Dont Search - Find November 29, 2006
Posted by Brian in : Uncategorized , 2commentsI am just back from a short inservice run by Ollie Bray who is acting depute head here at Musselburgh Grammar School.It was all about different ways to find information on the internet.
Most people think searching begins and end with Google but it seems there are a variety of ways to find what you are looking for.
He spoke about using the advanced features of search engines to narrow down results and how searching for different formats e.g .doc, .ppt, .mp3 etc can sift out all the wheat from the chaff.
It was fascinating to learn about the hidden internet. This is information stored in databases and is invisible to the spiders and robots that the big search engines use to retrieve data. Examples are :-
- Archives (newspapers and magazines, etc.)
- Sites requiring registration or login
- Non-HTML files (PDF files, etc.)
www.clusty.com/ can be used to access the hidden internet
Ollie also pointed out that information on webpages is rarely deleted from the internet even though the webpages cannot be accessed or may not be viewed.
Use http://www.archive.com/ for things that you thought may have been thrown away or never existed in the first place.
At http://www.quintura.com a new way of searching can be found.
Type in your query and you are presented with a “cloud” full of related words. As you choose more words your search is narrowed down and the links appear below the cloud.
The whole session was great fun and a lot was learned. Seaching can be fun, so the next time you feel like need to find something out give one of the other search engines a go.
Its all out there, somewhere, finding an easy way to get to it is half the battle.
Hotting Up November 28, 2006
Posted by Brian in : Single Status, Uncategorized , add a comment
It seems the debate on single status is hotting up.
Members of staff who work for Glasgow Council will begin strike action next week whilst union members in Falkirk are being balloted for strike action on the 18th December, the day that their new contracts must be signed by.
Further South in Staffordshire staff are so incensed about their pay cuts that they have started their own website called ”save our salary”. You can visit it by clicking here.
One thing that caught my eye on the “save our salary” site was the fact that they have started an e-petition.
I was amazed to find out that on the Downing Street website an electronic petition can bet set up and electronically signed. All you need do is put in your email address, your home address and then click the “sign” button at the bottom of the page and your “signature” of the petition is electronically recorded.
I think its a great way of using new media to engage with the electors.
You can sign the save our salary e-petition here
Values November 27, 2006
Posted by Brian in : Single Status, Uncategorized , 1 comment so farJill posted a comment on Friday about support staff in her school being in chaos after being told of their new salaries. As a parent she fears that key members of the support staff may end up looking for employment elsewhere and that will lead to a drop in standards. I think Jill is right to be worried for it is the lower paid support workers that seem to be affected regardless of their geography. A lot of them may very well choose to leave.
The importance of good, a well trained, efficient, motivated support staff to the running of a school is critical and often overlooked. Many support staff feel undervalued and distanced from not only the local authority but also other council workers because of their unique working environment. If good staff leave because they are facing a pay cut and subsequently feel they are not valued it can only be a bad thing not only for the councils, schools and staff but ultimately because the pupils that attend our schools deserve only the best.
All support staff in schools work very hard to aid the education of the generations to come. At the moment, the way that many staff have been evaluated, very little account of the complexity of that task has been taken on board.
Visit my page on Single Status news to see job evaluation items from around the country currently in the news.
Will GLOW be dimmed? November 23, 2006
Posted by Brian in : Uncategorized , add a comment 
Or not as the case may be
I read today on Ollie Brays blog that the proposed new 100mb lines into the secondary schools in East Lothian have been put on hold for a bit. It seems that after being chosen as the preferred supplier BT have decided that they want more money.
There is no doubt that the increased speed of these new lines is very important to the success of GLOW. Pupils and staff alike will be logging on a lot more when it is rolled out, and the Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) and Web2.0 tools that will be used will take up a lot of bandwidth.
I dont know about a lot about contracts and such but it seems to me not to be very fair to say that you will do something for an agreed price and then ask for more money. It may be accepted in business but the only business schools should be about is the education of its pupils.
I really do hope this matter is resolved soon for everyones sake. GLOW is on the horizon and is shining bright. The news today may have take a little of the shine off it for the moment but I can assure you that it makes me even more determined that people like BT will not be allowed to get in the way of this education revolution.
Eggs Sperm and Mussels November 22, 2006
Posted by Brian in : Uncategorized , 2comments
Pomatoceros triqueter on a mussel shell
Female Pomatoceros approx 1.5cm long
Our chemistry student Peter Robertson took a S2 Science class on Monday. The class are doing reproduction so Peter came up with an idea to show the class eggs and sperm from a tube worm that lives on rocks and shellfish called Pomatoceros Triqueter.
The idea was to separate the male and females worms, gather the respective eggs and sperm then mix them to see fertilization take place. No male worms proved viable but most of the class managed to see the eggs of the female under the microscope.
I assisted Peter with the preparation of the mussels, took the pictures above and had hoped to use the flexicam linked to a microscope to let the whole class get a look at the eggs.
It proved difficult to display them on classroom screen but in true scientific tradition I learnt from what happened and will adapt my technique for the next time.
I tried to find pictures of pomatocerus triqueter eggs on the internet but have so far been unsuccessful.If anyone finds any then could they please let me know.
If there are none to be found then I will attempt to take pictures the next time the lesson is done and get a first for Musselburgh Grammar School science department.
You can see more pictures of Peters lesson by clicking on his picture below. 
Absent Friends November 21, 2006
Posted by Brian in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farAfter nine years as a teacher a very good friend of mine Dr Martin Rogerson left teaching two years ago to start his own business.
He was an excellent science teacher, respected by staff and pupils alike. After gaining his PhD in Chemistry from St Andrews University, the scientific world was his oyster, but he had always wanted to teach therefore decided to fulfill his lifelong dream.
In an article in the Sunday Times he describes the reasons why he left the profession and decided to run his own business called VOGA .
Martin is the kind of person that Science is screaming out for. He’s bright, intelligent, has a passion for Science is extremely enthusiatic about his subject and also the use of new technology.
Flexicam and Weather November 17, 2006
Posted by Brian in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so far
Click image for larger picture
Flexicam, Onion cells being projected on to screen
In preparation for a lesson on Monday by student teacher Peter Robertson, I looked out our flexicam to see if it could be directly connected to a digital projector. More pictures here
It has been used in the past with a television and comes with various adaptors, one of which is s-video that digital projectors have these days. I took some photos of the set up so that other staff in the department less familiar with the flexi cam than myself can use them for reference.
The slide being projected on to the board is of cells found in an onion. It’s a great teaching aid. Its a bit underused at the moment (hence the dust) but I am sure that once the staff see the result they will find new and interesting ways to use it in the classroom.
Quite a while ago I blogged that I was trying to get a weather station put together and up and running.
Yesterday the weather was kind enough to let myself, the senior technician Christine Crookston and the CDT technician Stephen Mells get out on to the roof and get it bolted to the metal railings there. I went up a short time later with Depute Headteacher Ollie Bray to tighten up the bolts.
Ollie took a picture after I had tightened the last nut and you can see it on his blog here
Lighting up Chemistry November 16, 2006
Posted by Brian in : Uncategorized , add a comment
Click on Image for Larger Picture
After blogging about lighting up learning with GLOW yesterday , it was the turn of the pupils attending an after school club run by the Chemistry Department here at Musselburgh Grammar to light up the lab with flame tests.
Flame tests are used to detect the presence of certain metal ions within a compound. The compound itself may be colourless but when a small amount of it is placed on the end of a clean wire and placed in a bunsen flame then the metal ion contained produces a characteristic coloured flame. For examples compounds containing Boron produce a bright green flame, whilst Strontium gives a crimson flame.
The pupils who attend get a great deal from their scientific endeavours and its all thanks to Ms Moonie and Mrs Malley doing their bit to show chemistry can be fun, relevant and exciting.
More photos of the flame tests and previous experiments growing crystals and investigating custard powder can be seen here.
The Glow Revolution November 15, 2006
Posted by Brian in : GLOW, Uncategorized , 3comments 
I received my password and log on for the GLOW portal this week. I immediately logged in and began exploring. It is currently in its evaluation stage and only mentors have access.Tess Watson has some good screen shots on her blog of what the portal looks like.
I am still trying to find my way around, there are a few minor glitches to iron out, but I am over the moon that at last I can see how its all going to look and use some of its functionality.
For those that don’t know and are reading this thinking, what’s this all about? GLOW is the new name for the Scottish Schools Digital Network. It is the largest project of its kind anywhere in the world and will be rolled out to all Scottish schools next year. It will truly light up learning.
It’s basically an on line learning environment which brings together a variety of powerful tools to enhance the learning and teaching experience within Scottish schools. Not only will it enhance learning it will also make things more efficient by bringing a whole host of relevant information to the user. The information delivered will depend on the role that person has within the education system and will be targeted specifically for them.
There will be a whole host of materials and tools available within GLOW. For example the ability to create GLOW groups (groups of people with the same interests) will ensure quick and easy communication throughout the education community regardless of geography and the virtual learning environment will gather together the best of resources available on the web, combined with materials prepared by staff to enable maximum enhancement of the learning and teaching experience.If you want to know more then visit the GLOW website, watch the movie, then find out who your GLOW mentor is and pick their brains.
The portal is in its evaluation stage and therefore only available to mentors from 08.30 until 18.00 and can only be accessed from school. Luckily I can organise my workload to leave me a bit of time to get to grips with GLOW.
Many staff in my department are aware of GLOW and know it’ll be beneficial to have a mentor handy when it is rolled out nationally. I imagine there are people in Scotland who see “mucking about on a computer all day on the GLOW portal” as a monumental waste of time, but what GLOW mentors are actually doing is helping to shape the future of Scottish education. If you happen to pass by someone who is logged on to the GLOW portal in the next few weeks, ask them “what is it all about” and “how can I get involved” not “why are you wasting your time doing that?” and “it’ll never work”.
Like it or not GLOW is coming, if you work in Education,believe me, it will affect you. This is one of the most exciting things that’s ever happened in Scottish education, a real revolution is happening, its not often you can say that !!!!
Saturday Night / Monday Morning November 13, 2006
Posted by Brian in : CPD Conference, Single Status, Uncategorized , add a comment 
Ewan McIntosh
I met up with Ewan McIntosh on Saturday night for a few beers and we talked about various different stuff that’s happening with regard to new technology in East Lothian.
As I have posted before, here in East Lothian there is a big push to use social software to enhance the teaching and learning experience for staff and pupils. We use wiki’s and the head of education encourages staff and pupils to blog. Imagine my surprise when I heard that one of the local authorities has decided to block blogs and wikis from use on their computers. You can read about it on Ewans blog.
We also came up with a couple of ideas and will work to roll them out in the local authority as soon as they get the go ahead.
This morning when I logged on I found out that I had received a comment from a senior technician in England who had lost money when re graded as a part of the single status implementation. She had read my post on Friday about the meeting and wondered how things were going North of the border. I emailed her back to say that each different authority was approaching the exercise in their own way, with some technicians being placed on a higher scale whilst others have taken pay cuts (sorry, freeze) of up to several thousands of pounds. It would be great to start a discussion to see how everyone fares out of the whole exercise the length and breadth of the country.
Margaret from Eyemouth High provides today’s insight into the national technicians conference.Click on her picture to hear her views.
Margaret from Eyemouth High
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