Barry Smith - Learning about Learning

We had another extremely productive Alternative Curriculum meeting this afternoon, focussing on consultation with our various stakeholders.  I said at the start how astonished I was at what we had achieved thus far, only two meetings ‘down the line’. 

The wiki is set up, we have a draft outline of our programme, have addressed some of the main challenges we will face and have considered the ’shape’ of the programme beyond its first year. I think this in itself demonstrates the tremendous enthusiasm and commitment that has been shown by all involved and I’m ever more excited as the development progresses.  We are also delighted by the interest that seems to be being generated in the project, both by word of mouth through our Alternative Curriculum ‘advocates’ in the group and by the wiki.   

We are exploring the possibilities of making links with employers under the banner of Health Promoting Schools, possibly in relation to healthy living, and/or a work experience element and within the mentoring component of the programme.  While it is still ‘early days’ on all these fronts we can all see some wonderful opportunities ahead.

I  have to keep reminding myself however that we still have not actually delivered anything yet and the proof of the pudding will be in the impact we have in relation to our stated aims.  I’m sure most of the really hard work has yet to come and my meeting with Lesley Gilles co-ordinator of the Dunbar programme will no doubt shed some light on the potential pitfalls ahead.

In relation to our discussions today, we have decided to use the SELS electronic questionnaire generating software to consult with S3 pupils in Social Education classes.  Staff consultation will involve a presentation, question and answer session and then the opportunity to complete an ‘online’ questionnaire using SELS.  The tea and buns will be getting looked out for that session!  Finally, consulting with parents will be done by using a ’stand’ at parents’ evening, hopefully with the combination of some SELS questionnaires.  We also intend to give the staff who will be delivering the programme a chance to contribute, probably through the wiki.  

I met Ewan Mcintosh for the first time today.  Unfortunatley I wasn’t able to attend his Learning with Blogs session this afternoon, but I did manage to ask a quick question about multiple users having authoring rights to a blog.  I think it’s going to be a fast and effective way for providers to share information about what we are getting up to on the Alternative Curriculum.