Learning and Glowing June 13, 2007
Posted by Brian in : GLOW , add a comment
At Knox Academy last night there was an informal gathering of staff who were connected with the GLOW project in East Lothian.
We were all there to get a briefing from GLOW mentors extraordinaire Tess Watson and Glowboy Dave Rawson as last week they attended a special training event for staff of schools taking part in the phase three pilot.
Dave and Tess explained the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) component of GLOW and ran us through some its features. We had look at the ability within the VLE for staff to use templates to create tests for pupils, email and instant messenger.
The test templates come in a variety of formats i.e simple true or false, fields requiring a numerical input or short written answer and the old favourite of multiple guess choice. Apart from the short written answer questions GLOW can automatically mark these tests. To avoid cheating, tests such as the multiple choice can be structured so that each pupil is presented the questions in a different order.
The email facility looks straight forward so there was no surprises there. The instant messenger also looked very familiar. Anyone who has used any of the standard instant messengers available should have no problem at all using it.
There were a few reservations about the time it took to upload material to the virtual learning environment an also the blandness of the templates used in the automatic testing but generally I think staff are reasonable happy about how things are progressing, given that its still in its test phase.
A few minor problems were identified at authority level, mainly browser and java based, but at least its given us a heads up to potential hiccups that could occur.
Many thanks to Tess and Glowboy Dave for giving up their own time to keep everyone abreast of developments.
Technorati Tags: glow, glowscotland, glowboy, knox academy
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Ready to Glow June 12, 2007
Posted by Brian in : GLOW , add a comment
Just before I left work last night I noticed that I had received my log on name and password for the latest phase of the GLOW trial.
I logged on and immediately started exploring.
I cant put my finger on whats different about it but was much easier to navigate around t and felt more Web 2.0 than it had before.
One difference I did notice was that instead of the 600 or so mentors being lumped together in one “school”, we have now been assigned our local authority “school” which in East Lothian is called John Muir House School.
I haven’t had much time to explore the new tools and functionality promised in this phase but I will be heading down to Knox Academy after work this evening with a few other of the East Lothian mentors for a briefing on it by Tess Watson who spent a couple of days last week in Stirling finding all about this part of the trial.
Technorati Tags: glow, glowscotland, elcouncil, haddington, knox academy
All Glow again April 23, 2007
Posted by Brian in : GLOW, Uncategorized , add a comment
Following on from my post this morning I decided to have another go on the Glow portal at lunchtime.
I was surprised when the Marratech video conferencing software took downloaded itself and burst into life. It took me quite by surprise I can tell you.
I will be attempting to use it a bit later on tonight when some of the glow mentors will be going online for a bit of a natter to discuss the finer points of the glow portal.
Now all I have to do is suss out if the firewall will let me through.
Hopefully all should go well and I will be back in the field of play rather than being on the sidelines.
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Technorati Tags: glow, glowscotland, elcouncil, it, marratech
No Glow April 23, 2007
Posted by Brian in : GLOW, ICT, Uncategorized , add a comment
Since returning from holiday, I have been trying in vain to take part in the phase 2 of the Glow trial.
I can get logged on but am unable to install the necessary software needed to take part in the video conferencing aspect of Glow.
I understand that some of the laptops provided to Glow mentors in East Lothian have the software preloaded whilst others (like mine) will need to have it installed by one of our IT officers.
Our excellent IT officers are always busy and I think by the time I log a call and get someone out to install the software it will be too late to take part in this phase of the trial so I am feeling a bit left out merely watching from the sidelines.
Hopefully by the time the third part of the trial takes place, information will be relayed by the Glow team to the mentors so that the necessary software needed for the other tools within Glow can be preloaded and ready to go.
Technorati Tags: glow, glowscotland, elcouncil, IT
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Glow Chat and Videoconferencing April 2, 2007
Posted by Brian in : GLOW, Uncategorized , add a comment
I managed to get logged on to Glow a couple of times this weekend. It’s beginning to make a bit more sense to me but until a few points are cleared up at authority level the Glow mentors in East Lothian will not be able to make full use of all its components.
For example to get chat to work properly, computers need to have the latest version of Java on them and for the videoconferencing to be used, users have to download and install a programme from marratech. Downloads are only carried out by ICT officers so I’ll have to wait until one can come out and install the necessary software on my laptop before I can explore any more.
Its all very frustrating but I guess the pilot phase of any project is to flag up any problems so that they can be fixed now rather than later.
Edinburgh Glowing March 27, 2007
Posted by Brian in : Edinburgh, GLOW, Uncategorized, digital imaging , 1 comment so far
I didnt manage to log on to the Glow portal last night.
I had quite a bit on my mind so went for a walk in Holyrood park which is close to where I stay.
Turning the corner I was confronted by a glorious sunset.
I happened to have a digital camera on me so I whipped it out and took a few pictures. It looked to me as if Edinburgh was Glowing.
How appropriate
Click on either of the pics for a larger image
Glowing again March 21, 2007
Posted by Brian in : GLOW, Uncategorized , add a comment
Yesterday the East Lothian Glow mentors met for the morning at Prestonpans education centre.
There was an update of the project from Karen Robertson and then after discovering I was a Crane we got a sneak preview of the Glow portal in its new guise.
My first impression was that it looked exactly the same as it had in phase one which, for me, was a bit of a disappointment as I had previously had difficulty navigating my way through the different levels.
Tess managed delve a little deeper into the portal later on that day and came up with some impressive screenshots.When the theme is changed it does give the site a much better look and feel, but we shall have to see if the tools such as video streaming, glow chat and secure file transfer will be available when the portal is accessible to mentors at the beginning of next week.
Digital Image Editing March 6, 2007
Posted by Brian in : Exc.el BLogs, GLOW, Uncategorized, digital imaging, social media, teachmeet, web 2.0 , 5commentsAt the last GLOW mentors in service day I was part of a team with Dr Robin Strain and Tess Watson tasked to come up with an in service on digital imaging.
The idea of the course is for staff to acquaint themselves with the hardware and software needed to start working with digital images.
Part of the course will cover basic editing of images. Not all the PC’s in East Lothian schools have editing software installed therefore for everyone to be able to carry out this function a good online editor had to be found.
There are a few out there so I thought I would run through the features of some of them and ask for any others that people would recommend.
A very basic picture editor that lets you resize, crop, rotate, adjust brightness, saturation and hue. Its advantages are that
- no registration required
- it has unlimited undo and redo.
- can handle large files (up to 10mb).
- imports from anywhere on the web.
- handles all file formats.
- can save edited photos to your own flickr account.
With its large, easy to use, buttons this could come in very handy in primary schools and will definitely merit a mention in the final in service presentation.
PXN8 is a very feature rich photo editing application and whilst it may not have the same visual appeal as Snipshot it does let you do a bit more.
- zoom in and out.
- use filters to enhance photos i.e remove red eye, whiten teeth.
- spirit level function to straighten up pictures.
- fun features such as snow, text and charcoal effects.
This is another excellent online application that should make the cut. It offers a bit more than snipshot and may be popular with those wishing to experiment with photo editing.
Phixr is an application that we came across on the day of the GLOW mentors in service and it seemed to tick all the boxes but recently I have had difficulty in getting it to work. It now works well due to the hard work and excellent customer service from the guys at Phixr.
- no need to register with session time of up to 2 hours.
- preview effects before applying.
- variety of effects and photo overlay option.
- email the photo from Phixr itself, or upload it to Flickr, FotoPic, Photobucket, Fotolog, Buzznet, DropShots and LiveJournal.
This was the leading contender. Problems with the website may, however,put this one on hold for the time being.
This is the leading contender thanks to the hard work put in by the guys at Phixr who have managed to get it working in our schools. Excellent customer focus.
If you want to try any of these site out then just click on their logo. Let me know what you think of them and which you think would be most apt for use in schools.
Also if you have come across a good photo editing site then please again let me know and the team will evaluate it for its inclusion in the forthcoming Teachmeet roadshows.
Happy editing.
GLOWing in Tranent February 5, 2007
Posted by Brian in : GLOW, Uncategorized, teachmeet , 3commentsI was at Tranent primary on Friday for a GLOW mentors day.
The idea of the day was to plan our Teachmeet Roadshows sessions and to formulate strategies for rolling them out in East Lothian schools.
The ability to competently handle digital images will be important when GLOW is up and running as a lot of social media applications are image friendly.It’s a great way of sharing good practice, seeing what others have been up to and how such things can help improve learning and teaching processes. Also its very good fun.
After a briefing from Karen and Ewan we were given various little tasks to accomplish. We familiarised ourselves with bubbleshare which is a bobby dazzler of a programme used for making annotated slideshows of pictures uploaded from digital cameras or the internet. You can see my efforts here.
Before lunch we were given a choice of subjects to participate in the afternoon session.
They were digital imaging for secondary schools, podcasts, animation, film and blogging.
I volunteered for digital imaging topic and worked alongside Tess and Robin to come up with ideas for a two hour inservice to eventually be rolled out to East Lothian schools.
Over the next couple of hours we searched for online sites where digital images can be simply edited online thus removing the necessity of having specialist image editing software installed on any computer.
We started on a timeline and then fleshed out the bare bones of our ideas before taking part in a half hour wash up session where the respective groups discussed their own projects.
Our task couldn’t be finished on the day so Tess, Robin and myself will collaborate and hopefully get everything tied up soon.
I would just want to say thanks to Ewan, Karen and the rest of the team for organising an excellent day. I learnt an amazing amount in a very short time.
Social Media / Web 2.0 Whats that then ?? January 24, 2007
Posted by Brian in : GLOW, Uncategorized, social media, web 2.0 , 4comments
I noticed a story in the Edinburgh Evening news about a guy who had posted a video compiled from pictures of burnt out cars in Craigmillar on youtube. He did it to highlight the problem of joyriders in an attempt to get action from the council.
Its unusual in the fact that it’s a story about social media being used in a positive way to effect change. So often the press portrays social media as the harbinger of doom, with stories usually revolving around groups of youths videoing themselves misbehaving or a “celebrity” arguing that their civil liberties have been infringed after being caught on camera in a compromising situation.
Commentators that don’t understand the whole web 2.0 / social media “thing” choose to highlight the negative, and, alongside kneejerk reactions from the general public, call for it to be banned and shut down immediately.
If those concerned who wished social media sites closed looked a little past the hype they may be pleasantly surprised by what they see. They would see people sharing ideas, situations and information, to mention but a few things, in an infinite variety of ways that could not even be conceived of fifteen or twenty years ago.
GLOW, the Scottish schools national digital network, will be a gateway, ushering staff, pupils and anyone else with a vested interest in education into a new era. One of its underpinning philosophies and, for me, one of the most exciting aspects of it, is the inclusion of social media / web 2.0 applications.
In East Lothian, pupils and staff currently showcase and share their work on flickr,
a free website where you can upload and share your images with families and friends (or simply just search for images that you cant find on google).
Videos of fun experiments in science have been posted on google video, also free, enabling friends and families to experience modern science from the front line.
Policies are being developed via wiki’s, which allows anyone to comment on or change online documents.
Bubbleshare is being used in exciting ways to present information within classrooms.
These are just a few examples how the power of social / media web 2.0 applications is being harnessed by one relatively small local authority.
With GLOW providing a safe, secure web 2.0 learning environment, the use of social media will become commonplace and the experiences of staff and pupils in schools will begin to reflect the multimedia environment that we all live in these days.
If you are unsure what its all about, then please click on some of the links above and have a look for yourself. An excellent place to start would be the flickr account of Musselburgh Grammar School and see just what kind of images we have been posting recently.
elcouncil, glow, edu.blogs.com , web 2.0, social media, youtube, bubbleshare, flickr
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