Wiki Tua8:  Ko te Rāapa te 30 o Whiringa-ā-rangi 2022

Today we talked about the Manaiakalani Kaupapa of empowerment. It was pleasing to see how learners born into circumstances of disempowerment with lower digital skills were able to take back control of their own lives. This is achieved through empowered educators getting into schools that needed them the most and finding ways to engage learners to use digital tools.

One area of concern was the gap between students with lower digital skills using the internet less frequently in comparison to students who used the internet readily having a higher level of digital skills. One service that stood out to me was the EDOS – Equitable Digital Operating Service which is a streamlined, no-cost internet and tech support for unconnected households with children in Manaiakalani schools. I thought this was an excellent way to empower communities to enter and explore new learning environments and move forward with the digital world.

This was complemented by our deep dive into the future of tech and what it means for our tamariki. Especially as we prepare them for the future world and future jobs that may not even exist yet but are coming in the very near future. It was also interesting to investigate the moral dilemmas that can occur when programming machines to make moral decisions. I am particularly interested in how Te Reo Māori will adapt in the future and look forward to more Reo speaking technology services that emulate natural human speech.

Finally, I really did enjoy the time we spent exploring, attempting and discovering different coding resources available for various skill levels. From the first steps that explored basic block coding to delving deeper into text based code. These resources are a great way to give learners the opportunity to create and design with digital technologies rather than only being consumers.

I had the opportunity to create a dance party on code.org this afternoon. It was a fun and interactive way of practicing creating coding sequences and making my ideas and learning visible. It was a little bit tricky at first but once I took the time to move through the tutorials it got lots easier. I think my group of learners at Edmund Hillary School would really enjoy making their own dance party and would relish the time spent to see their creations come to fruition.

Click on the image below to view the dance party that I created today.

Ka nui tēnei.

Ngā mihi maioha

After another busy week at school, I was relieved to discover that part of this week’s learning will go over some of the expectations of the google educator’s exam next week. Having not sat an exam or assessment for a few years, and being a bit of a perfectionist, the thought that I will be entering into an assessment with a very real chance of failure – is daunting!  I am very much looking forward to seeing the sorts of questions to expect.  

However, our main focus today is around the whole idea of technology and how it may impact our lives in the future.  I enjoyed watching the clip of the Jetsons.  I watched this when I was young – must’ve been during the 70’s – and I often think back to the video phones they had in their house, and the hovering cars. It makes me reflect on how quickly technology is changing our lives so that what was once fictional, is already well embedded in our daily lives.  I am often reminded that the first time I watched someone ‘reading’ facebook, I noticed some videos that began moving as the ‘reader’ scrolled to it and was reminded of the newspapers in ‘Harry Potter’ with moving videos in place of photos. This was before any of the movies came out so I only had my imagination to picture what these looked like and this was exactly what I had imagined.  

I guess it was a reminder during Dorothy’s presentation about poverty and low socio-economic areas, like the area my college is in, that the reason some of our students who have been absent for long stretches this year, is because they’ve been out working or babysitting younger siblings. It’s great to think of how technology, if everyone has access to it,  can be the great leveler.  It’s a reminder to make sure as many students as possible are able to access devices and have wifi wherever possible.  This empowers them to learn and have the same opportunity as anyone else.

Today also had me reflecting on when I was a Dean and dealing with a year 10 student who just wouldn’t get off his gaming during class for long enough to engage at all. His mother had come in and we were trying very hard to find a way to get him to feel there was a purpose in engaging with the material in lessons.  I asked him what he thought he might like to do when he left school.  He replied ‘Gaming’, an answer his mother and I thought was beyond hilarious – although obviously we didn’t actually laugh.  He continued,  “People will pay to watch me play games!”  Look who had the last laugh – if he was any good that would actually be a possibility now.

The last part of today’s sessions was to have a bit of a play around to learn some basics of coding.  I was a little disappointed that the session I had been keen to have a go at wasn’t available, I’m guessing the presenter wasn’t available today, and then I couldn’t find where to join another group.  It really does show that sometimes the instructions have to be extremely basic and clear.  Of course when I looked back later it was completely obvious!!  Anyway, I ended up going back into Vicki’s one, where I discovered everyone was already involved in naming parts of a Waka in ‘Scratch’.  I decided at that point I would just work through some tutorials and see what I could learn.  Currently, my animated poem has the poem read by me (I learned how to do this during Vicki’s instructions to the rest of the group) and have been trying to work out how to link the movement of my ‘sprite’s’ to an action on the keyboard. I’ll update my animation later as currently it isn’t working how I planned.  

All in  all – heaps of learning!! … and now back to checking reports.

Week 8

After reading the slide deck for “Empowered” I had regrets not being able to attend Day 8 of DFI to hear Dorothy share. I would like to share my own understanding of empowerment although I do feel I may not do justice to the core message. 

Taken from Google, Empowered means to make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights. I personally feel that being in control of your future is something that gives you hope, optimism, and a genuine sense of autonomy. There are large populations who feel as though they don’t have control and don’t have many choices. It may be that you would like to get a new job with better pay but you don’t have sufficient qualifications or experience. Or it could be the other way around where you like to further your education but you must work to financially support your family. These situations are very real and faced by people in our communities. 

We can empower a generation of students by giving them the tools and knowledge they need to take control and make their own decisions in life. One of these tools involves being digitally fluent in a world where technology is evolving. Education gives people choices and the freedom to pursue things that are personally meaningful. 

The Future of Tech

The advancement of technology is rapidly increasing and what we thought was a mere dream is now becoming a reality.  It does pose the question “ What are we teaching our students, to prepare them for future jobs”? Within the last 10 years, there have been numerous new jobs have created due to the advancement of technology. So, where to now? This space is one of great interest to me and I look forward to keeping a tab on the job market as we move further into this decade. If there was one piece of technology I could implement in my class it would be VR Headsets. Having the ability to put your students anywhere in the world and experience new things that might not get to experience is a game changer.

Coding

Technology is all around us and as teachers, we need to embrace this and get our hands “dirty”. I got my hands dirty and experimented with scratch. This was by far the most challenging task that I have completed on DFI. Not having a coach with me made me realise how important it is to have someone who is digitally fluent. I spent time trying to navigate this space and with not much success.  

 Empowerment equals Choice

Today was about building up our learners to prepare for their future. Empowerment means having voice, ownership and choice over our learning. The reality of many of our learners is that their circumstances can limit their choices. Fundamental choices are not available for some students who often start school being disadvantaged. Many whanau have factors that limit empowerment and choice. Some of our students become transient learners which can also inhibit advancement. Becoming digitally fluent can provide transformational possibilities.

With positive, helpful and thoughtful conversing at least five times a day, learners become trained in responding and contributing in their own learning in positive ways. Effective infrastructure, teaching and digital equipment help our students overcome some of the difficulties they may have no power over. This helps students take back control of their learning.

Today we learnt some ways for students to explore and discover effective digital tools and equipment that can reflect and enhance their learning. We looked at the differences between design technologies and becoming digitally fluent.We delved into the Digital Technologies Curriculum which was clear and linked into by overlapping with what we are already doing.

I had never really explored the TKI Digital Technologies  but found many useful resources, sequenced progressive learning outcomes, related videos and digital exemplars that I will use with my class and link into my planning.

The three digital technology strands for learning outcomes are: Practise, Knowledge and Technology.

We got to explore some first steps basic coding activities that I will definitely use with my class as well as look at many more for exploring computational thinking :

I think the fun part of the day for me was looking at Creating with Coding where we got to try Waka Reo with Vicki.There are many uses for Scratch such as practising Te reo, labelling shapes, making decisions and most importantly sharing our learning. I was a little bit slow to finish mine but playing around with the tools was fun. I will certainly use this activity with my class.

       https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/770193981/editor/

I wanted to finish by saying learning is all about students modelling, explaining and sharing with others. Digitally fluent teachers help students become digitally fluent learners with many platforms for empowerment.

Thanks to all the coaches, especially Matt who has an awesome humour works at your pace and explains clearly. I have thoroughly enjoyed this start to my Manaiakalani journey and have a lot to further explore with my students.

Today we considered the potential for computational thinking to improve equity, well-being, quality of life, and career options.  Those well-paid, inside jobs, with good working conditions and fringe benefits!

Naturally, the more tax paid, the more the government can redistribute income and provide services to improve the standard of living of its more vulnerable citizens. Of course, in order for this to be aspirational, all learners need to be represented in the role models and case studies of digital technologies.

Cultural self -determination is strengthened by improving equity of access to digital devices and digital education. Especially in a Learn-Create-Share setting where student experience provides the foundation for learning, and curious minds are fostered.

The Create task with Phil involved using an adapted Computer Science Unplugged task to understand the code for a pixel image on a spreadsheet grid.

Here is my  Pixel Task

I think this could be another way to create and display tiny cross-stitch designs,  such as from Mega Mini Cross Stitch by Makoto Oozu

Phil mentioned this Summer Learning Journey and the Manga design task which might appeal to arty students.