DFI Day 9 #9 Last One!

This morning we all sat the Google Level 1 exam and wait in anticipation for the results to come through.  Even if I don't pass I feel I have succeeded, I have learned such a lot over the course of the 9 weeks.  I always look forward to the Thursday session and come away with a head full of new learning.  My biggest 'take aways' that I have got from these sessions include:

• Ditch the Diary - I have not opened my paper diary in weeks, I am fully digital and using the calendar to keep track of meetings.  
• Work Flow - using the task bar to list and tick off tasks has been wonderful instead of having different lists in different places. Using the Pin the tab and Toby Mini has helped with organising tabs
• Google Keep - on a personal note this has helped with shopping lists and home 'to do' lists
• Tools - I feel I have a better understanding of Sheets and can manipulate information more easily.  I had never used Google Draw so it was great to be introduced to the capabilities of this programme.  Using Hapara to track and monitor student learning has also been great. 
• Coding - I LOVED the Minecraft coding application which took you through the principles and steps of coding for beginners.
• Bubble Support - I really appreciated the support from Nicola and my Bubble Group, they were a great bunch of people to get to know and work with.  I learned how to present my screen when being guided through how to do something.  This was a unique way of learning.

I am proud that I managed to share some of my new learning with staff at one of our Slam Dunk meetings and this was followed up with a couple of people asking me further things about how to do something.  Prior to the DFI, I would have been the one asking  instead of guiding.

 

Thank you to Dororthy and to all the Facilitators (especially Nicola) for the wisdom and most of all patience in delivering this fantastic professional learning opportunity.

DFI Day Eight #8

Agenda - Computational Thinking 
Today we had the chance to play with Coding programmes including Minecraft and Scratch, it was lots of fun.  I enjoyed hearing about the concept of being contributors to technology not just consumers.  Coding and programming allows us to be creative and learn how we can make something for a purpose even if it is just for enjoyment.
I loved learning about how the coding works through playing the coding programme on Minecraft, this was a great introduction to making something happen by the instructions put in.  The programme took you gradually through the levels.
We also had a chance to play with Scratch and create our own programme. Here is something that I had a go at creating.  Hopefully it works.....

Digital Dig

One of the activities today was to use a chromebook to do a list of tasks in order for us to find our way around the functions on a chromebook and to gain an understanding of the tool many of our Learners use.  I started this in the morning session then finished it later in the evening.  I have to confess I asked my daughter how to take a photo using the chromebook as I struggled to work that one out, she of course knew straight away.  The lighting is not great on the photo but I managed to complete the task.

Screen Castify Example

DFI Day Seven #7

Day Seven Agenda
Today we had the opportunity to play with devices from the Learner's perspective.  We explored the Digital Dig with the chromebooks and learned about shortcut keys. We also experimented with Explain Everything on the ipads and screen castify to video ourselves working through a slide deck.  Below are some of the things I have been experimenting with.

DFI Day Six #6

Our theme for the day was Enabling Access and the focus was on being Connected and making that connection visible.  We had the opportunity to work on a Google Site.  I do not have a class site so I decided to make a site that would be relevant to the work I do. I decided to make a 'Support at Belfast' site that gives information to support well being and learning and the avenues that can be taken to access this support. The aim of this site is to connect with whanau so that they know what types of support they can access for their tamariki.  It is still a work in progress but once I have completed it, hopefully we can link it to our school website.  

Some things I learned along the way included:

• How to make buttons on Google Draw and upload them onto the site
• The importance of getting the right size on the Google Draw for the buttons before uploading
• Using the mask tool to make different shaped buttons
• Ensuring information is accessible in 2-3 clicks when navigating the site
• Looking at ways to make the site visually appealing and the site easy to navigate
• Keeping the fluency on the site by choosing only two fonts and keeping the colours similar or the same (I downloaded 'color pick eyedropper' as a chrome extension to help with this)

A couple of tips I picked up is to archive older posts so that they are not lost but also do not clutter the site.  This will be relevant to me at a later date. I also liked the idea of adding a Google Form called 'Ask the Teacher' which enables learners to ask questions if they need support with something.  Perhaps I could use this on my site for parents to ask questions too.

Links to Today's AGENDA  - Day #6 - Enabling Access

Google Sites

We had the opportunity to make our own Google Site using the theme The Cat's Whiskers. This was a fun way to learn how to make a Google Site from scratch. Below is the link to the Site.

The Cat's Whiskers Link to Google Site