DFI 9 - Revision

Today's Blog was titled Revision.
Time out was taken to reflect on where we had come from, the various gems we had picked up on the way and the whole journey with the Manaiakalani Facilitators throughout this nine week course of Digital Fluency. This was once again demonstrated in our Digital Bubbles where we were able to feedback on what had worked well over the week including any difficult areas of concern.

Following this we had a presentation of the Manaiakalani Kaupapa on Ubiquitous by Dorothy.

  The message which I received from this presentation is that life long learners need digital devices to tap into learning about anything and everything. There are a variety of resources and tools which can accompany ones learning if we all but use what is available and learn from the different aspects and experts who live and breathe this methodology and pedagogy. And from the slide it shows:

The rest of the morning was focussed on sitting the Google Exam which was very intense and 3 hours long. Reflecting over the test: If I had a chance to resit which I will probably need to I would first complete the questions which I am familiar with first and then return to those which I would need more time to complete. A'e that seems to bring back memories of sitting exams way back in the days when we had strategies on how to sit exams. Some dinosaur ideas still remain and are useful in the 21st century and with digital and online testing!

1. The thing I am most proud of is that I was able to implement my new learning into my teaching practice having to change the way I think and present to my learners who were already on their way with being streaks ahead of me in their digital fluency.
2. One of the things I regret is not strategising the way I sat the exam. As mentioned previously I should have attempted all the questions I knew first and then returned to the rest of the more difficult ones to spend more time on.
3. I will be taking a lot of gems from the whole of this course. The positivity and empowerment seen throughout the weeks, the pedagogies and the challenges that we face with learners growing as future leaders of tomorrow in both the real and digital world.
4. Loads and Loads of ideas, tools, aspects, rules, processes will be taken forward into the 'new' era of schooling. I think the thinking process of learning anywhere anytime with anyone as written in the Ubiquitous slide is the new schooling for me. And also the learning as a shared network where tools are available for all! On that note here are some of the tools which were shared from the last session of today.

 

DFI Session 8 - Computational Thinking

Today's session was all about Computational Thinking.
The day started as usual with Karakia followed by WWW where it was a good way to collaborate and catch up with members in our Digital Bubbles with facilitator Nicola. A very positive response about how we are heading towards the end of term looking forward to the end of Week 12.

The Manaiakalani Pedagogy and Kaupapa covered to day was "Empowered"
What I learnt was that through
technology and the devices being used, these were not only a tool for learners and educators but an expensive tool for life time learners. The slides which were visual and had meaning showed that the schools from Tamaki were all in the socio economical decile one area surrounded by neighbouring Decile 10 schools. Over the years of determination and a clear vision the programme has grown through the empowerment of many involved.





















This was followed by the Chalk n Talk of an Introduction into Computational Thinking and Higarau Matihiko. There were various links into programmes that have been produced over time from Te Papa and Through the Manaiakalani Outreach programme, teachers are supported to acquire digital fluency required for effective teaching, planning, assessment and professional learning
Teachers learn how digital technologies used effectively can have a significant impact on accelerating achievement outcomes
Supporting teacher digital fluency and confidence to deliver the curriculum in a digital environment in a 1:1 digital learning environment.

The technology strands were visited with the processes and Cybersmart alignment to the new Digital Technologies Curriculum. The following links were shared with us so that we could go online later and have a look. 

After this was unpacked we were able to have a play with the various coding tools offered. I had the opportunity to choose from the basic and stay on basic coding. Makey makey was fun and Microbit was a challenge where I was fascinated by the heart made shapes, name and emotions being transferred from computer to microbit. Here are a few of my creations caught on screen.

Achieved Puzzle two with 6 lines of codes.

Another achievement of completing the first level of sample minecraft.

My first intro to microbit enabled me to follow the instructions carefully.

 

This was fun makey makey I think.

The final time was spent on tips for resgistering for the upcoming three hour test, helpful hints for completing our blogs with the check list  and what further requirements needed for practice and staying empowered as life long digitally fluent intensive learners!

DFI Session 7 - Devices

8.00 Started off the Session with Karakia followed by

8.05: Fiona - Cybersmart

Today in our Create session I was able to take something from the morning session Cybersmart and use the screencastify tool to record and implememnet the pedagogy and information for my class.
There was a take 1 as a test to see if I could adlib, unfortunately I needed a script and to also have my tabs open for the screencastifying.
How to screencastify?
Go to the icon which is at the right hand corner of screen. If I want to show the screen then I play record while on the screen projecting. Once I have stopped recording then I should wait until the recording is completed so that it can download into the Screencastify Folder in my Drive. To embed I must open the video, click on the 3 dots, drop down window will have get embed code item. Copy and paste into blog. New blog post. Add text first then add embed. Html - Compose.

It is always good for students to know where to start from as a benchmark that things can only get better.






Second attempt at Explaining Everything Essentially
To use this on whiteboard we were asked to complete the EE task from Gerhard's presentation google slide. To place onto my blog I would need to check my Gmail. Look for the 3 dots, embed code, cut n paste HTML then Compose.

Some key messages from both recording and with my students in mind that they are going through times of changes, physically, socially and emotionally and always need some guidelines to help them make some smart options or decisions when faced with challenges. We have been working on Being Kind, Transdisciplinary Values, Attitude. Here are some of the Smart Values from Manaiakalani.

Time to reflect and share with colleagues

What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?
Cybersmart was very interesting for me and the fact that there was a lot of this in the Manaikalani kaupapa.

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?
Using screencastify in my lessons and being able to do more videos to explain different tools.

What did I learn that could be used with my learners? Applying the SMART tools that were covered today and be able to remind my learners the options they have with smart values, smart relationships and smart surfing. 

What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life? I learnt that everything is possible if you put your mind to it. Hapara is a useful tool that I need to use more to improve my confidence in my workflow. Sometimes as a reminder of putting myself in the learners shoes when discovering new things.

DFI Session 6 - Accessing Sites

Today after karakia and sharing our WWW with Digital bubble members we listened to more of the Manaiakalani pedagogy - CONNECTED. "Connected is a way of life for our students. Take it from them and they will check out."

The LEARN CREATE SHARE goes with the
CONNECTED UBIQUITOUS  VISIBLE  EMPOWERED.

Something which I have learnt and applied to my learners is how to make buttons for my Reading Page. I did get stuck on how to shape the picture once I had copied it onto the Google Draw page however thanks to facilitator Nicola who explained how I had words on my picture which meant I hade to click on the picture only, and then go to the drop box beside the crop symbol which enabled me to find the circle shape and click on that.

Once I was able able to create my buttons I decided to rename my Reading Groups to Kea Roopu, Kiwi Roopu and Tui Roopu. I added the list of names to each group. Once this was completed I sorted out the 9 weeks of Reading activities which have been for my class during Covid 19 and from Week 5 when it was Level 2. This has been used by the majority of students who returned to class. 

Being on the other side of the distance learner enabled me to observe different sites which teachers have used to hook and engage their students for learning online. Each person has their own style of what they see is visually acceptable or meets their needs of what they are looking for. Often the more activities I saw on a google site the more busy it looked for the learner and when there was no colour or visuals then the less hooked into that particular page. Finding the balance of both visual and learning content to make the connection. This was the main pedagogical point I learnt from the Dorothy's presentation this morning.

And so I applied the information about setting up my class site with the time allocated in our digital team bubble. It was very collaborative when we could view each others sites, give feedback and then ask questions to our facilitator when we got stuck. I continued to work on my buttons and reading site after sharing my online learning page. 

 

SFS online learning page 

• What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?

The overall lessons on how to keep asking questons and having "a play" with the available tools has certainly improved my confidence and capability as a professional. The real testing will be in the applying this to my class tomorrow when I feedback in why I was away again and what gems I have returned with, to use for them.

• What did I learn that could be used with my learners?  

Updating our class site so that it is a 3 click or less process and it is engaging keeping them connected
into lifelong learning.

• What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?

Sometimes there is a light at the end of the tunnel even when you are getting bogged down
with so much information. Just being able to know how to link my Online Learning page to my
Reading Page was a huge achievement for me today. I am satistied and celebrating! :)

Session 5 DFI Collaborate-Sites

Today's session was very meaningful and full on with the DFI team teaching us everything we needed to know about collaborate sites.

After karakia we went into WWW which we were able to reflect on what was working well and what wasn't. We then listened to Gerhard explain the the pedagogy behind Visibility. Visible learning and Visible Teaching.

• What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

     

What I learnt was that online learning means visibility is most important for the teacher plannig and the learners. There should be no surprises if everything is being collaorated and shared with other professional educators and learners.

• What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?

There is a vast knowledge of examples and lessons available to be

used for all. I really enjoyed the the google sites create sessions from the start to publishing. It was very helpful to be in the digital bubbles asking questions after question until my site was able to be embeded and publised for all to view and use. Here are some of the slides which guided me in gaining more confidence with this.  

  

                                                                          

• What did I learn that could be used with my learners?  

I learnt how to use the jam board to add links on sticky notes so that they could then be transferred to my google site which is viewable to all learners and educators. Using the Multi text Database I was able to work out how to use the information that I searched online about the Moon which is a topic that my Year 10 Science class are currently learning about.

Navigating with the Moon

• What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?

"Keep going through the storm." To my surprise when there is a glich with your computer and you think that the draft is all your work that you have saved for your blog doesn't get saved, "Don't panic, just restart and see what you can remember with all your data unsaved. :{ I don't think I could have restarted after taking 90 minutes to complete the blog unsaved so that is why I am completing it the night before session 6!