Social Media Policy

Well done Australia always heralded as a forward looking confident society. This is a great piece for any employer in the private or public sector.

Interesting to note this particular presentation is for state legal services folk. Scottish Court services take note.

Lots of good practice highlighted nicely

I'll pass on to team that looks after SQA's social software policy. A useful clip for lots of organisations.

Big History

Winging its way out to Directors of Education and Headteachers tomorrow a superb opportunity for three schools and the science and social science departments ...and more

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 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

• 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.

You can find out more about the Big History Project here www.bighistoryproject.com/
You can hear a message from David Christian to Scottish Schools here http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/video/b/video_tcm4687443.asp

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

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.

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

 

A special thanks due to @olliebray and @islayian for spotting this opportunity and making the introductions that made this happen

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

Sometimes while sitting in meetings talking once again about the revolution due to sweep our out moded education system to one side  I forget that I've spent more than  25 years using different kinds of technology in the classroom and the  workplace.

In all that time I still haven't got away from using a  keyboard as my main input tool - I was trying to get all of my students to wordprocess their essays in 1986.  You can't imagine how challenging that was.

There were folks then and there still  are those  who staunchly challenge the  notion that most folk should be able to use a keyboard  to compose simple messages for blogging , emailing ,etc and for doing a  lot more too.

You would not survive long in most workplaces without having some rudimentary skills.

The thing that still annoys me is that a lot of these superior voices around things like basic ICT skills do their postings from well designed and formatted  blogs or worse from professional media and not in handwritten notes. I'd wager too that their once pristine copperplate is rustier  than it has ever been. My handwriting is now awful and reserved for birthday cards and personal greetings - even for most things work I fall back on an electronic signature.

I was therefore  delighted last week to hear that my daughter who is in primary four is getting some basic keyboard skills and is keen to key her stories into the word processor.

To illustrate and admittedly probably greatly handicapped by my indigenous Glaswegian accent I had a go at using the Dragon  speech to text app to save me keying in all of this  - I  like the fantasy of the cats bit.

Sometimes chicken is noting because I still haven't got the keyboard still force is going to keep challenging the notion that most folks should be given to use one to compose suddenly suitable union except you and I survived Lord knows what places without having some rudimentary skills is that still annoys me is all of the superior voices I don't think that basic ICT skills do the postings were designed for McDonald's and handwritten and I waited to it once Christine is rustier than ever was my own ratings of fantasy of the cats get someone

I guess someone will pick up on me for promoting dull things like the use of word processing , spreadsheets , databases and presentation software but it is a basic skill .

It would be great if any responses by those in the anti-keyboarding lobby were added below, without the use of a keyboard ;-)

How the World is Changing

What a great way to get your fingers dirty without getting your fingers dirty - -We do really need folks who can draw and design without templates. Worth a look though ! Drawing Tools on Tablet Devices are so cool