A new online portal has been launched to help pupils, teachers and the general public learn more about Scotland’s history.

Scotland’s History Online features more than 200 topics ranging from prehistoric times to the modern day.

The story of Scotland and its people is told through a wide range of interactive material alongside links to more than 1,000 other online resources.

The website was developed by Learning and Teaching Scotland.

The Standard Grade Bitesize pages on the BBC Scotland Learning website have recently been relaunched with a new look. Further work is to be undertaken on the pages and the plan is to add subjects at different levels so this is work in progress.

This term has seen the start of the roll out of Glow to Highland schools. We have created 29 secondary Glow portals and 184 primary school portals. We have now registered nearly 1600 teachers with a Glow account. If you want a Glow account ask your HT to submit your name to the ICT Unit Helpdesk.

November will see the start of a training programme in Glow. For details of these CPD events check the Highland CPD calendar. There will also be representatives of the Glow pilot, that is being held in the Mallaig ASG, at the Highland Learning Festival in Dingwall on October 27th and 28th to share their experiences of Glow so far.

The picture below shows pupils from Arisaig Primary, Lady Lovat Primary, Mallaig Primary , Inverie Primary and Mallaig High school all sharing a French lesson using Glow Meet.

The National Museum of Scotland had developed a new interactive web site.   Find out more about being an archaeologist, but watch out for snakes and scorpions!

This is one of many activities on the education & activities section of the National Museums Scotland website.

The BBC has developed the way in which Primary History is supported with a new site www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/

It covers 6 primary history topics – Ancient Greeks, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Children in Victorian Britain and Children of WW2 – and includes a photo and video library, an interactive timeline, quizzes, activities and games.

The CPD Group in Highland has recently been reformed and has taken on responsibility for aspects of CPD in the Curriculum for Excellence Programme. The first major event to be organised by this group is a showcase ofgood practice around Highland in relation to Curriculum for Excellence. This will be held over two days onTuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th of October 2009.   The venue for this event will be Dingwall Academy.

Schools are now being invited to participate in this event by sharing with colleagues the excellent practice which is taking place across all Highland ASGs.

All staff wishing to attend can confirm attendance through Highland CPD calendar

For further details on how to register and the programme see here

Sing Up is the Music Manifesto’s National Singing Programme. It’s a programme to make sure that singing is at the heart of every primary school child’s life. We believe that singing has power to change lives and help to build stronger communities.

“Welcome to the Web“, created by Kent teacher Mark Warner, is an highly praised interactive set of on-line resources which teach children (an adults) about different aspects of the Internet. The latest update includes speech.

The resources are in split into seven sections:

1. The Beginning – explains how to use the site.
2. Getting Started Online – teaches children about the basic concepts involved in the Internet (World Wide Web, Hyperlinks, Back button etc). This introductory lesson also gives valuable practice in visiting and navigating around web sites.
3. Staying Safe – encourages pupils to keep themselves safe online by following the SMART rules. Also tests their understanding usign interactive activities and fun quizzes.
4. Using Your Browser – helps people to learn more about their web browsers… what are the different features and how are they used?
5. Searching Online – teaches children how to search effectively, and keep themselves safe when doing so. Also identifies search engines which are particularly suitable for children to use.
6. Trying Top Tricks – finding information on the net is great, but it is also important to know how that information can be used. This section explains about printing, using the Find tool to locate specific information within web pages, copying and pasting text, and saving images from the web. Also includes information about copyright and why it is important to credit others when you use their work.
7. The Welcome to the Web Challenge – When the children have completed all of the sections of Welcome to the Web, they can complete this exciting challenge. It requires them to use all of the skills which they have learnt to catch the creator of a destructive computer virus!

When visitors complete the challenge, they are able to print a personalised certificate to show their competence in using the Internet.

Originally posted on the Kent ICT Blog

What is TopicBox?

TopicBox is a free directory of over 2,000 educational websites, categorised into subjects. Just click a subject in the list above to get started!

TopicBox is great for teachers who need lesson resources and parents looking for ways to help kids at home. All of the sites they link to are safe enough to let children browse for themselves.

LTS have updated their Curriculum for Excellence web site. They have published online the experiences and outcomes for CfE. The experiences and outcomes are an essential component of this new curriculum. They signpost progression in learning and set challenging standards that will prepare learners well for the complex future environment that they will inhabit.