ICT Staff Tutors

Space Pivot    Climbing    Winners   

Ardler Primary and Nursery held their very own animation assembly to showcase fantastic Pivot animations which had been made by pupils throughout the school from Nursery all the way to P7. The staff and pupils were amazed at the fabulous work achieved by everyone. It really was great to see how CPD for staff was translated into classroom practice. See the links above to view a selection of the Pivot Animations.

Dundee College Education Support Assistance students have recently taken part in a glow meet session to support the students who were about to embark on their school placement. To prepare the students for stepping back into the classroom they engaged in a glow meet, Glow’s video conferencing tool, with Longhaugh PS. Longhaugh’s P1a class along with their teacher, Lesley-Anne Weir, and the classroom assistant, Michael Robertson, carried out their daily activities while the students watched from the comfort of their college classroom where they were supported by their Dundee College lecturers, Debbie Thom and Peter Gilmartin. Michael engaged with the pupils and the class teacher while the students watched, discussed and agreed on questions to ask Michael and Lesley-Anne at the end of the activity. They all then took part in a question and answer session. The students asked about planning, working as part of a team, the different roles of a classroom assistant and Michael’s daily routine.
Debbie Thom, Dundee College Lecturer said,” The students gained so much knowledge by observing and asking questions. Well done to Longhaugh PS for pioneering this”. They were learning about the role and responsibilities of an Education Support Assistant in a Dundee Primary school prior to going out on placement and the whole glow meet experience gave them a huge insight into how an ESA works in a classroom. The ESA students have a glow group within Dundee College and the videos taken from the glow meet session have been uploaded there for them to view and discuss in future.
The links made between Dundee College and Longhaugh PS will be continued with another glow meet session planned for the Play and Early Education NC students later this month. They will watch an Early Years Practitioner working with pupils in an Active Learning Room at Longhaugh PS and will also be involved in a Q & A session.

James Robertson has translated Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox and A. A. Milne’s classic Winnie The Pooh into Scots. This Thursday, 5th November, S2 pupils at Menzieshill High School will have the chance to learn from James about the challenges that writing in the Scots language raises.  Pupils across Scotland will also have this opportunity, thanks to the Glow video-conferencing tool, Glow Meet. The Glow Meet is being held in the National Glow Group, Writers’ Workshop.
This Glow Group sits at national level but is a project hosted by Dundee City. Other authors in future events will include Gill Arbuthnott, Catherine MacPhail and Dundee’s own Nick Hesketh.  For more information, see the Writers’ Workshop Glow Group.

Move over Aardman Animations! There is a promising young animator in town! A pupil at Jessie Porter Nursery in Dundee, has made a fantastic animation using the DigiBlue Movie Creator. Based on his ’self-penned’ story Lizzie the Hedgehog, the 4 year old, made characters out of plasticine and his setting out of a cardboard box to bring his gorgeous story to life.
Working with the very enthusiastic staff at Jessie Porter, the youngster managed to move the characters and operate the camera himself to create a wonderful short film. Along with his fabulous narration, the movie (which can be seen on the Dundee 21st Century Literacy Glow Group) is real testament to the ‘user-friendliness’ of this software. It is also an excellent example of CfE in practice, where the child’s interests are at the very heart of learning.

Well, all the ICT Staff Tutors are back in the office fresh from the Scottish Learning Festival at the SECC in Glasgow. The annual event really is a showcase of excellent practice, as well as innovative new resources to enhance learning and teaching. I have to say that hearing some enthusiastic practitioners, has really inspired me with lots of fab ideas to pass onto the schools and teachers I work with, but also to take back into my own classroom practice.

There was a superb presentation on a Guitar Hero project from Gavinburn Primary School, that I attended. The project really was all encompassing with cross curricular links fully explored. Everything from creating a group single using Garageband, to recording a podcast of a french ‘interview’ was organised by the P7 teacher. If the confidence of the children who presented at SLF was any reflection of the project, then it must have been a huge success.

Of course, the wonderful practice here in Dundee was also celebrated when Louise Henderson (ESO) delivered a seminar on using Glow in the Early Years. It really did highlight how forward thinking Dundee is as an authority in it’s use of Glow.

For me, the biggest hit of the two days was one of the new products from Promethean. ActivArena dual pens were just sensational, and their potential to promote teamwork, collaboration and cooperation (amongst other things) is just endless. Of course, as active learners, myself and ICT Staff Tutor Lorraine Munro had to have hands on experience using the new software (see pic). Two learners use the board at the same time, with two pens. You work together to achieve designated tasks – very worthwhile, and GREAT FUN!

Last year I had an exciting time on secondment as a national Glow Development Officer – but now the Glow Team T-shirt is hung up for good! Now I am back full-time in my role as Education Support Officer for ICT in Dundee secondary schools – and loving it just as much! We have a new secondary team with Heather and Pauline joining us – see their introductions below – and some new ideas to help teachers make best use of the excellent IT infrastructure we have here in Dundee for teaching and learning.
Having had the good fortune to see Glow from a national perspective, I really believe it is a “vehicle for Curriculum for Excellence” (to quote Fiona Hyslop from last year’s SLF). The collaboration and cooperation needed to make CfE aims a success, both for staff and for pupils, would be so much harder to achieve if we didn’t have Glow. Our team hope to work more closely this year with the CfE staff tutors and with the QIOs and ESOs who have subject area responsibilities. With all our schools using Glow, communication will be so much easier. We are hoping teachers will use Glow to share ideas and good practice and we will help them in this as much as we can. We’ll be working closely with schools’ SMT to make sure we give them the support they need to increase the impact of ICT on children’s learning – and how to evaluate success in this too. We’ll be visiting Curriculum Network PT meetings to work with subject managers to make ICT for curricular areas easier to access.
More and more Dundee teachers are confident in their use of ICT. The task now is to use it wisely and effectively in Dundee’s journey towards the goals of Curriculum for Excellence.
We intend to use this blog to promote and report good practice and opportunities, so if you are reading this, come back again soon!

June Jelly

Aaaaarrrgh! So much to get my head around! My new post as ICT Staff Tutor (Primary) opens up a whole new world of challenges, but it’s one that I am really looking forward to. Having started just last week, everything is still new. I am no longer in the comfort of Clepington Primary School, surrounded by faces I know. However, I am beginning to find my feet and am excited about seeing all of the fab ICT work that is going on in schools across the authority. Already, I have heard so many creative ideas and spoken to very enthusiastic teachers who are keen to integrate ICT into exciting projects. I look forward to offering support and sharing all the great ideas with you!!

Jo Bell

Hello,

My name is Pauline I am new to the ICT Staff Tutor group. Up until the start of the holidays I was a Computing Teacher at Braeview Academy and am now finding my feet in the new job.

Pauline

Let me introduce myself to anyone who does not know me.  My name is Heather Hopes.  I am on secondment from the Computer Department at the new St. Paul’s R.C. Academy.  Last week was my first in my new role as ICT staff tutor.  As you can imagine I am still finding my feet.  Lots of exciting things to do and loads to learn!  Really excited about seeing examples of good practice with ICT being used in classrooms.  I will be here to help with ECDL and all the changes taking place from next week.  Lots of great information will be available in Glow.  Looking forward to working with you all.

Heather Hopes