Appendix 1 – Virtual Campus 2023
Perth and Kinross Council · 3 May 2023
Back to Learning and Families Committee — 3 May 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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VIRTUAL 2023 PERTH & KINROSSCOUNCIL CAMPUS
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ABOUT INTRODUCTION OUR PKC VIRTUAL CAMPUS At its inception the PKC Virtual Campus brought together a number of nationally based Virtual Learning offers and approaches for the benefit of learners in our secondary schools - foremost amongst these was the work of e-Sgoil Digital learning from Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar (www.e-sgoil.com); Scholar SCHOLAR (www.hw.ac.uk) and West OS West OS – The West Partnership (www.westpartnership.co.uk) to which our teachers contributed resources. Locally we used these resources in all of our schools as part of our Perth City Campus, Highland Perthshire Learning Partnership and more widely as part of the journey towards Digital Schools Awards. During the pandemic related period of school closure teachers at Bertha Park High School supplemented this suite of resources with locally created and tailored resources for use in the Broad General Education. Enhancing this work which is still central to the totality of our Virtual Learning offer our discrete PKC Virtual Campus was launched 2021/22 session with just four Advanced Highers: Spanish, French, Physical Education and Computing Science. Teachers and school and service leaders had engaged fully with the possibilities of curricular and learning enhancement afforded by technology for some years, but it was the rapid change to working and learning created by school closure during the pandemic, and the leaps in technology, that created fertile ground for rapid change. PKC created this online experience for learners and initiated cross authority collaboration with our neighbouring authorities in Dundee and Angus. This year, the PKC Virtual Campus is piloting the delivery of two courses at Higher Level: Higher Politics and Higher Administration and IT. In addition, learners within PKC can also access the wider Tayside Regional Improvement Collaborative Virtual Campus online offer which consists of 6 Advanced Highers: Spanish, French, Physical Education, Computing, Modern Studies and Business Education. This offer has been shaped and delivered in part by staff right across all Perth and Kinross schools.
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VIRTUAL CAMPUS KEY FEATURES An asynchronous offer (meaning young people can access their learning anytime and are not restricted by school timetables) Wider opportunities to undertake qualifications not offered by the pupils' own schools Online platform which enables all resources to be accessed anytime Scheduled time with a teacher to discuss learning, next steps and any concerns Live and recorded lessons In addition to the Higher and Advanced Higher offering, the discrete PKC online learning offer also provides a National 3 Teachers Resource Hub. This currently provides learning and teaching materials at National 3 level in 8 subjects: Administration, Biology, Computing, Creative Industries, French, Geography, Science and Spanish. These resources have been created so that learning can be delivered and accessed to younger pupils (S4) and is helping young people overcome barriers to their learning - including school attendance and engagement. This National 3; Higher and Advanced Higher offer for our young people has been further enhanced by effective partnership with colleagues at University of the Highlands and Islands (Perth). We have incorporated their online offer - developed in partnership with our school teams - into our Online Learning prospectus - now when young people receive their course choice information, it is in one coherent and accessible communication. All young people engaged in the Virtual Campus attend an initial in person induction event hosted in partnership with the University of Dundee. This enables them to meet their teacher in person as well as learn about the tools and platforms they will be using across the course of the year. Our PKC Digital Education team support learners and staff throughout the year to ensure regular updates regarding pupil progress and interaction are communicated home. In session 2021-22 we had 14 PKC learners engaged in our Virtual Campus and this session this has grown to 32 young people undertaking a Virtual Campus course. Additionally, the PKC National 3 Resource Hub has been accessed by over 800 teachers and it is estimated that this is being used to support over 300 learners across our schools. ‘ I HAVE ENJOYED THE VIRTUAL CAMPUS COURSE AS IT HAS GIVEN ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE A SUBJECT THAT WASN’T AVAILABLE IN MY OWN SCHOOL. GETTING ALL THE CHOICES I WANTED HAS MADE THIS YEAR MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE ’ OLIVIA (S6 PUPIL)
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THE FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS WHAT'S NEXT? Our online learning offer continues to widen and ensure an equity of offer for all young people. In the past, less popular subjects may not have been delivered where uptake was low. However, the creation of a central online offer which young people can engage in means that more courses can be delivered effectively in every school in Perth and Kinross, providing wider access of opportunity. Some of our Virtual Campus courses - in addition to the in person induction days- have also held in person immersion days when all learners have come together in a central school to undertake some face to face learning. This has been challenging to organise due to different school timetables: however, learners and staff have spoken positively about the way these immersion days have helped complement and consolidate learning and this will now be a feature of all PKC Virtual Campus courses. Currently, most courses offered through our Virtual Campus are our more traditional Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications. Going forward, and in partnership with other providers, we are exploring how we can expand our offer to include more vocational courses, again in a bid to widen the opportunities for our young people. While our Virtual Campus and Online offering is not designed as a replacement for the in-person face to face learning that takes place in our schools it is an offering that complements the fantastic learning and teaching taking place across our schools and widens the opportunities available to all of our young people. Judicious management of our Virtual Campus allows us to make a significant difference to the learner pathways of a small but significant group of learners across Perth and Kinross. The PKC Virtual Campus is planned to grow proportionately to create and widen opportunities for all young people; The PKC Virtual Campus continues to sit within the wider PKC Digital Framework and evolves and adapts in line with and taking account of wider, TRIC and National developments; and PKC to continue to explore virtual delivery models to create more opportunities for children and young people.
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@pkceducation @digilearnpkc @taysidevirtual Check out our 2023-24 offer: https://sway.office.com/1l4NEyE0eCiiMv2x?ref=Link&loc=play