Session 9: External Recognition

 Reflecting on the last 8 weeks of learning...

I thought the way the course was delivered was excellent. The opportunity to work online from wherever you needed meant access for all. Organisationally it had been well thought through and planned for, moving between whole group to small group and targeted group sessions. Because of this set up I never felt like I had an unanswered question or didn't have the support I required - which I had though may happen through not having a 'real life' tutor. I loved that there was always a practical part to each day where we had the chance to create something that could be of further use to us, this was so beneficial to be practising the use of various tools whilst at the same time working on something that would be of value after. The supporting background information surrounding Manaiakalani and their pedagogy was interesting and supported the 'why' behind the importance of understanding and using the digital tools.

The part I found most beneficial was the PD on tools I use on a regular basis - calendar, docs, slides. Improving my use of these tools has already enhanced my everyday practise and streamlining workflow. The other sessions around building sites and the relevance of content I also found useful. Through our deep dives of looking at other peoples sites and considering how well the site functioned and the information it shared gave a great insight into what should be shared on my own site. Then the learning of how to make the site was great and I found this very useful, for now and in the future.

Today was exam today and, wohoo, I passed! Great to have so many resources to pull from that had been shared with us.  I did find it interesting that when I went to Google a question, it popped up straight away, obviously it had been asked before!  Colleagues had told me how difficult the exam was, which they had scenario based questions also.  I feel that we got away a bit more lightly with only multichoice.

It has been a great opportunity to have the whole day for 9 weeks to focus on this learning of digital tools and how to implement this in the classroom.  It is a vital part of our future and it will be something I will need to continue upskilling myself in.

Session 8: Computational Thinking

 Manaiakalani - Empowered of Learners and Teachers.  Empowerment is choice.  Dorothy shared the lack of choice of many communities, they are just making it through on what they have and there is no choice beyond this.  In these lower decile schools (Tamaki) the 5 year olds arriving at school are academically the level of a 3 year old with vocab difference of 32 million words.  Decile 1 schools have a turn over of 1/3, because the choice of where you live is taken away so turnover increases.  Are we using tech tools to empower these whanau.  Manaikalini has created the programme to ensure there is empowerment and equality for all at a price that is affordable.

Digital Technology Curriculum - this is created so students aren't just consumers, but creators of solutions through the use of technology.  Not all about computers or digital, PO1 and PO2 are a non computerised task.  Don't be put off by jargon terms, in fact important for us to use so students understand.  Appreciated the time to explore TKI Technology Online space.  What was reassuring was the fact that we are already doing many things that fit the Technologies curriculum, it is just being aware of the AOs and links.  I like the idea in one video I watched of the integration across curriculum - planning for inquiries to incorporate AOs from different curriculum area.  To me this creates deeper learning with real life context.

We then moved on to using coding programmes.  I tried code.org to explore simple coding with the Minecraft game, as I haven't done a lot of coding, it seemed easy enough to follow so moved onto Scratch as couldn't do Scratch Jr, I found this pretty difficult to follow!  So I went back to code.org to try the Flappy Bird game, I found this page much easier to follow with the step by step instructions along the top.  I think the children would love exploring this!

We then had a play with Tinkercad, as another group member said it was harder than it looks! Thinking of children that love to design and build this is an awesome programme for them - with lots of Maths!  My whare I created is below.

All in all today was a bit harder for me, coding is not something I have spent a lot of time on.  So lots of learning and understanding for me to take on board today.

Looking forward to the external recognition next week, some revision to do before I think :)