OllieBray.com

eSafety Live 2012 - Presentation Slides Now Available (#esl12)

 

I’m doing lots of interesting Internet Safety and Responsible Use work at the moment. Last week this involved attending and presenting at The UK Internet Safety Centre’s eSafety Live Events in both London and Edinburgh. The Scottish Government supported the Edinburgh Event. 

At the London and Edinburgh Event I was asked to share some thoughts on the Challenges and Opportunities for Computer Games in Education. Lots of people have been asking for the slides so I have embedded them below - I’ll write up the notes at some point soon.

Computer Games in Education: Challenges and Opportunities

View more presentations or Upload your own.

At the Edinburgh Event as well as the Computer Games workshop I ran two additional workshops on the use of Social Media in Schools. Again, I have embedded the slides that I used below and will write a more detailed narrative explaining some of the key points over the Easter break.

eSafety Live - Social Media in Schools

View more presentations or Upload your own.

As always, any feedback is welcome - particularly if you attended one of the workshops.

 

Big History comes to Scotland - great CPD opportunity for Scottish teachers

 

Ian Stuart (@islayian) and I first met David Christian at the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Education Forum in Washington DC in November 2011. David was talking about Big History and we were instantly impressed with the quality of David’s presentation, his passion for education and how the concept of Big History fitted with the principles of CfE. You can see my short write up of his talk here.

Since Washington Ian has remained in contact with David and facilitated a conversation between him and Joe Wilson, Head of New Ventures at the SQA. Ian and Joe were keen to explore how we might get Scottish Schools involved in the piolet programme for 2012/2013 before the large scale worldwide rollout in 2013/2014.

 

The rest as they say is history and we are excited to announce that…

 

Winging its way out to Directors of Education and Headteachers today was a superb opportunity for three Scottish Schools and their science & social subjects departments. 

We have been invited as a Nation to participate in the pilot roll out of the Big History Project. Funded by Bill Gates directly through Bill Gates Catlyst Three. This is a superb opportunity for Scottish Schools to be part of a cutting edge,  project based learning,  global project - that fits very well with a Curriculum for Excellence


The SQA and The Big History Project  invite applications to be part of The Big History Project and join pilot schools in Australia and USA.

In particular:

• We are looking for three secondary schools in close proximity to each other - this is stipulation from the Big History Project.

• Funding is available for two teachers from each school to attend the programme induction in Seatlle, USA between 22-25th March 2012

• These teachers will be a Science Teacher and a Social Subjects Teacher (the curriculum leaders).

• Participating schools need to deliver the Big History programme as a pilot from September 2012 to a 2nd or 3rd Year cohort  and provide feedback where appropriate.  

• Participating schools will also be expected to carry out a curriculum mapping exercise for the Big History Project materials to the experiences and outcomes of CfE.

• Pilot schools will gain experience of working with global partners on a new and innovative multidisciplinary curriculum.

You can find out more about the Big History Project here www.bighistoryproject.com but this short video sums it up nicely!

You can hear a message from David Christian (Founder of the Big History Project) that we recorded when he was in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago to Scottish Schools here http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/video/b/video_tcm4687443.asp

What do you need to do?

To apply for this opportunity - we need  an Education Authority’s nomination of three suitable schools.

The project will meet the travel and subsistence costs associated with the programme but will not provide cover costs for the  induction programme.

Applications will be screened by panel drawn from SQA, Education Scotland and The Big History Project.

 

Application Process

Applications should consist of one side A4 with  a simple statement  from each of three nominated schools on Why the Big History project appeals to them.  

Attached to the application we need a name and short resume of the Science and Social Science Teacher nominated to take part in induction programme from each of the three schools. Given the tight timescale on this nominees need to hold a full British Passport.

Applications close on Monday 5th of March - successful applicants will be contacted to make travel arrangements on 7th of March .

Applications should be emailed to Liam.Priest@sqa.org.uk

 

Exciting stuff!

Camp Scotland @ Calderglen High School - Free CPD for Scottish Teachers [msftpil]

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Odette Frazer (DHT at Calderglen High School) has asked me to help promote this event and as I am in favour of Free CPD for Scottish Teachers I am absolutely delighted to share the details below with you. I was also lucky enough to attend the first Partners in Learning Summer Camp in Reading back in 2009 and as a result know the power of these collaborative learning experiences. Finally, I love the idea that the application form is only 140 characters long!

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Camp Scotland 

After the great success of the last three Microsoft Partners in Learning Teacher Camps, we are taking the concept on the road (to Scotland) – this is an open invitation to all Teachers in Scotland. So if you want to spend time with other innovative educators, then this is an ideal event for you.

Camp Scotland takes place at Calderglen High School, starting 10:00am on Thursday 26th and finishing 4:00pm Friday 27th January 2012.

What will I be doing at  Camp Scotland?

We will give you training in using free Microsoft software to create teaching and learning resources for the classroom. You will have time to design, create and evaluate those resources and collaborate with others. You will also get the chance to speak to experts at Microsoft about our technology. In addition you will also be learning how to deliver the same training to colleagues in your own schools. These resources will take the form of screen capture videos, which we call Innovids. You can see examples of these on the Partners in Learning YouTube Channel – www.youtube.com/innovativeteach

 

How do I apply?

We don’t want videos or lengthy biographies from you, to apply for this free event, just email three tweet-esque type statements (140 characters or less) to ofrazer [at] calderglen.s-lanark.sch.uk  before the closing date  Friday 16^th December. These statements should be ideas of how you would, or are using Microsoft technologies to support learning across the curriculum. For example:-

• using conditional formatting in Excel to help visual learners in numeracy
• using PowerPoint to create animated flicker books
• using the Songsmith to create mobile ringtones

Also include details of your school, subject expertise and pupil age range in your application. We will select 25 applicants with the most intriguing and innovative ideas, who will be notified on Friday 13^th January.

I am not an ICT teacher is it worth me applying?

Yes, most definitely, we are looking for classroom innovators in learning, rather than techie whizz kids. This event is targeted at those Teachers in Scotland interested in teaching and learning, and how technology can support that, rather than the technology itself. This event is for teachers in Primary, Secondary and Special school settings.

What will I need to bring?

We expect you to bring some of the tools you are using already:

• a headset with a microphone or Headphones and a Microphone
• a laptop running Windows Vista or Windows 7,
• Office 2007 or 2010 (not essential)
• You need to have installed and have working , Community Clips  -Freely available at http://www.officelabs.com/projects/communityclips/Pages/Default.aspx
• We will send you a list of tools to download and install when we confirm your attendance.

What will I be expected to do?

We hope that you will create two innovid resources. We will collect those resources and post them to our YouTube Channel and GLOW.

In return, we will offer you support if you wish to recreate this course in your school and you will receive a certificate welcoming you as a Partners in Learning Teacher, along with more ideas about how to enhance pupil’s learning through the use of technology.

We are looking forward to receiving your applications.

 

#EduPIc11 - An Open Discussion on the Future Scottish Education?

 

As well as being an advocate for on-line CPD and personal learning I also get invited to a lot of face-to-face CPD Events and have the opportunity to contribute to a lot of events as well.  Increasing due to time pressure and other work commitments I have to turn a lot of things down but #EduPIc11 has certainly got my attention. Its taking place in Glasgow on Tuesday 20th September at Oran Mor.

Being organized by two people who I have a great deal of time and respect for Laurie O’Donnell and ‘The Real’ David Cameron and being billed as a fringe to the Scottish Learning Festival I think this will be an event not to be missed.

Laurie describes the event in more detail on his blog.

“The idea of the event is bring together around 100 people to share ideas and have a conversation about Scottish Education that goes beyond the details of how to implement Curriculum for Excellence."

 

The format of the event will be a conversation around three questions:

1) What could Scottish Education look like at its very best? (Re-imagining the future)

2) Where are we now? (Reflecting on the present)

3) What could we do to make it better? (Closing the gap)

 I like the idea of starting the conversation with “What could Scottish Education look like at its very best?” far to often we focus these discussions on what we could do better? Or What we have done wrong?

I’m also a big believer that “we are where we are” and after the Imagineering around the first question about what could Scottish Education look like I hope that the attendees of #EduPic11 will be willing to have an open and honest discussion about where we ‘actually are’ now?

As well as the topic up for discusion the format of #EDPIc11 is very appealing to me as well. It is different to most traditonal conferences and has been designed to maximize active participation from participants. There will be no keynote speakers or roundtable discussions from ‘education experts’ and everyone regardless status will be on an equal footing with all experiences and thoughts both valued and up for discussion.

Finally, I was delighted to see that Graham Ogilvie (the conference cartoonist) and creator of our successful Internet Safety and Responsible Use Cartoons will also be capturing the event - which means at the end of it we should have a Real Education Picture (EduPic) for people to take away and reflect on.

 

Anyway, More information about the event on Laurie’s Blog or you can sign up here on the EventBrite Page (tickets go up by £10 on Tuesday - so book fast!)

And if you are going to #EduPic11 - hope to see you there!

Professional, enthusiastic and committed teachers

If I asked a friend (I do have some!) who doesn’t work in Scottish Education what the chances would be of getting a group of teachers together on a Saturday to discuss Scottish Education, teaching and learning. They would probably say, ‘not very likely!’

Of course nothing could be further from the truth. Scottish Educators are continuously giving up their own time to swap ideas, discuss strategies, share interesting practice and form professional learning & support networks.

Last Saturday over 250 practitioners from across Scotland (Early Years, Primary, Secondary, Further and Higher Education) gave up their time and came together for the Game to Learn Conference in Dundee. The conference was jointly organized by the Learning and Teaching Scotland Consolarium and JISC.

As you can imagine from the conference title the main purpose of the day was to share practice in games based learning technologies. Scotland remains a strong world leader in this important field with a published research record.

It is important to remember that the Game to Learn Conference is not an isolated event last Tuesday over 70 teachers gave up their evening to attend TeachMeet Fife. Again an event designed to allow classroom practitioners swap ideas and share interesting practice. Another teacher-organized TeachMeet event was happening at the Naace Conference in Reading on the same evening. 15 people from Scotland beamed into this event over videoconference to gather some tips, advice and free CPD from colleagues in parts of the UK.

Over 75 teachers from Renfrewshire attended a workshop event last night on Taking Risks with Learning, Leadership and Management. This Saturday another committed bunch of 60+ teachers from Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire will attend a day long conference Technology and CfE.

There are two things that are special about all the events I have described above. Firstly, they are all free to attend and secondly they are attended by some of the most professional, enthusiastic and committed Scottish educators you will ever meet. We are lucky to have these professionals working to improve the lives of children and families in Scotland.

Finally, if your looking for some CPD Opertunities - check out CPD Find.

Culture, Careers, Credibility and CfE: Why Internet Safety and Responsible Use is Everyone’s Responsibility (#ISRU11)

 
All of the keynote presentations from last weeks LTS / Scottish Government Internet Safety and Responsible Use Conference are now up on-line over on the conference website.

These presentations include:

• Adam Ingram, MSP (Minister for Children and Families) - Ministerial Address

• Helen King (Head of Education at CEOP) - Protecting young people on-line

• Josie Fraser (Leicester City Council) - Digital Identity and Young People (this is a must watch presentation)

My own presentation was titled Culture, Careers, Credibility and CfE: Why Internet Safety and Responsible Use is Everyone’s Responsibility. I've embedded it below for interest and as always would welcome any feedback.

Ollie Bray Keynote from ISRU Conference2 on Vimeo.

Further workshop presentations and other links will be added to the conference website over the next week.

 

Free Technologies for Learning CPD in Aberdeen on the 26th March

Aberdeen Cityl are running a FREE Saturday CPD Event for educators on the 26^th March. I’m involved in the initial opening of the conference and then a session on Internet Safety and Responsible Use. There is also a great set of workshops for people to attend.

The event is being held at the AECC (Aberdeen) between 10am – 2pm. If you’re an teacher in Aberdeen you can book online:  http://tinyurl.com/glow-cpd-opps

Anyone else should contact “ CPD [at] aberdeencity.gov.uk “

Further information about the Conference Here.

The events workshops include:

1. Creativity and Games Design: Inspiring Learners to Create their own Content - Charlie Love, Development Officer, LTS Consolarium

2. GLOW – New Resources and Services - Ross Watson, Glow Development Officer, LTS

3. SCRAN – Learning Images for Schools - Andrew James Education Officer (SCRAN)

4. GLOW - Projects in Aberdeen Secondary Schools–eportfolios/blogs and Virtual Campus - Ian Hoffman, Glow National Team (RM)

5. Blogging in the Primary School - Shirley Campbell-Morgan, Class Teacher, Loirston Primary School

6. GBL and Games Design: A Literary Perspective - Brian Clark, Development Officer, LTS Consolarium

7. Games-based Learning using PS3 and Nintendo Wii - Dawn Reid, DHT and Elaine Paige, Class Teacher, Woodside Primary School

8. Using SCRATCH as a P7 – S1 Transition Project - Shona Milne, DHT, Kirkhill Primary School

Hope to see some people there.

The Future of Technology in Education Conference 2010 (#FOTE10)

I first attended The Future of Technology in Education Conference (FOTE) last year (2009) and I said at the time I aimed to go back. I was delighted to be asked to speak at the FOTE 2010 conference and I was able to talk to the assembled audience about some of the work that we do at Learning and Teaching Scotland within the  Consolarium

FOTE is a good idea – it is free to attend and consists of short 20-minute presentations by people from a variety of backgrounds.  It is also a good networking opportunity and attracts nearly 400 delegates – this year it sold out in just under 90 minutes. Most of the audience come from the further and higher education sector.

One of the things that FOTE does well is its pre conference website and its during conference sharing. Other conference organizers could learn a lot from what they do here.

Also, during the conference it is live streamed and also broadcast within Second Life. Both of these things are fairly easy to do but again it allows for more remote participation and attracts a wider variety of audience.

Chris Smith (who runs the popular education website shambles.net) just stumbled across the conference on the morning that it was due to start. He tuned in via second life and twitter – and even though he lives in Thailand he was able to participate as a full conference delegate.

Usefully, Chris has posted some of his conference feedback as a Screener recording:

I wonder what we can learn from FOTE for events like the Scottish Learning Festival. I'll post some of my other thoughts about this years FOTE 2010 Conference.

All Photos: ULCC Events

Google Earth New Home Page and New 'Learn' Videos

Last week Google Earth got a brand new home page and also some updates to the pro version.

One useful addition to the new Google Earth web site is a ‘learn’ section. The learn section contains a useful set of videos from Google on how to get started using Google Earth.

These videos include:

• Navigation
• Searching for Places
• Drawing and Measuring
• Placemarks and Tours
• Exploring Mars, Moon and Sky
• Tour of Moon in Google Earth
• What's New in Earth 5.0

I’ve embedded the ‘Drawing and Measuring’ video below:

As well as the basic tutorials there are also some ‘Advanced Tutorials’ which include:

• Recording a Google Earth Tour
• Importing KML, KMZ and GPS Data
• Geotagging Photos

I’ve embedded the ‘Recording a Google Earth Tour’ video below:

Microsoft UK Innovative Education Forum - 30th November 2010, Manchester

The 7th Microsoft UK Innovative Education Forum is a one-day conference, free of charge to all teachers and educators who wish to attend and will look to address the theme of ‘Connecting Learners, Connecting Teachers.’

This year the Forum is being held at the Hilton Deansgate Hotel in Manchester on the 30th Nov.  

The agenda looks packed!

The Keynote speakers are:

• Prof. Sugata Mitra famous for his ‘Hole in the wall’ project and
  

• Michael Furdyk, CEO of the young person’s on-line community , Taking IT  Global (I blogged about this project recently)
  

In addition, there is also a great range of practical workshops covering areas such as using free software and Web 2.0 technology, games based learning and managing innovation in schools. It is great so see so many friends running workshops!

The Line up is:

• Workshop 1 - TakingITGlobal - Mandeep Atwal, TIGed UK
  
• Workshop 2 - Outdoor learning & technology - David Rogers, The Geography Collective
  
• Workshop 3 - From the cloud to the classroom, making innovation stick! - Guy Shearer, Head Teacher, Lodge Park Technology College
  
• Workshop 4 - Creative use of technology in the classroom - Dan Roberts, saltash.net community school
  
• Workshop 5 - Office 2010 in the Classroom – Stuart Ball – Microsoft Partners in Learning
  
• Workshop 6 - Kodu Games based learning - Nicki Maddam, Hartsdown Technology College, Margate
  

You can find out more details of each of the workshops here

Another thing that is new for the 2010 Microsoft UK Innovative Education Forum is a fringe event on the evening of the 29th November.

During the evening there will be an opportunity to hear from some of the UKs leading teachers in a series of short presentations over a drink or two. At the end of the evening the Microsoft 2010 UK Award-Winning Innovative Educators will be announced. These awards will be for teachers who have submitted projects that illustrate the innovative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. 

I was lucky enough to win an award in 2009 and that led to opportunities to travel to Vienna and to Brazil.

Further information about the event can be found at http://uk.partnersinlearningnetwork.com Remember it is free to attend. But it would also be great to have some Scottish Virtual Classroom Tours Submitted (there were none last year!).