Gordon Brown – UN Special Envoy for Global Education

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Posted by upbeat | Posted in Health & Well Being, International Education, Leadership for Learning | Posted on November 25, 2012

Last Thursday, at the ADES (Association of Directors of Education) conference at the Westerwood Hotel, Cumbernauld I was very honoured to be in the company of Gordon Brown to hear him speaking on global education issues. The UK’s former prime minister has taken on the role of Special Envoy for Global Education for the United Nations.

He was very challenging (in a non-political way) to everyone in the room as to how each of us might support his mission of bringing education to all children in the world. He spoke very passionately of the value of education to children across the world and of his hopes and plans to improve matters in a radical way. His challenge to us was for us to support and encourage  Scottish schools to lead the way in linking and partnering schools in Africa and India in the next few years, particularly as internet connectivity continues to improve in these places.

I’m hoping our schools in Dumfries & Galloway can continue to build links with schools in areas of need in the world, possibly through our growing video conference infrastructure in all secondary and many primary schools.

Lockerbie Jazz Festival video-link with New York

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Posted by upbeat | Posted in International Education | Posted on October 2, 2012

On Friday, the 6th year of the Lockerbie Jazz Festival kicked off in style with a live video conference to Primary 6 kids (aged 10) in Lockerbie Academy. The children took part in a live interactive video conference link with musicians from the Manhattan School of Music, New York. The presentation, entitled ‘Journey through Jazz’ introduced the kids to jazz styles in a fun, stimulating, engaging and fun session. Cutting edge technology, brilliant musicianship, great learning environment  –  cool way to kick off the Lockerbie Jazz Festival!

Video Conferencing in Education

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Posted by upbeat | Posted in International Education | Posted on November 28, 2011

In Dumfries & Galloway Council, South West Scotland, we’ve been using video conferencing in primary and secondary schools to provide a range of educational opportunities for students and teachers. Since 2005, when we installed video conference kit in 5 schools, we’ve developed the use of the technology to support schools in outlying rural areas. The manufacturer of this equipment, Polycom, asked me in August 2011 to share our experience of using video conferencing in schools. Don’t watch alone.

30 years of the Space Shuttle

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Posted by upbeat | Posted in International Education | Posted on July 9, 2011

The space shuttle Columbia, NASA’s first orbiter, is lit up in this night scene at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, during preparations for the first flight of NASA’s new reusable spacecraft system. I can vividly remember watching the launch of the first flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, the 20th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first spaceflight in Vostok 1. Columbia was commanded by John Young, a Gemini and Apollo veteran who was the ninth person to walk on the Moon in 1972.

Yesterday, I watched (on TV) with my 8 year old daughter, Eilidh, the last Space Shuttle Atlantis (below) taking off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, bound for the International Space Station and marking the end of Nasa’s 30-year space shuttle programme.

Shuttle Atlantis Launches on Mission STS-135

Brass Lessons via Video Conference

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Posted by upbeat | Posted in International Education | Posted on July 4, 2011

Grant Golding teaching today via video-linkDumfries & Galloway Education Service is known throughout the UK (and certain other parts of the world) to have pioneered a music learning & teaching programme for school students (aged 9-18) over the medium of video conferencing. In November 2005, Grant Golding was appointed as the UK’s first instrumental tutor to teach pupils in remote schools every week via video-link. Some of the schools Grant teaches in, he has never personally visited. The quality we now have with Polycom HD video conference systems is such that it is possible to teach young people from around the age of 9, lessons in a range of orchestral instruments. Today Grant was giving lessons to groups of pupils in a range of schools from a room in Lochside Education Centre, Dumfries. The pictures seen here show the on-screen detail possible. Via a remote control handset, the tutor has control of the camera at both locations, near and far. Grant has zoomed in on a student’s trumpet and hand position and can give detailed instruction to the student as if he was standing beside him. These images were captured today as Grant delivered his lesson to students in Kelloholm Primary School, around 30 miles north of Dumfries. Lessons are delivered in Dumfries & Galloway schools most days of the week by this method, allowing young people in remote schools access to instrumental lessons. This technology is now capable of allowing tutors to deliver lessons over high quality, reliable and cost effective broadband video conference systems.Grant Golding teaching today via video-link

Electronic Drumkit Lessons via Video Conference

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Posted by upbeat | Posted in Health & Well Being, International Education | Posted on June 27, 2011

Richard James delivering a lesson on electronic drumkit to a student in St Columba's Primary School, Annan, Dumfries & Galloway

Instrumental Music Lessons in Dumfries & Galloway, south-west Scotland have in part been delivered for the past 6 years by tutors over the distance learning medium of video conferencing. Brass, woodwind, guitar and cello lessons have all been delivered from Lochside Education Centre in Dumfries to pupils in 16 primary schools and many secondary schools, spanning a distance across the Dumfries & Galloway region of over 100 miles. Recently in May 2011, Richard James (Senior Tutor, Percussion) started to teach young people in Dumfries & Galloway schools on electronic drumkit. Dumfries & Galloway is Scotland’s third largest geographic council with many small, rural schools. High quality Polycom video conferencing systems over broadband are tools we use to great effect in addressing equal opportunity issues in education for pupils in a sustainable way. Savings in travel time and costs for tutors can be achieved alongside the additional benefits of reducing the council’s collective carbon footprint. An independent evaluation on the teaching programme over video-link was conducted by Warwick University. They found our work in this area to be ground-breaking and ‘inspirational’.

http://www.flatprojects.org.uk/evaluations/evaluationreports/ITVC.asp

http://www.flatprojects.org.uk/Images/ITVC%20Project%20Final%20Evaluation%20Report_tcm4-450615.pdf

http://www.northerngrid.org/attachments/628_videonations_vc_case_study_music_learning.pdf

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=2416703

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6028669

http://phone.heppell.mobi/2009/09/making-notes.html

http://www.abrsm.org/resources/libretto0801.pdf

Visit to New Jersey by Dumfries & Galloway students

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Posted by upbeat | Posted in International Education | Posted on April 14, 2011

Last week students in Northern Valley Schools, New Jersey welcomed 23 students and 3 staff from Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland. Families of students in Demarest and Old Tappan schools kindly hosted young people from Castle Douglas and Lockerbie for the week of 2-9 April. This was our reciprocal visit to the USA following the American students’ visit to Dumfries & Galloway in April 2010.

After a 22 hour delay due to a fault in the aircraft and an unexpected overnight stay in Edinburgh, our visit started at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday 3rd April. It was a very pleasant surprise to be met by a Northern Valley welcoming party greeting us warmly at the airport. Here goes with a whistle-stop guide to the week’s events.

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Sunday

From Liberty Airport we went to Demarest High School to meet our host families. From there, everyone dispersed to spend the day in a variety of ways. Our staff group, Karen McCutcheon, Fiona Cameron and myself headed off with the American group leader April Vella to the Yankee Stadium for the baseball game between the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. A beautiful sunny afternoon enhanced an exciting afternoon for us for our first ever baseball game. Later that afternoon we headed for our hosts Claudia and Evan Coopers’ home in Emerson, New Jersey. They recently moved into their new house and we enjoyed meeting a variety of friends that evening and had a superb meal prepared by Claudia.

The Coopers' new house  -  our home for the week!

The Coopers' new house - our home for the week!

Monday

At the top of the Rockefeller Center

At the top of the Rockefeller Center

Today we all meet up at Demarest at 7.15am and take a private coach to New York City. Highlight of the day is our visit to the top of the Rockefeller Center and a fantastic view over the city. Our group enjoy lunch at ‘Pop Burger’, a visit to Dylan’s Candy Store and a visit to the American Museum of National History. The Planetarium presentation narrated by Whoopi Goldberg is spectacular. Dinner tonight at Maggianno’s.

Northern Valley and Dumfries & Galloway students at the Rockefeller Center

Northern Valley and Dumfries & Galloway students at the Rockefeller Center

Tuesday

Dumfries & Galloway students spend a day experiencing the American High School curriculum as they follow their hosts from class to class. I’m invited to attend a video conference masterclass at the Manhattan School of Music. In the evening we all meet up at Old Tappan High School for a formal reception.


Blue skies at the Brooklyn Bridge

Blue skies at the Brooklyn Bridge

Wednesday

A lovely morning as we head for New York. A beautiful walk across the Brooklyn Bridge is followed by a tour of lower Manhattan and a visit to the Museum of the American Indian. Lunch at Fraunces Tavern and then on to a very big hit with all our students – Blue Man Group.

A Blue man meets the fans after the show

A Blue man meets the fans after the show

This zany show is enjoyed by all, including myself even if pureed banana is shooting out at us in the audience. Following the show, we made our way to the bright lights of Times Square for shopping before our evening meal at the excellent Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory.

On the Hoboken tour, a demonstration of how to make Mozarella

On the Hoboken tour, a demonstration of how to make Mozarella

Shopping in Times Square!

Shopping in Times Square!

Thursday

This morning we head into New York and go to the Metrapolitan Museum of Art. This massive museum houses a huge range of amazing artefacts. Currently on display at the ‘Guitar Heroes’ exhibition is a guitar made by the master violin maker Antonio Stradivari, made around 1700.

In the afternoon we go on a tour around Hoboken, famous for holding the first ever baseball game in 1846, and the birthplace of Frank Sinatra. Students have dinner with host families. Our staff group enjoy an excellent meal and lovely evening with April, Evan and Claudia at Rob and Lesley’s house.

Friday

Dumfries & Galloway students involved today with American students on the Project Adventure course. This evening we all go to Chelsea Piers in New York to board ‘The Spirit of New York’ for dinner and a cruise. This is an excellent evening with spectacular views of the city and the Statue of Liberty.

Saturday

Another beautiful morning. Students with families. Evan and I go for a walk up to the local elementary school and watch youngsters taking part in baseball activities. In the afternoon we all meet up for a farewell time at Demarest. Coffee, cookies, speeches and a few tears then head off for Liberty Airport. We’ve had an unforgettable week.

In a far away distant galaxy……….

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Posted by upbeat | Posted in International Education | Posted on December 31, 2010


Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have measured the distance to the most remote galaxy so far, UDFy-38135539, existing (we are told) when the Universe was only about 600 million years old. At this early time, it is thought that much of the Universe was was filled with a hydrogen fog that absorbed the fierce ultraviolet light from young galaxies. Astronomers believe they have spotted the oldest galaxy ever seen. Their report confirms that the distant smudge first spotted by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope is the farthest and thus oldest object ever imaged.

Visit from teachers and students from Gifhorn

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Posted by upbeat | Posted in Featured, International Education | Posted on December 31, 2010

Following a very successful visit in 2009 by Dumfries & Galloway Schools’ Regional Youth Choir to Dumfries’s twin town of Gifhorn (near Hannover and Braunschweig), students and staff from the Humboldt Gymnasium, Gifhorn visited Dumfries in December 2010. The weather for the visit was very wintry and unfortunately a planned visit to Edinburgh for the group had to be cancelled due to snow. However, the Gifhorn group’s visit was very successful, one highlight being the young German students rehearsing and performing with students from Dumfries & Galloway in the annual Christmas Carol Concert at the Crichton Church in Dumfries.

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Escola Internacional do Algarve

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Posted by upbeat | Posted in Featured, International Education | Posted on October 24, 2010

Headmaster John Butterworth in the school library

Headmaster John Butterworth in the school library

I very much enjoyed my visit last Tuesday to the International School of the Algarve, the largest private school in the south of Portugal. The school offers teaching at all levels (3-18) through a National Section (following the Portuguese Ministry of Education programme) and an International Section (following a modified English National Curriculum).

Headmaster John Butterworth gave me a very warm welcome and took me on a tour around the school. Pupils and staff I met were very friendly and it was really interesting to see the young people engaged in their lessons across the school.

I had a chat with John about a range of education topics from staff development to ICT issues. I shared with him our work in Dumfries & Galloway through the application of video conferencing for pupil lessons and staff development. We had an interesting chat around the possibilities of establishing a link with his school to some of our schools back in the UK. I hope to keep in touch with John and possibly establish a collaborative project with teachers and/or pupils in the school, which helpfully, is on the same timeline as the UK for much of the year.

Minus temperatures back in the UK this week; but the weather here in Portugal has been beautiful!

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