tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-174884362011-04-21T20:15:05.020+01:00The Collected Ramblings of an Education Support Officer (ICT)abnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1671100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1164796327989229592006-11-29T10:32:00.000Z2006-11-29T10:32:09.893Z

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1160643659638150042006-10-12T09:57:00.000+01:002006-10-12T10:00:59.656+01:00

Having had a look at some stats, I'm troubled by how many people still subscribe to this blog feed. My blog has moved to http://www.whereisab.co.uk, so why you are still subscribing to this I have no idea.On the other hand, maybe the number of people that still subscribe to this are not actually using their bloglines account anymore, so this is probably falling on deaf ears...

abnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1158430859747487792006-09-16T19:08:00.000+01:002006-09-16T19:20:59.943+01:00

It's a sad, sad day. Today I say goodbye to Blogger after almost a year. I now have WordPress up and running on my own domain, so can once and for all say goodbye to my awful typo that I've had to live with all this time.Onwards and upwards though. If you do subscribe to this feed, then please delete the subscription and add in the new one - you can find it at www.whereisab.co.uk by clicking the

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1158420828214824592006-09-16T16:16:00.000+01:002006-09-16T16:33:48.250+01:00

After much deliberation, I'm finally getting my digital act together.Today I changed my host and the DNS transfer has all gone smoothly (thankfully!) This will allow me to now change over to WordPress and skin it all in Flash - something I've been wanting to do for ages. Maggie, Gary and I actually spent quite a bit of time before the summer holidays learning how to make a blogging application in

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1158397776602308812006-09-16T09:59:00.000+01:002006-09-16T10:09:36.616+01:00

Kevin Lynch is talking on his blog about the integration of Flash and web2.0 technologies. To me this type of development is vital - ironically one of the major letdowns of web2.0 technology is the lack of artistic flare that the tools offer. Creativity is vital in creating a sense of ownership, and without the capacity that Flash offers to create a truly dynamic environment, sites will always be

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1158396541693843952006-09-16T09:33:00.000+01:002006-09-16T16:36:04.520+01:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to meet with John Connell to talk through some plans for further incorporating web2.0 technologies into the work of education centrally in Scotland. I've heard John speak at a number of events in the past, but it was good to meet him officially after reading him for so long. It was also good to put a face to another blogger, as I also met Nova for the first time

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1158341903240249902006-09-15T18:29:00.000+01:002006-09-15T18:38:23.266+01:00

I check my aggregator on a regular basis. It is quite rare for a day to go by without me checking it at least twice. How lovely it was to see that since I last checked, 8 of our Glow Mentors have posted new entries. The best way to keep on top of people posting is to use an online aggregator. There are many services out there, but if you use more than one computer, then it is probably best to use

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1158232587482617442006-09-14T11:59:00.000+01:002006-09-14T12:16:27.500+01:00

I've just been listening to this brilliant interview with Lynda Weinman (of Lynda.com fame). One of my absolute heros in the Flash world, as her site features numerous online tutorials. Towards the end of the interview she was asked what she finds interesting and exciting online at the moment, and to no great surprise, she mentioned YouTube. The particular reference was to a Stephen Colbert 's

abnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1158072931207109372006-09-12T15:50:00.000+01:002006-09-12T15:55:31.223+01:00

Well, our Glow Mentors are definitely getting into their blogging - today Graham Dickie has posted an interesting question about the role of a Mentor. I wonder what other people think?

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1157918852712996642006-09-10T20:57:00.000+01:002006-09-10T21:07:32.730+01:00

Those of you that are teachers - do you remember your first year of teaching? I remember the feeling of horror when I realised there were no more resources for my third year 'core RE' classes beyond the workbook I was nearing the end of in October. "What am I meant to do with them then?" I asked a bemused Assistant Principal Teacher. His reply went something along the lines of "You'll figure it

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1157914697389493652006-09-10T19:54:00.000+01:002006-09-10T19:58:17.403+01:00

Printing is, as you probably already know, the bane of my life. If however you have a regular USB printer and an Apple Airport Extreme base station, then it turns out you could save a lot of money and not buy networked printers. Thanks to Susan for this top tip!

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1157886549200116972006-09-10T11:47:00.000+01:002006-09-10T12:09:09.220+01:00

With just a few weeks left now until SETT, I don't think I'm going to make it.After the last scotedublogs meetup we had at eLive, I set myself a wee challenge - to convince 118 people in education to start a blog. Why 118? Well, there are 118 days inbetween the last meetup and the next one 'teachmeet06'I started out really slowly, and then largely forgot about it over the holiday period, but came

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1157884960361426482006-09-10T11:39:00.000+01:002006-09-10T11:42:40.376+01:00

It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside when Microsoft realise the best way to communicate an idea is by using Flash. Altogether now, 'Ahh...!'

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1157749283749096162006-09-08T21:53:00.000+01:002006-09-08T22:05:08.123+01:00

Yesterday we visited our lawyer to work through the process of buying and selling. Nicola, with her stunning wit and comic timing, when asked by our lawyer if we had any final questions asked "erm... do you want to buy a flat?"It always pays to advertise as much as possible, so does anyone want to buy a flat? I could say 'one careful owner', but as it's been standing since 1890, I suspect there

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1157715622980510452006-09-08T12:38:00.000+01:002006-09-08T12:40:22.993+01:00

For those of you with a video iPod (which isn't me incidentally, if any generous soul out there is reading this...:-)), this has got to be a must have?

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1157638360851533262006-09-07T15:08:00.000+01:002006-09-07T15:12:40.880+01:00

We have been frantically trying to get a sponsor for wifi for the 'teachmeet06' event at SETT this year. (If you don't know about this already, check out the wiki)A thousand 'thankyou's to the wonderful people at Promethean Ltd who have offered sponsorship for some wifi at the event.Tags: teachmeet06

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1157636295314868542006-09-07T14:09:00.000+01:002006-09-07T14:38:15.650+01:00

On Thursday of last week I had the opportunity to speak with all of the probationer teachers in Argyll & Bute. This year we have a group of around 50 - this is not far off double the numbers we had last session. I must admit, I dislike the word 'probationer' intensely. Matthew Boyle who coordinates this group of teachers greatly prefers the English description of 'Newly Qualified Teachers' which

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1157634555754895632006-09-07T14:01:00.000+01:002006-09-07T14:09:15.766+01:00

Argyll & Bute have now appointed their (oops - 'our') Glow Mentors. To coordinate this, there is a website that will feature all the up and coming dates in their Glow Mentor diaries, and will aggregate their blogs. The diary and aggregator sections are works in progress at the moment, but by clicking on the Flash map on the homepage, you can visit each of their blogs.Please check out the site by

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1157634094521819352006-09-07T13:54:00.000+01:002006-09-07T14:01:34.540+01:00

It feels like it's been so long since I posted, I can barely remember how you do this. I mean, 'where is ab'? Never has my URL meant more - sorry to all of you that read this on a regular basis - I haven't been trying to give it up, honest! The truth is I've been too busy to post - I don't usually divulge personal info on the blog, but suffice to say that I might be moving house quite soon. I now

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1156943693624381022006-08-30T14:05:00.000+01:002006-08-30T14:14:53.643+01:00

John Connell and Bob Hill have both already blogged about this, so I may not be first, but thought I'd add my tuppence worth.John has handed over the Director’s reins of 'Glow' to Marie Dougan of Learning & Teaching Scotland. Many of you will know Maire from her sterling work in Masterclass, but now she is stepping up to lead the development work of the Scottish Schools Digital Network, 'Glow'.

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1156936170381897232006-08-30T11:51:00.000+01:002006-08-30T12:09:30.396+01:00

I've blogged about Kathy Sierra before, but today she has a wonderful post about 'why marketing should make user manuals'.This got me thinking about Glow. Now there is a big budget movie trailer (I don't know the figures, but I'm guessing it cost more than a 'me and my camcorder' production), my next thought is will the 'after sales' be as glossy?Hopefully all of you know I have a bee in my

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1156355348454018362006-08-23T18:33:00.000+01:002006-08-23T18:53:08.356+01:00

Today I had an interview for Learning & Teaching Scotland. From the 1st September (date to be confirmed) I am to take up my new role as 'New Technologies for Learning Research Practitioner' working in collaboration with Argyll & Bute. This is to be an 18 month secondment.It's a very exciting role - I will be working on the creation of a rich internet application that allows teaching staff and

abnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1156263472657540012006-08-22T17:13:00.000+01:002006-08-22T17:17:52.683+01:00

Ok, so I admit it. Without delving into the code, I had wondered how so many people that use blogger were able to 'tag' their posts for Technorati. The lack of tagging was one of the biggest issues for me remaining/leaving blogger as my preferred blogging tool.I've found a wee tool called Greasemonkey (which I'm sure everyone else knew about! - I'm a slow learner...) that allows you to add tags

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1156234822063926892006-08-22T09:18:00.000+01:002006-08-22T09:20:22.076+01:00

If you haven't read this elsewhere yet, then 'Writely' is now free for everyone. Maybe we can soon see the end of incompatible word processing applications?

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1156143832522744772006-08-21T08:01:00.000+01:002006-08-21T08:03:52.536+01:00

Every so often you find something that knocks your socks off. Thanks to Adam for blogging this link.

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155996611558908292006-08-19T14:59:00.000+01:002006-08-19T15:10:11.593+01:00

Ok, now that I've got the change of name of my chest, I'm feeling much more positive. Have a look at the official Glow site, and there are a host of new features. In particular, the promotional video material to introduce and explain what Glow will actually be and do. When you see it presented like this, it really is very exciting. A lot of work for everyone involved at all levels, but very

abnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155985165122506272006-08-19T11:24:00.000+01:002006-08-19T12:09:28.726+01:00

I'm sitting here reading the TES Scotland (as you do on a Saturday morning).Two seemingly unlinked articles grab my attention. Having all been sworn to secrecy for so long, it turns out that the TES Scotland is the first to unveil the new name for the Scottish Schools Digital Network (SSDN) in print - from now on the SSDN will be known as 'Glow'.Was this the publicity it deserved? The article

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155908147483506862006-08-18T14:24:00.000+01:002006-08-18T14:35:47.506+01:00

A fabulous example of Flash and guitar - now, if only we were seriously teaching Flash animation to our students... what would they come up with I wonder?If you check out the creator of this site Mika Tyyska, he has another great site for storytelling in education. Wow!

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155907470435941952006-08-18T14:16:00.000+01:002006-08-18T14:24:30.450+01:00

To all those of you out there that read this from school, welcome back! I hope you had a good summer holiday, and that your batteries are well and tuly recharged for the session ahead of us.Remember when getting ready for school meant getting a new pencil case? Well, according to this story, for some of our students, times have changed..

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155667057430959512006-08-15T19:30:00.000+01:002006-08-15T19:45:23.666+01:00

...my feed reader learned from my reading habits?Let's face it: information overload is here. It's now easier than ever to subscribe to far too many sources of information and get bogged down in the process of 'sifting' to find what interests you. So, wouldn't it be great if my aggregator learned from what I clicked on? According to Alexandru, it now can. Check out myFeedz for more info. I've

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155540028303655552006-08-14T08:17:00.000+01:002006-08-14T12:20:49.740+01:00

Seems as though my employer has a 'problem' with email, as I haven't been able to get access since Thursday. If anyone is trying to get hold of me, my other contact details on my homepage.UPDATE: All is now well apparently. Half the problem with being an 'education user' is that during the school hols there are very few people to complain if the email service goes down!

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155484013273481472006-08-13T16:41:00.000+01:002006-08-13T16:46:53.286+01:00

From reading this, it didn't take Blackboard long to start making use of their US patent. How long do you think it'll be before there is only one horse in town?

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155216506024611312006-08-10T14:14:00.000+01:002006-08-10T14:28:31.626+01:00

I have appeared as a guest a few times now on the Inside Learning podcast. After a discussion yesterday with one of the hosts, Matthew Boyle, it seems as though he and Steve are planning to expand the enterprise. Over the next few weeks, a second and third strand will be added to the site - 'Inside Learning: Psychology', and 'Inside Learning: Technology'. I've been asked to act as 'host' for the

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155109632044394922006-08-09T08:45:00.000+01:002006-08-09T08:47:12.056+01:00

Can't resist mentioning this, as it is such a wonderful story. Any doubts about blogging impacting on learning and final grades? Find out more after the jump.

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155053582065289862006-08-08T17:05:00.000+01:002006-08-08T17:57:07.236+01:00

Today marks the 10th anniversary of Flash - in my mind the most adaptable, innovative web design program there is. Bearing in mind we only celebrated the 15th anniversary of Tim Berners Lee's 'www' a few days ago, it makes you realise just how far we have come so quickly!When you look at what flash can do at the moment, from simple animation to complex rich internet applications, I for one can't

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155038214092541952006-08-08T12:40:00.000+01:002006-08-08T12:56:54.126+01:00

A while ago, David Lines posted about trying to replace all of his current computer applications with free online services. Today I stumbled across 'Desktoptwo' that provides access to your very own Flash based desktop from any networked browser. It has 1GB of free storage, runs IM, email, blog, web site editing and open office applications. Aside from being a very, very cool example of the

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1155035099222725982006-08-08T11:12:00.000+01:002006-08-08T12:12:07.926+01:00

Have Apple finally managed it? Judging from this post after the news of yesterday's WWDC unveiling of the Mac Pro as the long awaited replacement of the G5 tower, the gap between the price and functionality of a Mac desktop and PC desktop has finally flipped on it's head (or possibly narrowed, depending upon your product configuration!)In my mind, this does raise some very interesting points:

abnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1154938934948196672006-08-07T09:12:00.000+01:002006-08-07T09:22:14.963+01:00

For those of you that don't read Alan November's blog, (which you really should!) he has recently changed the way he uses it.Previously, Alan posed questions on his blog, inviting answers from readers in the form of comments, or posed questions as a source of professional reflection. Today I notice that Alan has started to provide some reading lists and instructions - instructions for Skype,

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1154517826969871302006-08-02T12:16:00.000+01:002006-08-02T12:23:47.010+01:00

This is strictly one for the techies out there...It turns out IE7 is to be deployed by automatic updates - bearing in mind how well it works at the moment, if you haven't changed browser already, now is certainly the time to do so...For those of you responsible for machines in your establishments, IE7 looks quite different to IE6, so get a look at it now. It will be downloaded automatically at

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1154515199725714192006-08-02T11:30:00.000+01:002006-08-02T11:48:29.323+01:00

You've got to hand it to America. I subscribe to a number of blogs from across the pond, and read with interest developments in education in America. Of late, two issues have caught my attention:1. DOPA - in the US Senate they have been debating an act to 'Delete online predators' - the basic result being that any social networking site in which users have a personal profile will be deemed

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1154094044405035982006-07-28T14:37:00.000+01:002006-07-28T14:40:44.406+01:00

Just how cool an idea is this? I know Ian is talking about architecture, but imagine using this idea for any other educational issue?Wow.

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1154093340929784752006-07-28T14:23:00.000+01:002006-07-28T14:29:00.953+01:00

Photo from elmbridgemuseum.org.ukToday I was handed a fascinating book – ‘Education in Argyll 1872 – 1972’ by Donald MacKechnie, M.A. and James H. Tyre, D.A.I love reading about how things used to be. It’s fascinating to compare it with now. On pg 115 there is a section entitled ‘AIDS’:“The blackboard, the oldest and best teaching aid, is still in use but good teachers have always used pictures,

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1153834679495388072006-07-25T14:29:00.000+01:002006-07-27T09:01:56.790+01:00

This is a subject close to my heart, as I am fascinated by the recent form factor developments. Technology in school has to be affordable, but it also has to be practical. I am convinced that we have seen the last of laptops as the 'device of choice', as the advances in smaller devices such as UMPCs and 3G phones makes me constantly ask the question of 'what exactly do I use a device for' .I've

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1153834105648043772006-07-25T14:26:00.000+01:002006-07-25T14:28:25.670+01:00

I seem to spend half my like online trying to find good tutorials for applications. Great to see someone finally putting web2.0 technology to good work on this front - check out http://tutorialism.com/ for more info.

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1153833977583662142006-07-25T14:21:00.000+01:002006-07-25T19:04:17.170+01:00

My good friend and colleague Ian Stuart never ceases to amaze me with his antics in education, ICT and design. At the moment, he and his wife Caroline are in Helsinki attending a design conference.I have had many discussions with Ian about the worth or merit of blogs, and he always proclaims to have far more interest in wikis than blogs, unless blogs are for a specific purpose. So what better

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1153582249223282342006-07-22T16:30:00.000+01:002006-07-22T16:30:56.360+01:00

I've treated myself to a new phone which lets you post directly to your blog - just how cool is that? Alan November could be right: perhaps I have bought my last ever laptop...?

abnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1153379611695077002006-07-20T08:09:00.000+01:002006-07-20T08:13:31.710+01:00

Guess I've got a few things to catch up on since I've been away! And to think that's only a week and a half - I'm maybe going to have to re-think this aggregator business...

abnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1152350364120607192006-07-08T10:12:00.000+01:002006-07-08T10:19:24.133+01:00

(today's image originally uploaded by PhotoBlogster)I'm now on holiday until the 19th July, so making a blog post will be highly unlikely. Please don't kick me out of your aggregator in the meantime! - normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1152211542155099522006-07-06T19:41:00.000+01:002006-07-06T19:51:59.066+01:00

I had lunch today with Liz Kelman, 'Librarian extraordinare' ;-) from my former school of Hermitage Academy. We had a lot to catch up on, as to my shame I haven't seen her for some time. The biggest topic of our conversation was Information Literacy, as I know it is a subject close to her heart. For a few months, I have been having email discussions with one of Liz's colleagues, Cheryl Wood

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1152124984826205792006-07-05T19:36:00.000+01:002006-07-05T20:04:16.493+01:00

It's not often I blog about something that I find on digg, but this one got the better of me, as it is just so brilliant! (I know I really should have 'dugg' it, but I'm only learning!)This seems a really powerful tool - I like the idea of finding this info within my browser at the click of a button - imagine discussing what this information means with your class of kids - any thoughts?

abnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1152001998636158742006-07-04T09:22:00.000+01:002006-07-04T09:33:18.650+01:00

(or should that be subtitled - 'How to hook people in with a title...')Took part for the second time in a month on the 'Inside Learning' podcast last night. Asked Nicola in advance of the podcast if she wanted to take part, and she politely informed me that she was "on her holidays from education". You can download the podcast here or subscribe through iTunes.

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1151677626996546022006-06-30T15:05:00.000+01:002006-06-30T15:29:57.300+01:00

This one comes courtesy of Peter Bissett of Luing Primary in Argyll & Bute.Last night I attended a 'do' for Rosemary Ward in the Argyll Hotel in Inveraray. Rosemary will shortly be taking up her new post as Education Manager for the Gaelic Board in Scotland, so a number of folk from around the authority gathered together to celebrate her achievement, and to wish her well for the future. I for one

abnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1151573586316889812006-06-29T10:26:00.000+01:002006-06-29T10:33:06.330+01:00

Today is the last day of term before the summer recess for Argyll & Bute schools. Note the use of the word ‘schools’ there, and not just ‘Argyll & Bute’. Almost three years ago (is it really that long?!) when I took up this post, I gave up the ‘perk’ of school holidays, and joined the real world of annual leave and public holidays. People often asked ‘Do I not miss the holidays?’ – on days like

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1151355628964646302006-06-26T21:54:00.000+01:002006-06-26T22:00:28.980+01:00

Up until now Big Brother 2006 has been, let’s face it: mindless nonsense.Today however, Glyn was set the challenge to find the answer to the ultimate question of ‘What is the meaning of life?’ Unsurprisingly, the conversation came around to ‘love’ being the answer. What a fabulous task!It never ceases to amaze me how when faced with no access to literature, news, music or technology the

abnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1150962619076840032006-06-22T08:31:00.000+01:002006-06-22T12:10:24.963+01:00

The amount of times I get asked for advice to show people 'how to...' is incredible. To be able to put all those snippets of information rolling around inside my head online for all to access whenever they wanted really was the idea behind the 'Help & Training' site, which never got developed fully. There just isn't the time. We really should be trying to make the most of this connectivity and

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1150878328116224992006-06-21T09:20:00.000+01:002006-06-21T09:25:28.130+01:00

Just a quick post to say that at the recent COSLA Awards, the SOLACE TEAM AWARD went to Argyll and Bute Council Community Services – Education for a project entitled ‘Brilliant Beginnings – A School and Community Working Together’. The school in question? Port Ellen Primary, Isle of Islay.Congratulations to Violet and all the staff, pupils, parents and wider community of the school. Well deserved!

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1150967720155619532006-06-20T21:52:00.000+01:002006-06-22T10:15:20.170+01:00

It is always great to meet with a group of people that share. That said, the group of educators that I am always most nervous about speaking with are the Principal Teachers of ICT. I suppose this stems from the fact that until very recently I have had no formal training in ICT, yet find myself working in this field. I also wonder how they feel as a group. In the past, they were undoubtedly on the

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1150751758823966242006-06-19T22:05:00.000+01:002006-06-22T08:58:27.706+01:00

Took part in the the 'Inside Learning' podcast this evening with Matthew Boyle and Steve Rogers. This week was a 'News' week, so we talked over some of the stories that have made the educational press recently.Matthew is usually quite quick getting the podcast online - you can download it from iTunes or directly from the website.UPDATE: Ewan picked up this post and blogged about it. By Tuesday

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1150554592068060602006-06-17T15:15:00.000+01:002006-06-17T15:29:52.083+01:00

It's great to see some joined-up-thinking on the web.Stemming from a comment by Will Richardson - And to be honest, this is all stemming from a bigger burr in my brain of late that has to do with the seeming randomness of all of the really great work that people in this community are starting to create. It’s just feeling like it’s all over the place, and that if we could in some way get our

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1150475243078469542006-06-16T17:09:00.000+01:002006-06-16T17:27:23.286+01:00

Off to Airth Castle today for the ‘Project X’ launch from Promethean. Convinced it was to be the ‘pen on a stick’ (or ‘wand’ as it is really referred to) concept, Maggie and I along with many colleagues from around Scotland were shown the new ‘ACTIVBoard+2’ package. None of this was new to us, as we had been taken into Promethean’s confidence in London in January, but it is great to see this

abnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1150022856480585712006-06-11T11:43:00.000+01:002006-06-11T11:47:36.493+01:00

In case you don't check out the scotedublogs wiki on a regular basis (and shame on you - you really should!) then Ewan has already started plans for the next Scotedublogs meetup (or whatever it's to be called). To coincide with SETT, please get over to the wiki and join in the discussion and formulation of this event.

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1149749772876563102006-06-08T07:53:00.000+01:002006-06-08T08:01:07.760+01:00

Today's picture shows Flash 8 Professional running on the UMPC - full blown apps on a handheld device - how cool is that? (Sorry Ian, still rubbing it in! ;-)) For those of you with really keen eyes, the last post also showed a full blown app too - doesn't Word look different for v. 2007? I've signed up for beta testing of Office 07. First impressions - I really like the ribbon instead of the

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1149634927988842732006-06-03T01:14:00.000+01:002006-06-07T00:02:07.990+01:00

Finally – a day in the office! It is great to get out and see what else is happening in the world, but it is equally great to get back and touch base – especially when there are certain things that can only be done from within the network. I had to sort out a couple of errors with the Mentor Pack online, which can only be done from within the schools network – it would be brilliant if I could ftp

abnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1149634540738938072006-06-01T23:54:00.000+01:002006-06-07T00:02:31.456+01:00

Today we went to visit the RM offices in Bellshill and got to have ‘hands on’ with the SSDN portal – apparently we are the first authority outside of the pilots to see it. I am sworn to secrecy, so I can’t say too much about it – but I will say that having seen it, there are now certain elements that I am really excited about. I can’t wait to see how teachers and pupils work in the future with

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1149634401087790802006-05-31T23:50:00.000+01:002006-06-07T00:03:01.823+01:00

When it goes this quiet, there has to be a reason, so my apologies to my regular readers for the lack of info. I have been very busy and then ill – hence the lack of posting.These have all been posted at the same time, but I have split them up into their respective elements for those that like to be so ordered in life (and before anyone [Nicola] comments about OCD…)Today was a couple of meetings

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1149114340402092532006-05-31T23:21:00.000+01:002006-05-31T23:25:40.626+01:00

The day before the Samsung Q1 is released in the UK I find this - I know I get criticised for not being able to see past Sony, but in my opinion that's because they know how to design.If this is their first serious attempt at the UMPC market, then I for one can't wait to see v2.

abnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1149020960824889432006-05-30T21:22:00.000+01:002006-05-30T21:29:20.853+01:00

Today was our annual Masterclass conference in Argyll & Bute. This one was tinged with a bit of sadness for me, as it was our last Masterclass conference. We have decided that from next session we will only be supporting one ICT team, and that will be the SSDN Mentors.John opened the day by recapping on the activities of Masterclass over the years. We then asked the Masterclass members in groups

abnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1149016288984510182006-05-30T20:06:00.000+01:002006-05-30T20:11:29.010+01:00

To be honest, if you'd have asked me in October if I would have ever made it to 100 posts, I would probably have said "I doubt it".But here I am today, typing number 100.Thanks to all of you that read, and all of you that have commented. I really do appreciate it.As a token of my appreciation, here is a wee surprise - http://ssdn.ea.argyll-bute.sch.ukWhat good is a blog if you can't blow a launch

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1148922933501918032006-05-29T18:12:00.000+01:002006-05-29T18:15:33.520+01:00

The following is an extract from Andy Watson's blog in Aberdeen. If you haven't read it already (and you really should have!) read on... Can you help? Some primary 7 pupils in Aberdeen have been posting stories and poems on their blog. They would like to have more comments from other schools. If you go to http://www.abernet.org.uk/wp/ you’ll see the Primary 7 blogs. As you’ll

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1148574848705838622006-05-25T17:30:00.000+01:002006-05-28T17:50:45.196+01:00

Having now had a train journey to think about some of the things I have learned over the last three days, I have decided to create for myself a stretch-goal. This really comes out of my thoughts after leaving the Scotedublogs meet-up last night. It is quite a simple stretch-goal in concept, and I’m going to give it my best shot. It is also in a really small way inspired by the ‘one red paperclip’

abnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1148574520695728402006-05-25T17:00:00.000+01:002006-05-25T21:49:56.493+01:00

This is conference season for this traveller form the west coast, so today I spent my third day in a row in the capital going to the SCHOLAR conference in Herriot Watt University.When I got on the bus this morning, who walked on but Iain McLean, whose wedding Nicola and I are going to on Saturday – talk about a strange coincidence! It's a small world.Other than that, today hasn’t really started

abnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1148572781306824422006-05-24T23:53:00.000+01:002006-05-28T19:54:58.716+01:00

Tonight we had the 'Scotedublogs Meet-up' after eLive '06 had finished. It was a brilliant experience putting faces and personalities to names, so thanks everyone for a great evening. Here's looking forward to the next one (which, I believe is to be at SETT)Blog on!

abnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1148572213425939682006-05-24T23:46:00.000+01:002006-05-25T16:51:05.816+01:00

The read only web is 12 years old – read/write is 3 years oldwww.technorati.com – the place to search what’s on blogsThe web is all about connections – rss – real simple syndicationThis technology makes information much more accessible. Instead of you having to go and find the information, it brings the content to youFeeds and aggregatorsFeeds only bring you new content – the aggregator collects

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1148477051337622822006-05-24T14:21:00.000+01:002006-05-25T02:04:16.570+01:00

John talked us through what he has been doing with blogs & technology.Great to hear that sometimes they sit around a whiteboard and blog their functional writing. Brilliant also to hear that he only has 2 computers in his classroom connected to the internet – he doesn’t have every kid sitting in front of a machine!Reinforcement of learning. A sense of audience – it’s not just writing for their

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1148464157066165612006-05-24T10:47:00.000+01:002006-05-25T02:08:09.146+01:00

I’m going to try and blog this live as I did with yesterday’s keynote. I’ll try and make today a bit more coherent!“The most powerful learning experience in my life has been as a blogger”Type the word ‘Will’ in Google, and you get will’s site – think about it! – how easy is it to find what Will has to say!This is not a conversation about technology – rather it is a conversation about what can we

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1148458479041925402006-05-23T22:09:00.000+01:002006-05-26T16:02:04.156+01:00

For some unknown reason, I was mysteriously booked into two seminars that were on at the same time. As I couldn’t remember who was taking what, I plumped for ‘Leadership – managing the change in transition’ which was being taken by Alan November. Nothing against Alan, but as he led the only other session I managed to attend today, I had hoped to be hearing another voice.Alan, as ever, always has

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1148377651973070452006-05-23T10:46:00.000+01:002006-05-24T10:31:12.156+01:00

I’m going to try and blog this live, so my apologies in advance if this doesn’t make much sense – please ask questions if you want more detail(Incidentally – I’m sitting next to David Muir, Educational Blogger who I just met this morning – he is also blogging this – check out his take on the message from Alan here)“The past is over” – G. W. Bush!Start asking students – “What do they know?” Shift

abnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1148334740380325512006-05-22T22:40:00.000+01:002006-05-23T23:39:19.876+01:00

Tomorrow I venture east for two days of eLive and then one day of Scholar. Hopefully if the wifi is good I'll blog my thoughts on Edinburgh's great event - the line up looks good - tomorrow morning's keynote is Alan November and then Will Richardson speaking on the Wednesday.In think I've also finally finished the SSDN stuff (phew!) - all I need now is servers to figure out a DNS glitch. We are

abnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1147950527018520542006-05-18T11:58:00.000+01:002006-05-19T17:04:09.710+01:00

This one has been inspired by a recent discussion with Alastair Turnbull – keep the faith!At the age of 17 I had no interest whatsoever in learning how to drive a car. Why should I learn? I can get about fine at the moment, and if I want a lift I can ask someone! So while my classmates were learning how to drive, and saving up to buy old bangers (or being bought spanking new convertibles by ‘

abnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1147799755134494262006-05-16T18:11:00.000+01:002006-05-18T22:13:08.986+01:00

You stand around waiting, and then all of a sudden, two come along!That's the intro and all five sections now online. Two dodgey bits of audio to replace, a couple of timeline inconsistencies to sort out and then post the relevant documents so that the buttons actually link to something. So, I'm nearly there!Still at my own temporary address (use the skip button!), but hopefully at the official

abnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1147714598803813202006-05-15T18:34:00.000+01:002006-05-16T08:58:22.676+01:00

You can exhale now...!Section 3 is a big file, so if you have less than 2MB, then go and make a cup of tea.Do the times in brackets help?

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1147282183497013272006-05-10T18:28:00.000+01:002006-05-15T14:22:28.040+01:00

And now, yet again, for the next thrilling instalment...Section 2 is now up and running.

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1147197729535827652006-05-09T17:58:00.000+01:002006-05-10T23:33:47.486+01:00

The next thrilling instalment.If you've already seen the intro, click the 'skip' button.Thoughts? Criticisms? Observations? (Iknow the buttons don't work...)

abnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1147114547247707512006-05-08T17:12:00.000+01:002006-05-08T19:55:47.246+01:00

If you are going to eLive, and don't know about this already, then click here.

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1147114311091434182006-05-05T17:46:00.000+01:002006-05-09T19:22:32.060+01:00

I had a meeting this morning in Edinburgh with Mark Adams of Microsoft, Malcolm Knox of Prodigy and Ian Stuart of Islay High School. Ian is presenting with Mark at a conference in the Lighthouse on designing schools for the future (sorry if that’s not quite right Ian!) on the 25th May. I joined them as it was an opportunity to be shown the new ‘Benchmark’ tool by Malcolm from Prodigy.I have to

abnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1146779449024742762006-05-04T16:44:00.000+01:002006-05-07T20:14:12.720+01:00

By now we should all be looking at the new-look site with seamlessly integrated flash/xml/css/asp.But we're not.It's a shame that 'work' actually does get in the way sometimes, and I'm afraid (or glad?) that I'm not going to spend every waking minute of my own 'free-time' getting a site to work that actually only exists for my work anyway. Hopefully I'll have time in late June/early July to get

abnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1146778120192708482006-05-03T22:19:00.000+01:002006-05-05T20:17:10.630+01:00

I watched a programme tonight on BBC 2 called ‘The Happiness Formula’. It was fascinating to hear that the nation of Bhutan rate their prospective policies against how ‘happy’ it will make them as a nation, before how ‘rich’.Which got me thinking… ought we to be assessing education policies along the same lines?Having read through ‘A Curriculum for Excellence – progress and proposals’ I wonder if

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1146242062349506112006-04-28T17:20:00.000+01:002006-04-28T17:40:05.566+01:00

Forgive me if it seems to have gone a bit quiet. I have two big pieces of work underway at the moment - revamping my own site and completing the SSDN Mentor pack online movie. I need to have both finished within the next fortnight, and I have quite a few school visits to cram in there as well.I usually give each day or event it's own post, but I'll have to put all these in the same post at the

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1145910549013091832006-04-24T21:09:00.000+01:002006-04-26T22:32:37.706+01:00

I read quite a lot of blogs, but every so often one makes you really stop and think about the sharing of knowledge. I love Presentation Zen for his insight into how we go about the art of presenting information to others, but today his blog is full of quotes - I love number 9!Which then got me thinking... which quotes do we have that inspire us to be better at what we do? I'll give two examples

abnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1145814767190906062006-04-21T19:33:00.000+01:002006-04-26T22:35:31.046+01:00

I spent most of today creating an intro movie for the site we want to use to publicise the SSDN Mentors in Argyll & Bute. It's only the intro, so the buttons don't connect to anything at the moment, but any intial thoughts or comments are most welcome.

abnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1145814428817013652006-04-20T18:45:00.000+01:002006-04-27T04:54:31.483+01:00

This is just a quick blog - SMART Board software v9.5 is now finally available for Apple Mac and MS Windows. I haven't tried it on my Mac yet, but great to finally get my hands on it.Check out the downloads page at http://www.smarttech.com

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1145814314620541412006-04-19T18:40:00.000+01:002006-04-24T22:23:55.820+01:00

Today was quite a tough day. I went into a school for some feedback on my failure to secure an interview for a promoted post (or should that read their failure to interview me?)I always struggle with the whole 'experience' / 'ability' issue. Given the chance, I would far rather have someone that has great ability than long experience, but I can understand why people rate experience so highly.

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1145385829119828112006-04-18T17:40:00.000+01:002006-04-23T18:20:07.096+01:00

Mine isn't very good, I'm afraid! I think I am living proof that boys should go to school later than girls, as they are not ready for the education they receive.I would have loved the opportunity to practice the language away from the potentially embarrassing moments of getting something wrong in a classroom, and it would have been great to be able to listen to what I was trying to learn at a

abnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1145297160748964372006-04-17T18:59:00.000+01:002006-05-04T16:03:24.206+01:00

Last week the governments chief scientific adviser publically announced concern about a potential 3 degree rise in the world's temperature.I cannot get that out of my head.I remember watching 'The Day After Tomorrow' at some point in the past, and being significantly concerned (in a 'Hollywood' way) about the ramifications of climate change.I live right next to the river Clyde. The view from my

abnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1144786291647062312006-04-11T21:08:00.000+01:002006-04-11T21:11:31.646+01:00

Ok, if you have been following the countdown on my site, you will have notice that it jumped - I've now run into server problems getting the dynamic content to work for the new site, so I've had to extend the timescale for the change - it's now going to happen on May 4th (otherwise known as Star Wars day?)Sorry! But it is worth the wait (honest!)

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1144786055913296702006-04-10T21:00:00.000+01:002006-04-17T22:52:07.226+01:00

Today we had a meeting in Oban to look at our policy, protocol and training for schools to create websites.We have run two entirely different courses for web creation over the past three years. Before I arrived in post, we ran a course showing people how to make simple websites using Textease Studio Plus. Although Textease is really designed for other things, as a by product you could save your

abnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1144428536343392582006-04-07T17:46:00.000+01:002006-04-11T13:28:39.846+01:00

It's all gone quiet.That's because I have been really busy. When it comes time for the school holidays, I always breath a bit of a sigh of relief, as I know I will get some uninterrupted time to work on paperwork and development that has otherwise slipped.I have been working on three things:1. The writing up of the Port Ellen Tablet Project. Nearly complete from my perspective, but I will need

abnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1143566359801048862006-03-28T17:55:00.000+01:002006-04-04T23:28:29.260+01:00

I've been thinking a lot about blogs.Most days I come and leave some sort of rambling scrawl on this site.I hope that some days this might be quite insightful, sometimes thought provoking, and occasionally my thoughts may act as a starter for worthwhile educational discussion.I also know that from the stat counter, there are quite a few people that bother to look at what I have to say.Why though?

abnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1143479941159428152006-03-27T17:50:00.000+01:002006-03-27T18:19:04.100+01:00

So it turns out that some very big name companies have been there already on the UMPC front, before they were called UMPC. The one pictured was the Sony U750 from 2004. Testing the market? Yes. The model (and the previous on the U50) were short production run models that sold out like hot cakes. Only problem other than availability - price. This retailed for around the £1,700 mark. Way too

abnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17488436.post-1143139638080868962006-03-23T18:34:00.000Z2006-03-23T22:47:52.150Z

This afternoon I went to Luss Primary to assist in the installation of their new 42"interactive plasma display. Just how exciting can this be? I was quite worried before making the journey how it would actually hang on the wall, as the combined weight of the plasma screen and interactive overlay is quite considerable, but I need not have worried.Luss along with Luing and Rockfield are taking part

abnoreply@blogger.com2