We have set up a “Zoom help” group to provide help with Zoom to  actual and potential group leaders.  This will work in the same way as the Beacon familiarisation group – people can join the group through the Members Portal, and we will then set up a Zoom meeting with one or more members to help sort out Zoom problems. 

Padlet is a digital communications platform that helps teachers and learners to interact. From words and images to videos and links, this digital space can be filled and accessed easily from multiple devices. 

We have opened a Padlet account which will allow group leaders to have their own Padlet which they can use to post files, images and videos which can be made available to group members.  It can be configured to allow group members to comment, and to post their own material.   You won’t have to struggle with sending large files as email attachments, and the material can be available permanently to members if you so wish.

We will provide detailed information about this soon. Several groups already have their own Padlet accounts - the IGO account will have greater capacity than personal Padlet accounts.

I have renewed all IGO Zoom account bookings until at least the end of June 2025.  I have not sent emails to individual group leaders confirming this.  Instead, I’ve generated a Google calendar which shows all the bookings.  I am attaching the calendar from today until the end of February as a PDF file -  the second half of the booking URL is blanked out for security reasons.

Please check this calendar and let me know if your group Zoom booking is missing or incorrect.

I’m also attaching, as usual, the generic IGO Zoom accounts generic calendar where you can see what slots are free if you want to change a meeting or meetings or set up Zoom meetings for a new group.

This is what members see when they view the calendar through the Members Portal. 

I’ve attached the January version.  Entries here do not appear automatically -  they have to be created using the Schedule tab in your groups Beacon entry.

When someone applies to join a group through Beacon Members Portal and the number of current members is equal to or greater  than the prescribed maximum, Beacon invites them to apply to join the he waiting list for group. The group leader is advised that someone has been added to the waiting list. Group leaders can admit people over and above the prescribed maximum. Ideally, the maximum should be increased in the details section of Beacon to reflect this.

Group entries on the website's home page also indicate whether or not groups are full.  This has to be done manually and we normally update it three times a week.  If your group status is incorrect for longer than a week, please let us know as our updating process can occasionally err.

Please have a look at your group page(s) on the website, and let us know if you would like it to be changed – use the Group Description form to do this.  The form does not, at the moment, distinguishe betweena new group and an existing group but we hope to add a box to enable you to indicate this. In the meantime, if you want ot change an existing group, it will be helpful to add this in the group description.

Note that if you change your group information on Beacon, that does not automatically change in your group web page – you need to let us know if you want changes on the webpage.

If your page does not have an image, please send us one – make sure it is not copyright-protected

To all our group leaders for your sterling work! 

Happy New Year

From Catherine, on behalf of the IGO team
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