Digital Fluency Intensive-Session 1

Tuesday 23rd July, the second day back at school in term 3, 2019. Instead of working with my students I have had the opportunity to improve my own learning which will also assist the work of the students in my care.

Today began with us meeting others in the group and gaining insight into the Manaiakalani origins and pedagogy. We discussed the importance of how we can maximise learning in digital learning environments. Looking at our connections with digital technology and the importance of the Learn- Create- share model. This Learn-Create,-share model is important regardless of a school being 1-1 device or not. Dorothy Burt highlights that Learn-create,-share can happen anywhere. This focus is dependent on effective teaching practise and sharing with an authentic audience. Learn- create- share is the essence of what Manaiakalani  is. Evidence shows acceleration is possible and important not only in low decile schools but also in higher decile schools.

Dorothy discussed the Manaiakalani origins dating back to November 2006. It was interesting to note how Tamaki had some initial challenges, especially when during initial stages of being asked to be part of the cluster some schools said "not now." I also found it interesting that goals determined by teachers in 2007-2008 were future focused and still important today. Whanau as first partners was viewed as essential for Manaiakalani. Many Hui were held to collect the thoughts and wisdom of whanau as part of the  process. I see these facets continue to be important in what we do today. 

I enjoyed many aspects of today and gained new knowledge of how to create a google group. This is great for communication in a collaborative context, keeping all discussions in one place.

Members can be invited or directly added. I decided to create a google group for myself and other colleagues from my workplace for us to connect effectively. The reasons for creating the group may first need to be considered. 

Some other helpful things I learned that will assist me to be more efficient:

• If it’s not a hyperlink don’t use underlining. This will only confuse kids.
• Tools voice typing to enable less able students to be supported in their writing.
• Remove.bg to remove backgrounds.
• How to use tables to set items out evenly and eliminate black box text by making it the same colour as the background.
• How to create a word cloud:

Looking forward to the next session and to continue developing skills that will assist me both personally and professionally.