Glow Practice Profile
With thanks to Jan Pollok, Glow Learning and Teaching Advisor, Learning and Teaching Scotland for her assistance in developing this profile.
Firstly, a short introduction to Glow:
Glow is a national schools intranet, digitally linking Scotland's 800,000 educators and pupils. Glow combines an array of powerful collaboration and communication tools with a virtual learning environment. The aim is to inspire and engage all learners by bringing the technology they currently use outside of school, firmly into the classroom.
Glow hopes to create an appetite for learning while facilitating collaboration with teachers and pupils across the country that will develop new skills and methods of learning for all.
Glow will……
- make it easier for teachers and learners to share, collaborate, report, inform, plan and most of all learn and teach
- improve communication and collaboration and bring new skills to teachers and support staff
- encourage learners to achieve their potential and play a full part in an increasingly technological society
- build an outstanding pool of resources, skills and knowledge
- break down geographical and social barriers
Glow has a number of components that provide powerful tools for enhancing education and learning. For example:
Glow Learn will give teachers and pupils access to a rich and growing collection of resources. Through Glow teachers will also be able to assign, assess, check progress and return work to pupils. Pupils themselves will be able to study the teacher’s feedback through their own Glow home page. Glow Learn can be used at any time and any where with internet access.
Glow Meet allows users to hold meetings, give live presentations or even teach classes through Glow. Glow Meet means that:
- Multiple classes can collaborate on projects across schools, local authorities or the world.
- Pupils can take subjects that are not offered at their location, improving curricular flexibility and breadth.
- Teachers can team-teach with colleagues, sharing subject expertise or a unique approach to a topic.
- Pupils could have access to experts across the world.
- Pupils could communicate with ‘video pals’ to experience diverse cultures and ways of life, both economic and ethnic.
For a full insight into all of Glow’s components and explanations about how they can enhance education and learning go here.
Glow’s potential for those who are disaffected, disengaged or excluded from school?
Glow has a number of components that provide powerful tools for enhancing education and learning.
Within Glow each pupil will be ascribed their own Glow page. Through this page pupils will be able to complete school work, communicate with others and also receive feedback and comments from their teachers. Pupils can access their Glow page wherever they have an internet connection. This feature has specific potential for pupils receiving some of their education out of the mainstream classroom. Pupils will be able to ‘get on’ with class work and receive feedback and support from their teacher even though they are not in the classroom.
Glow also enables groups of users – a class of pupils for instance – to have online discussions in real time. If a teacher is running a virtual discussion with a class, pupils who are receiving education out of the class should still be able to participate in this if they log on at the appropriate time.
This holds obvious potential for those pupils who are disaffected with learning and at risk of disengaging from school altogether.
Glow’s potential for voluntary sector projects working in partnership with schools to support disaffected, disengaged or excluded pupils?
Glow has many components that could benefit and strengthen the relationship between schools and other relevant agencies working with disaffected and excluded pupils. Local Authorities can create guest Glow accounts for those that are not part of a school but this will need to be agreed with the authority.
An example of how Glow could work is the creation of an online community of professionals interested in looking at a particular subject, for example, improving behaviour. Those registered for this group could log on and share ideas and resources from schools and other agencies across Scotland and beyond.
If you are interested in finding out more about Glow within your own Local Authority contact:
glowenquiries@LTScotland.org.uk
