Our sixth session of DFI focused on enabling access with sites and was a continuation from last week's theme. I didn't feel I learned as much today as I have in other sessions due to my experience and confidence in creating Google sites. I did, however, have opportunities to tweak my class site in ways that I probably wouldn't have had the time to do otherwise.
Our connecting with Manaikalani was around the kaupapa word connected. The importance of our learnings and their whāuna being connected quickly became clear during our recent Covid-19 lockdown. Without the gift of Manaiakalani I wonder what situation our school would have been in, in regards to providing distance learning for our students during this time? By having a large percentage of my class having access to their own device and connectivity, along with the digital knowledge of using class sites to access their learning and participate in daily Google Hangout Meets, I was able to provide the best opportunities possible for my students to connect. This was not only with their learning but also with myself and their peers. It was interesting to see the media talk about what Manaiakalani refers to as the digital divide, and how many low decile schools were struggling to provide distance learning for their students. Manaiakalani has proven that families with a low income do not need to be disadvantaged by not have connectivity. Several years ago I visited Pt England School where Dorthoy shared that the average family income in their community was $40, 000 (if my memory serves me correct of course!) This blew me away and was the proof I needed that if these families can provide their children with Chrome books then our families can too.
The rest of the day was spent receiving and proving feedback on our current class site and then making improvements to our class sites. I was pleased to receive positive feedback on my current class site although I certainly acknowledge that there are certainly ways that I could enhance my site. My goals for improving my site was to...
- Archive previous terms work
- Include more school-wide information such as the proper link to the school website, school newsletters and Facebook page
- Rearrange some of the content to make it more user friendly
I would also like to...
- Include a photo and brief bio about myself and my release teacher
- Copies of the learning progressions
- Make 'learn, create, share' more visible on my home page
Tēnā koe Kate,
ReplyDeleteOnce again I have enjoyed reading your whakaaro/thoughts and reflections on the day. In regards to your thoughts about the situation our school would have been in without the involvement of Manaiakalani, I know that a lot of schools have had those thoughts over the last few months. And although Covid19 was/is a huge challenge for us all, it was also a wee bit of encouragement for some to utilise the learning in the 'digital world'.
Also great to see that you are continuing to develop and reflect on your site.
Ngā mihi
Makaore