DFI Session Six- Computational Thinking

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

Visible:
I like the analogy that Dave Winter presented about how if the learning isn't visible it like trying to get through a maize and having a ball of string and following a trail of crumbs,they’re not mind readers. Learning needs to be visible so learners know the path they’re following and the learning journey they are on. Not only does the learning be visible to learners it also needs to be visible to whānau. One way of making this happen is through the Parent Portal through Hapara. Manaiakalani believe that  the default setting should be visible(withing reason of course).  Making the learning visible on blogs means you welcome comments on children's work, making partnerships outside of the school gates and also celebrating children's learning.

Our first task hands on task of the day saw us creating our own code and having a "tester"read it and a "robot" to complete it. That made me a have a whole new level of appreciation and admiration for those who create code! You almost feel a sense of frustration because in your head it may appear easy or straight forward but actually without putting in enough detail or information your code will not work. 

I had the pleasure of working with Raquel  when fumbling through Coblocks to make a virtual reality. Check out the end result. We managed to animate three different characters in three different ways. I could imagine the engagement from this programme would be amazing! And it would appeal to most people who took the time to explore it. 

Tōnui collab have some fantastic technology and knowledge to share, it was a fantastic day! My eyes were definitely opened to a whole new world today. 

Keyboard Shortcuts

I stuck to my word and made a poster for the keyboard shortcut essentials, couldn't quite find what I was looking for online so decided to create my own! I have chosen the ones that I wish I had known a long time ago or that I use all the time. 


Hopefully this might also help anyone who is still learning the ropes! Josie and I shared this poster with our colleagues at our Team Hui so hopefully these will be getting used all over the place soon!

DFI Session Five- The Hypothetical Hub on sites.

During Gerhard's presentation about the Kaupapa of Share I learnt about the decision process which sat behind this. Using a a digital platform eventuated because Manaiakalani noticed that students wanted to share online through social media- so it made sense to allow them to share their learning online and provide an authentic audience
I never considered the types of audience we present to; Gerhard broke these down into two types of audiences.
Compulsory audience- one another,  assemblies, classmates, showing work to whānau. 
Authentic audience- choose to listen to what we have to share, can be anywhere in the world with internet access.

Manaiakalani choose Blogger carefully to ensure it was worthwhile and user friendly. Blogger allows external visitors to encourage learners rather than their work being placed in a book box under the desk just to me only viewed by the teacher or perhaps some other classmates.

We delved deeper into the world of sites today, even being given the opportunity to refine a site we already had. One problem with that... I don't have a site to refine. Jos was in the same boat so it looked like we were starting a fresh! So the Hypothetical Hub was born and we started to plan and form what was going to be a class website for a Hypothetical Hub that may form at Awapuni School. 

We explored complimentary colours and even choose a colour scheme for our new Hypothetical Hub thanks to Color palettes.

The process is underway and there is a fair journey ahead for the Hypothetical Hub yet but it has been great being able to put our learning into action. 

DFI Week Four- Dancing with Devices

Well, welcome to my one take Screen castify video about being Cybersmart! Screen castify allowed me to record myself as I awkwardly stumble through the Manaiaakalani Cybersmart website. Enjoy.




Today we had opportunities to explore both iPads and chromebooks! Often we ask our learners to work on these devices without knowing these devices ourselves.

iPads- I am able to see the benefit for these for younger children, but I must admit the time it must take to set up these iPads to be ready for learning would be rather substantial. I had a play on the Explain everything app, check out the video below! I love the evidence this would produce for the teacher. Take handwriting as an example, you are able to see how learners are forming their letters. The recording of the students can be saved in their drive and you are then able to get back to this video at a later stage.



Chromebooks- I have had experiences on chromebooks before, but it was very useful to look into keyboard shortcuts! My goal, for whenever I next have time is to create a visual poster with the most commonly used chromebook shortcuts! I think this aspect of the DFI would directly relate back to the classroom and would be so useful. We use technology day to day so we want to be able to use it as effectively and efficiently as we can. I know I have left this DFI with a few more shortcuts to add to be kete, such as the select all shortcut ( ctrl + A). 

We also explored all that Hapara- some points that I felt were a real asset of the dashboard; 
You can have custom folders at the top of the page, these must be done by the “manager"of Hapara at you school
You can view blog posts and comments from each learners blogs, in one handy click.  
Highlights page allows you to look at what each learner is currently working on, in real time.
Guided browsing-  you can set a guided learning activity and it means learners are only able to access this page/activity for whatever time you have allocated. 
Forgetting passwords, a event which I could imagine could be quite painful can easily be solved by the teacher, through Hapara. The teacher can reset any child's password if they have forgotten it. 
Also, being able to close tabs on students Chromebooks remotely! I could imagine you would get a few confused faces when a tab randomly disappears off a students Chromebook! 

Another week down and already looking forward to the next! 

DFI Session Three- Serious about sites

Today I was excited to be able to create a website that I would be able to use in my classroom. I used this time to create a website that I could use with my class around our current integrated study topic, Kia manawanui which includes exploring Māori Myths and Legends. 

When making my first Google Site, I tried to stick to a basic layout that allowed me to use multiple elements within the new Google sites. First job, pick a theme- a very important part to the whole process of course! I found navigating Google sites quite easy, everything is user friendly and meant when experimenting with making a site I was able to explore a lot of aspects through the side navigation bar. I first started with using pictures as a card. Which is shown below. Each card takes you through to a different story that relates to the legend Rangi and Papa.

Mission completed- now to see if I can extend what I already have. Skimming through the slides I was able to see a slide about creating buttons in google drawings. Although it took me awhile I was able edit my website and turn the cards into circular buttons. Personally for my learners I feel like having a round button is a visual representation of being a button rather than just a pretty sure on the screen. Below is the cards transformed into circular buttons.

I am leaving today with a lot of new learning as well as some more learning to follow up at home. Including looking at the highly recommended Sir Ken Robinson TED talk.  I am also hoping to extend my google site to include other Māori Myths and Legends. I have a feeling I will be heading home and continuing to explore all that is Google sites.  

DFI Session Two- Workload

The name of our Digital Fluency Intensive Session Two is Workload, I was soon able to see why. There are many tips, tricks and hacks that I can see will save me time and improve my workflow. 


Some new learning that increased my understanding of the Manaiakalani kaupapa was around the RAT model and SAMR. These models make sure that you are making the most of the digital tool you are using. Maria spoke about when trying follow the SAMR model, it is recommenced that you specifically focus on Modification and Redefinition. Modification means that the technology you are using allows for significant task modification/redesign. Redefinition allows a new task to be created that previously would have been unimaginable.  Alongside SAMR sits the “RAT: model, Recognise, Amplify and Turcbocharge. 

To address the workload mentioned above there is numerous new tricks that I can see myself using in the near future to streamline to workflow. 

The use of smart compose when drafting emails. With smart compose it is the equivalent of predictive texts on most cellphones. When you press tab in the middle of a sentence it will provide a suggestion as to what you may want to see next. The more you send emails and use smart compose, the more accurate it will become with suggesting. In the start it may appear  ineffective, but in time it will become familiar with your vocabulary and phrasing. 

Saving bookmarks as an icon rather than an icon and text. My bookmarks bar looks more streamlined and user friendly. 


A tool that I would like to know for the future would be an extension or programme that allows students to record their screen, themselves and their voice. This would be a useful took to use during a reading rotation, students could read their book in front of the chromebook and play the recording back to themselves. As the teacher I would also be able to see reading behaviors.