Yesterday pupils and teachers from six Scottish schools met the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Angela Constance and Minister for Schools, Science and Scotland’s Languages, Alasdair Allan to talk about how they use Glow, Scotland’s national online environment for learning, and digital technology generally in their schools. Glow is unique, allowing pupils to use the Internet to learn in a secure environment accessible from anywhere and at any time from any device. It includes social features such as blogs and discussion areas and it supports Curriculum for Excellence, Scotland’s holistic, flexible and pupil-centered way of learning for 3 to 18 year olds.
There was a real buzz in the room as pupils talked about digital technology and showed off the ways they are using Glow in their schools. Some of the reasons they said they like using Glow were:
- Teachers can add comments to homework
- Being able to talk to each other about what they are doing in class and easily share ideas
- The pupils are too young to join Facebook or Twitter and Glow gives them an alternative to be able to talk to their friends
- Glow is a safe environment
- They like Glow’s personalised launchpad as it gives easy access to their favourite apps
- The advice on Glow about not giving away personal details is helpful (Community Rules)
- Teachers can upload revision videos which gives pupils a different way to revise.
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The pupils were also honest about the drawbacks of using Glow, listing internet connectivity problems and the lack of devices in the classroom sometimes being an issue.
Gemma Sanderson, a teacher from Kirkton of Largo Primary School said: “Glow is so much better, I’m on it every day. The main thing for our school is that everything is in Glow – all in one place. Children like how everything is linked.”
Glow is available to every pupil and teacher in Scotland. To find out more about what is happening with Glow in your local area, to submit a query about how to get started and how to use Glow, please get in touch with your local authority key contact.
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