This weekend I along with Louise, Jonesieboy, David and Jennie will be heading up to Islay for Islay High School’s open day and the Education 2020 Teachmeet. I am really looking forward to meeting some new faces and catching up with the usual suspects. If you would like to attend the Teachmeet via flash click here.

In addition to the CPD I am also very much looking forward to the Islay Beach Rugby on Saturday (last year’s write up here). For those of you not on twitter, there is even talk of some fancy dress!

Anyway, I hope to see as many of you as possible this weekend- it is going to be a blast!

Many thanks to Ian for welcoming us all up to Islay

(My apologies for the lack of blog posts but like a number of others I am finding myself using Twitter for same purpose)

Many thanks to Jim Buchan and Ruby Rennie who posted this link on Twitter.

The clip is about an hour long and is well worth watching if you are interested in the future and potential of social networking.

I want Google wave now! 

STEP is based at Edinburgh University and funded by the Scottish Government. Its remit is to develop and support inclusive educational approaches for Scottish Travelling Communities.

STEP aims to:

• improve the educational opportunities of Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland;
• listen to and represent the views about education of Gypsy/Traveller children, young people and parents;
• encourage the development of a wide, diverse and flexible range of educational opportunities for Gypsies/Travellers;
• promote the development of inclusive practices both to support diversity in education and to address racism, harassment and bullying;
• enable all those engaged in education to know and respect historical cultural traditions as well as contemporary cultural practices and living circumstances of Gypsies/Travellers;
• support and promote inter-agency working which acknowledges the links between education, housing, health and other key social services

To achieve these aims, the staff of STEP will:

• provide information, advice and support to all professionals engaged in enabling the education of Gypsies/Travellers;
• monitor and review educational resources;
• maintain information about resources;
• carry out research and develop a research base for practice;
• respond to Government and other reports;
• highlight issues to do with the education of Gypsies/Travellers in proposed legislation and in policy documents;
• develop and maintain links with colleagues in the rest of the UK and internationally;

Communicate information through:

• print and online material including leaflets, newsletters and a web site;
• hosting conferences;
• writing research reports and articles;
• speaking at conferences and in-service training;
• meeting with colleagues throughout Scotland.

My Role within STEP:

I am the e-learning Community Facilitator for STEP. My remit at STEP is to project manage and facilitate the development and delivery of a pilot e-Learning Community for Scotland’s Travelling young people. This will be delivered through Glow. It is designed to meet the learning needs of mobile and Travelling pupils, and those requiring ‘education outwith school’ services. The pilot will link with Glasgow’s ICT supported distance learning services for children and young people from travelling show and fairground communities.

So far in my new role I have been:

• Planning out the time line for the project and establishing Key contacts with Local Education Authorities, LTScotland and Edinburgh University
• Developing and planning out STEP’s initial Pilot Seminar for the e-Learning Community (this will take place in May)
• Working on setting up an RSS feed so that anything that is catagorised ‘STEP’ written here on my weblog, will be automatically posted on the STEP site and eventually GLOW  
• Researching relevant legislation, literature, policies and practice
• Meeting with Teachers of Travellers and some families

On Wednesday I will be travelling through to Stirling Management Centre to attend a two day course on ‘Glow Learn’ (the Virtual Learning Environment within Glow). I am really looking forward to this as it has been quite a while since I have been able to use the VLE.

So as you can see I have a lot to keep me busy and I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge. I will try and keep posting regularly here, however I am finding myself using Twitter more and more as it is quicker.

I would like to thank all my friends, colleagues and pupils that I have worked with at Knox Academy during the last six years. I would like to thank the Science technicians for their ongoing hard work, my car share crew for the fun and chat and the janitors for their help, support and good humour.

I would also like to thank Knox Academy for allowing me to take a Secondment as an Education Support Officer last year. It was fantastic opportunity and I feel very privilege to have worked with East Lothian’s ICT team.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with East Lothian and would like to wish all my friends, colleagues and pupils all the very best for the future.

Emily Dodd, Education Officer for the Scottish Seabird Centre, will tell the story of Percy the Puffin and his homecoming. You can read more about the event here on the Glow Blog.

This GlowMeet will be facilitated by Martin Brown and Stuart Oliphant from the LTS Glow team. For further information contact  m.brown at ltscotland.org.uk.

TeachMeetBorders!

“In just 3 days time the 12th edition of TeachMeet will be happening in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders. The venue is the Langlee Centre in Galashiels, provided by Scottish Borders Council with - and here’s the great bit - unfiltered wifi access! Things will kick off at about 6pm and will run till about 8.30. We need to be out of the building by 9. Of course after that we can still carry on - we can go for a meal and then on to a local watering hole to continue the sharing of ideas and enthusiasm right into the wee small hours”

Stuart Meldrum, Teacher of CDT, Hawick High School (Organiser)

Pop over to the wiki if you want to sign up and find out what will be going on.

Hope to see you all there!

‘Tweet Smell of Success Over Digg’ The ‘Beeb’

‘ICT In My Classroom’ Andy McSwann (thanks to David Muir for this link)

Interesting times I think

As John Connell reported yesterday, an Autopsy was performed on a dead Fulmar bird by Dr Jan Andries Franeker, a senior scientist at the Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem studies in the Netherlands. It was broadcast via video (GlowMeet) on the Glow portal.

Yesterday my Higher Biology class and I were lucky enough to participate in this live autopsy. The autopsy was performed at the Sea Bird Centre at North Berwick. The topic of ‘Adaptation’ forms large part of the Higher Unit 2 syllabus. In the past I have mainly taught this using static resources and the odd Youtube clip. However to have an autopsy performed on a subject (dead of course) had the added advantage that the pupils could ask questions as the procedure took place. Throughout the autopsy Dr Franeker covered:

• Physical anatomy of the bird (age, sex and specific adaptations)
• Internal Organs and systems (nice piccie of the stomach here ;-)  )
• Behavioural adaptations and feeding habits (did you know that up to 25% of the birds weight can be the contents of it’s stomach!)
• Cause of death (natural)

A big well done to all at the Sea Bird Centre and the Glow team for successful delivery of the session.

My classroom pictures can be found on Flickr here

‘Beeb’ Scotland report here

On a ‘wee’ technical note, I am pleased to say that both sound and audio were very clear most of the time. It was also great to see that the Marratech platform was not hindered by the 22 users present (at my last count).

The BETT Show takes place at Olympia in London this week. Unfortunately I have not been able to get time off work to attend however I will most definitely be attending the ever popular TeachMeet on the Friday night. I met with David Noble on Friday night and both of us aim to get to the TeachMeet for 7pm (my flight leaves Edinburgh at 5pm)

In Scotland we have hosted a number of these un-conferences. These were ably coordinated by Ewan McIntosh (though he has moved onto new pastures).The idea is that anyone can share cool ideas they have or great ideas they’ve trialled in their classrooms. All they needed to do was to sign up on the wiki. The event was held in Olympia’s Apex Room (Seminar A)

The rules for TeachMeet are as follows:

• Micro-presentations are strictly seven minutes long, nano-presentations two minutes long.
• No PowerPoint allowed… unless… you’re doing 20 slides for 20 seconds each (pecha kucha style - pecha kucha article).
• Make sure that what you’re showing has actually been done in your classroom or a classroom of a colleague - this isn’t blue skies, this is right here, right now stuff.

If you in London this weekend, why not pop along. You can find out more and sign-up on the wiki here.

Hope to see you there.

Many thanks to Ian Usher for his organisation.

A belated Happy New Year to you all!

As always I like to get out of Edinburgh for New Year. This year I decided to venture east to Slovakia. As with many of my travels I thought I would share a few thoughts.
The capital of Slovakia is Bratislava. You can fly directly to the city from Edinburgh with Ryanair (not my favorite company, but that is another story). Bratislava is perhaps not as picturesque as cities like Prague or Krakow but there is still a lot to see and do. Our accommodation was a small self-catering studio apartment. Very simple; nevertheless clean, cosey and very central. There is quite a bit to see in the city. The palace, the castle, the square and the river Danube. However it is worth noting that the average temperature in Slovakia at this time of year is usually below zero- hats and gloves are an absolute must!

The highlights of my trip would have to be a the concert performed by Slovakia’s Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Year party in the main square. There are regular concerts held in Bratislava and according to the Lonely Planet guide they are just as awesome as concerts in neighbouring Vienna and about a third of the price. For Hogmanay we ventured out to the main square. There was a big stage and screen where lots of funky music was being played. A lot of eighties music I must add… As you can imagine I was in my element Away from the stage there was a long row of wooden vending huts selling delicious hot Slovak eateries and mulled wine. By around about 10pm the square was buzzing. Something about it had the same feel as Edinburgh’s Street Party before it became ticketed. As midnight approached the crowds began the count down. It was great fun to bring in the New Year in such style! There really was something about the music, food, drink and people that made the -5C temperature unnoticeable. I am not sure what time the Slovaks finished the party, but it was still in full swing when we left int the small hours.

It was a four day trip over New Year. I think that was long enough in the city. It is worth noting that Vienna (Austria) is only an hours travel on a train from Bratislava. If the break had been longer we would have made a day trip. The trains are a little intermittent during holidays. Another useful point to note is that the Lonely Planet are now selling electronic chapters in PDF format. The chapter on Bratislava cost a small £1.50 which was great considering the book on the whole of Slovakia cost a whopping £16.99!

(And I have just noticed that it has gone down to £1.05 in their online sale!)

So a big thumbs up for Bratislava and Slovakia! Let me know if you would like to read the chapter or if you want my contacts for accommodation.

Best wishes for 2009!