DFI - Session Eight

Today we started with Pedagogy and Kaupapa around the word 'Empowered' and what this means within the Manaiakalani programme. Technology is not just a tool, it transforms the way we learn and offers learners new experiences and opportunities. Dorothy talked a little about her community cluster and how they ensured that the students were empowered and had equity to be able to learn with technology.

Computation thinking - what is it? Computation thinking means thinking or solving problems using technology. 'A digitally fluent person can decide when and why to use specific digital  technologies to achieve a specific task or solve problems' (MOE, 2018). The Manaiakalani programme helps teachers to become digitally fluent, to create digitally fluent students. This is a way forward for students to be successful 21st Century learners. I am still going to do more learning around computation thinking to ensure I have a sound understanding.

Coding - We were given the opportunity to give coding a go or to extend current knowledge this afternoon. Students in my hub that I have worked with seem to be interested in coding so I really enjoyed having the time to be able to explore and up skill myself with coding. Scratch Junior is a wonderful app and today I was also exposed to game.kodable.com. I am going to introduce this to my students through our challenge room. 

I was also exposed to gamefroot.com where I was creating with the Mihi maker. I found this really hard to use and navigate. I would like my students to be able to use this to present there MihiMihi so I am going to spend some more time figuring it out and create a video to help my students use it. 

I am off to study for the Google Exam! Do you have any advice for me? 

DFI - Day One

Today was the first day of the DFI course. DFI stands for Digital Fluency Intensive. I was asked if I would like to complete the DFI course online due to Covid-19. I was a little apprehensive as it was going to be totally online. One thing I had more confidence in due to distance learning at home was navigating my way around Google Meets, this was very helpful as DFI uses Google Meets.
I learnt about the Manaiakalani Kaupapa and pedagogy. Little did I know that MK actually started many years ago beginning with 13 schools all with close proximity to each other. Manaiakalani has been designed to motivate learners to engage with the curriculum and become 21 C Learners. 

A few things that stood out for me today:
Voice typing in Google docs - this is a life changer not only for myself but also my learners who have trouble typing things quickly. It will allow them to focus on their writing and ideas rather than the typing side. 
Another top tip was (Shift Z) this makes a copy of the document but also moves it into your drive. This is a great way to get documents without making a copy as the document will still continue to be updated with any changes. 
The website remove.bg is also a life changer in making documents look more professional as it removes the white background from an image. 



Inserting a table in Google docs - In the past I have spent ages arranging images on the page and getting them to stay there. Using tables allows you to do this so quickly and nothing moves, bonus! Check out my learn, create, share that I made on docs! I usually make them in Google drawings. Bring on DFI week 2.