Maniakalani DFI: day 2 Workflow

At the start of the session we talked about all of the successes and challenges that we have had after our first session. Everyone found aspects of what we learned very helpful and most have implemented some things. I personally liked using remove.bg and headings with links when creating docs. It's always great sharing ideas with others and finding out they are travelling the same path as me and facing the same challenges with remembering everything.

Part 2 was about using Google Meet. This was a great way to remember how to use this effectively as we used this comprehensively during last years lockdown. Once again I had forgotten some of the tools you can use and also we learnt about the updates that have happened since I last used Meet.

The session with Dorothy Burt on the Maniakalani Pedagogy was very helpful, the following statement really sums up how I personally feel about the use of digital technology in schools.

Dorothy explained that the whole idea is for schools and Maniakalani to form a partnership where the school provides a localised and relevant curriculum and Maniakalani provide a support structure/framework. A very important point is that schools mix digital technologies with existing highly effective practices.

"Computers are not the silver bullet"

One thing I have noticed through working with the students for 4 years on the devices is how engaged they can become when you introduce them to new and exciting ways of learning through the use of their chromebooks. Reading is one area in particular where the level of engagement has increased, especially among boys and our lower readers. Dorothy backed this up when she stated that: 

"Great teaching + Digital Technology = Accelerated learning"

All of this means that we can 'Turbo Charge' teaching through the creation of activities that previously were never thought possible.

Things I'm happy about:

• Organising my Gmail account
• Using Google Meet
• Taming my tabs

Things to look at during this week that I'm not clear about:

• Working with Google Keep (I've never used this before)
• Using Google Calendar effectively, in particular appointment slots which will be great to remember ongoing appointments the students have (counselling etc), music lessons and sports lessons.
• Have a look at One tab to see if it would work for me.
• The session on creating a Meet, recording it and then embedding the presentation was really informative. I had never tried this before and will work out how we can use it with our students. Previously we have been hesitant to let the kids create Meets as we had problems over lockdown time with kids staying on the Meet and creating chaos. I also found out how to find an embed code for the Meet video as previously I couldn't work it out. The step I was missing was to open the video in another tab and then the embed code appears. Excellent.

 

Overall reflection of the day.

Today was another informative day with lots of opportunities to practise what we were learning. I particularly liked what Dorothy had to say about incorporating digital technologies into our already established teaching practices. I've always felt that chromebooks open up a whole new world for the learners and teachers but we mustn't forget how we managed and prepared for lessons before they (chromebooks) arrived. I have seen, many times in our studio, how the use of technology has increased the engagement levels in our students and how it really does help accelerate their learning.

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Sharon, Vicki and Emily are always obliging and offer excellent tips to help us find our way through the Google maze.