Launched at last year’s Scottish Learning Festival, the site already has more than 15 hours of digitised clips, a figure which will more than double when the latest batch are tagged, prepared and uploaded. Each clip is between two and twenty minutes long, and comes with detailed introduction and production information.
Collectively, the films represent much of Scotland’s cultural heritage of the past hundred years or so. Ranging from Oscar-winning documentaries to amateur footage of local gala days, from animated poems to public health films, there is something for every level and area of the curriculum. Each clip is accompanied by a few starter questions for discussion, followed by suggested activities which can be further developed by the teacher. A selection of high quality, fully-developed ‘feature resources’ is available for those who wish to embark on a more in-depth study.
The films can be searched alphabetically, by date, topic or curriculum area. An additional feature, available only to educational users via GLOW, is that each film comes with a high-resolution film strip which allows subscribers to re-mix, edit and incorporate into multi-media presentations, or to create their own digital narratives! It really is a first-class (free!) resource for teachers. Here’s hoping it gets the recognition it deserves at that awards ceremony.
© National Library of Scotland