Day 9 DFI Manaiakalani

DFI Cohort #3 Recount


We're done! Success! Congratulations to everyone in our DFI who passed the Google Educator Level 1 exam we've been working towards.

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

In terms of this DFI & Manaiakalani's kaupapa & pedagogy, this DFI helped me to relate more to the idea of a digital classroom and how the development of such will aid my students to further their knowledge and give them that extra chance for success later on in life.

"Teaching and learning is clearly the umbrella mechanism to activate and sustain the pedagogy, which is essential for learning, whānau engagement, and device readiness. There is an expectation that participants will constantly reflect on how well they are doing in relation to the Learn Create Share pedagogy. This pedagogy drives toward visible and ubiquitous learning, strong learner agency and connectedness to grow knowledge." - Manaiakalani.org

Elements of Learn, Create, Share from Manaiakalani.

• What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?

Personally, much of the information we gained throughout the DFI has helped me through many aspects of creating resources as a new teacher. On top of this, it has helped my students to learn, create & share their own assignments. Though much of the add-ons & applications were familiar to me, it was useful to become more adept & confident using the software.

The big idea of this DFI was to obtain the capabilities of combining the pedagogy & kaupapa of Manaiakalani with the digital tools to invigorate learning amongst our students. I feel that this 'journey' has aided to bring a shorter end to the prolonged inevitable of teachers having difficulties with the incorporation of a digital classroom.

• What did I learn that could be used with my learners?  

Before this DFI, I felt that my learners knew more about the software than I did! Luckily, after completing this, I will have the opportunity to transfer my knowledge to them to incorporate in their work & their personal lives.

• What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?

In general: ORGANIZATION! Going into this DFI, I aimed to be more adept with the software so that it would be easier to locate/ organize my work & data. Especially during this time of year with assessments.

Goodluck to everyone on the rest of their term!

Day 8 DFI Manaiakalani

CYBERSMART

Being Cybersmart is a key landmark in Manaiakalani's pedagogy. Though it goes fairly in-depth, the following are the heavy focus for the first three terms:

- Smart Learners: Term 1
- Smart Footprint: Term 2
- Smart Relationships: Term 3

Digital Dig

As Educators, it's important to learn about Chromebooks and Ipads since our learners use them on a regular basis for their learning. 'Digital Dig' is a short workshop developed by Manaiakalani to help students improve their shortcut skills on their Chromebook to make learning more efficient. Below are some of the positives and negatives I found while working with the Chromebook over a short period of time.

Positives:

- Relatively Fast

- Quick shortcuts (if you know them)

- Privacy for students (GTS is capable of only allowing them to use the GTS wifi)

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Negatives:

- Too many shortcuts (would take a long time to learn)

- Not too many applications available (or not readily available) 

- Buttons on the keyboard at the top tend to be a little confusing.

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Despite the positives and negatives, what's important is the learner's capability of participating, engaging and becoming more digitally fluent.

Below is my video using the Chrome Extension 'Screencastify' talking about Manaiakalani's pedagogy regarding a Smart Footprint when it comes to surfing the web. It's critical as a learner and an educator to leave a positive digital footprint.






Goodluck to everyone writing the Google Educator exam next week!! :)

Day 7 DFI Manaiakalani

          Today in DFI, we focused on utilizing different resources to touch upon the new Digital Curriculum beginning next year. The idea is to connect with the Empowerment stage of Manaiakalani's pedagogy & kaupapa.
Some of these resources give students the opportunity to learn about what's becoming a technologically driven society. Since so many of our students come from lower decile backgrounds, they can't necessarily afford this type of technology - that's why it's important they have the opportunity while in school and to help them get ahead!

Scratch

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tutorial=getStarted
- Utilized for beginner coders. It allows students to get creative and create games, animations, etc.

Algorithms 

- Using a kinesthetic activity, students can learn how algorithms help organize data/ solve problems.
- I thought this was a particularly useful activity. Personally - I couldn't tell you the first thing about algorithms. I can hardly spell it correctly at times. Through this one activity, I felt that I learned a solid amount for a fresh beginner.

Zombie Lights 

- Looked into showcasing inputs, outputs and basic electronics. Could potentially be useful in cross-curricular lessons. (Lesson Plan inserted below)
- It could also be useful in fixing the LED lights in my backyard.

Another helpful link from Viv: https://omgtech.co.nz/kaiako-wharenui/home
I look forward to using some of the lesson plans found on OMGTech with my 7/8s. Many of my students excel in these types of technology and several of these can help them reach the next step.