News From North East April 2007

Inside this issue...

Click on to your chosen topic from here

Glow
Scenta
Scholarships
Creative and Cultural Businesses
Perth College: HNC Applied Sciences Pathway to Medicine
Future Skills Scotland
JR Foundation
Scottish Executive Website
Froth and Bubble
Contributions

Glow

Glow is the new name for the Scottish Schools Digital Network. It is a national schools intranet, digitally linking Scotland's 800,000 educators and pupils. Glow is funded by the Scottish Executive and managed by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) in partnership with RM.

Features will include:

local intranet service: this allows local authorities to build a secure website to hold information on almost any topic - from absence procedures to continuing professional development (CPD) programmes
Secure and personalised access
Virtual learning, including virtual whiteboards to share information across many schools taking part in one lesson; the system includes tools access and the ability to manipulate and present content
co-location: this allows partners or external suppliers to locate their servers directly on the Interconnect. The Interconnect is the broadband network which connects education in Scotland. It includes all 32 education authorities and other key stakeholders – such as the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS).

Example of a The Glow School Day.

Timescale:

Glow rollout begins - third quarter of 2007.
Implementation across schools to be completed - December 2008.

full details on Glow website.

Scenta

A useful site for information and resources for those interested in pursuing careers in Science Engineering and Technology.

The scenta website

(Thanks to Jim)

Scholarships

The Institute of Mechanical Engineers is seeking applications for a number of undergraduate scholarships.

Details at Institution of Mechanical Engineers website.

Creative and Cultural Businesses

The Cultural Enterprise Office is Scotland's specialist Business Development Service for creative and cultural practitioners and businesses. The service currently operates in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh.

They provide an information and enquiry service and a Professional Development programme of seminars, training and networking events. Individuals and companies can also make an appointment for an advice session focusing on their particular business development needs.

This website also provides information resources for those setting up in business with signposting to further sources of information and advice.

The site includes an FAQ section, here are some examples:

How do I approach galleries / market my work effectively?
What are the main performance resources for advice and training in Scotland?
I have a script that I wish to develop and promote in Scotland, how do I go about it?
How do I register copyright on my book / script?
How do I price my literary work?
How do I get my children’s book published?
Do I need to use a literary agent? If so, how do I go about finding one?
How do I price my work?
What are copyright and intellectual property and how do I register them?
Are there any sites that offer financial advice for freelancers?

Full details on the Cultural Enterprise Office website.

Perth College: HNC Applied Sciences Pathway to Medicine

Eligible candidates who are accepted on to the HNC have the possibility to articulate on to the medical programme at the Bute Medical School, University of St Andrews.

Full details:

Perth College website and St Andrews University website

Future Skills Scotland

FSS are running a series of Expert Briefings. The purpose of the series is to make available the knowledge and experience of people who are experts in their fields. The series covers issues relating to the labour market, education and skills and their links to the economy. The views expressed in the briefing papers are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Futureskills Scotland.

Examples of Expert Briefing papers currently available on the FSS website:

Uses and Abuses of Forecasting - This report examines the different methods by which forecasts can be prepared, the risks to forecasting and how to interpret the results. It also examines the potential for preparing forecasts for employment in Scotland. Forecasts are not just about how we expect the world to be but also inform how we might change it. It is important to understand the difference and the ability to form any views about what will or might or could happen.

Public Policy, Training and Skill Formation - Challenging Some Current Myths - Expert Briefing paper, by Professor David Ashton, looking into skills-related myths.

David Ashton draws upon his wealth of experience and detailed knowledge to present a challenging analysis of public policy in the field of training and skills formation. Professor Ashton pinpoints a popular myth that all training is good and more training is always better in all companies. He suggests that the common belief that public policy should be based simply on encouraging more employers to train more workers more often, springs from this mythical base.

Skills in a Global Economy - Chris Humphries CBE, on Skills in a global economy. He highlights the ageing population and shifts in the patterns of industries and jobs as two related trends that demand particular attention. When dealing with population ageing he rightly highlights the international dimension of this issue: population ageing is something facing most European nations.

Future Skills Scotland Expert Briefings website

JR Foundation

Just published on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation website is: Voices of people experiencing poverty in Scotland.

This research aims to ensure that the voices of people living in poverty are heard as policies to tackle poverty and disadvantage in Scotland are developed.

Scottish Executive Website

Date	Section	Publication
09/03/2007	Education	Evaluation of the Whole School Approach to Enterprise in Education, May 2004 - January 2006
13/03/2007	Education	Moving Forward: a Strategy for Improving Young People's Chances through Youth Work
14/03/2007	Education	Lifelong Learning Strategy Consultation Responses
14/03/2007	Education	Evaluation of Individual Learning Accounts Scotland: Learners' (ILA200) and Unconverted Enquiries (ILA200 and ILA100) Surveys. Jan - Nov 2006
19/03/2007	Education	National Adult Learning Survey (NALS) 2005 Scotland Report
20/03/2007	Education	International Lifelong Learning - Scotland's Contribution
20/03/2007	Education	24 in 2006 - Scotland's Young People: Findings from the Scottish School Leavers Survey The Scottish School Leavers Survey (SSLS) series aims to describe the experiences of young people at school, the decisions they make about staying on or leaving, and their transitions and experiences after leaving school.
27/03/2007	Education	Teachers in Scotland, 2006 The latest data on teachers in publicly funded schools in Scotland, derived from the annual staff census which took place in September 2006.
28/03/2007	Education	Helping you meet the cost of learning: Your Guide to Funding 2007 - 2008 This Guide gives an overview of the funding available from August 2007 for learners or those considering learning, and is a useful guide for practitioners giving advice to others.

Froth and Bubble

Thanks to Claire for letting us know about Easter Eggs (actually nothing to do with Easter).

In the context of software an Easter Egg is a hidden feature or novelty that the programmers have put in their software. In general, it is any hidden, entertaining thing that a creator hides in their creation only for their own personal reasons. This can be anything from a hidden list of the developers, to hidden commands, to jokes, to funny animations. You’ll also find them hidden in Film and TV DVDs.

All you need to know can be found on the The Easter Egg Archive website.

Contributions

If you would like to contribute an item to the newsletter we would be delighted to hear from you. Contributions can be emailed to info.ne@careers-scotland.org.uk or faxed to 01592 623199