DFI 2

Google Hangouts v Google Meet. 

Hangout effectively means that you can share your screen with the others in the group, whereas Meet is just video.

Etiquette

Noise within the group. Muting your microphone is crucial! The screen changes according to who is making noise... so if you are a foot-tapper or fidgeter (I am!!!) this could be quite disruptive and frustrating for the other members of your group.

Headphones reduce the amount of feedback so sound quality is better with them. I quickly realised that I need headphones for my laptop! - My iPhone ones arent compatible! If using a laptop and phone, there is a delay between you talking and hearing.

Manaiakalani Pedagogy - Ako.

Effective teaching. Accelerated Learning.

Our DFI Goals:

3. Our teachers are supported to understand how digital technologies used effectively can have a significant impact on accelerating achievement outcomes.

4. Our teachers are supported to understand how the Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa has been co-constructed over more than a decade to maximise the impact of effective teaching and learning in a digital learning environment.

It's all about Increasing teacher effectiveness and accelerating learning outcomes in this digital environment. Supporting teachers to move from analogue to digital.

We need to be recognising the amazing things happening in our Kura and Amplify its impact by sharing it out. 

Turbocharge - doing things that have never been done before.

Challenge: What teacher actions are promoting student learning?

What does LEARN (effective practice) look like in my school? (Recognise Effective Practice).

What are the programs in our school that make learning happen? 

Great teaching + digital affordances =acceleration.

I'm reminded that I need to be more conscious when designing my reading experience, that I need to be including more text for general consumption.

I've been touching on the SAMR model (Dr Ruben Puentedura), for a number of years now. I really liked this link into Blooms, as I'm mindful that a number of teachers still refer to Blooms. 

Manaiakalani Google Class On Air

Teachers have webcams in their classes and are capturing learning online. You can look at them and see effective practice in action.

Google Keep

Found on the sidebar of Slides, Gmail, Calendar, etc is Google Keep. Another game changer! Even more fantastic... having it connected on your phone. With your phone, you can add voice notes. You can also take a photo of text, open it in Google keep, click the 3 dots... grab text and HELLO... it types it for you! Think about handouts in meetings/conferences... School Journals... so many different uses.

Gmail

We learned about a number of features to create a better workflow with your Gmail.
- undo send! You can change your settings so that you can retrieve a sent email within up to 30 seconds.

- Smart Compose (Tab to enter... on phone just tap at the end of the sentence.)

- Nudges... keeps me on my toes.

- Smart Reply - Great for responding quickly to acknowledge that you've seen it.

- Stars - I was running just a yellow star. Now I've got "All-Stars"... game changer!!! I can have different colours as well as a few different buttons. I'm using these to quickly sift emails I need to go back and action etc.

Keyboard shortcuts...

- G+T = Sent box

- G+V= Moved to

- G+S + Starred

We also created Labels to tame the inbox. We do it for our Google Drive, so it makes sense that we would our Gmail too.

Calendar

W discovered a number of previously unknown Shortcuts:

D - Day view

A - Agenda

W - Week view

x  - 4 weeks

in month view - J = previous, K =  next month

Create "Appointment Slots" - set the timeframes and then send it out. This would be fantastic for inviting people to make a suitable time for professional discussions etc.

Controlling Tabs

One Tab 

- Great for taming tabs!!! Clears them from all being tabbed. I for one am terrible qat running a ridiculous number of tabs on a number of windows... potentially even multiple personalities!

- Great to "lock" the list so that they stay there. Can get rid of the work tabs, without actually getting rid ot them.

Toby - mini

Collects them under collections. Easy grouping when running a lot of tabs at once. More visual than just the tabs at the top. I am loving this one! I can group my tabs according to "Planning", "School Leader" stuff and just having a play in general.

Other Handy Tools:

Colour picker

Colour Zimmer

Extensity Extension... to turn extensions on/off when not being used.

QuickTime Player

Today was my first time using QuickTime Player to record our groups' discussion. It served as a great reminder of what it's like to be in the sandpit getting stuck! I had thought that the first member of our group was silent... perhaps muted... alas no. I hadn't increased the sound for recording!

The next trick for young players arose when the sound feedback was becoming phenomenal. We need to be very mindful of where our microphone is located in relation to our device. One example was with the earbuds. Wearing one, with the other dangling, caused huge feedback. Also, the microphone being too close while holding up the laptop.

Please don't be brutal with our recording... It was the first time for all!!!

DFI Day 1

Dorothy Burt kicked off our day with a recap of the kaupapa and pedagogy of Manaiakalani. It was a great reaffirmation of why we do what we do; why we are challenging the way that things are done; and why there is a responsibility to up our game. The rationale is a no-brainer. The data is there to show that it works. The misunderstandings that prevailed by naysayers, such as "it's a digital thing" or "it's a senior school thing", are hopefully drifting to the wayside now.

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

Google Groups

Streamlining communication.
A really easy way to go in and see all emails sent & received within that group, without all the others interspersed. Labels can be added to the emails, e.g. "agenda", making it easier to navigate looking for the right message.
For a parent group, there's no need to BCC like you do in contacts, as all addresses are automatically hidden. Parents would receive the email in the usual way. There's no confusing system for them to navigate, however, if they wanted to they could navigate into groups to see what has been sent through the group.

Underestimating Docs

For so long, we have sent the message to kids of not defaulting to a Doc. To use a Google Drawing or Slide or something more creative. It's been easy to forget that Docs can be a little more creative than just typing up minutes for meetings.

Chrome 

• Cleaning up User Profiles in Chrome.
• Tweaking the bookmarks bar to make it more streamlined and user-friendly.
• Tips and tricks for getting the most out of your omnibox.
• Jumping between tabs quickly.

Google

• Organising your drive and the way things are filed.
• Sharing Folders and Documents in a more effective way, particularly when there is shared ownership.

Chrome Extensions

I've added a number of new useful add-ons and chrome extensions to use within the classroom. 

• Doc to Form
• Word cloud generator
• Draftback
• eZnotifications
• ChangeCase
• Easy Accents
• Docu Tube
• so many more...

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

Voice typing

I've been a passionate advocate for defaulting to voice typing for a while now, due to its ability to take out the barriers that handwriting or typing might bring. Voice typing has also shown to be improving speaking and oral language. Getting kids to read out loud, then compare the voice typed page to the page that they have read from, and asking "Why do you think it is different?". With some children, it is improving the clarity of their speech as well as their annunciation.

Insert Lifehack... Throw away Coffee cups, with the bottom removed!!! These can be used for the ākonga to speak through (aiming at their device) to minimise the impact of noise for the other learners within the learning space.

Writing prompts

We all love quick writes! The ability to create an opportunity to generate writing mileage as well as get kids excited about writing just by writing... well here's a new tool to use! The Most Dangerous writing prompt generator On the site, you have the option to "Free Write" . or be given a writing prompt. You then just start typing. It requires you to keep typing or the timing bar first changes colour, and then your print disappears, with the banned "You Failed" appearing on the screen. It challenges you to write continuously for 5 minutes. If you "fail", then there is the option of downloading what you've already done, so that it's not entirely lost forever. Obviously, for some kids it just won't work... but for those that may thrive on the challenge of being able to continuously write then it could be a great option.

remove.bg

A quick new tool to remove background for an image = remove.bg in the omnibar.

 

I could see this being great for kids to place an image of themselves in another place when writing about it. 

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

The Underline is dead!

If you're using underlining, you're showing your age! If there is a line under it, there's an assumption (particularly for our learners) that there is a link to click. They will click and complain that it doesn't work, rather than reading through. It is a policy of assent for their way of being.

So many quick keys and streamlined ways of doing things!

Let the Digital Fluency Intensive Journey begin

 After opening my blog to copy the link I realised just how long it has been, and how remiss I have been since I last published a blog post!

Two terms have passed this year and what a year it has been so far! Term 2 went by in a whirl, with the benefit of having a Grad School intern to enable a lot of extra testing and teaching to take place.  I have experienced some of the highs and lows in my teaching career. 

A highlight has been our school Multicultural day, seeing a student get up and sing his beloved Fijian National Anthem, with Mum brought to tears. So proud. I've seen akonga get stuck in and become excited about learning. They've really leapt on board with the transition to digital learning and grasped the benefits it brings.

My low was the loss of a student. One of the kindest gentlest souls I have ever had the pleasure to meet. A child who naturally leapt in and helped, evading being seen to be doing it and not seeking praise. His massive smile, beautiful singing voice, and killer Fortnite dance moves will not be forgotten. A child that just wanted to be at school.

Looking ahead towards the beginning of term 3, I can't help but feel I'm hitting the reset button. I've spent a fairly selfish two weeks of non-contact time, just recharging and ensuring a bit of self-care. 

This term I am excited to be taking part in the Digital Fluency Intensive. I see it as a fantastic opportunity to both up my game as well as share my learning within my Kura.