Robert Jones is well known across East Lothian, especially with mathematics colleagues, for his blog Jonesieboy. He sees Glow supporting teachers' sharing of resources, particularly for the Interactive Whiteboard, but is keen to see how we support teachers in using Glow, which, after all, contains tools which are already out there for the taking.
Malcolm is the last of our Preston Lodge staff to introduce himself. He, like Iain, sees the efficiencies in not reinventing the wheel but, with his interests in photography and the arts, also sees Glow as a means of introducing more creativity to learning.
Iain Stuart is Principle Teacher of Science Development in Prestonlodge, the same school as Eilidh who we met last week. He sees Glow's importance in stopping us having to reinvent the wheel within Scotland - and hopefully beyond. Will Glow bring us this kind of coherence and get us into everything we need?
As we get warmed up for the new term and the imminent Glow Mentor activities, we felt it was time to meet more of the Glow Mentors. So far, we've already met Tess, who was able to fill us in on the Glow Portal trials. To get us started with some more regular introductions this term it's time to catch up with Eilidh Proudfoot from Prestonlodge and her aspirations for Glow.
At
East Lothian's Celebrating Success day I spotted some projects which would benefit so much from being online, either so that others can learn from interesting ideas or so that the schools' own projects could become more collaborative ventures and move on to the next level.
Spotting such projects and then helping the teachers involved go that extra step to make their learners better contributors to their peers' learning and responsible e-citizens is a key part of the Glow mentor's job.
Here are some of the projects I saw that captured my imagination. You'll notice a lack of links: it's time these guys get blogs!
It's on a CommunityWalk so that you can actually see where the school is and what kind of environment it is in. Head right in now. Anyone can add a comment. If you want to add your school and some ideas, just get in touch through the blog right here and I'll add them to get started off. If there's a project you want to get your hands dirty with go ahead and leave a comment to let us know.
Don Ledingham continues his vodcast on how East Lothian's policy will only help Glow mentors in their work of facilitating change. Key to this are the concepts in the "5Cs": consistency, continuity, collegiality, creativity, collective responsibility. Find out how these ideas will help you effect change for the better in your school in this hi-quality chaptered video, or by clicking play on the rough and ready GoogleVideo below. Next time around, Don goes through the issues in detail and suggests how he and the Glow Mentors might make a difference in East Lothian schools.
Tess Watson is the first of our East Lothian mentors to be featured on the eastlothianGlow blog. She's based in Knox Academy, Haddington.
Just days after the mentors' meeting she felt the need to share her ideas for teaching biology and other subjects with technology - and with mentos - and has started her own blog.
But what are the fears and hopes of a new Glow mentor? I'll let her speak for herself...
There are a large number of people who will be able to help teachers, students, parents and the community get to grips with Glow, the national intranet for Scotland. One group of such individuals are your "Glow Mentors" - we would love a change of name, too ;-) Over the next few months we will meet them online and they will share their own aspirations, fears and ideas. But these people have a specific job - to see you offline, in school, at the chalkface.
You can see all their smiling faces over at Ewan's Flickr group for the mentors. Coming soon, our first introduction...
Don Ledingham, Head of Education in East Lothian Council, met the Authority's "Glow Mentors" for the first time this September. Glow is the national intranet for Scotland, being rolled out from November 2006. It will provide some cool collaborative tools all under one roof for Scottish teachers, parents and pupils. But to help these groups get the most out of it a small group of mentors will be there to support.
In this vodcast, Don outlines what he sees as the main steps for change. He uses a metaphor model to help stage the major changes in teaching and learning over the next few years.
This is available as a chaptered hi-quality video or via GoogleVideo (below):
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