[Jeremy Scott]

28/11/2011 at 9:38 am

I’d like to gather the view of colleagues across Scotland on the subject of CPD for Computing teachers. The main points I’d like to determine are:

• What provision is there for subject-specific CPD in your school/authority e.g. when did you last receive subject-specific CPD?
• How easy is it for you to get out of school for CPD?
• What would be the best way(s) to address the CPD needs of Computing teachers?

Alternatively, what do you think the main issues are?

 

Thanks,

Jeremy

[Mrs Janet McDonald]

28/11/2011 at 9:44 am

Still in the Independant sector!

 

We’re in Glasgow so we’re really quite lucky in that there are quite a few local CPD opportunities that we can easily get to.  Glasgow University has run events and there are also subject specific courses provided by AOK Learning.

 

It’s 2 1/2 years since I last had subject specific CPD (but I’ve had a maternity leave in that time!); my computing colleague attended a subject specific CPD course in June this year. 

 

We are fortunate that getting out of school for relevant CPD has never been an issue; nor has getting the school to pay for CPD that we need.

 

Janet

 

[Darren Brown]

28/11/2011 at 11:55 am

– I have had one basic training session in Glow in the last few years, other subject related CPD is usually taken by myself and other ICT interested staff in school to share practice.  We are allowed, at the moment one Inset day a year, for Computing teachers to get together

– Can get out of school but funding for outwith authority has been almost stopped which is a problem if you are in the Highlands
– there is a real need for CPD not just to happen in the central belt but to be brought to us so all teachers can experience it, up-to-date examples for all areas of CS to inspire pupils

– main issues are introduction to latest developments and programming platforms, showing teachers with less confidence where they can make simple starts, thought towards open source alternatives as our ICT refresh has meant less software and hardware with no extra money

 

Darren

[Robert Young]

29/11/2011 at 9:25 am

We have one day a year when the Computing teachers from the other 3 secondary schools get together but that is pretty much it.  Getting out of school for CPD is a big no no at the moment unless you can cover the day within your own department.  This is pretty much impossible since there is only 1 other memberof staff in the Computing department.

 

I personally have had two days training on GLOW over the last couple of years but this was to set up blogs for the S1 pupils to use as learning logs.

[Annemarie Rutherford]

11/12/2011 at 10:08 pm

It has been a long time since I was offered any subject specific cpd.  If there was a course I could attend which would bring my software development skills up to date I reckon I could make a case for attending.  Likewise any course on games design, creating mobile apps or just spending time getting familiar with new units/courses would be useful.

 

Whole day courses are best.  Living in Aberdeen means a whole day is best on a monday or a friday if travelling to the central belt.

[Jeremy Scott]

12/12/2011 at 2:31 pm

What about online CPD in a webinar or similar format?

[mcgivernj]

12/12/2011 at 10:36 pm

Jeremy

Very little in Renfrewshire with regard to any kind of structured, meaningful CPD.

We can usually have staff out for one day per year for a course such as those delivered by AOK.  Would like to have more quality CPD available to test just how accommodating SMT would be in allowing staff out.

CPD needs should be addressed by having courses available that will appeal to computing staff and will be relevant to teaching the new courses, e.g. mobile app development, interactive web development tools such as php and mysql.  I seem to spend hours trawling through the web looking for resources to provide ‘self-help’.  I could do with reducing the ‘searching’ aspecting and spending more time on the ‘doing’.

 

Regarding online CPD, if it’s useful and relevant and is going to contribute to the upskilling of computer teachers then it has to be welcome.

[brendanm]

16/12/2011 at 12:41 am

Oracle Academy is coming to Edinburgh in 2012.

 

Free course on database design, SQL programming and PL/SQL programming.

 

More details on Oracle Academy here

[Con Morris]

06/01/2012 at 10:34 am

Hi Jeremy. I work for the National CPD Team and used to be a CS teacher, so lots of sympathy for the views expressed above. I think one of the solutions lies with web-conferenced CPD from experienced practitioners. Adobe Connect (used in Glow) is a very effective learning (CPD) tool.

 

We offer a free CPDRequest service http://bit.ly/cpdrequest on Glow if that is of interest to colleagues in CompEdNet?

 

Con

[Kate Farrell]

10/01/2012 at 11:01 pm

Hi Con,

 

Great to hear from you and glad you’ve joined CompEdNet.  Certainly Adobe Connect was featuring highly on my CPD plans for Computing at School Scotland, ideally locally in hubs with virtual attendance possible.  The big issue is the practicalities of learning a skill on computers (such as games development) and getting individual help on troubleshooting bugs is more difficult remotely.

 

I hadn’t thought to submit a request via the service on Glow.  Excellent.  I will be in touch!

 

Regards,

 

Kate

[Jeremy Scott]

28/02/2012 at 8:59 pm

Industry calls for more cash for computing teachers!

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/education/373195/industry-calls-for-more-cash-for-computing-teachers

 

Imagine my disappointment when I read the article and arrived at the word “training”…  😉  Seriously, this is good news –  following similar comments from Mike Russell in December, the message is clearly getting to a wider audience now.

 

Jeremy