Digital Fluency Intensive - Session 1

Kia ora,

Today marks the first day of my involvement in the Digital Fluency Intensive. Three teachers from my school have already attended over the last 2 years and as the Senior School Team and Digital Team Leader I thought it was timely for me to engage with this programme too!

My journey with utilising chromebooks and Learn, Create, Share started in 2015 at May Road School. 5 years down the track I am still teaching in a 1:1 chromebook class (now at Hay Park School). Both of these schools are part of the Ako Hiko cluster based in Mt Roskill so I had a good understanding of the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy and developing visible and ubiquitous learning, and empowered and connected learners. Dorothy's presentation of the Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy highlighted the importance of partnership, protection and participation. What I wasn't aware of was the early years and the challenges involved in establishing the Maniakalani Education Trust. It always fascinates me that we are 20 years into the 21st century and yet there are some schools who have very limited access to devices!


I've been using google drive for several years (both professionally and personally) and have just started using the priority workspace area this year. Today's session was a good reminder about the basics of google docs and I learnt how to quickly format docs using headings - definitely a handy tip to work smarter not harder! I like the suggestion of using a template for students to write in with a table of contents and is something that I will consider. At present, I use collaborative writing docs called writers circles with a table of contents for students to navigate to their work easily.


There were several extensions that were shared that I am keen to explore with my learners. Some of my favourites are:

• Word cloud generator - would be a great visual for students to notice key words or which words they overuse in their writing. I'd like to trial it next week with my class next week where they list words/ characteristics/ traits that describe them. The fact that we can add it to their blogs and print them in class would be a great way to share some great vocabulary.
• Docutube - is another extension that I am keen to use with my class in the next few weeks. In the past I have found that some learners are easily distracted by other content that pops up when they are directed to youtube to view a video. I think docutube would be a great way to help focus students. 

A site that blew my mind this week was remove.bg Its simplicity makes it incredibly user friendly for students to use. We take a lot of photos at school of our learners and this is a great site that I will be sharing with all teaching staff (including our junior teachers and learning assistants) as the creativity possibilities are endless. 

My next steps are to manage my accounts and tidy up my bookmarks bar! I hadn't realised it but there are lot of sites that I type in every time I need it (eg: gmail, drive) that I could easily access through just one click!

I'm excited to further explore some of this new learning over the next week!