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! :)