Digital Fluency Intensive - Cohort #2 2019 - Day Eight

Today we had two visitors to our DFI session; Dave Winter and Dorothy Burt. Dave is the Manaiakalani Education Leader and it was great to have him here today sharing his vast knowledge with us. Dorothy came to korero with a focus on being connected and sharing. It is always very interesting to listen to Dorothy and these sessions allow me to understand just a little more about the Manaiakalani pedagogy.

We started our session with Venessa (Creating Google Forms with Venessa) introducing us to Google Forms. I have only used forms in a limited capacity but after today's session I realised that there are so many other uses.  A few ways that I will use google forms in my class with my learners is to get feedback from them on various aspects of our classroom, for eg, relections, engagement, class site etc. There are also many other ways that I can now see myself using google forms with my students and whanau.

Dorothy spoke to us about sharing and making connections. There are many ways to make connections but the best connections come with sharing. She listed a number of things that need to be taken into consideration when the students are learning to make connections digitally such as; being cybersmart, being part of a supportive environment, leaving comments that are 'Positive Thoughtful and Helpful'. 

My understanding of connectedness within the Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy increased as I have a clearer understanding on how Manaiakalani enables kids in Northland to connect with others in a kind way. WWhat did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?e are helping to create a generation of students who can be kind online - helping kids to be internet awesome! Online toolkits and Tuhu Mai Tuhu Atu are just some ways that connections can be made. 

Kerry introduced us to 'Google My Maps'. This is the first time I have ever used this google app and I was really impressed with the possibilities that it could offer my students. They love google earth and I know that they will really enjoy having a tutu with this app too.

One of the key concepts today was dealing with data which is something I feel confident about as I have used Microsoft Excel for years to manage my class data. I have been comfortable using excel but this year I have moved across to Google Sheets with a lot of trial and error. It was great to get a few tips and tricks today.

These tips and tricks have definitely improved my capability as a professional. Looking closer at data today, creating a graph, putting it into a poster and publishing on my blog showed me how easy it is to do. I am going to do this for my recent inquiry data.

In my personal life I know I could use google sheets for organising aspects of my husband's business and also financial monthly reporting for our local basketball association. This is going to be a 'work in progress!'