text:
ES Training blog
Learning, teaching and assessment
Gaelic Learners
Literacy and English
Literacy and Gàidhlig
Religious Education in Roman Catholic schools
Responsibility of All
National Qualifications
Young people, children & families
MCMC/16+LC
Universal Support
Welcome to Education Scotland's Learning Blog
#aileyfl thought-piece
ESOL Initial Assessment Pack
CfE, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Literacy and English, Mathematics, Numeracy, Responsibility of All, Supporting Learners
Scottish Education Awards
January 31, 2012 User deactivated	Leave a comment
The Scottish Education Awards celebrate the hard work and success which takes place in Scottish education. They recognise the achievements of people who dedicate their lives to children and young people and showcase the valuable work and innovation in Scottish classrooms. Nominations close on Friday 2 March 2012. Visit the Scottish Education Awards website for more information.
MLPS resources and ideas
I met yesterday with our colleagues at SCILT as a member of their MLPS short working group. Laura Stewart,who chairs the group, has posted some really excellent resources and ideas that will help those of you who teach a modern language in primary schools. To access the correct page please click here. Have a look at the posts on the notice board but also click on the Glow groups and documents tabs to find loads more interesting examples and materials.
Free ebook from Radio Lingua – Focus on French
The kind and talented people at Radio Lingua launched the first in a series of ebooks aimed specifically at secondary-aged learners. It's called Focus on French and is available in the iBookstore, so any student with an iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad can download the content. It features a young native speaker who introduces each chapter with a video and there are audio clips for all words and phrases contained in the book. Best of all, Focus on French Conversation is entirely free and can be downloaded from the iTunes Store. Search for "Focus on French" and learners can download the book straight to their devices. Focus on French Conversation is the first in the series and they are currently in production for two further titles in the series focusing on S3-4 vocabulary – "Focus on French Vocabulary – Sport and Leisure" and "Focus on French Vocabulary – Education and Work". There's more information at Radio Lingua's website. To visit it please click here or contact Mark Pendleton directly at
mark@radiolingua.com
Mathematics, Sciences, Technologies
STEM Central and STEM Careers
With announcements like those below indicating the health of Scotland's renewables future, what better time to explore the contexts in STEM Central for use with learners?
This Interactive Map of Renewable and Alternative Energy projects in the UK would make a good starting point for discussion.
Osborne unveils £103m renewables funding for Scotland
Renewables growth 'to continue' in Scotland during 2012
Samsung wind turbine project to create 500 jobs in Fife
Skills for Learning Life and WorkSTEMSustainable Development
Early Years, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Literacy and English, Young people, children & families
A Right Wee Blether
A RIGHT wee blether, a creative conversation led by Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People ran from 12th September – 31st October 2011.
The Commissioner, Tam Baillie, has a responsibility to promote and safeguard the rights of children and young people in Scotland. A RIGHT wee blether encouraged children to creatively express how they feel by answering five key questions:
How are you feeling today?
What makes you smile?
Who is special to you?
You are given a special star, where will you put it?
What would you like to change?
The views and experiences of children have been captured and summarised. These responses, in addition to the consultation with school age children a RIGHT blether, will inform the Commissioner's work over the next four years.
To find out more about the work of Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People and a RIGHT wee blether please visit http://www.sccyp.org.uk/.
You can also see an example of how this was put into practice by visiting St Joseph's Nursery website.
Early Years, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All, Young people, children & families
Health and Wellbeing Profiles 2010, Scotland Overview Report
Click here to access the 2010 health profiles, along with complementary profiles focussing on children and young people. These profiles highlight the considerable variation in health between areas and help identify priorities for health improvement. The profiles give a snapshot overview of health for each area using spine charts (which show how the area compares to the Scottish average), and allow further understanding of the results via rank charts and trend charts.
Partnership WorkingSkills for Learning Life and Work
CfE, Expressive Arts
World of Work Wednesdays – Working on the Stage
We started off our new season of World of Work Wednesday events looking at Working in the Theatre and we now move to looking at other careers that you can have – and in particular working on the stage!
Artistic Director, Stage Manager, Marketing Manager are all jobs within theatre and roles you may have heard of. But what does it really take to do a job like this and how do you get a foot in the door? Join Andy Arnold, David Sneddon and Lindsay Mitchell from the Tron Theatre for World of Work Wednesdays. Don't miss out on your chance to ask these professionals all about the different aspects of their jobs.
So why not join us on Wednesday 1st February from 1.45pm – Sign up in Glow TV.
GlowGlowTVSkills for Learning Life and Work
CfE, Expressive Arts, Modern Languages
新年快乐 – More Chinese New Year Celebrations
Glow TV is delighted to announce that two further Chinese New Year events have been added to the schedule. On Monday 30th January at 1.20pm we will be coming live from the Confucius Hub at St Ninian's High School in East Dunbartonshire with a Chinese New Year Show. Throughout the hour long show you will be entertained by Dragon Dancing, Chinese singing and dancing, Chinese drama and a live singing competition between 6 S1 classes!! Plus much much more. To finish the show the young people will be singing Auld Lang Syne in Mandarin and English. We hope that you can join us – sign up in Glow TV!
Then on Thursday 2nd February we will be continuing the celebrations with a recorded performance from a group from Shanghai who visited Scotland this week. As part of their brief visit to Scotland for the Chinese New Year a delegation from Shanghai performed in certain Confucius Hubs and also paid a visit to Education Scotland where we were lucky enough to have the event recorded.
The performance is beautiful and colourful and includes singing and dancing as well as Chinese drama. We invite you to join us for a Glow Meet with Fan Lin, LTS Confucius Institute Manager where you can watch the recording of the performance and then ask Fan questions about it and all other things that interest you about Chinese New Year!! Sign up in Glow TV for – Shanghai Delegation Perform Confucius Institute Spring Festival Performance 2012
And don't forget our King of Masks event on the 6th February from 10.15am and later that day the 龙年大吉 Good luck with the year of dragon – Close of Celebrations events at 2pm!!
GlowGlowTV
Literacy, Literacy and English, Sciences, Technologies
Hand of the Future
Last night I was lucky enough to win tickets to the Tells They Tell presentation at the 26 Treasures Exhibition at the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh.
For this exhibition, the museum selected 26 objects from their Scotland galleries, which together trace Scotland's history from its ancient geological roots to its technological future. Some are iconic, others less well-known, but all have a story to tell. The 26 writers from poets and novelists to screenwriters, journalists and academics. The writers were paired up with objects at random, and set the intriguing challenge of responding to their object in exactly 62 words.
Object number 26 was a Bionic Hand which relates to our up and coming STEM Context of Bioengineering. (Watch this space for more information on this context being released).
To read the poem Hand of the Future click here.
Remember to visit STEM Central in Motion to find out how practitioners are using STEM in the classroom.
CreativityPartnership WorkingSTEM
Sciences, Social studies, Technologies
Earth Hour 2012 – wear it bright!
WWF's Earth Hour – 31 March 2012
WEAR IT BRIGHT!
Join with schools and youth groups across the UK for WWF's Earth Hour, the world's largest display of hope for a world with a bright future.
From Edinburgh to Sydney, New York and Singapore people all across the world will be joining WWF to switch off and show they care about tackling climate change and protecting the natural world.
WWF is encouraging schools and youth groups to support the event and there is a range of FREE resources which can be used in the days or weeks leading up to Earth Hour, including:
A support pack
A climate change information pack
Ideas to help you promote your activities
Get involved, visit http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/get-involved/sign-up-for-schools-and-youth to register
Global CitizenshipSustainable Development
CfE, Early Years, Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing, Languages, Mathematics, Responsibility of All, RME, Sciences, Social studies, Technologies
Global citizenship online community – now LIVE
Do you have an interest in, or remit for, global citizenship? Need some advice or want to share ideas with like-minded practitioners?
If so, then you'll probably want to have a peek at the shiny new online community for global citizenship on CPD Central. Join now so you can brag to colleagues about how you were one of the pioneering members .
Why have we set it up? Well, there's always a buzz of ideas and sharing at our face-to-face CPD events and we thought it'd be amazing if we could find a way of bringing people together again and again to keep the discussion and buzz going. Well we've found a way! Here's your bit:
Step 1 – Visit http://bit.ly/DGConline and add your picture (Glow log in required)
Step 2 – Share an idea or ask the audience
Welcome gift! If you join before Friday 17th February 2012 we'll be happy to offer you a special gift to welcome you to the community – one of our highly-prized global citizenship wall calendars (these have been flying off our shelves!).
CPDGlobal CitizenshipGlowInternational EducationSustainable Development
Glow Science
Twig Science won a BETT award earlier this month for Glow Science.
Glow Science is a free resource offering rich engaging learning material for learners aged 8-14. It can be used in many different ways to support the Sciences experiences and outcomes, as well as other areas of Curriculum for Excellence. Glow Science has been available free to all teachers in Scotland since April 2011 and is accessed using your Glow username and password. It includes over 500 three-minute films and associated learning materials (including quizzes, lesson ideas, extension questions, diagrams, images), for Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Earth Science.
GlowSTEM
New weblinks in the parents section of Glow
We would like to draw your attention to new links which have been added to the parents section of our Glow group. These include:
Education Scotland's Learning Blog
Engage for Education – the Scottish Government's blog
Both of these can be accessed by parents outwith Glow and without a Glow password. They give parents a chance to see up to date information related to the curriculum, learn about events and also offer an opportunity to share their opinions and views.
CfE, Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing, Languages, Mathematics, Responsibility of All, RME, Sciences, Social studies, Technologies
Whitelees Primary School – Open Day
School open day
Whitelees Primary School, North Lanarkshire Council
9:30am – 3.00pm, Monday 20th February 2012
Theme: Sustainable Development Education
This event was originally due to take place on 8th December 2011 but had to be cancelled due to the severe storms. It has now been rescheduled for Monday 20th February 2012.
Whitelees Primary School hit the headlines in 2011 when it became the first primary school to be awarded five 'excellent' grades by the school inspectors. This isn't the first time their achievements have made news. The school's accolades and awards include:
Finalist, Scottish Education Awards – Sustainable School category (2011)
Best Green School Award (2009)
Winner, Scottish Education Awards – Best Enterprise category (2008)
Four Green Flags, Eco-Schools Scotland.
A key factor in the school's success has been the way it has placed global citizenship and sustainable development education at the heart of the curriculum to provide exciting, relevant and engaging contexts for learning. This has helped to create, 'Highly motivated, confident and ambitious children who are keen to learn and to make a difference in school and the wider community.'
This CPD event offers practitioners and school leaders from across Scotland the chance to visit Whitelees Primary School to meet with the Head Teacher, staff and learners and also tour the classrooms, buildings and grounds. A focus of the event will be to identify and share the practical lessons and ideas that have helped the school develop a successful whole school approach to sustainability and global citizenship including:
A sustained commitment to pupil voice with learners being given real opportunities to shape the curriculum and school decision making
Effective use of the school grounds, nature and vegetable gardens to support outdoor learning and deliver the curriculum
The inspiring pupil rock band which has achieved notable success through their songs about fair trade and climate change.
Those participating in the open day will also have time to reflect and share their own experiences.
Click here to download programme for open day
To book, please email: globalcitizens@educationscotland.gov.uk or Tel. 0141 282 5172.
Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. This is a free event!
CPDEnterpriseGlobal CitizenshipOutdoor LearningSTEMSustainable Development
Literacy, Social studies, Technologies
Panda Competition Winners Announced!
Dual post from the Glow Scotland Blog.
Firstly, we would like to thank all schools who took part in our Panda leaflet competition. We were overwhelmed by the response we received, both in the sheer number of entries (which is why it has taken us so long to judge!) and in the standard of those entries.
We took into account how well the entries had met the competition's requirements (a leaflet giving information about visiting them at the zoo) and the standard of information provided, as well as the overall design quality.
We really were most impressed with the entries and only wish we had more prizes to give out. Congratulations to everyone involved. We have also been very impressed with the number of comments on the blog and just how much interest has been shown in the topic. It clearly shows that pupils have been as excited about the arrival of Tian Tian and Yang Guang as we have. Well done! And Happy Chinese New Year to you all as well!
And now for the big news. Here are the winners:
Name Class School Prize
Ellis Stables P3 Kirkcowan Primary 1st– Panda and GTV T-shirt
Rory Crombie P6b St Joseph's Primary 2nd– Panda and GTV T-shirt
Liam Eccleston P5 Caerlaverock School 3rd – Panda hat and GTV T-shirt
Ashley Leggat P4 Drumblade Primary 1st runner-up
Faye Jackson P7 Caerlaverock School 1st runner-up
Carine Bissett P6 Caerlaverock School 1st runner-up
Morgan Murray + Emma Barclay P5 Goldenhill Primary 1st runner-up
Greig Sinclair St Joseph's Primary Runner-up
Dylan Bell Drummond St Joseph's Primary Runner-up
Eilidh Skinner Whitdale Primary Runner-up
Amy Begbie Whitdale Primary Runner-up
Ryan Conroy P5 St Joseph's Primary Runner-up
Aoife Mclaughlin P6 St Joseph's Primary Runner-up
Abbie Ribbens P4 Kirkcowan Runner-up
Amy Smith P3 Kirkcowan Runner-up
Archie Mortiboy P4 Kirkcowan Runner-up
Jy Guthrie P4 Barrshare Primary Runner-up
Zak Service P3 Kirkcowan Runner-up
Freya Coyle Balbardie Primary Runner-up
*Please allow until next week to receive prizes. We will try to post some more of the entries here as time allows, but here is the winning entry, submitted by Ellis Stables of Kirkcowan Primary School. Ellis will receive the larger of the two pandas we picked up as well as a Glow TV T shirt and some sweeties. Well done, Ellis! We picked your entry because it was very informative, with just the kind of information we were looking for. We also choose Ellis as the overall winner because of the fact that it was a P3 entry and of such a high standard.
Rory PandasThe second prize goes to Rory Crombie from P6b at St Joseph's Primary. Rory's entry can be viewed by clicking the link here. Very high standard from Rory, with lots of information and quite a high degree of IT skills in preparing his document. Great work!
Runners up will receive a Glow TV T shirt from us and 1st runners up will receive a Glow TV T shirt as well as a small panda gift from the Edinburgh zoo gift shop.
CreativityGlobal CitizenshipGlowGlowTVInternational Education
Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All
Health and Wellbeing Showcase – Carnegie Conference Centre, Thursday 26th January 2012
The Health and wellbeing team are welcoming a hundred practitioners to the first of our Showcase events. We have a packed day celebrating good practice across the health and wellbeing organisers. There is marketplace where some of our partners are available to discuss how they can support schools and we have a keynote speech from Dr Rosemary Geddes, Research Fellow for the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy at the Medical Research Council in Edinburgh. Also Julie Wilson from Outdoor Learning will stimulate ideas about how schools can deliver health and wellbeing by taking the curriculum outside. Click here to go the Outdoor Learning Blog for updates.
We hope our delegates gain a lot from the day and would encourage them to sign up to our HWB Community where we will share the presentations from the day and partner contact information. Click here to sign up to the community.
Also don't forget to join Education Scotland on Facebook and Twitter.
Active LearningCPDGlowPartnership WorkingSkills for Learning Life and Work
Additional Support for Learning, Early Years, MCMC/16+LC, Supporting Learners, Young people, children & families
New briefing from Enquire – Extra Support at School: The rights of looked after children
The law says that all looked after children should have the extra support they need to get the most out of their education and achieve their full potential. Enquire has published a new briefing paper that explains the rights of looked after children under the Additional Support for Learning Act. The briefing identifies different reasons why looked after children may need extra support to get the most out of their learning, and gives examples of different ways that support can be provided. It looks at the responsibilities that education authorities have towards looked after children's education, including their legal duty to consider whether a looked after child requires a co-ordinated support plan to ensure that agencies work together to plan what help the child needs to learn effectively. It also considers issues around school attendance and school exclusion, and the processes by which disputes about support for learning can be resolved.
The briefing will help professionals in education, social work and health in relation to GIRFEC and the corporate parent role, and will be useful for parents and carers in knowing how to ensure their child is getting help when they need it most.
To download a free copy of Enquire's briefing, visit here
Burns Day
The Early Years team hope you are enjoying Robert Burns' Day today.
For ideas on what to do click here for last weeks Robert Burns blog post.
Literacy in Action: Supporting Colleges to Influence Early Years Practice
This Education Scotland conference will support lecturers who deliver Early Education and Childcare training programmes.
The one-day event will build on the success of our previous conferences by:
supporting reflection on the key messages from the Literacy Action Plan;
providing a valuable opportunity to engage with colleagues from other colleges;
facilitating the sharing of ideas and practice on working together with partner agencies and parents to support literacy in learning.
Education Scotland is delighted that Alan Bissett, one of Scotland's leading authors, will deliver the keynote address. Interactive workshop sessions led by practitioners will explore a range of approaches to support you in your work. There will also be national updates from regulatory bodies.
The programme includes the following keynote presentations:
Scotland's Literacy Action Plan – everyone's responsibility: Jean Carwood-Edwards, Programme Director, Education Scotland
Literacy in Action – promoting a reading culture in Scotland: Allan Bissett, author.
Wise up Wednesday!
Happy Wednesday to all!
The Early Years Team have added new examples from Glow Cookbooks to the 'Places to Go' section of the Glow Group.
The newest example to be added to Cookbooks is "Jessie Porter nursery: sharing and collaborating through Glow".
In this example of using Glow in a nursery you will find ideas on creating a glow group which performs many functions including improving transitions through Glow Meets, sharing evidence in videos and photos and shared planning exemplars. You can also request to be part of the Glow group to allow you to see what methods Jessie Porter Nursery use.
Assessment, Moderation, Modern Languages, NAR, National Qualifications, Sciences, Social studies, Technologies
CfE & Glow News e-update – January
The CfE and Glow News e-update provides you with updates on Curriculum for Excellence and support for practitioners, along with all the latest developments within Glow.
Click here to view the newsletter or click on the links below.
Read the January issue to find out about the following:
New case studies on National Assessment Resource
Building your Curriculum: Developing your secondary curriculum
Quality assurance and moderation – what is it?
Recently published support materials for practitioners:
New – Reference grammars for primary teachers of modern languages
New – National Qualifications
Join the Great Climate Change Debate on Glow
Glow Science wins BETT award
Glow Light images needed – please send us your pictures
New Panda UK blog offers news, ideas and learning resources
Getting Outside: a new blog for outdoor learning
A selection of Glow Cookbooks
Building Your CurriculumGlobal CitizenshipGlowGlowTVOutdoor Learning
Literacy, Literacy and English, Technologies
Digitalising Burns Poetry
January 24, 2012 User deactivated	10 Comments
Today I had the pleasure of visiting Wellwood Primary School in Fife. The pupils were looking at Burns' Poetry in a range of ways to develop their ICT skills. First of all the pupils researched Burns' poetry and selected a poem they wanted to read. They read their poems to a talk partner, ensuring they followed the Success Criteria that they had set them themselves. Pupils used the software Audacity to record their poem and then used their creative skills to create an avatar using Voki. The Voki was then added to their individual blogs.
To find out about other Burns activities visit our resource calendar.
Click here to find out about Burns Day on Glow on 25/01/11 at 9:45 am.
Active LearningCreativityGlowTV
Climate Change Debate on Glow 2: Climate science – evidence versus controversy
A series of thought-provoking and lively Glow meets
2pm – 3:15pm, Monday 30th January 2012
Climate change is never far from the headlines and is an issue which continues to cause much debate and controversy. Scandals such as Himalayagate and the hacking of emails at the University of East Anglia have shaken public confidence in the credibility of climate science. Media reporting of the issue has also left the sections of the public with the view that the scientific evidence is contested and inconclusive.
What is the scientific community saying about climate change? How much of the evidence is beyond doubt? What do scientists agree on and what do they disagree on? Amid claims of manipulation of evidence and conspiracies, who can we believe?
In this, the second in a series of three national Glow meets, learners will have a chance to air their views and put searching questions to our panel of scientists including:
– Dr. Dave Reay, Senior Lecturer in Carbon Management at the University of Edinburgh and author of Our Planet Needs You! A Kid's Guide to Going Green.
– Dr. Richard Milne, Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of Edinburgh – winner of EUSA award for innovative teaching as voted for by students across the university.
Visit http://bit.ly/climatedebate2 to register, post your questions in advance and join the Glow meet on the day. This Glow meet is aimed at learners in upper primary and secondary schools.
For resources and videos on climate change visit Weather and Climate Change, Exploring Climate Change, STEM Central and Climate Change on Glow.
Other events in the series include:
– Glow meet 1: Our changing weather and climate – To view the Glow Meet recording click here.
– Glow meet 3: Adapting to climate change (6th Feb '12)
CPDGlobal CitizenshipGlowGlowTVPartnership WorkingSTEMSustainable Development
CLD, Young people, children & families
All about ME!
Are you able to help children and young people to have their say about Scotland's Children's Hearings system?
Events: 14 March – Dundee; 21 March – Aviemore; 28 March – Glasgow
The Scottish Government will be holding a series of free engagement events, in age appropriate workshop format, targeting children and young people from 5 years upwards (no upper age limit). The Scottish Government wants to hear what children and young people – who have been through the hearings system – think about its plans for reform of the Children's Hearings system and whether they think the Government's proposals would improve their experience of attending hearings. If you can help children and young people to come along to one of these events please express interest on behalf of the child. All children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult who should stay at the venue for the duration of the event. Each event will run from 10.45 am – 3.30 pm and lunch will be provided.
The closing date for registrations is 1 March. Register the child's interest at: childrens.hearings@scotland.gsi.gov.uk Please indicate which event the child or young person will attend as well as their name, age and contact details. If the child is under 16 please provide your own contact details too. For more information see Scottish Government – Children's Hearings System website http://www.chscotland.gov.uk/
All about me! Carers and professionals flyer
All about me! Carers and professionals invite
Parental InvolvementPartnership Working
Sciences, Senior Phase, Technologies
Young talent on course to solve real engineering problems
On 11th January I was invited along to the Engineering Education Scheme Residential at Strathclyde University.
Young talent from secondary schools across Scotland returned to the University of Strathclyde to take part in the Engineering Education Scheme (EES) workshop on the 10th & 11th January. As a key part of the 6 month project, the EES workshop offers a unique opportunity for the whole team of students, teachers and mentor engineers to work together over the 2 day residential period to jointly solve complex engineering and technical problems. Working together the teams develop their knowledge on the practical application of theory learnt in school and gain an understanding of business and industry.
The learners have opportunities to develop key life and employability skills such as team work, project management, presentation skills, report writing and leadership.
The Faculty of Engineering at Strathclyde University hosted the event and supported the 16 teams by providing the workshop facilities and technicians on hand to assist with project development.
The organisations and academic institutions taking part in the EES programme this year are Aggreko Manufacturing, BOC Ltd, ClydeUnionPumps, Coherent Scotland, Doosan Power Systems, EDF Energy, Heriot-Watt University (Department of Chemical Engineering), Howden, Rolls-Royce. Selex Galileo, University of Edinburgh (Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering), and the University of Strathclyde (Departments of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management (DMEM); Electronic & Electrical Engineering: Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering (NAME); and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering).
The teams will now work on testing and finalising their project and attend the celebration event at the University of Strathclyde on April 23rd. Learners will present the final outcome of their projects and a working prototype to panels of judges and guests from industry and compete for the best project award.
Visit the scheme's website to find out more or contact EES Coordinator for Scotland George Foster (e-mail g.foster@etrust.org.uk)
EnterprisePartnership WorkingSkills for Learning Life and WorkSTEM
Additional Support for Learning, Health and wellbeing, MCMC/16+LC, Supporting Learners, Universal Support, Young people, children & families
Enquire national conference
The Enquire national conference takes place on 8 March at The Quay in Musselburgh.
As an annual gathering of key people connected to additional support for learning across Scotland, the Enquire conference intends to spark ideas and actions that will further the understanding and appreciation of practice in the field. A report of findings of the conference will be sent to attendees and submitted to the Scottish Government.
Starting in 2012, the Scottish Parliament requires an annual report from Scottish Ministers in order to monitor the implementation of the Additional Support for Learning Act. The mandatory information includes four components the number of children and young people with additional support needs, the main factors giving rise to those additional support needs, the types of support provided and the cost of providing that support.
A vital consideration following this reporting will be what we know about the positive difference being made by additional support for learning and how we can better demonstrate that difference.
Conference participants will be encouraged to share their experiences, ideas and evidence around three broad themes:
● Ensuring positive outcomes from additional support
● Engaging effectively with children and families
● Effective co-ordination across the diverse services and professions in the ASL arena.
Confirmed speakers include:
● Chair, Keir Bloomer, The Commission on School Reform and Vice-convener, Children in Scotland
● Laura Meikle, Senior Policy Adviser, Support and Wellbeing Unit, Scottish Government
● Elizabeth King, Principal Educational Psychologist South Lanarkshire Council
● and film launch – young people from Edinburgh and East Lothian share their views about support that helps.
The following link will take you straight to the relevant section of the Children in Scotland website.
Modern Languages, Sciences
Comenius project with an Italian School
The Liceo Scientifico is a secondary school situated 60kms from Turin. The school is renowned for teaching different facets of bio-technology and is equipped with state-of-the-art physics and chemistry laboratories. However, it also offers a course of study with an emphasis on languages, in which students can specialize in French and English. The school is looking for a Scottish school that teaches Italian to take part in a Comenius project in partnership with other schools from Ireland, Germany and France. English will be the lingua franca for the project, but there will be opportunitites to use Italian too. This two-year project will involve high achievers in fifith and sixth year and will mainly concentrate on a comparative study of biodiversity in each of the schools' local areas.
In particular, the Scottish school could help the Italian science teachers build a scientific vocabulary in English to be used when working on the project.
If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Manuela Maletto at the following email address.
malettomanuela@aliceposta.it
For more information about the school please click here to access its website.
Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing
Get Set Network and Ticketshare
I am pleased to attach as usual the latest figures for Get Set registration and network membership together with lists of those schools in your authority which are either 'not yet registered' or 'registered but not yet networked'. You will see from the overall Get Set report that there are now extra columns detailing the final tally of schools which successfully applied for membership of the network before the 16th Dec ticketshare deadline. The overall figures show a healthy 39% of eligible schools nationally and a rise to 65% of registrations. Well done for all your efforts in making this happen!
As we move into 2012 there is still plenty of time to apply (click here!)and take advantage of many more rewards and opportunities including Get Set goes global, World Sport Day and the Torch relay. Please continue to encourage Get Set network membership!
Active LearningEnterpriseInternational EducationPartnership WorkingSkills for Learning Life and Work
Health and wellbeing event – 10th March 2012
The health and wellbeing team are busy organising a number of events to support staff in this key area of the curriculum. If you have any thoughts or suggestions regarding content for events then please let us know. Contact
An event for all practitioners takes place on 10th March 2012 at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow.
If you would like the opportunity to network, share good practice and hear key messages then add this date to your diary!
Watch this space for further information and sign-up details!
If you have any thoughts or suggestions regarding content for events then please let us know. Contact Yvonne Sherry at the following address: yvonne.sherry@educationscotland.gov.uk
Scottish Athletics
Scottish athletics have recently launched a new national schools athletics programme booklet to provide guidance and support for schools in Scotland offering athletics opportunities.
National Schools Athletics programme
CPDOutdoor LearningPartnership WorkingSkills for Learning Life and Work
Health and wellbeing, Mathematics, Numeracy, Sciences, Technologies
Pasta Geometry
January 23, 2012 User deactivated	1 Comment
Pasta + mathematical equations = food as a context for interdisciplinary learning?
"With over two hundred elaborate diagrams and photographs, as well as a few words on regional provence and cusine," writes George L. Legendre in "Pasta by Design," the book "offers a surreal interpretation of the everyday experience of making and eating pasta. "Here is a selection of photographs, mathematical equations and descriptions of unusual pasta shapes from the book.
See them in action by following this link.
Active LearningCreativitySkills for Learning Life and WorkSTEM
Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing
Living Streets Competition
Walk Once a Week – WOW – Badge Design Competition
2012's WoW badge design competition is here, and we're delighted to confirm that the theme is 'AROUND THE WORLD'. We are inviting schools to get their pupils' creativity flowing and design what could be one of the official WoW badges for 2012/13.
Each winner will have his or her design transformed into the monthly WoW badges worn by hundreds of thousands of children across the country, and will be invited to an awards ceremony and fun day out in London in May 2012.
Our annual WoW badge design competition is one of the UK's biggest art competitions, with over 150,000 primary school children taking part to design badges for a specific theme. Each participant school is invited to submit three entries for consideration. In 2011 our judging panel viewed over 1,800 fantastic entries on a Sport theme; our biggest competition yet! The deadline for receiving entries will be 16 March.
www.livingstreets.org.uk
CreativityOutdoor LearningPartnership WorkingSkills for Learning Life and Work
Happy New Year from the Early Years Team at Education Scotland!
Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All
Head Teacher / Depute Head Teacher HWB Event, Thursday 19th January, Carlton Barcelo, Edinburgh
The Health and Wellbeing Team had a very positive and stimulating day with Head Teachers and Depute Head Teachers from across the Central Belt with just a smattering of snow.
There were inputs from Granton Primary and Craigroyston Community High that received rapturous praise and look to have inspired leaders to return to school and share with colleagues. Also there was welcome guidance and reassurance for delegates from Joan Mackay, HMI around inspection in Health and wellbeing. As expected assessment was a more challenging part of the day. however the evidence from feedback featured a very strong steer that assessment is the key area for development and next steps described what will be taken forward from the day.
We would like to encourage participants to sign up to our hwb lead community which will also give members access to the hwb-cpd community. To access the presentations from today please click here. To add your intention about impact after the event click here. Remember to use the hashtag #hwblead which you can also use to tweet about the event.
CPDPartnership Working
Vox Motus Theatre Company Event
This exciting event will be hosted by the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh on Thursday 26th January at 6pm.
Join us for an exclusive Glow Meet with Candice Edmunds and Jamie Harrison, the Artistic Directors of Glasgow-based theatre company Vox Motus, who are behind the Lyceum's show The Infamous Brothers Davenport.
Hear about the show and their directing process. The Meet will also be recorded so you can watch with your class, or encourage them to do so on their own, at a later date!
Sign up and join us live in Glow TV on the night though if you can!
CreativityGlowTV
CfE, RME, Social studies
Holocaust Memorial 2012
Glow is proud to host two events to celebrate Holocaust Memorial 2012, which this year is on Friday 27th January.
The first is a live event from Eastern Primary in Dundee on Tuesday 24th January at 1.30pm. During this Glow Meet the Primary 7 pupils will be meeting those involved in the book and flim 'Hana's Suitcase'. This amazing story tells of how a suitcase arrived at a children's Holocaust Education Center in Tokyo, Japan in March 2000 with Hana Brady written on the outside. Children who saw the suitcase on display were full of questions and the director decided to find the answers. The book and the subsequent film tells us what she found out!
At the event we will meet Fumiko, the director at the Holocaust Education Centre in Tokyo and Lara, George Brady's daughter who also appeared in the film. George Brady, Hana's brother will also be speaking and finally Larry Weinstein who made the film will be joining us in Dundee.
There will be plenty opportunity for questions for everyone as well. Sign up and join us on the day.
Finally on Thursday 26th January we will join the official Holocaust Memorial Event – Scotland 2012 live from the Caird Hall in Dundee. This event organised by 'Speak Up Speak Up' encourages young people to consider what they see and hear around them, and to use their voices to Speak Up against hatred and discrimination. The full programme and the opportunity to sign up and join in on the day is available in Glow TV.
Global CitizenshipGlowTV
CfE, Expressive Arts, Languages, Social studies
Burns Day Celebrations in Glow
This year Glow is joining Dalgety Bay Primary School in Fife to celebrate Burns Day 2012 with Kevin Thompson and Burns 250.
We are broadcasting two separate events one specifically for P1-3 and the other for P 4-7. The first Glow Meet is for P 1-3 and will involve story telling about the life of Robert Burns, his poems and lots of opportunities to sing along to many of his famous, and sometimes funny songs! This event begins at 9.45am – Sign up and join this event.
Then at 11am we have something for the P4 -7 children. In this our second live session Kevin in his one-man show accompanied by Powerpoint slides will tells Burns' life-story based around his songs and poems.
The songs and poems are woven into a narrative telling about key points in Burns' life from his birth in 1759 to his untimely death just 37 years later. The best way to enjoy Burns is to take part so audience participation is encouraged where songs have choruses!! Sign up and join this event.
So why not sign up and join us for these very Scottish celebrations live in Glow TV?!
Further Burns resources can be found on the Education Scotland website.
CreativityGlowGlowTV
新年快乐 – Celebrate Chinese New Year with Glow
Glow celebrates the Chinese New Year of the dragon with a series of events highlighting what is going on in schools across Scotland to mark these exciting celebrations. Beginning on Monday the 23rd January and lasting for 15 days
Glow will be presenting a programme of different Glow Meets looking at Chinese culture and celebration.
On the 23rd we will be joined by several of the Confucius Classroom Hubs who will be sharing what they have/are intending to do to welcome this new year and we hope that you can join us too and let us know what you are doing in your classrooms across Scotland to mark this event. Even if you do not have anything to share why not join us anyway and find out more about the Year of the Dragon? Sign up and join us on the 23rd January.
On the 6th February we will be continuing the programme with a special event live from the Glasgow Film Festival entitled King of Masks. Through Glow Meet you can watch the live introduction to the film and take part in a workshop with Chinese opera singer and Ricefield workshop leader Fong Liu from St. Ninian's High School who will be dressed in full Chinese costume. You can also obtain your own free DVD of the film to watch in school that day as well. Find out more about this event and how to get your free DVD in Glow TV.
Finally on the afternoon of the 6th February join us for 龙年大吉 Good luck with the year of dragon – Close of Celebrations. This Glow Meet will be bringing to a close the Chinese New Year celebrations in Glow with a look at the Lantern Festival, a traditional Chinese festival since Han Dynasty more than 2000 years ago. We will have images from the event that took place on 20th January in Fife and also find out more about this from the Confucius Hubs. We also hope to hear from you too and what you have done to celebrate Chinese New Year in your school. Sign up and join us for this event.
You can also find related resources for 2012 – The Chinese Year of the Dragon on the Education Scotland website.
Global CitizenshipGlowTVInternational Education
Adult Learning, CLD, Community Capacity Building, Health and wellbeing
National No Smoking Day 14th March 2012
National no smoking day takes place on 14th March 2012. Register your no smoking day event by following the link below:
http://www.nosmokingday.org.uk/organisers/eventsregister.php
No Smoking Day was established as a national event on Ash Wednesday in 1984, and has grown in status and in impact over the past the 25 years.
No Smoking Day was originally organised by a committee of representatives from organisations with an interest in smoking and health. In 1988 No Smoking Day took on full time campaign staff and the Day continues to be organised by a small number of full time staff. No Smoking Day was registered as a charity in 1991 and in 2011 the charity was merged with the British Heart Foundation.
Since its inception, No Smoking Day has aimed to support those smokers who want to quit; research shows that around three in every four smokers would like to stop.
The success of the No Smoking Day is built on the commitment of local organisers throughout the UK. There are now over 8,000 registered campaigners for No Smoking Day and the charity circulates over 35,000 campaign packs each year.
The hard work of these dedicated organisers has helped ensure that No Smoking Day has remained the UK's foremost public health event, with over a million people making a quit attempt every year.
Engineering Education Scheme Residential
Last week I was invited along to the Engineering Education Scheme (run by EDT), Residential Workshop at the University of Strathclyde. At the residential S5/6 learners from around 15 schools across Scotland were brought together, along with engineers, teachers and engineering support from the University in a supportive environment in order to design prototype solutions to the industrial problem set by a company.
The Engineering Education Scheme in England & Scotland is an EDT Programme which links teams of four S5/S6 learners and their teachers with local companies to work on real, scientific, engineering and technological problems.
The scheme provides learners with an in-depth experience in science, engineering and technology that will enable them to make an informed decision about their future studies and career.
This will be achieved by giving the learners, in a 6 month programme;
Hands-on work experience as part of a team
Experience of problem solving, working on a project that is relevant to a local company
Use of a university's engineering workshops to develop, build and test solutions to the problem
Professional skills lectures on Communications (written, verbal and visual) and Project Management
The opportunity to develop technical skills and see school physics, chemistry, technology etc applied in an industrial environment
An opportunity to meet professional and graduate engineers, scientists and technologists
Experience in presenting their solution, in a formal verbal presentation and formal written technical report, to a panel of senior professional engineers
During the six-month project phase, learners are encouraged to show industrial enterprise, creativity and innovation whilst gaining extensive experience of problem-solving, team-working and project management. Key life skills are developed within the context of the world of work.
Personal development education realised through work related learning is at the core of this high quality educational enrichment scheme. Find out how your school can get involved in the project.
Expressive Arts, Literacy
Glow Meet: King of Masks – Part of Chinese New Year Celebrations
The King of Masks is a brilliant street performer who practices the change-mask opera art of bian lian. He laments that he has no grandchild to pass on his magical skills, so he adopts an orphan boy to become his apprentice. But the boy turns out not to be what he seems… A special film from China full of colour, fireworks and adventures!
On the day of the screening of the King of Masks live in Glasgow Glow TV be broadcasting the introduction to the event which lasts approximately 10 minutes. You are able to request a free DVD to watch along in the classroom during the live screening in Glasgow. To request your free DVD please contact matt@eightandahalf.org.
At 11.55am we will return live to Glasgow to take part in the live interactive workshop with Chinese opera singer and Ricefield workshop leader Fong Liu from St. Ninian's High School who will be dressed in full Chinese costume. This workshop will last approximately 15-20 mins.
THIS EVENT IS RECOMMENDED FOR PRIMARY 4 AND ABOVE.
Why not sign up and join us on the day Don't forget to request your free DVD! http://bit.ly/kingofmasksevent
Date and time: 06/02/2012 – 10:15am
Find out more on the Glasgow Film Festival Website
CreativityGlowTVPartnership Working
Literacy, Numeracy
Tell us what you think of 'On the Money'
Education Scotland, in partnership with Scottish Book Trust and Standard Life, is carrying out an evaluation of the 'On the Money' resource.
'On the Money' is a book of four stories by Theresa Breslin, Jonathan Meres, Nicola Morgan and Alison Prince, exploring issues of financial responsibility for children. It was distributed free to schools throughout Scotland and was also published as an online resource.
The main purpose of this evaluation is to help us decide how we take the project forward. Therefore we are looking for the views of practitioners who have used the resource with learners in educational establishments to provide us with evidence on which we can base our decision.
Please take 10 minutes to complete our online survey.
Your help is greatly appreciated, and in recognition of your support one lucky school will be picked at random from the respondents to receive a free visit from an author, organised by the Scottish Book Trust.
The deadline for responses is the end of this term.
(Please note, the online survey website contains adverts).
Literacy, Literacy and English
New Literacy across learning materials
January 19, 2012 User deactivated	2 Comments
New reading support materials for first and second levels and new Literacy across learning materials to support the third and fourth levels are now available on Glow.
First and second level materials
'Reading to Learn; Learning to Read' are new reading support materials to support first and second levels. They are now available in Glow: (Glow log-in required).
These materials include practical ideas to develop and support reading at first and second level, active learning strategies for teaching reading and a wide variety of approaches to support reading.
Specific areas covered include:
reciprocal reading.
hot-seating.
before, during and after reading activities.
the Thinking Reader.
Third and fourth level materials
New Literacy across learning materials to support the third and fourth levels are now available in Glow. (Glow log-in required).
These materials include information on:
practical strategies and ideas to develop literacy across learning
listening and talking strategies
recording literacy across the curriculum
analysing moving image texts
reciprocal reading strategies
Bloom's Revised Taxonomy
links to additional resources.
Active LearningCPDGlowSkills for Learning Life and Work
Annual STEM Ambassadors &Teachers Celebration Event
Education Scotland Development Officers for Science are pleased to be joining our STEMNET partners for the annual STEM Ambassadors and Teachers Celebration Event at Glasgow Science Centre on Tuesday 31st January 2012. Science Connects and Global Science (STEMNET contract holders covering the South West and East of Scotland) are delighted to invite you to the Annual STEM Ambassadors and Teachers Celebration Event at the Glasgow Science Centre on Tuesday 31st January from 5:00-7:30pm.
STEM Ambassadors are volunteers who offer their time as inspiring role models for young people. They are people using science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills in their everyday lives and can help illuminate the potential of STEM subjects and careers through talks, hands-on activities, workshops, challenges or helping teachers with Curriculum for Excellence experiences and outcomes.
This event offers you the chance to meet informally with over 200 Teachers and Ambassadors as well as visiting a showcase of 36 local and national organisations exhibiting STEM related resources, activities, challenges and ideas.
5:00 – 5:45pm Registration (Exhibition area open)
5:45 – 6:15pm Presentations in IMAX Theatre
Introduction from STEMNET – Kirsten Bodley Chief Executive, STEMNET
Working with schools from an industry perspective – Stuart Sharkie, Engineering Manager, Thales UK
Working with Ambassadors from a school's perspective – Dawn Crewes, Biology Teacher, St Mungo's High School, Falkirk
The vision of Glasgow City of Science – David Gani, Deputy Principal at University of Strathclyde
6:15 – 7:30pm Exhibition and Workshops
8:00 pm Close
Refreshments will be available from 5.00pm and throughout the evening . Car parking will be free of charge in the Science Centre.
Places are limited for this event so please register today to make sure you can attend! You can register by emailing alan.kerr@glasgow.ac.uk with your name, organisation and contact details or by visiting www.stemscotland.com/stem-registration.html and completing the online form. More details concerning location and organisations exhibiting can also be found at this webpage.
Thank you and we look forward to meeting you at the Celebration Event.
Partnership WorkingSTEM
Modern Languages, Social studies
The Multilingual Debate 2012
Heriot-Watt University's Multilingual Debate is an annual event that showcases the interpreting skills of undergraduate students on their Languages (Interpreting and Translating) degree programme, as well as the developing professional skills of postgraduate students on their MSc Translating and Conference Interpeting programmes. The event takes the form of a formal debate with two multilingual teams arguing for and against a motion of topical interest in a range of languages. The teams deliver their views in their various native languages (French, German, Spanish, English, Chinese, British Sign Language (BSL)).
The Multilingual Debate stimulates an interest among young people in the international politics and social issues of the modern world whilst also setting language acquisition in a realistic context.
The audience is mainly made up of pupils coming from Scottish and English secondary schools, but also university undergraduate students considering entering the interpreting profession, as well as government and local authority representatives. The audiences participated in the debate by listening to the arguments, putting questions to the speakers in the languages represented and voting on the motion. Electronic voting is used and the audience are able to see clear changes in their opinions before the debate compared to after the debate.
This year, debate topics are:
'This house believes that the spread of Globish* will enhance inter-cultural understanding'
'This house believes that if the Euro fails, Europe will turn into a global backwater'
*see references online such as: http://www.oed.com/public/globish/the-rise-of-global-english.
In past years, the debate has been so popular that we are looking to provide access and participation online to allow as many people as possible to join in.
If you would like your learners to take part in this "true celebration of linguistic diversity", then please click here to visit Herriot Watt's website.
Early Years, Gaelic Learners, Responsibility of All
Robert Burns – Lets Celebrate
Its time to celebrate the life of Robert Burns on Burns' Day 25th January.
To give you some ideas on where to get started we have provided you with some links to good practice and some interesting resources which will enable you to explore Burns' birthday as well as Scotland itself including the languages of Gaelic and Scots particularly within the early years.
Why not explore the stories of Katie Morag by Mairi Hedderwick? Katie lives on a Scottish Island.
What is it like to live on an island?
What Islands are around Scotland?
Sing and speak the Scots language by tuning into our Glow meet on 'watch again'.
Matthew Fitt, author of many stories in Scots for young children including "Katie's Coo" and "A Wee Book O' Fairytales in Scots" sings, tells stories and will have you 'burlin roon' before you know it!
Have a wee sing song
Visit the Education Scotland Knowledge of Language site and listen to auld favourites such as 'Coulter's Candy' and 'Ye Cannie Shuv Yer Grannie'. Also visit 'Scotland's Songs' and see songs for the early years and songs in Gaelic too!
Celebrate Robert Burns' birthday in a nursery setting
You could make a book all about things relating to Scotland. This would also encourage reflection and recall. You could add various pictures of Scottish food, tartan, animals, landmarks, places etc. The children may also want to add the Scots word that they like to use in conversation!
The Early Years team at Education Scotland hope you have a fabulous time during you Burns' celebrations.
Additional Support for Learning, CfE, Early Years, Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing, Languages, Mathematics, MCMC/16+LC, Responsibility of All, RME, Sciences, Senior Phase, Social studies, Supporting Learners, Technologies, Universal Support
Global Citizenship – JOIN our Glow drop in session
Developing Global Citizens through sustainable development education
Time: 3.45pm – 4.45pm, Thursday 26th January
Where: The shiny new Glow community for global citizenship
2012 is a big year for Sustainable Development Education (SDE):
World leaders will gather in Rio to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and decide on further action
2012 is the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
We only have three years until the end of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development Education and there is a buzz of activity happening in schools and local authorities across Scotland.
If you'd like to tune into all that's happening and are looking for inspiration and ideas to kick start 2012 then this is the Glow meet for you. The Developing Global Citizenship Team will be hosting this informal session open to any practitioner or school leader – just drop into the Glow meet to pick our brains, find out what's coming up or tell us what you're up to. If you missed the previous sessions then click here to see how they work.
Note: if you join us with a headset or webcam then it means we can have a good blether. However, if you prefer to type fast with wonky spellng then that's good too!
One click (then another small one) to take part >> http://bit.ly/DGCdropin3
Adult Learning, CfE, CLD, Community Capacity Building, Young people, children & families
Young Scot – Climate Change and Sustainability: Community Action for a Sustainable Scotland
Young Scot is currently working on a project, in partnership with the 2020 Climate Group, around young people and climate change and sustainability. As part of this they are developing an interactive map of Scotland which will highlight current activities within the 'climate change and sustainability' field for young people to take part in, in their local area.
If you know of any relevant projects or activities (around climate change and sustainability) in your area for young people aged 14 to 26 years old please advise cats@youngscot.org Additionally, if you could send this information around your contacts/networks and ask them to contact Cat with any information. This will help to ensure that as many projects/activities that operate at a local level are identified and put on the map.
Seafood Scotland Launches Schools Art Competition
Seafood Scotland has teamed up with the 6th World Fisheries Congress to offer a competition that encourages school children to learn more about the relationship between scientists and fisheries, and how this helps to protect the marine ecosystem.
High school and primary school pupils taking part in Seafood Scotland's 'Seafood in Schools' pilot project are being asked to design a T-shirt for delegates at the Congress, which will be held in Edinburgh in May 2012. The design must illustrate the association between seafood and science.
Prizes for the competition are sponsored by Seafish and include £1000 worth of science equipment for the winning high school and £500 of equipment for the winning primary school.
The pupil responsible for the overall winning design will receive a presentation T-shirt at the Congress, followed by a VIP visit to Deep Sea World at South Queensferry. A runner-up will be presented with their own design on a T-shirt and also visit the aquarium.
Jon Harman, Seafish director of development, said: "Seafish is committed to improving awareness and understanding about the importance of the seafood industry amongst all consumers, young and old.
"This competition is a creative, innovative way of encouraging school children to get excited about fisheries and science, so we are delighted to offer our support.
"This is a great way to make learning fun, and to ensure that the pupils gain a sense of how science is being applied in real life to protect our marine ecosystem for the future."
CreativityEnterpriseGlobal CitizenshipSkills for Learning Life and Work
101 apprenticeships in 100 days
Young Working Lives focuses on finding employment for work ready individuals between the ages of 16 to 25 that are not currently in education, employment or training.
The '101 apprenticeships in 100' days is a challenge set by Stirling's local More Choices More Chances Partnership to create 101 apprenticeship opportunities in 100 days.
The challenge has been welcomed locally as well as being recognised by the Scottish Government. The launch event was attended by MSP Angela Constance, Scottish Government Minister for Youth Employment who commented; "I am thrilled and delighted to support the campaign. It is an excellent example of local partners and employers working together and giving young people a strong start to their working lives and I look forward to
hearing about the success of the campaign"
The '101 in 100' programme is a great way to help fill current vacancies within a company and to ensure the workforce is appropriately skilled. It is also a great opportunity to support local young people who are ready and willing to work, but finding it difficult to compete against sometimes-higher skilled or more experienced applicants.
EnterprisePartnership WorkingSkills for Learning Life and Work
Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Technologies
South Ayrshire cook off
Councillor Hywel Davies, Lifelong Learning Portfolio Holder said: "These young people showed exceptional talent in the kitchen when they took part in the competition.
"South Ayrshire is known for great hospitality and wonderful places for residents and tourists to eat. Tourism plays a huge part in sustaining our local economy and ensuring we have outstanding people who can create new dishes, put a modern twist on traditional ones and cater for all tastes in future years is very important.
"The competition called for the students to use literacy and numeracy skills combined with their flair and talent for culinary creation.
"Cooking is a skill that will stay with these young people for life, whether they become professional caterers or enter another profession, the knowledge they have gained will be of great use to them."
To read more click here.
Active LearningCreativityEnterprisePartnership WorkingSkills for Learning Life and Work
Health and wellbeing, Sciences, Technologies
STEM Central: Bioengineering
Work continues towards the publication of the STEM Central context "Bioengineering". Working in partnership with the BBC to explore the role Bioengineering plays in helping service personnel from 45 Commando Royal Marines based in Arbroath, and Touch Bionics, the Livingston based company behind world leading prosthetic technologies, this fourth level sciences and technologies based context will prove a rich source of learning, debate, discussion and creative thinking for your learners.
Active LearningPartnership WorkingSTEM
CLD, Community Capacity Building, Young people, children & families
New sustainable development resources for community groups
A new set of educational resources on sustainable development for community organisations has been produced by CHEX's parent organisation, the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC). Community Action for a Sustainable Scotland (CASS) is a set of 7 resources aimed at community projects and groups, which offer advice ranging from how to develop a sustainability plan to simple tips for recycling and saving energy. They also contain illustrative examples from projects around Scotland.
The resources were adapted by SCDC from material produced as part of the Every Action Counts programme in England and aim to support both large and small scale community organisations to carry out their activities in ways which protect the environment without impacting on efficiencies and which ensure greater levels of sustainability for the longer term.
Visit the SCDC website to view and download the resources for free.
Global CitizenshipPartnership WorkingSTEMSustainable Development
Get Involved at Edinburgh Zoo
Following on from the successful Hello Giant Pandas Glow Meet held at the end of December (remember you can still Watch Again if you missed it!) Edinburgh Zoo is pleased to highlight two events taking place there this term.
The first 'Teaching Biodiversity with Beavers' is a cross-curricular CPD training event for primary and secondary teachers. This session will look at how to bring biodiversity into the classroom with a range of curriculum-linked activities and to learn more about the first formal trial reintroduction of a mammal into the wild in Britain.
This event takes place on Friday 27th January from 12.30 – 4pm and includes a viewing of the Giant Pandas at 11.45am! You can find more details in the Sciences Glow Group.
The second event is a Global Classroom Conference at Edinburgh Zoo. The conference entitled, 'Invasive Species Living with the alien threat' is designed to support the new SQA Higher Biology syllabus. Join in for the 7th RZSS Global Classroom event and discover the impact of invasive non-native species on Scotland and the world's biodiversity.
Looking at particular at:
What are invasives?
What impacts do they have on native wildlife? How do we control them?
This is a free event being held on Thursday 1st March. Find out more in the Sciences Glow Group.
CPDSTEM
Early Years, Sciences
Big Schools' Birdwatch
Join the RSPB from 16-30th January 2012 and you'll not only be taking part in the world's biggest birdwatch, but also helping us monitor UK bird numbers.
Run every year, the Birdwatch is a free activity for all UK schools and youth groups. Little Schools' Birdwatch is for 3-5 year olds, Big Schools' Birdwatch is for 6-11 year olds and Really Big Schools' Birdwatch is for 12-14 year olds.
To find out more about this competition click here.
Global CitizenshipOutdoor LearningPartnership WorkingSTEM
A training blog for PLSuperheroes
Glow TV
NDLC
Metacognition, self-regulation and the Challenge
test for Office Mix
Ludicrously cheap HDMI capture for Linux
Ask HN: Good software for interactive exploration of quantum/particle physics?


The Netgear N900 offers wireless networking speeds up to 450Mbps, as well as Gigabit Ethernet.
Should I buy the Netgear N900 (WNDR4500) wireless router?
Netgear's N900 is a fast unit when it comes to wireless networking, and is a decent solution for those of you who can't wait until 802.11ac routers. Both its short and long range results were impressive in our tests. You pay quite a price for that speed though.
Netgear's N900 Dual Band Gigabit Router, otherwise known as the WNDR4500, is an "ultimate performance" product designed for those of you who want faster wireless networking. It has a dual-band wireless access point that can work in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrums and it can reach speeds of 450Mbps in either of them. More than a fast wireless router though, the N900 is a reliable overall networking solution that also offers IPv6 support, Gigabit Ethernet, parental filters and built-in network attached storage features in the form of ReadyShare.
The N900 isn't a typical wireless router; an acrylic base with a protruding trim around the unit makes this router look a little better than it should, and it could appear rather stylish if positioned in a living area next to a TV, for example. It has bright LEDs that can be a little annoying in the dark, but they won't pose much of a problem unless you position the unit in your bedroom.
It has a 4-port Gigabit Ethernet switch built in to it and it has a WAN port that can accept an input from an ADSL2+ or cable modem. You'll have to supply your own modem before you can get on the Internet. Little touches about this router that we like include the physical power button on the back, and the wireless toggle on the front, so that can easily disable and enable the Wi-Fi (should you ever want to do so) without venturing into the router's configuration pages.
Speaking of which, the configuration Web page of the N900 is based on the new Netgear Genie interface. It's a bit of a departure from the Netgear interface of old, but it still has things like the built-in help files and the frames design. Importantly, it's a router that you can set up without actually connecting a cable between it and your computer. It comes with a pre-defined SSID and password, the details of which are printed on the sticker on the side of the unit — the password for ours was 'dailyspider528', which we found a little creepy. This means you can connect to the router from a laptop, a tablet or a phone to then log in to its configuration page to enter your own settings.
Once you connect to the router, the Genie will attempt to auto-detect your Internet connection, which means all you'll have to do to get online is enter your ISP username and password details. It takes a few minutes for the router to be completely set up, and you will be presented with a rundown of your settings once it's done — it'll tell you that you are connected to the Internet via an ego-boosting congratulations page. Furthermore, it will display the credentials for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networks. You'll want to customise these so that you can remember them a little easier — unless you're happy having something like 'NETGEAR1' for your network name and 'dailyspider528' for your password.
With the ability to simultaneously run 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless frequencies, the WNDR4500 allows a mixture of devices to co-exist on the same network, and yet perform optimally. But the biggest selling point is the router's connection speed of 450Mbps, which is 150Mbps faster than a traditional 802.11n Wi-Fi router. To use this speed though, you'll need to operate devices that can also run at 450Mbps. For our tests, we used a Dell Latitude E6320 laptop configured with an Intel Ultimate-N 6300 AGN wireless adapter. This allowed us to connect to the Netgear router at full speed and attain optimal performance results.
To test the speed of the router's Wi-Fi, we attached a notebook with a 7200rpm hard drive to the router via Gigabit Ethernet and transferred files from it to the Dell laptop over the wireless network. From a close distance (2m away), we observed an average speed of 10.02 megabytes per second (MBps) when using the 2.4GHz frequency and a whopping 27MBps when using the 5GHz frequency (the highest burst speed we noticed was 35MBps). It was a noticeable difference that came in handy when tyring to copy big files over the network, in particular.
From 10m away, the 2.4GHz network fell to 5.85MBps, while the 5GHz network only reached 14.32MBps. In a testing environment littered with other 2.4GHz access points, the longer distance made the signal suffer noticeably, but the 5GHz network was still able to get well above the double digit mark. It shows the worth of having the ability to switch to a 5GHz network, even over longer distances, but especially over short distances.
By comparison, the other 450Mbps router that we've seen, Buffalo's WZR-HP-G450H (which is only a 2.4GHz router), recorded only 6.85MBps from 2m away and 5.8MBps from 10m away in the same tests. You can see that from close range the Netgear performed much better, but both routers recorded basically the same rate from the 10m mark.
We were able to replicate the speeds multiple times, so the N900 is definitely a reliable unit and we had no problems with it at all when using it extensively for everyday networking activities. We ran a WD TV Live media streamer off it, as well as NAS devices, multiple laptops and phones, and we didn't have to restart it once. We also ran a USB hard drive off the router and made use of its built-in ReadyShare NAS functionality. Drives that we plugged in to the back of the router showed up without any fuss on our network and file transfers off USB drives averaged around 3.3MBps. For advanced users, the router supports dynamic DNS (via DynDNS.org) and port forwarding so that it can be set up for remote access.
Other nifty features include a traffic meter that can be set up to provide warnings when your data quota is a little too close for comfort; the USB ports support printer sharing; there are parental filters that work with OpenDNS, just like the ones in the Netgear N600 that we reviewed at the start of the year, as well as keyword and domain name blocking, which brings up a nice, big warning any time someone tries to access content that's been flagged.
The Netgear N900 is definitely a good router to go for if you're ultimate need is fast wireless speed. Short of an 802.11ac router, it's the next best option and it will provide reliable speeds that are faster than the norm from close range and from long distance. Importantly, it's also not very difficult to set up and its interface is intuitive.


style="font-weight: 400;">Have a Safe & Happy New Year!
style="font-weight: 400;">Thank you to each of our readers (and watchers) that have tuned in each week for our online marketing news round up. We hope you all have a great new year and we can't wait to see you again in 2017!
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style="font-weight: 400;">In the past, the SEO battle was focused on either black hat, or white hat tactics. Black hat SEO was considered extremely aggressive and didn't typically play by the rules of search engines. White hat SEO tactics on the other hand were typically closely aligned with search engine guidelines.
style="font-weight: 400;">Today's world of SEO looks much different (and it's about time). Instead of hyper focusing only on keywords or search engine needs, smart marketers are concentrating first and foremost on the needs of users. User experience as it relates to mobile accessibility, content structure and user intent on search engines have become the new norm.
style="font-weight: 400;"> that always follow SEO best practices.
style="font-weight: 400;">But what does the future of SEO hold, is there more? We tapped into the minds of some great marketers to provide their predictions of what SEO will look like in 2017.
style="font-weight: 400;">1) Create stand-out content, completely relevant and highly useful to their target audience.
style="font-weight: 400;">2) Successfully promote that content to drive consistent engagement in the form of links, social shares, news, and other buzz.
style="font-weight: 400;">We're already seeing RankBrain begin to 'take over' and factor in more user intent signals than ever before. I think that will continue to happen and increase in 2017 (specifically, time on site, bounce rates, etc.). I think CTR from SERPs will be a bigger factor in re-ranking URLs as people develop more affinity for the brands they like and click on them when they see them; regardless if they are in pos. #1 or #9.
style="font-weight: 400;">I think links will still be important. I don't care what article you read that says they are dying, they aren't. I think social sentiment around brands, hashtags, keyword association (neighbors) across the web will help sort results.
style="font-weight: 400;">If social platforms ever work together with Google, I could see platform specific searches influence rank on Google too.
style="font-weight: 400;">The most significant change for SEO in 2017 will be the importance of the mobile-first index for Google. Many sites are ready for a mobile-first index but unfortunately many others are not. Google is continuing its focus on mobile, and it has been increasingly important to optimize for mobile users. SEO experts need to focus on the mobile user moving forward in 2017 in terms of metadata and user experience.
style="font-weight: 400;">With the rise of Google RankBrain, AI and machine learning are becoming incredibly important to think about for marketers and SEOs who want to capture valuable search visibility and be found at key moments of the customer journey.
style="font-weight: 400;">What do these types of algorithms reward? Engagement – how many searchers click on your result and how long they stick around on your website. While these aren't the only signals Google looks at to determine the quality of its search results (and where your site should rank for specific queries), it is definitely important.
style="font-weight: 400;">In 2017, pay attention to how much engagement your brand or business is generating. Specifically: organic search CTR and time on site.
style="font-weight: 400;">Even if improving your organic CTR and time-on-site doesn't directly impact your rankings, it will still bring in more traffic that sticks around longer (and is more likely to convert). Write great titles that make searchers click – and reward searchers for their click by providing awesome, relevant content to match.
style="font-weight: 400;">Each of these experts shared great advice about different tactics that they predict will rule 2017. You'll notice that the core message behind each of these predictions is the same: put people first.
style="font-weight: 400;">By focusing on creating a great user experience and understanding what it is that your users want, you'll start 2017 off on the right foot!
style="font-weight: 400;">Disclosure: Dell is a TopRank Marketing client.
style="font-weight: 400;">Social media platforms enable people from around the world looking to connect and build personal and professional relationships. Earlier this year studies found that there are currently over 2 billion active social media users.
style="font-weight: 400;">If you consider the sheer number of people interacting on social networks, it seems like a no-brainer that both B2C and B2B brands should be spending time engaging with their audience, where they're spending time. But finding a way to not only reach, but connect with audiences on social networks has become increasingly difficult.
style="font-weight: 400;">To help ease the pain, we went straight to the source and tapped into the brilliant minds of marketers from brands like LinkedIn, Social Media Examiner, Social Media Today, BMC and our own team at TopRank Marketing to gain insights into their social media marketing predictions for 2017.
style="font-weight: 400;">Algorithms, bots, artificial intelligence and people working for very big companies will destroy the business models of people who produce content by disrupting the free flow of information.
style="font-weight: 400;">Before the Internet, the power brokers of information were a few media companies that controlled the newspapers, magazines, radio stations and television. The Internet busted through those barriers and allowed anyone to produce anything for any audience. Information flowed and content mediums like blogs and podcasts flourished.
style="font-weight: 400;">The Internet was the great system of disintermediation, eliminating the middleman and allowing a free flow of information.
style="font-weight: 400;">Facebook will decide what you see. Google will serve up only that content that complies with its rules and are housed on its servers. Email solutions like Gmail and Yahoo will tighten their own algorithms so even reaching the inbox is at risk.
style="font-weight: 400;">The information distribution highway will have toll stations that must be paid for by the those who create content.
style="font-weight: 400;">If you want your content seen, you'll need to house it inside the companies that control the toll stations. Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and more will incentivize content creators to not link to off-site content. These large businesses will become the equivalent of the 1990s America Online–a type of "Hotel California," where you can enter but never leave.
style="font-weight: 400;">Traffic to websites will decline and blogs will shut down. Gone will be the days of information flow and true information freedom. The future will only be more controlled, more filtered and less open.
style="font-weight: 400;">But, born from this filtered, computer curated world, will come something new. Some young person in a spare bedroom will invent the next big idea that frees information once again. The pendulum will start swinging back and content creators will experience a new creative renaissance.
style="font-weight: 400;">Are you ready for the change?
style="font-weight: 400;">The biggest challenge marketers will face in 2017 is the same that they seemingly face year over year which is keeping up with the innovation around emerging marketing channels and technologies, such as Snapchat, Facebook Live, and AR/VR, while still maintaining an active presence on the traditional platforms used by the masses (i.e. print, social, digital, etc.). Undoubtedly, live video content will continue to take over newsfeeds with Facebook flexing its muscle as the go-to platform for marketers meanwhile Snapchat, and its looming IPO, will result in Snapchat attracting more brands as advertisers to their platform.
style="font-weight: 400;"> for their audiences.
style="font-weight: 400;">Think about it. Social media platforms are constantly tweaking their formats and algorithms to provide users with the best possible content and experience, making it more difficult for brands and marketers to get organic visibility. Plus, nearly every brand is on social media, competing for the top spots. But what if your pages were able to offer such an awesome, relevant experience that would entice people to navigate on their own to see what the latest discussion, video or tip was?
style="font-weight: 400;">, not just traditional social media marketing. From native video and long-form content to actively encouraging and participating in discussions, you need to ask yourself why anyone would visit your pages in the first place. Do you have a niche expertise or offering? Do you provide great entertainment? What is it that could set you apart? How can your social content connect? Then combine all that with data and insights to begin building a strategy to get people there, participating and coming back.
style="font-weight: 400;">From Brexit to the American election, 2016 has been an eye-opening year and a divisive one for many around the globe. A chasm has come to the surface in a way that really no one can deny. It's a divided world. As a result, my prediction (and personal hope) for 2017 is that social media and content marketers are going to strive to become even more empathetic in their content topics. I hope we're also going to be committed to creating content that is humanizing with the innate ability to understand and share the feelings of others.
style="font-weight: 400;">On the second, social ROI has long been the thing that critics fall back on, that you can't connect a 'Like' to a cash money result. But you can, and more and more systems and processes are being developed for just that. Facebook, for example, has been evolving its Conversion Lift metrics which correlate online ads and offline sales, incorporating data from the businesses POS system. With the evolution of beacons, geofencing and other tracking technologies, it's going to become easier for more businesses to directly link their on and offline efforts, enabling them to outline definitive ROI trails.
style="font-weight: 400;">Phew! If we take a look at just the last few months, there have been tremendous advances made in social technology, and the way that users interact with social networks. Imagine what all of 2017 will hold!
style="font-weight: 400;">Creating an impact on social comes down to a few very simple ideas which include finding ways to uncover how your social audience interacts (and do that) and developing a destination that they will want to come back to again and again (like blogs have traditionally done) so that you don't have to rely only on advertising to drive eyeballs to your content.
style="font-weight: 400;">Disclosure: LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.
Instagram Is Facebook's Biggest App Advertiser. Twitter Is Banned.
I'll be back next week with my lovely co-pilot, Josh Nite, to bring you more online marketing news. Have something newsy to share? Tweet it to @toprank or leave it in the comments!
The post Online Marketing News: Content Deluge, Spotify Data Stories and Cyber Monday Breaks Records appeared first on Online Marketing Blog – TopRank®.
For many marketers, the holiday season is one of their busiest times of year. But let's face it, focusing on solving your top marketing problems when you have a holiday party to go to and a new year just around the corner isn't always easy.
This year, let's change our perspective. Instead of letting things slip with the notion that you'll pick back up in the new year, finish 2016 with a bang!
This post has a little bit of everything to keep you motivated and ranges from social media marketing, to email marketing and SEO.
Pick the top one or two items that you're struggling with most this time of year and commit yourself to maintaining a laser focus through the end of the year.
Need to Inspire Engagement with Social Media Marketing?
Listen and empathize – Learn the current situation, goals and troubles involved as well as the ability to empathize with both the brand marketer and the customers they're trying to reach.
Social Media program Audit – Inventory your assets and examine current social performance. This will help you determine where to focus efforts, and what to let go.
Community building and distribution of content – It's more than pushing brand content, it's making active efforts to attract and engage a community.
Improve Social User Experience – SUX – Make it easy for users to find your brand social channels from your company website. Include social sharing widgets on your blog to make it easy for readers to share on their favorite social network.
Social Media Advertising Just Not Hitting the Mark?
Find the right platform – One message does not fit all social media platforms.
Tailor messaging – Always create content that speaks directly to your audience. Messaging for a CEO should be different from that for a Manager or Consultant.
Ad targeting – Test different types of targeting within your social media advertising campaigns to find the best mix.
Incorporate compelling imagery – Creating images that are unique, bright and energetic will go a long way.
Rethink your CTA – If users aren't signing up for demos or more information, consider offering a gated downloads.
Experiencing General Digital Marketing Burnout?
Read a book and explore new places – Stories give us new perspectives and a vacation can provide new scenery to provide new and fresh perspectives.
Spark your personal life – Have a good diet, sleep 7-9 hours and exercise that makes you sweat.
Mix up your work life – Network with other digital marketers to gain inspiration from by talking about what you do and try attending conferences to rev up your marketing know-how.
Jumpstart creativity – Go to local theaters, art museums or concert halls to feel cultural. It can help in supplying you inspiration and motivation to keep creating.
Want to Take Your Optimization Strategy Beyond Search Engines?
Create a connection – SEO can deliver content-rich answers to buyers at the moment of need, and social media can provide the means to connect and engage.
Be where customers are searching – While many marketers will debate what comes first, content, social media or SEO, the most practical approach is to use the tactics necessary for your target audience in order to "be the best answer" wherever customers are looking.
SEO success – More than keywords and links, search engine optimization is an important part of the success equation when it comes to content marketing.
Be conversational – While SEO has traditionally been able to drive online marketing performance on its own, search engine updates to address content quality and the more conversational nature of search behavior have combined with the growing popularity of social networks to change the SEO landscape forever.
Think of SEO this way – If a customer-focused content marketing program is the sandwich, then SEO is the mayonnaise. It touches nearly everything and enhances the overall flavor of the sandwich. But on it's own, not very appetizing.
Email Marketing Campaigns Failing to Nurture Leads?
Segment your list – Begin incorporating and requiring segmentation information in lead capture forms by adding simple qualifiers.
Develop a lead nurturing strategy – It may be worth taking the time to develop a few user personas based on the data that you have. Proper persona development can help guide your strategy for different communication streams.
Set lead nurturing goals – Understanding what exactly you want to accomplish can help drive your lead nurturing strategy and execution.
Consider marketing automation – Marketing automation can simplify the lead nurturing process. However, it's not a decision to be taken lightly. Marketing automation can be a large investment and requires the appropriate resources to execute effectively.
This calendar year isn't over until it's over. Take the time that you have left and focus on the marketing activities that will help you have the biggest impact throughout the end of the year. If there are any additional quick tips or inspirations you'd like to share with our other readers, include them in the comments below!
The post Curb End-of-Year Marketing Burnout with These Digital Marketing Quick Tips appeared first on Online Marketing Blog – TopRank®.


I figured that since the blog is between 5-6 months old now that I provide a "state of the blog" address – what has changed since the blog first kicked off, where Lean Blitz has been, and where it goes from here.
When the very first blog post was written, the original state of the blog was based just north of Dayton, Ohio and the full gamut of writers consisted of, well, me. I was, and still am, a fellow with experience working in sports organizations (Atlanta Braves, Elmore Sports Group, South Bend Silver Hawks) as well as having lean/continuous improvement experience in traditional business/manufacturing environments. However, what I did NOT have was a complete meshing of having fully applied the lean principles within a sports organization.
The plan was to provide a source of lean knowledge as it would relate to sports organizations and small businesses, but then also what anybody and everybody can do around the house with lean to make their lives easier. My intended audience was essentially everybody that could read and had an internet connection (mostly because just about everybody lives somewhere).
I would attend a few trade shows and speak at events, pick up a bunch of followers/subscribers via conversation, word of mouth, communication media, and hopefully a few "sneezers" that would share my content with other interested parties. I assumed that everyone would LOVE lean and the idea would catch like wildfire spreading through a dry field.
It was my understanding that there were no sports organizations currently applying continuous improvement techniques such as lean and Six Sigma, so this idea of showing teams how to use lean to make business processes better appeared not only novel but also one-of-a-kind. I was very fortunate to have a guest blog post for Darren Rovell's Sports Biz at CNBC.com written and selected by him and his editors to share with his readership. This suggested to me that there is an opportunity for teams to use lean to become streamlined off the field.
But underscoring all of this is the fact that I lacked that direct experience and portfolio of projects where lean has been used in sports organizations. That being said, lean is applicable anywhere. I knew it would work for sports too.
And now cut to the spring of 2012, over 110 blog posts later. It's still just me writing the blog, but I would like to begin bringing in outside writers for guest posts. Lean Blitz has relocated from Ohio to just outside Augusta, Georgia. I have reduced the intended audience to primarily sports organizations and small businesses – there are already enough "home tips" sites out there that I need not add another one to the pile. This has allowed me to better focus my subject matter.
I've completed specific coverage of the lean wastes and started looking at the lean tools before realizing I need to back up and examine the 14 lean principles outlined in The Toyota Way. The foundation for lean knowledge needs to be set before I start getting into the "how do we do this" portion. We need to identify opportunities first before we just start fixin' stuff – the whole "when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail" thing.
The blog has covered concessions and merchandise service cycles (I won't say "sales" because there's a lot more in the background that requires examination). Most of the attention has been sports-based, primarily on baseball. In addition to the features on the wastes, tools, and principles, I also wrote about the Baseball Winter Meetings and The Masters.
To follow up on that point, sporting events covered included the Baseball Winter Meetings and The Masters, the NCAA Tournament, and games by the Atlanta Braves, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Augusta GreenJackets. I also covered the University of Notre Dame football locker room (highest number of page views), the Ryan Braun steroid scandal, and Moneyball the movie.
More than I anticipated, I've looked at production processes for sports merchandise and equipment – mascots, bats, baseballs, jerseys, t-shirts and championship game apparel.
I've also been fortunate to provide guest posts for Mark Graban and his blog Lean Blog, and Lean Blitz received some coverage at the Baseball Winter Meetings by ESPN.com's SweetSpot and Ben Hill with Minor League Baseball.
Something I have learned as I've gone forward is that there are teams (edit: a pair of teams) practicing lean and continuous improvement in Major League Baseball. They've hired outside consultants to come in and identify ways to improve business processes. I won't say what teams quite yet (it will be part of a not-too-distant-future post) but I have had lengthy conversations with their executives and even had discussions with their consultants.
What I will say about my conversations is that our thoughts are in alignment – we have identified the same key processes and have had the same reactions and ideas for problem solving, even sharing some new ideas with each other.
The most effective media for communication has been via Twitter and email. Facebook has been mostly served as a place to send new posts for folks not subscribed via email to read. I have all but neglected Google+ so far. I didn't have any goals for number of Facebook "likes" or Twitter followers because I'm more concerned with making solid connections with individuals who are invested in getting better instead of a whole bunch of folks that are only marginally interested.
After the Masters pin flag giveaway (run in conjunction with The Masters), I've learned that reaching out to individuals and teams in the form of cold calling/emailing is ineffective. Part of the reason for this is that lean is hard to explain in a concise manner via email/voice mail message without sounding bossy or controlling. This goes back to making a few solid connections with individuals and developing those conversations to explain what lean is and how it can provide significant improvements.
That being said, I would like to have something to share with individuals new to lean. I am in the process of writing a short e-book about what lean is without getting into the nitty-gritty details of how to implement it. I hope it will provide a high-level overview for folks who have no idea what lean is, but will at least get the mental gears turning and inspiring the desire to make things better where they see shortcomings in processes. All email subscribers will receive a copy of the book once it is completed.
Now that we're in the swing of the baseball season (no pun intended), most of my posts going forward for a while will be focused on the customer experience at games and with any situations where customer service and satisfaction is impacted by waste activities like waiting and defects. I concede that my familiarity mostly lies with baseball because that has been my industry of experience, but eventually I will begin transitioning to other sports. Of course, most business processes will remain the same – making a hot dog at a baseball game is probably the same as making one at a soccer game.
There are some additional "irons in the fire" that cannot yet be discussed but they will very well slightly alter the direction and content of the blog going forward.
And going forward for you, the reader…please ask questions! I'm happy to talk about lean and how it can help you.
It's great to see the progress of your blog and work. Thanks for sharing so openly.
It will be interesting to see if MLB teams (and those in other sports) can shift from the experts telling them what to do to a model where the staff and employees are the ones participating in continuous improvement. Now THAT would be a great Lean model.
Without spilling too many of the beans, I did like the work the consultants were doing with the teams – recognizing that they are teachers/facilitators and shouldn't be the doers, and looking to train the on-site managers/supervisors in lean techniques so they can run their own events and activities. When getting started down this path this was one of my fears, that I'd be the only "doer" and once I leave the projects lose their support and fall apart. It's great to see that this isn't the case with the examples I've found.