Friday, 18 September 2020

Revision (Day #9 of DFI)

For our final session of our DFI we looked at Ubiquitous Learning (learning at any time, anywhere and at any pace from anyone). This has been a concept that Manaiakalani have been focusing on from their very inception. Some ideas to ponder include:

  • Learning isn't solely confined to school between 9am and 3pm. 
  • Technology removes barriers to learning.
  • Devices are more than tools
  • Rewindable learning brings added value
We were asked to reflect on the recent lock down (season#1 and season#2) and our readiness for ubiquitous learning with these questions:
  • What are you proud of?
  • What do you regret?
  • Where have you taken forward into the 'new' era of schooling?

I would say I'm lucky to be in a school that uses class sites for students to access their learning tasks. This meant that the transition from learning in class to learning in home was much easier for students because they were already familiar with where to go and what to do. Something I have taken from lock down learning back to the classroom is using rewindable learning (screencastify) more regularly as this has helped students who need a reminder or who have been absent. No regrets.

Today we sat our 3 hour Google exam...

...less stressful than I was expecting!

The DFI has been such a positive experience for me. I was slightly anxious initially but put at ease straight away. I felt fully supported by my facilitator (thanks Vicki) and it was invaluable having a 'bubble' to meet with regularly to share ideas, struggles, successes etc along the way. Breakout groups with mini lessons were always clear and easy to follow. 

I feel way more confident in using what I have learnt from these sessions and more confident in trying to figure out how to do something if I'm not entirely sure (a recent example: showing a group of students how to embed a slideshow animation into their blog).

Here's one last view of my funky wallpaper...


And here is my DFI badge...



Friday, 11 September 2020

Computational Thinking (Day #8 of DFI)

We looked at the third Manaiakalani kaupapa of Empowerment this week. Some concepts about this principle include: 

  • empowering learners and teachers is about the advancing of rangatiratanga - the idea of people taking back control of their own lives 
  • learners have 'voice, ownership and choice' in their learning
  • devices have become more than simply tools - they can give us access to new learning environments 


We also had a look at computational thinking tasks by visiting different sites and having a play. It is interesting to see that there are many basic block coding sites that follow similar steps (which makes it easier for students to use). Some of these included:

These sites are probably more suited to the students in my class. I like how they generally start out quite basic, allowing you to succeed and work out what to do before becoming progressively more challenging and, in doing so, give you the opportunity to make mistakes and have to debug. 

There were also coding sites that were text based. These are a bit more advanced and included:

I feel that these would probably be too challenging for the majority of my students (but I may have to investigate some of these a bit more myself!)

During a breakout, I had a chance to explore Scratch a little more. Unfortunately there seemed to be a few problems along the way with work not saving and having to start over. I ran into difficulty when I tried to share it and lost what I had done a second time. The upside of all of this is that, the more I revisited it, the more familiar I became with using the tools. This is something I would be interested in exploring with my students, though I think I would like to have more time to play around with the site first.

Below is my third attempt with using Scratch to move a sprite and make it talk. Some instructions to help:
  • Use the arrow keys to move the sprite across, up and down
  • Use the flag to get back to the starting position
  • Use the space key to make the sprite talk

Friday, 4 September 2020

Different Digital Devices (Day #7 of DFI)

Smart Learner (Learn) - Smart Footprint (Create) - Smart Relationships (Share)

We had a look at the Cybersmart curriculum this week. This is designed to empower learners as connected and confident decision makers with the understanding that learning is visible and ubiquitous (available at any time, anywhere by anyone). Over the years, devices, connection and access to the web has grown significantly. With this in mind, the Cybersmart curriculum aims to foster confident, connected, actively involved, lifelong learners in this arena.

Tip: Modelling positive Cybersmart language is a key element of this curriculum. Focusing on positive, thoughtful and helpful comments enables students to recognise when something is not right (we should focus on the do's rather than the don'ts).

Later in the day we had the opportunity to use Chromebooks and iPads to complete tasks so we could get a feel for what these devices are like to use for students. The idea was that classes are using one device per student (regardless of which one) so each student would have a personal account. Introducing the Kawa of Care at the beginning of the year is beneficial so students know how to look after these devices from day one. 

Chromebooks: We looked at the Digital Dig which enables students to find shortcuts when using apps. I have used this before with my class but it was good to revisit as a refresher (and learn a few more shortcuts that will be useful). 

Here is my (almost) finished Digital Dig:
 


iPads: We had a play with the Explain Everything app and used drawing tools, photos, shapes and recordings to produce a piece of work. It's good to see what younger students at school are using and how this app uses the same language for functions (copy, paste etc) that they have when using chromebooks.

Here is my poster:

We had a task where we used a recording app to discuss an area of Cybersmart. I chose screencastify as this is something both my students and I are familiar with. The area I chose was about using key words from questions when searching for information on the web. I chose this because I thought it could be a useful lesson with my class.
 
 We reflected on:
  • What are the key messages/learning intentions in this lesson?

  • How could you personalise this lesson for your learners?

  • What would it look like on your learning site?

  • Are there opportunities within one of your current lessons to integrate these cybersmart concepts?

It was more challenging that I though it was going to be as I am more used to explaining a task or strategy rather than commenting on something created by someone else. 

Here's what I came up with:


Friday, 28 August 2020

Being Connected (Day #6 of DFI)

Another kaupapa of Manaiakalani is the concept of being connected. Technological advances have given us the ability to be able to connect, not only with our schools or our communities, but nationally and even globally. This means we can draw from an increasing accessibility to information from more and more sources, as well as to share our understanding and learning to a wider audience. During lockdown it has been beneficial having the connectivity we do have to continue learning while being confined to our homes.

A couple of things to consider when connecting with students via a class site:
  • Visual appeal (theme, layout, font)
  • Functionality and access to learning tasks (limit the clicks)
We spent some time looking at class sites from a variety of levels at different schools throughout the country. It's always refreshing to see what else is out there (much like visiting and observing in other classrooms). We looked at the visual appeal and functionality of some of these sites and noted what worked and what didn't (influenced by our own preferences and biases of course). It was good to then reflect on my own site and consider these aspects also.

In scrutinising my class site (along with feedback from my group) I set some goals for improvements. Something I added to learning tasks in maths during the first lockdown was using screencastify clips to demonstrate the strategies being used so students have something to help them as needed. I usually add a button with a link to the video clip for them to use if they get stuck or if they want to see how to do something in particular. The buttons look like this:
...so students know where to go for help.

I continued to do this once we returned to school. Now I see the benefits of doing this in maths, I see that I could do something similar for reading and writing. This can be especially helpful when students have been absent or out of class for any reason.

I spent some times adding clips to some current (and also some generic) activities for both of these curriculum areas. I think it's important to keep the button consistent so students are familiar with its purpose.

Below is a linked image of my class site. Feel free to have a browse...



And here is a linked image of one of the examples of a learning task with the screencastify clip...




TIP/Reminder: The process for making buttons for a site - design it on a Google Drawing; change the canvas to fit the size of the button; download as a png; upload it to your site. Dabuttonfactory(clickminded) is also an option for creating buttons.

Friday, 21 August 2020

Setting Our Sites On Visible Learning (Day #5 of DFI)

We started our session looking at one of the aspects of the Manaiakalani kaupapa - the idea that teaching and learning is visible. When we look in our classrooms there are some questions we might like to ask ourselves:

  • Can we see what is being taught? 
  • Can we see what is being learnt? 
  • Is teaching and learning visible to teachers, learners and whanau? 
We need to be intentional in making the teaching and learning visible (what we find on whiteboards and in modelling books can also be present in the digital world):

  • Learners can view their learning via their class site 
  • Teachers can view learning via the teacher dashboard (Hapara)
  • Whanau can view learning via the class site as well as the class blog and individual student blogs
We spent a good part of the day creating and developing a site (my group's was based on the theme of superheroes). It was good to have a bit of a refresher on how to create a new site as it has been a while since I have done this. To make a site more child-friendly there are some things to consider:

  • Use graphics and colours more than chunks of text
  • The fewer the clicks the greater the chance of students finding the correct task
  • Using voice/video recordings can assist students with understanding what the task requires
Note: when linking pages to the Home Page it is important to remember to open the preview of the page you are linking or you might give editing access to your audience (likewise when you are sharing the link to your site - first open the preview and copy the URL)

Below is an image of my site (the link is attached so, go ahead...click on it). It might be a little on the unfinished side but it's a work in progress (I need a super power where I can stop time in order to get everything done that I need to!)


Friday, 14 August 2020

Learning During Lockdown (Day #4 for the DFI)

The fourth session of our DFI happened at the beginning of the second round of lockdown (Level 3 for Auckland). We started the day with sharing how things are going then focused on the third element of the Manaiakalani pedagogy: Share/Tohatoha.

Sharing is nothing new - people have been doing it forever (things like stories, food, laughter, possessions, ideas etc). The digital age has given us an unlimited format for sharing with social media platforms and the ability to share things worldwide instantly. One thing we need to be mindful of when sharing is: who is our audience? Sharing also leads us back to learning, completing the cycle of Learn/Create/Share.

Throughout the rest of the day we looked at Google Forms, Google Maps and Google Sheets. Some notes about how these could be used with my students: 

  • Forms - useful for questionnaires and quizzes. You can look at results on graphs once these are completed and see individual responses. As a teacher I could use Forms to gather information or responses from my class and test their knowledge. My students could also use Forms to create quizzes on particular topics or areas of learning to test their peers (which could also help to consolidate their own learning)
  • Maps - can be used to locate different places (locally, nationally and globally), to measure distances, to plot a journey (historical, imagined etc). These could be used in different subject areas linked to their learning. In the image below I have created a map to show locations I have stayed outside of New Zealand...

  • Sheets - this is probably suited more for me as a teacher rather than for something for my students. These are helpful for inputting, organising and analysing data. One area that students might be able to use Sheets is statistics. They could collate information/results and create graphs to share or compare data. In the image below I have used Sheets to show the number of posts on my class blog since the beginning of 2018...
(Hmmm...not as many so far this year...I wonder why that could be...)

My learning curve has definitely been heading upward with the things I have been using from Google Docs. I think that, after having some time to have more of a play around with some of these apps, I'll be feeling more confident and capable.

Friday, 7 August 2020

A Little Bit Further...(Day #3 of the DFI)

Here is a slideshow animation I created during this session of the DFI...


We unpacked the second component of the Manaiakalani pedagogy: Create.
It makes sense that providing opportunities for students to use what they have learned to create something meaningful serves to increase their understanding. Doing so in fun, creative ways makes learning more enjoyable and engaging.


There were many skills I picked up from the session today including the following:
  • Creating my own YouTube Channel. Adding videos to playlists: find the clip you want; click on the icon below (three lines and a +), file it and change it to unlisted (so anyone with the link can view). Helpful tip: when you have searched for a clip you can click on the three dots to the right and save it to your playlists. Creating a collaborative channel can be useful also: open the playlist, click on the three dots, collaborate - copy and share the link with the people you want to join (they will need to subscribe to it)
  • Using Google Draw to create an 'About Me' sidebar for my blog
  • Using a slideshow to create an animation (see clip above)

There were some useful tips from today's sessions using different media. Some helpful tips I could share with students include:
  • Google Draw - use Word Art to create titles as this allows for more creativity (changing colours/gradients and borders etc); put images into shapes (and change shapes using the cropping tool)
  • Google Slides - ditch the format and start with a blank slide; be consistent with colours and fonts; use short texts to make it easier/friendlier to read; keep group slides consistent and use pictures and titles to let students know it's their group/task
  • Creating animation on Google Slides: choose a theme; find a back ground (use explore); find a character (make it a png so there is no background); place character on the slide; duplicate the slide; select the character and use the arrow keys to move a little at a time (or enlarge slightly for each slide)
Having a chance to use and explore these Google apps, with support for any needs, helps to improve my confidence and skillset so I can pass this on to my students. I'm looking forward to creating some animations in class!


Revision (Day #9 of DFI)

For our final session of our DFI we looked at Ubiquitous Learning (learning at any time, anywhere and at any pace from anyone). This has bee...