The latest website of material for education developed by Scran, the online Scottish cultural resource access network, was completed last month.
Resources for Learning in Scotland brings together a vast selection of lifelong-learning material. There are images and multimedia resources, websites and pathfinders to concise introductions to people, places, events and ideas.
From the home page, Scran subscribers can explore more than 400 short essays and introductions to themes or investigate events in Scotland using the timeline. The discovery section takes you to 22 websites, where you can explore examples of Scottish weaponry or Sir Walter Scott or Red Clydeside, a history of the Labour movement in Scotland.
All the RLS materials can be cross-searched through the Scran database.
Schools can use their username and password to get full access.
Scran Albums is a valuable tool that allows users to create their own collections of materials online. You don’t need computer memory space or CDs to save your collections, as every time you log in to Scran or RLS your collections will be available.
Primary and secondary schools have been sharing resource ideas between P7 and S1 to smooth the transition. Another way of using Albums is creating collections of materials from archives, galleries, libraries and museums to prepare for a trip.
You can create unlimited collections with a variety of materials. Each album can be password protected so that others can view your collection while only you can edit it. You can reorder, print and share your albums with other Scran subscribers.
Soon, you will be able to add your own captions to images within your albums, giving you a high degree of customisation and ensuring that your selections are appropriate for different audiences.
Scran Starters is a new sub-section in the education section of Scran which is designed to allow pupils aged seven to 11 to access information on popular themes independently. Information is presented in age-appropriate language in an illustrated slide-show format. Pupils who have difficulty reading can listen to the text being read. The text for each theme can be downloaded as an illustrated PDF file.
Romans is the first theme on Starters; Victorians will be added shortly and more are in the pipeline.
www.scran.ac.uk
www.rls.org.uk
SETT
Mhairi McFarlane, schools education officer for Scran, talks on Making the Most of Scran on Wednesday at noon
