Glow Blog to a Glow Group and create the blog (6:12)
Higher Computing- Pupil support and Pupil Voice

How to view a Glow Blog through the Page Viewer web part (4:53)
Higher Computing- Pupil support and Pupil Voice

How to create a survey (14:16)
Higher Computing- Pupil support and Pupil Voice

How to respond to a survey (5:19)
Higher Computing- Pupil support and Pupil Voice

Impact

Perhaps the best way to judge whether the Glow Group has been beneficial is to listen to the thoughts of the pupils who used it. Here are what some of them had to say:

“I thought that the glow group was very useful as it had all the required course notes which was easily accessible from home. I liked this because it meant that if I had missed a set of notes or lost a set I could easily get a new copy without using up the teachers time”. Sean

“Sitting Higher Computing last year, I felt glow was a great study tool.  With the online daily guide of what to study each night, it really helped me keep my studying on track, as it gave you a guide line of what to study, for how long and what was coming up. This section also updates us on homework or tests that were coming up. It allowed you to submit homework online at any point. This was great as you could receive immediate feed back, the following day. It also prevented you from losing or forgetting sheets.   It covered all the course and recalled on subtopics that we had done at the start of term. The notes on power point were also a great help to look over if I was unsure on any particular parts of a topic, these notes went into further detail and helped explain when I did not understand. With the past papers and marking schemes, this was a great study revision, as they were easy to access and find. Also the previous class test that we had sat were available online, this was a further study guide that was available nowhere else. The site was very easy to use and navigate around. I personally feel this would be a great revision and home tool for all subjects.  All of this helped me greatly to stay on track and achieve my grade B that I had hoped for.” Alix

“The Glow program was useful by providing remote and digital access to homework as well as a balanced revision timetable. Being able to download homework meant that the problem of losing sheets disappeared completely and being able to upload digital documents meant that when homework was handed in there was no loss of a jotter and thus access to notes, so studying could carry on in lots of little chunks instead of needing a big rush to catch up after a few days. I would recommend using Glow just because of how useful digitised work is when you have written notes, and having a good revision timetable always handy is a bonus”. Daniel

“Glow last year was good as Mr Kane was able to set us a study plan every week so we knew which to study every night in order to achieve the best grade possible. We were also able to access past papers as well as the marking instructions. Glow was effective when coming up to our exams as I was able to know what to study for when at home as well as at school”. Tommy

“I think glow was a useful, educational tool in which we were able to access at home and see our study plan and online past papers. This benefited me greatly and allowed me to work the best of my ability and achieve a high grade.” Stephen

“Good points about using the glow group in Higher Computing last year were that it allowed the class to gain access to all resources needed for the course and all past papers that would be needed for revision. It also gave us a study guide for specific subjects to study when at home which was optional which was good as it gave us areas that people may need help on as well as being able to issue homework and do homework on computer and send it back to the teacher”. Connor

Joe Kane also talks about the benefits that he got from using the Glow Group with the pupils. He feels that the blog has been the most useful element: 

“For me, the blog had the biggest impact as pupils would come to school having checked the revision guide. They would then be able to informally feedback on the aspects of the course that they found tricky when revising.”

Librarian Linda Martin runs a Rapid Readers club at Carluke High School in South Lanarkshire. The club, for S2 pupils, meets at lunchtimes in the school library. It aims to encourage pupils to read for enjoyment and to read as widely as possible.

Carluke Rapid Readers – using Glow during the lunchtime sessions in the library

Context

When Carluke High School first started using Glow in early 2008, the Rapid Readers Glow Group was created as one of a number of pilot projects, to explore how Glow could enhance pupils’ learning.

The same Glow Group has now been in use for over two years, evolving with each new activity the club undertakes. The Group is now a central hub, providing a focus for the lunchtime meetings and giving pupils a wealth of information and activities to explore when they log on to Glow at home.

* Linda Martin gives a tour of the Rapid Readers Glow GroupRapid Readers: using Glow to support a lunchtime reading club

Areas of the Glow Group range from a focus on a single short story, through peer recommendations, to participating in national book awards.

One of the earliest activities at the club was a study of the short story, “The Witch’s Headstone”, by Neil Gaiman. Pupils took copies of the story home to read, and then discussed it together in the lunchtime session.

The snakestone

In the Glow Group, background information to the story was added, such as images, a glossary of unfamiliar terms and a list of characters. Pupils could then choose from a number of different activities, exploring characters or incidents in the story. Pupils’ work was uploaded to the Glow Group so that they could view and comment on each others’ responses. Glow Meet and Glow Chat were also introduced, to encourage pupils to discuss the plot and characters further.

Book recommendations

Pupils have become very confident through the club about expressing their opinions about what they read, and about recommending books and authors to their peers. They have collated lists of books under headings such as “The books that we couldn’t put down”, “ The character that we’d most like to be”, “Saddest books” and “Books that we’d like made into a film”. They have used discussion boards to comment on favourite reads and the books they’ve received for Christmas. They also use links in the Glow Group to websites that provide book recommendations, such as the “Reading Matters Bookchooser”, which is particularly popular for its interactive facilities.

In August 2009 the club visited the Edinburgh International Book Festival to see two popular children’s authors, Catherine MacPhail and Malcolm Rose. Pages have been added to the Glow Group, displaying photos, a report about the trip and information on the authors and their books. This all continues to inspire the pupils to explore perhaps unfamiliar authors and genre.

Holocaust Memorial Day

In 2009 the club decided to take part in the Booktrust Teenage Prize. Pupils read and discussed the five books on the shortlist and then voted on their favourite. They were delighted when this novel, “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman, was declared the overall winner!

Other pages of the Glow Group have supported further club activities, such as participation in Holocaust Memorial Day and submission of a bid for a grant for books for the library.

Ingredients

For the Rapid Readers, Linda created a Glow Group and then:

• added additional pages when required
• created new list web parts (eg. Web links) to be able to display different content on different pages of the Glow Group
• changed the display of web parts (eg. to provide additional information about a web link or document)
• used Text Editor web parts to display text, images and hyperlinks

Video clips in the Recipe section below show how you can replicate these ideas.

Recipe

* How to add, edit and remove pages from a Glow GroupRapid Readers: using Glow to support a lunchtime reading club

* How to change the display of a web partRapid Readers: using Glow to support a lunchtime reading club

* How to create a new Web links web partRapid Readers: using Glow to support a lunchtime reading club

* How to add the Text Editor web part and insert text, images and hyperlinksRapid Readers: using Glow to support a lunchtime reading club

* How to use tables in Text EditorRapid Readers: using Glow to support a lunchtime reading club

Impact

Club membership has now risen from the original eight pupils to around 20. Although this makes it more difficult to ensure that all pupils can have hands-on access to Glow during the lunchtime sessions, pupils thoroughly enjoy participating in the club and using Glow in the library and at home.

In general, the club members have become very assured about discussing their views on what they’ve read and about making book recommendations to their peers. Pupils have become noticeably more willing to try book recommendations and to move beyond their comfort zone; some of the boys in particular have been encouraged to explore other genre.

Linda is delighted with the success of the club and with the role that the Glow Group has played in it.

* Linda Martin talks about the impact of Rapid ReadersRapid Readers: using Glow to support a lunchtime reading club

Glow Group navigation – click to enlarge

In this cookbook, Margaret Tracey and Sandra Donaldson from South Lanarkshire Council explain how authority-level Glow Groups have been created to exemplify CfE experiences and outcomes.

Each Glow Group aims to show the progression of an experience and outcome to develop practitioners’ understanding and confidence in planning for CfE. Furthermore, each Group will provide teachers with resources and ideas, and a place to communicate and share their own materials and approaches to learning.

Context

Margaret Tracey, Glow Co-ordinator, and Jim Reid, ICT Development Officer, are responsible for the rollout and implementation of Glow throughout South Lanarkshire schools.

During 2009/10 Margaret and Jim planned the creation of a number of authority-level Glow Groups. The aim of these Groups was twofold: to provide schools with ideas and resources; and to encourage practitioners to explore how they could use Glow with their own pupils to develop new learning and teaching strategies.

The initial plan was to create Glow Groups open to all primary schools in the authority, to support the teaching of common projects, such as ‘Rainforests’ or ‘World War 2’. Feedback was sought from schools and opinion was very positive.

However, in consultation with the authority’s QIO team and ‘Training – Learning and Teaching’ advisory group, the plans evolved into something more ambitious: to select one CfE experience and outcome and follow its progression from Early to Fourth Level. A Glow Group would be created to exemplify the outcome at each level and provide activities and resources to support classes working on it.

As the plans developed, it quickly became apparent that a range of expertise was called for, to ensure that the experiences and outcomes were fully understood and to develop level-appropriate materials. 

Three working parties were then set up: for Science, for Numeracy & Maths and for Literacy & English. Each working party was headed up by a South Lanarkshire Development Officer, with expert advice provided by the QIO team. Experienced practitioners were invited to join, with the essential criteria for selection being enthusiasm and understanding of CfE. Further advice for each working party was provided by CfE staff from Learning and Teaching Scotland and members of the national Glow team.

Margaret Tracey explains the background to the creation of the Glow GroupsSupporting progression and continuity in Science

Margaret Tracey explains how the content of the Glow Groups was decided uponSupporting progression and continuity in Science

This cookbook focuses on the work of the Science working party. Cookbooks have been published for the Numeracy and Maths group and the Literacy and English group.

Click to enlarge

The Science working party was led by Development Officer Sandra Donaldson. Following discussion with headteachers, ‘Space’ was selected as a theme, as it’s a popular project with schools. Additionally, a clear line of progression in the experiences and outcomes from Early to Fourth Level makes this a good subject for exemplification. 

Three primary teachers – Lorraine McKendry, Karen McGee and Martyn O’Donnell - together with early years representative Angela Purse, worked on Early, First and Second Level areas of the Glow Group. Biology teacher, Marcus Balloch, developed the Third Level materials and physics teacher, Lee Charnley, the Fourth Level.

The working party met on a series of occasions, to discuss the Experiences and Outcomes and plan the activities to be included in the Glow Group. The first meeting was a brainstorming session, identifying the key knowledge and skills at each level, appropriate learning and teaching strategies and links to other curricular areas.

A great deal of discussion centred around whether the Glow Group should be pupil or staff orientated, and it was decided that a combination would be best. At Early Level, the activities in the Glow Group would be teacher-led, but at other levels, it is envisaged that pupils will be able to access and use the Glow Group independently.

Staff area – click to enlarge

Subsequent meetings enabled the working party to share the ideas and materials they had developed, and to deal with any questions or problems that had arisen. These questions often focused on the transition between levels, and valuable discussion ensued to ensure that the intention of the experiences and outcomes were fully understood and that appropriate content had been included at each level.

At the end of each meeting, the working party members were tasked with beginning to build their respective pages in the Glow Group. Meetings took place every 3 weeks, allowing regular checks on the continuity and progression of the resources being developed.

Sandra Donaldson demonstrates the Science Glow GroupSupporting progression and continuity in Science

Ingredients

Sandra created the Science Glow Group on the South Lanarkshire site in Glow. A page was created for each level from Early to Fourth. Each member of the working party was then given Administrator rights to the Group so that they could design the page for their level by:

• Adding a Text Editor web part to display the Outcome and Experience
• Adding further Text Editor web parts to display images, links, activities and videos
• Adding new Web links and Documents web parts 

 The video clips in the Recipe section below show how to replicate these elements.

Recipe

* How to add, edit or delete pages in a Glow GroupSupporting progression and continuity in Science

* How to add the Text Editor web part to a page Supporting progression and continuity in Science

* How to add an image to a Text Editor web part Supporting progression and continuity in Science

* How to add a hyperlink to a Text Editor web partSupporting progression and continuity in Science

* How to add a link in Text Editor to a documentSupporting progression and continuity in Science

* How to use a table in Text Editor to layout text and images Supporting progression and continuity in Science

* How to display a video in a Text Editor web partSupporting progression and continuity in Science

* How to create a new Discussions web partsSupporting progression and continuity in Science

Impact

The meetings and tasks gave the members of the working party a valuable opportunity to explore the experiences and outcomes in detail. All felt they had benefited from working with colleagues from across the range of stages and sectors and to understand more about learning and teaching strategies at different stages. The primary members particularly appreciated the support of the secondary specialists in developing activities appropriate to each level.

Two members of the team were Glow novices and felt that their ‘Glow skills’ had progressed tremendously as a result of being involved in the working party.

The benefits for the working party members Supporting progression and continuity in Science

The Science Glow Group is currently open only to members of the working party, but will be open to all South Lanarkshire schools from autumn 2010. The aim is that classes will actively engage with the Glow Group, participating in the activities, using the resources, and sharing ideas and questions through the discussion boards.

Plans for how the ‘Space’ Glow Group will be used Supporting progression and continuity in Science

Developing the ‘Space’ Glow Group: lessons learned Supporting progression and continuity in Science

Use of the Glow Group will be evaluated. Quantitative data will be available through the Management Reporting tools and qualitative feedback will be gathered through the use of a survey.

Beyond this initial trial period, the Glow Group (along with the Numeracy & Maths and Literacy & English Glow Groups) will be made available to schools nationally. Links to the Groups will be advertised in a number of locations in Glow, including the relevant cookbooks.

Margaret Tracey explains the plans for evaluating the impact of the Glow Groups Supporting progression and continuity in Science

Navigation screen in the Glow Group – click to enlarge

In this cookbook, Margaret Tracey and Caroline Gibson from South Lanarkshire Council explain how authority-level Glow Groups have been created to exemplify CfE experiences and outcomes.

Each Glow Group aims to show the progression of an experience and outcome to develop practitioners’ understanding and confidence in planning for CfE. Furthemore, each Group will provide teachers with resources and ideas, and a place to communicate and share their own materials and approaches to learning.

Context

Margaret Tracey, Glow Co-ordinator, and Jim Reid, ICT Development Officer, are responsible for the rollout and implementation of Glow throughout South Lanarkshire schools.

During 2009/10 Margaret and Jim planned the creation of a number of authority-level Glow Groups. The aim of these Groups was twofold: to provide schools with ideas and resources; and to encourage practitioners to explore how they could use Glow with their own pupils to develop new learning and teaching strategies.

The initial plan was to create Glow Groups open to all primary schools in the authority, to support the teaching of common projects, such as ‘Rainforests’ or ‘World War 2’. Feedback was sought from schools and opinion was very positive.

However, in consultation with the authority’s QIO team and ‘Training – Learning and Teaching’ advisory group, the plans evolved into something more ambitious: to select one CfE experience and outcome and follow its progression from Early to Fourth Level. A Glow Group would be created to exemplify the outcome at each level and provide activities and resources to support classes working on it.

As the plans developed, it quickly became apparent that a range of expertise was called for, to ensure that the experiences and outcomes were fully understood and to develop level-appropriate materials. 

Three working parties were then set up: for Science, for Numeracy & Maths and for Literacy & English. Each working party was headed up by a South Lanarkshire Development Officer, with expert advice provided by the QIO team. Experienced practitioners were invited to join, with the essential criteria for selection being enthusiasm and understanding of CfE. Further advice for each working party was provided by CfE staff from Learning and Teaching Scotland and members of the national Glow team.

Margaret Tracey explains the background to the creation of the Glow GroupsSupporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

Margaret Tracey explains how the content of the Glow Groups was decided uponSupporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

This cookbook focuses on the work of the Literacy and English working party. Cookbooks have also been published for the Numeracy and Maths and the Science groups.

Third Level activity – click to enlarge

The strand “Creating Texts” was selected as the focus of the Literacy and English group. This was chosen for several reasons: ‘writing’ was felt to be an area where teachers would appreciate support; the strand contains an experience and outcome at every level, making it easier to exemplify progression; the collaborative environment of Glow could be particularly beneficial in providing pupils with a wider audience for their work.

With the focus chosen, the working party – Development Officer, Caroline Gibson, and teachers Linda Callendar, Deborah Woods, Susan Dodds, Robbie Dempsey and Barry Wright – were ready to get started.

Meetings of the working party took place every three weeks. The meetings provided the opportunity for the group to talk about the experiences and outcomes, discuss their understanding of the coverage at each level, and plan the structure and content of the Glow Group.

At the first meeting, the group agreed that using a common theme across all the levels would help to exemplify progression. The theme chosen was “Heroes”.

The following meeting saw the group brainstorm what the experience and outcome entailed at each level. Each member of the group recorded ideas for their own level of expertise, then worked with one of their colleagues on the level or below their own. A group discussion then ensued, to review the continuity across all the levels and the progression in the learning and assessment strategies. All the working party members found this detailed discussion very enlightening.

Subsequent meetings concentrated on building the ‘Literacy and English’ Glow Group. Glow expertise had not been one of the selection criteria for choosing the practitioners involved, as enthusiasm for planning for CfE was the key factor. Some of the working party had a fair amount of familiarity with Glow, others less so, and Caroline worked with individual staff as required to help develop their Glow skills.  

Caroline Gibson demonstrates the Literacy and English Glow GroupSupporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

Ingredients

Caroline created the Literacy and English Glow Group on the South Lanarkshire site in Glow. A page was created for each level from Early to Fourth. Each member of the working party was then given Administrator rights to the Group so that they could design the page for their level by:

• Adding a Text Editor web part to display the Outcome and Experience
• Adding further Text Editor web parts to display images, information and activities
• Adding new Web links and Documents web parts
• Adding the Page Viewer web part to show external web sites, such as the BBC CBeebies
• Adding the XML web part to show videos, from sites such as YouTube

 The video clips in the Recipe section below show how to replicate these elements.

Caroline also used a Text Editor web part on the Noticeboard page, as a means of navigating to the different levels. Further information on creating a graphical interface in this way can be found in the cookbook ‘Streamlining the Glow user interface’.

Recipe

* How to add, edit or delete pages in a Glow Group Supporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

* How to add the Text Editor web part to a page Supporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

* How to add an image to a Text Editor web part Supporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

* How to use a table in Text Editor to layout text and images Supporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

* How to create additional Web links web parts Supporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

* How to use the Page Viewer web partSupporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

* How to use the XML web part to display videoSupporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

Impact

The impact for those involved in the development of the Glow Group has been significant. All felt that the process had been invaluable, providing them with time to explore the CfE outcomes and invaluable opportunities to listen to, discuss and work with colleagues across different stages and sectors.

The working party members also felt that their knowledge and skills with Glow had improved considerably and they felt that this had benefited not only themselves, but their pupils and schools.

The benefits for the working party membersSupporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

Plans for how the Glow Group will be usedSupporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

The ‘Literacy and English’ Glow Group is currently open only to members of the working party, but will be open to all South Lanarkshire schools from autumn 2010. The aim is that classes will actively engage with the Glow Group, participating in the activities, using the resources, uploading their own work and providing feedback to others through the discussion boards.

Use of the Glow Group will be evaluated. Quantitative data will be available through the Management Reporting tools and qualitative feedback will be gathered through the use of a survey.

Beyond this initial trial period, the Glow Group (along with the Numeracy & Maths and Science Glow Groups) will be made available to schools nationally. Links to the Groups will be advertised in a number of locations in Glow, including the relevant cookbooks.

Margaret Tracey explains the plans for evaluating the impact of the Glow Groups Supporting progression and continuity in Literacy and English

Overview

Staff in the English department at Carluke High School in South Lanarkshire have used Glow to enhance learning and teaching in a number of ways over the last two years. Projects have ranged from novel studies in S2 to War Poetry at Standard Grade. In this cookbook David Falconer describes the impact of using discussion boards for peer assessment with Higher students.

Context

David created the Higher English Glow Group for his fifth and sixth pupils as they began to prepare for internal assessment of writing. The aim of the Group was to give the pupils a forum in which to publish their creative writing to their peers. Pupils would then assess each others’ work and give constructive feedback.

The expectations of pupils’ writing abilities at Higher are:

Candidates will develop and extend a range of writing skills as they employ different registers, formats and styles to fulfil a variety of purposes. Study at this level will be characterised by such activities as close consideration of different models and styles, writing to particular briefs and for specific audiences and experimenting with imaginative forms. (SQA course specification)

A tour of David Falconer’s Higher English Glow GroupPeer assessment in Higher English

Pupils first undertook a number of activities in class to generate ideas for their writing. Ideas were developed and honed, and a first draft completed. The work was then submitted through the discussion board in the Glow Group. As most of the pupils had not used Glow before, David had created a discussion thread per pupil, which included instructions about how to reply to a discussion post, attach a file and save the posting. With hindsight, David felt that this level of support was generally not needed, as pupils clearly felt comfortable with the technology and had no difficulties in understanding how to use a discussion board.

With the initial pieces of writing submitted, pupils were asked to review the work of four other pupils. A reminder of the assessment criteria were included within each discussion thread so that pupils kept them to the forefront of their minds whilst reviewing. (click on images below to enlarge)

Creative writing – guidelines for peer assessment

David was pleased with the quality of feedback that pupils gave. He felt that most had provided perceptive and constructive comments, which would genuinely help their peers to develop their work further. 

Feedback on one pupil's work

Once pupils had completed the peer assessment, David also reviewed the submitted writing. He decided to do this through the discussion board, in preference to marking work manually and annotating pupils’ work in pencil or pen. He commented that he found this very useful, indeed “quite a liberating experience”, as it allowed him to make much more extensive comments, with a greater degree of explanation and feedback to pupils, than he would ordinarily have been able to do. He often found that pupils’ peer assessment chimed with his, indicating that pupils were fully engaged with the success criteria and were reviewing with a considerable degree of maturity.

At the end of the review process, David printed the feedback for pupils, copying the comments from the discussion board to a Word document. This provided each pupil with extensive, thought-provoking commentary on their work and how to improve it.

David applied the same use of discussion boards later in the year, when pupils were working towards a second writing assessment, this time on discursive writing. Here the power of the discussion boards really shone through. Pupils each selected a topical issue and in their essays expressed and developed a line of argument. Pupils reviewed their peers’ work, and then used the discussion boards to questions assumptions, challenge arguments and discuss their differing views in depth.

Discursive essay – feedback

Ingredients

In order to use the discussion boards for peer assessment, David created a Glow Group and gave his pupils Contributor rights. He used features, such as the News and Web links web parts, to provide information on learning intentions and background reading.  The default Discussions web part was used for the first writing assignment and David later created a new discussions web part for the second assignment.

Recipe

If you’re interested in replicating, or building upon any of David’s ideas, then you may find the ’how-to’ video clips below useful. These show how to create, use and modify discussion boards.

* how to post a message on a discussion board and attach a filePeer assessment in Higher English

* how to read a message on a discussion board and view an attached filePeer assessment in Higher English

* how to create a new discussion boardPeer assessment in Higher English

Impact

David Falconer talks about the impact of the Higher English Glow GroupPeer assessment in Higher English

At the end of the writing tasks, pupils commented on how valuable they had found this process of peer and teacher assessment to be. They appreciated the comments and support of their peers and recognised how the feedback would enable them to improve their work. Pupils spoke of an increased sense of confidence, that they had viewed the task with greater purpose and undertook it with more attention that they might otherwise have done, knowing that their work would be published to their peers and reviewed by them.

This approach to the writing assignments particularly encouraged the less confident members of the class. David felt that they had performed better than they perhaps might have done through more traditional methods of reviewing and marking work.

David commented that peer assessment like this is perhaps less well used at the upper stages of secondary than in first and second year. His Higher pupils had thoroughly valued the forum it provided to explore and develop their work.

Kelvingrove

Kelvingrove Glow Group

The English department at Carluke High School in South Lanarkshire has used Glow extensively over the last couple of years, with topics ranging from novel studies in S2 through to creative writing assignments at Higher. 

Last autumn the English department worked in collaboration with other departments on a ‘Scottish Heritage’ project. In this cookbook English teacher Barry Wright describes how Glow was used to support this interdisciplinary project.

Context

The Scottish Heritage Project encompassed all S1 pupils and staff from the English, History and Computing departments. The project was aimed at:

• developing pupils’ understanding and appreciation of their local heritage;
• encouraging pupils to make connections between different areas of learning;
• building pupils’ skills in working independently;
• developing pupils’ skills in working in partnership and in teams.

The project explored a number of different themes of Scottish heritage, including music and arts, local industry and famous buildings.

Barry created a ’Scottish Heritage’ Glow Group and then sub-Groups for each of the different themes. All S1 pupils and the staff involved in the project were given membership of each of the Groups. Each Group contained links to web sites for background reading and for research tasks, discussion boards for pupils’ questions and feedback, and assignments created in Glow Learn .

Barry Wright provides a tour of the S1 Scottish Heritage projectUsing Glow and Glow Learn to support an interdisciplinary project

Glow Learn quiz

Barry found many of the features of Glow Learn particularly useful to support the project. These included:

• sharing objectives with pupils. Objectives for individual activities, lessons or units of work can be included in Glow Learn materials. Objectives may be taken directly from curricular frameworks, such as Curriculum for Excellence or National Qualifications. Alternatively, objectives can be agreed by staff and/or pupils and expressed in terms of learning intentions or success criteria. Regular discussion of lesson objectives helped to maintain pupils’ focus on the standards and progress expected.
• Glow Learn tests.  The ’test’ builder in Glow Learn allows teachers to create quizzes or assessments, using a range of question types, such as true/false, multiple choice and short answer. Barry used the test facilities, for example, to ask pupils to practise skim reading skills.
• automatic marking of Glow Learn tests. Most question types in Glow Learn tests are marked automatically when pupils submit their work, saving on marking and allowing rapid identification of common areas of difficulty amongst a group of pupils.
• linking Glow Learn to a Glow Group.  Adding the ‘Learning Space’ web part to a Glow Group links it to Glow Learn. This allows the assigning and tracking features of Glow Learn to be seamlessly integrated with the collaborative tools of Glow Learn.

Ingredients

Barry created a ‘parent’ Glow Group for the project and a sub-Group for each of the area of study. Each Glow Group was also linked to Glow Learn, by the addition of the ‘Glow Learn – Learning Space’ web part.  The ‘how-to’ clips below show how to replicate these ideas for yourself.

Recipe

* how to create a test in Glow LearnUsing Glow and Glow Learn to support an interdisciplinary project

* how to enrol pupils on a Glow Learn courseUsing Glow and Glow Learn to support an interdisciplinary project

* how to use viewing and assessment options in Glow LearnUsing Glow and Glow Learn to support an interdisciplinary project

* a pupil’s view of a Glow Learn testUsing Glow and Glow Learn to support an interdisciplinary project

* how to review a Glow Learn testUsing Glow and Glow Learn to support an interdisciplinary project

* how to link a Glow Group to Glow LearnUsing Glow and Glow Learn to support an interdisciplinary project

* how to use a Learning Space folder in Glow LearnUsing Glow and Glow Learn to support an interdisciplinary project

Impact

For many of the first year pupils, the project provided their first experience of using Glow. They were very enthusiastic about the opportunities it presented, such as continuing their work from home and being able to give and gain feedback both from their peers and from staff. Their comments following the project included:  

“I log onto Glow to research my topics. We research a lot of pages online our teacher loads up so we’ve been taught how to scan & skim the webpage gathering any key words & giving us more time to research other safe web pages.  I like how you log onto Glow & everything’s there. Our Glow Group tells you what to do. I’ve been using the discussion board to ask questions from home.”

“The thing I like best is doing my homework on Glow. Because I’m online it’s so much quicker. I take things in a lot quicker and don’t feel like I’m missing out.”

“Glow helps me learn quicker which helps me feel good about myself and makes me feel smart. I’ve been learning lots about the Kelvingrove Art Gallery while learning how to use Glow at the same time, so it’s been 2 for the price of 1”.

Glow Poetry Masterclass

Overview

Lindsay Ross is an English teacher at Calderside Academy, Blantyre in South Lanarkshire who teaches a mixed ability S2 class. Lindsay had been working on poetry with the class, but was keen to bring poetry to life and help the pupils understand how to write powerful, effective poetry of their very own.

Lindsay hadn’t used Glow before, but he was very keen to use new technology to help his pupils explore poetry in different ways and work with other pupils throughout Scotland.

Context

We decided to invite a well known Scottish poet, Elspeth Murray, to give a national poetry masterclass on Glow Meet from the S2 class in Calderside Academy, and to hold a follow up lesson with Elspeth to showcase the pupils’ own poetry which they were to write in the month between the two lessons.

The pupils in Calderside had found it challenging to produce their own poetry and Elspeth decided to concentrate on poetry writing skills, using some of her own work to help the pupils understand how to use language and imagery effectively. Elspeth also decided to focus on the theme of Heroes, a topic which would be easily understood by the pupils and the ultimate aim was to get the pupils to write a poem about their hero.

Lindsay did some preparation with the class, looking at some of Elspeth’s work on her website (www.elspethmurray.com), and the pupils chose a favourite poem of Elspeth’s and decided on their reasons for choosing the poem.

We all felt that we had to share the poetry masterclass with other schools throughout Scotland, so we decided to use Glow Meet to enable Elspeth to communicate with a wider audience. We also decided to ask the “remote” schools’ pupils to write their own poems about their heroes which would be posted on Glow for Elspeth to read before the second session.

Through promoting the poetry masterclass on Glow in the Literacy and English National Group, on the glowscotland blog and by contacting Glow key contacts across Scotland, we found a number of schools who were interested in taking part in the poetry masterclass. We decided to use a Glow Meet room already set up in the national ‘Literacy and English’ Glow Group, rather than Lindsay creating his own Glow Group specially for the event.
A number of schools signed up for the poetry masterclass in the Poetry Glow Group within the national Literacy and English Glow Group. These schools were Carluke High School, Galashiels Academy, Inverclyde Academy and Inveralmond Community High School. On the day of the poetry masterclass, Carluke High School, Galashiels Academy and Inveralmond Community High School were available to participate. Inverclyde Academy were unfortunately unable to take part as they had technical difficulties to do with the main server in their authority. Once the schools were in the Glow Meet room, Elspeth welcomed everyone and was delighted to get responses from the online schools. Elspeth then launched straight in to her lesson, starting with an enthusiastic performance of Ship Shop, the poem which the majority of the pupils at Calderside Academy had chosen as their favourite. Elspeth gave the pupils short, sharp exercises to help them focus on what is a hero and these resulted in the pupils having the beginnings of their own poems, which they developed in the month between the first and second sessions.

The second session took place around a month after the first. As well as the schools which participated in the first session, St Peter’s Primary School, Crieff High School and teachers from Dingwall Education Centre registered to take part. On the day of the second session we had Carluke High School, Dingwall Education Centre and Galashiels Academy taking part. The pupils from the online schools were keen to share their poems and respond to Elspeth’s tasks throughout the lesson.

The pupils read out some of their own poems which they had written after the first session and these demonstrated a noticeable gain in confidence, excellent use of language and imagery, and improved communication skills.

The poetry masterclass contributed to pupils’ development of the following Curriculum for Excellence outcomes and experiences:

For pupils participating in the masterclass in Calderside Academy and those participating online:

Listening and Talking:

LIT 3-01a
I regularly select and listen to or watch texts for enjoyment and interest, and I can express how well they meet my needs and expectations, and I can give reasons, with evidence, for my personal response.

I can regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to create texts of my choice, and am developing my own style.

LIT 3-01a
I can regularly select subject, purpose, format and resources to create texts of my choice, and am developing my own style.

Writing

LIT 3-20a
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.

ENG 2-30a
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.

and

ENG 3-30a
I can recreate a convincing impression of a personal experience for my reader, sharing my feelings and reactions to the changing circumstances with some attempt at reflection.

ENG 3-31a
Having explored the elements which writers use, I can create texts in different genres by:

* integrating the conventions of my chosen genre successfully and/or
* using convincing and appropriate structures and/or
* creating interesting and convincing characters and/or
* building convincing settings which come to life.

Ingredients:

In order to run the Glow Meet national poetry masterclass, we had to:

use a video camera, microphone and speakers linked to a PC
arrange a link-up with other schools by advertising the masterclass on Glow, glowscotland blog and through Glow local authority key contacts
find a Glow Meet room in a national Glow Group (Literacy and English) which all the schools could access

Recipe:

If you’re interesting in replicating or adapting some of Lindsay’s ideas, the screen-capture videos below show:

Launching Glow Meet and using the basic features Glow Poetry Masterclass

Using an existing Glow Meet room in a national Glow Group Glow Poetry Masterclass

Creating a Glow Group Glow Poetry Masterclass

Adding Glow Meet to a Glow Group Glow Poetry Masterclass

How pupils would download and upload documents using Glow Glow Poetry Masterclass

Making a link with another school through Glow Glow Poetry Masterclass

Teacher’s View:

The event was, in my opinion, an extremely worthwhile, interesting and enjoyable experience. The pupils did enjoy it and were quite taken by the exposure. The work they did was some of the best they have done all year and was of a very high standard. The pupils definitely enjoyed working with Elspeth and would be happy to do something like this again  -   as would I.

Lindsay Ross

Barry Wright is an English teacher at Carluke High School in South Lanarkshire. Last year he participated in a Building Glow Communities event held at Stirling and, with a number of other English teachers, created the War Poetry Glow Group on the National site in Glow. In this cookbook, Barry describes the purpose and content of the Group.

Context

A number of ‘Building Glow Communities’ events take place each year. The aim of the events is to bring together practitioners to discuss ideas, share interesting practice and to collaborate in building national Glow Groups. Further information about the BGC events can be found here. The Glow Groups created at the events can be accessed from the Join In! page of the Glowing Potential Glow Group on the National site. Click here to go directly to the Join In! page.

At the English BGC event last year, Barry teamed up with other English teachers to develop a Glow Group to support the teaching of war poetry.  As Barry explains in his commentary about the Group, pupils often find the topic inaccessible, as they may have little understanding of the historical and social context. The aim of the Glow Group then is to provide historical background, biographical information, sounds, video clips and images which will enable pupils to develop greater understanding and gain some empathy with the experience of the poets.

The Noticeboard page of the Glow Group contains links to information about a number of conflicts, from the Crimean War through to the current conflict in Afghanistan.

Other pages of the Glow Group focus on five poets:  Alfred Lord Tennyson, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Alan Seeger and Carol Ann Duffy. The pages contain texts of poems (where permissible under copyright law), biographical information, images, video clips and audio recordings. Notes and guidelines about critical response to poetry are provided to develop pupils’ written skills.

Barry Wright provides a tour of the War Poetry Glow GroupThe War Poetry Glow Group on the National site

Ingredients

The War Poetry Glow Group was created on the National site. By default, school staff do not have the rights to create National Glow Groups, but once a Group has been created (as in the case of the War Poetry Glow Group) they can be given Administrator rights to it.

If there is a theme or area of the curriculum which you feel is not represented by a national Glow Group, and would be interested in running such a Group, please contact LTS (glowadmin@ltscotland.org.uk).

Recipe

The ‘how-to’ clips below show how you can replicate some of the ideas used in the War Poetry Glow Group:

* How to add, edit or remove pagesThe War Poetry Glow Group on the National site

* How to add text to a Text Editor web partThe War Poetry Glow Group on the National site

* How to add images to a Text Editor web partThe War Poetry Glow Group on the National site

* How to create hyperlinks in a Text Editor web partThe War Poetry Glow Group on the National site

* How to use a table in Text Editor to display images, text and hyperlinksThe War Poetry Glow Group on the National site

* How to add an audio file to a Text Editor web partThe War Poetry Glow Group on the National site

Information on how to create additional Documents web parts (mentioned in the ‘how to add a sound file’ clip) can be found here.

The War Poetry Glow Group also displays YouTube videos in XML web parts. Note that if YouTube (and similar sites) are blocked in your school, using Glow to link to the site will not circumvent this. However, it can be a useful way of directing pupils to a video clip that you would like them to watch from home.

* How to use the XML web part to display video clips The War Poetry Glow Group on the National site

Impact

The aim of this national Glow Group is to support English staff teaching war poetry and to provide resources which will help their pupils not only to engage with the poetry, but also to understand the social context and the impact of each conflict.

The Glow Group is open to all staff and pupils to be used as a resource bank of information and ideas. Barry and the other administrators of the Group would also be pleased to hear from schools who would be interested in working collaboratively on War Poetry.

Barry Wright describes the purpose and impact of the War Poetry Glow GroupThe War Poetry Glow Group on the National site

Click to view

Nicolle Browning’s S2 English class at Carluke High School in South Lanarkshire were initially unenthusiastic about studying Roald Dahl’s memoir “Going Solo”. This cookbook describes how sharing learning in a Glow Group changed a few minds!

Context

“Going Solo” is the second instalment of Roald Dahl’s autobiography. He describes how at the age of 20 he started to work for Shell in Africa and then soon after joined the RAF at the outbreak of World War Two.

As Nicolle and her S2 class started their study of the book, it quickly became apparent that the pupils were less than impressed. They had expected something humorous, more akin to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, and were disappointed by the style and subject of the book. Some of the girls were particularly unenthusiastic, dismissing it as an adventure or war novel. 

In order to develop pupils’ understanding of the cultural and historical context – and thereby generate interest in the book – Nicolle created a Glow Group with web links, tasks, resources and a discussion board. This would allow pupils to research topics of their own choice and share their learning with their peers.

Nicolle Browning shows how pupils have used a Glow Group to share their learningSharing learning through a discussion board

On the Noticeboard page of the Glow Group, Nicolle posted useful web links, such as those for the official Roald Dahl site, the Roald Dahl museum and the fan club. Pupils enjoyed using these sites, to find out more about the author, his life and work.

Also on the Noticeboard page, Nicolle posted up homework tasks. This reminded pupils of the tasks they had been set and the timescales for completion.

The class used the Discussions page for their independent research task. Each pupil selected a cultural aspect of the book to study, with topics chosen ranging from African languages to fighter planes!

Click to view

Examples of the pupils’ messages on the discussion board are shown in the images on this page (click on the images to view them in close up). Pupils posted messages on the discussion board in a variety of styles – from those who selected an MSN or texting style, to those who wrote in a more formal style. Regardless of the style, what is clearly evident is the pupils’ enthusiasm for the independent research activity, their fascination with the information they’re discovering, and their enjoyment of sharing it with their peers. Nicolle also found it beneficial to be able to use the discussion board to give informal feedback to pupils’ about their work.

Nicolle was delighted with the final results of the research task, which pupils presented as a Word file attached to a discussion posting. Pupils had used an appropriately formal tone in their writing, and displayed an impressive quality both in the level of their research and in the maturity of the language structures.

Ingredients

Nicolle’s Glow Group is an excellent example of how the basic Glow features, such as the Web links and Discussions web parts, can be used to very good effect and contribute significantly to pupils’ interest, enjoyment and sense of ownership of their learning.

If you would like to do something similar with your class, all you will need to get started is a Glow Group. You will need to have at least Contributor permissions to the Glow Group (but preferably Administrator) and your pupils will need to have at least ‘Reader with Discussions’ permissions.

Recipe

The video clips below show how to use the basic web parts of a Glow Group:

* how to use the News web partSharing learning through a discussion board

* how to display web linksSharing learning through a discussion board

* how to use the Discussion boardSharing learning through a discussion board

* how to add an imageSharing learning through a discussion board

Nicolle also used a Voki in her Glow Group to communicate instructions or news. Click here to find information about using the Voki website and click here to find out how to add a Voki to a Glow Group.

Impact

Click to view

The use of the Glow Group had a significant impact on the S2 class. The independent research tasks stimulated interest in the book study, developed cross-curricular learning, and encouraged pupils to support and learn from one another. Evidence of the pupils’ changing attitudes to the book study can be clearly seen in some of the comments made on the discussion board:

“I am enjoying reading “Going Solo”. When you first issued the book I had thoughts running through my head saying “I don’t think I will like this book”. I thought this because I am used to reading adventure books like “The Famous Five” and “The Enchanted Woods”, but I was totally wrong. I am really enjoying Going Solo, it has lots of information about his opinion on WW2…”

“I am enjoying “Going Solo” because it is very informative and it shows what life was like back then. … I have learned a lot of new and interesting facts while studying the novel, like Swahili language which quite impressed me…”

Margaret Tracey and Jim Reid are the Glow Key Contacts for South Lanarkshire Council.  Through discussion and collaboration with the Local Authority’s QIO with responsibility for Mathematics and Numeracy, they were keen to make use of Glow to address the issues of progression and continuity within the Curriculum for Excellence Mathematics strands.

Context

After consultation with the Local Authority’s ‘Training – Learning and Teaching Group’, Margaret and Jim decided to use Glow to give teachers access to resources and ideas that would enable them to work confidently with the Curriculum for Excellence Experiences and Outcomes and also give them a place to communicate, discuss their approaches to learning and teaching and to share further resources. This was partly done to remove the need for every teacher  to have to repeat the same process in every school – using a Local Authority Glow Group helps reduce the workload for staff. After consideration, it was decided to do this initially for Maths/Numeracy, English/Literacy and for Science.

Margaret Tracey explains this in the following videos:

Margaret Tracey: Part 1 – Why South Lanarkshire decided to do this (1:51)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy

Margaret Tracey: Part 2 – How the content was decided upon (1:34)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy

Margaret Tracey: Part 3 – How the Authority plans to evaluate it (1:40)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy

The Working Party

Aubrey Taylor is one of South Lanarkshire’s Glow Development Officers, currently seconded from Cathkin Primary School. She was tasked with setting up the working party to look at the Maths and Numeracy Experiences and Outcomes. She was also responsible for creating and structuring the Local Authority Level Glow Group that the working party would use to upload and share their resources and lesson ideas. Aubrey talks about this:

Aubrey Taylor: Building the Glow Group (1:05)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy

The members of the working party chosen were experienced practitioners, and were selected so as to represent each of the Curriculum for Excellence levels. There was one person for each of Early, First and Second levels and two who worked together on both third and fourth levels.

It was decided that the group would be tasked with providing learning and teaching activities and resources for two of the strands within the Mathematics and Numeracy experiences and outcomes: Estimation and Rounding, and Patterns and Relationships. This decision came after consultation with Headteachers and schools to find out which topics they might most like to have initial support for when implementing Curriculum for Excellence. They were also chosen so as to make best use of existing resources and expertise.

A series of meetings was set up for the working party to get together, discuss their task, talk about learning and teaching and to plan the structure and content for the Glow Group. The meetings took place every three weeks or so, and after each meeting, the members of the working party were tasked with preparing specific resources and carrying out specific assignments. This ensured continuity and consistency across the levels.

The meetings and tasks gave the members of the working party the opportunity to really explore the content of the Experiences and Outcomes, and also to reflect on what content would come both before and after the specific level they were tasked with looking at. They found this a particularly useful and productive exercise.

The working party also benefitted from input from one of the writers of the Curriculum for Excellence Maths and Numeracy outcomes, who was able to assist in the understanding and breaking down of the outcomes, to ensure no content was missed, misunderstood, or included at the wrong level.

The Glow Group

It was decided that since there were only two strands being looked at by the working party, all of their resources and lesson activities would be housed within a single Glow Group. This Glow Group is currently called Working Group – Maths, but will soon be renamed.

Page tabs were created for the stands and levels: there is a separate page tab for each level for the Estimation and Rounding strand and a separate page tab for each level for the Patterns and Relationships strand.

There is also a page for staff – a place for them to discuss their uses of the resources, their own learning and teaching ideas, and for them to upload further resources to enhance bank of materials able to be used by all practitioners across the Local Authority. This page will soon be removed and a sub-Glow Group created for staff instead, so that pupils will not have access to it. It was created as a page initially to simplify the process for the working party.

Each page has a similar layout to help ease users’ navigation around the Group.

There is a range of web parts used on each page, all of which were agreed upon by the members of the working party. Aubrey added the required web parts and created new web parts as required.

Web parts used on each page:

Text Editor
There is a text editor web part on each page. It is used to show the Outcome(s) being covered at the level and give information on the key concepts being explored. The border and title bar of the web part has been removed to give the illusion that the text is written directly onto the page.

 Web Links
Each page has a web links web part, containing links to sites which have relevant resources and activities at the appropriate level. It was necessary for Aubrey to create a brand new web links web part for each page to avoid seeing the same web links web part appearing on every page.

Document Store
There is a Document Store on each page, containing learning and teaching resources and activities, all relevant to the particular Curriculum for Excellence level being looked at on that page. Like the web links web part, the Document Store is a ‘list’ web part. It was therefore necessary for Aubrey to create a new Document Store for each page, again to avoid having duplicate stores on every page.

Discussions
The staff page in the Glow Group has a Discussions web part, to enable practitioners from all schools across the Local Authority to share ideas and talk about how they are using the resources provided. This will be useful for all, but will perhaps be particularly useful for staff who do not have a stage partner in their school, or who are new to a stage or level, as this will enable them to collaborate with staff from outwith their own school. It will also support communication and collaboration across levels and sectors.

 Access for Practitioners and Pupils        

All staff and pupils in South Lanarkshire will have access to the Glow Group. Staff have Contributor permissions and pupils have Reader with Discussions rights. This will help to foster increased collaboration and communication across schools. Staff should look out for information about the launch of this Group in the coming weeks.

Aubrey Taylor talks about this:

Aubrey Taylor: Access and Permissions (0:24)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy

Ingredients

What did South Lanarkshire have to do to create the ‘Working Party – Maths’ Glow Group, build its structure and add content, giving staff and pupils access?

- Create a Glow Group at Local Authority Level
- Add staff and pupils from all schools in South Lanarkshire as members
- Add and rename pages
- Add a text editor web part to each page and add content to it
- Create new web links web parts and add them to each page
- Create new Documents stores and add them to each page
- Add a Discussion Board for Staff

In the following videos we will take a look at the Working Party – Maths Glow Group, then find out how to replicate some of the elements within it in the accompanying ‘how to’ videos.

Tour of the South Lanarkshire ‘Working Party – Maths’ Glow Group (6:34)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy

How to add and rename pages in a Glow Group (3:08)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy
How to add the text editor web part to a page and add content to it (3:59)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy
How to remove the border from a web part (2:21)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy
How to create a new web links web part (6:34)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy
How to create a new Document Store (5:36)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy
How to add posts to a Discussion Board (2:26)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy

Impact

The Glow Group has not yet been used by staff, as the working party has only recently completed its work. It is due to be launched across the Local Authority very shortly though, and its name will be changed to reflect the fact that it is now not merely for the use of the working party.

That said, there has already been a lot of benefit returned from the work that has been carried out by the working party. They feel that it has been invaluable to have been able to spend really focused time looking in detail at the Experiences and Outcomes and really understanding what is required from them.  They have also greatly appreciated and benefited from the chance to listen to practitioners from other stages and other sectors, to learn about what is covered at levels before and after their own area of expertise, and to find out about the different types of learning activities that take place.

Some members of the working party talk about this:

Aubrey, Sorrell and David: Benefits to the working party (1:23)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy

Hear them also talking about the benefits they feel practitioners will get from the Glow Group:

Aubrey, Sorrell, David: Benefits for practitioners (0:42)
Supporting progression and continuity in Maths and Numeracy

There are plans to evaluate the benefits of the Group, by using a survey within the Glow Group to gather opinion on how useful the Group and its resources are to practitioners. The amount of traffic on the Group will also be interrogated through use of the Glow Management Reports which Margaret Tracey has access to, to find out how well it is being used.

Read how South Lanarkshire have implemented similar projects for Literacy and Science in the following Glow cookbooks:

Supporting continuity and progression in Literacy and English

Supporting continuity and progression in Science