9. Revision (Digital Fluency Initiative)

 Google Level 1 Exam

I passed - yeh!!!

As others have said - the hardest part was getting started. I tried an Incognito window first, passed the equipment test, then ran into an error when the exam started. The help people are really good and I quickly ditched the Incognito window, then I had to wait another 19 minutes for the next window to sit the exam - then my 3 hours started and it went quite smoothly.

I had already logged out of my You Tube Channel - so had no problems there.

I was surprised my the number of scenarios that used Classroom, but luckily I have had a lot of practice with that in school.

It was a little awkward getting back to normal after the exam. Every time I opened any Google app, it would default to my exam sitter log in. I fixed this by deleting the Proctor U extension and deleting the exam sitter profile. Then somehow that lost my normal Google account, but I was able to enter my email address and log in and it remembered my profile (my photo was still there) but I lost all my bookmarks. My email layout was still the same, so strange.

Anyway - life is back to normal now. Looking forward to my Friday's returning to my usual part-time hours.

Has been a great experience - and I am still loving my web site!

A big thanks to Dorothy, Dave and all the other facilitators!

8 Computational Thinking (Digital Fluency Initiative)

 

Moral Machine

I don't believe this is a very good test. I chose to hit the barrier every time because people in the car are protected by seat belts, air bags, and the fact that the bonnet folds in and softens the blow. People in the street are very, very vulnerable to any impact from a vehicle.

The only time I didn't hit the barrier was when I went for the dogs. Never swerve for an animal.

When I had two kill one of the pedestrians, I chose the one in my lane. The outcomes were equal and staying in your lane is following the road code.

But when you look at my results below - the test is trying to determine which type of human I favoured - pffft!

Minecraft (Beginners Guide to Coding)

Signing up for the exam

I watched the LONG video (in double time) and he stressed how helpful it was to use an incognito window. 

But when I did an equipment test with the incognito window it failed - no monitor. So I tried again from a normal window and it passed.

Is it just because it is the end of the day and the end of the week and I am exhausted, but I think it will be a miracle if I can even get into this exam let alone pass it.

7. Devices (Digital Fluency Intensive)

 

Today we learnt some great keyboard shortcuts for Chromebooks and how to use the whiteboard on Explain Everything.

Below is the Project I created using Explain Everything: 

Cybersmart

I was particularly interested in Manaiakalani's Kawa of Care for taking care of Chromebooks. So I have taken a copy of these slides from the Smart Learners' section and modified it for use in my class:

6. Enabling Access - Sites (Digital Fluency Intensive)

 Today I have vastly improved my site: 

Julia

This included making:

Slides - for the classwork on Monday

Documents - for classwork and homework 

A form - to collect data on the students

Sheets - to share the data collected with the students

Note also that students will be able to paste the graphs they create in a shared doc.

The next step is to link their work back to the site.

Note also that everything is in a folder that everyone with the link can view and I have only locked down one file - the sheet that will hold the students responses to the form (with their email addresses). But everyone will be able to see the completed graphs - as these won't have any individual's information on them (I hope!)

5. Sites (Digital Fluency Intensive)

 This week we learnt about the Visible part of Manaiakalani and Google Sites.

Tips

• You can add protections to globally shared docs so that they cannot download or forward the doc on
• For docs with multiple editors you can restore previous versions via the editing history, and you can name different versions (to go back to them)
• There is a way to split your screen by dragging off a tab
• Switching off Grid view in Meet allows you a bigger view of the presentation
• Hapara - Sharing folders should be empty. All students docs should be filed in Hapara created folders.

Visible

The resources we create, and the planning we do, should be visible not only to our students, but also to their whanau and our colleagues. In the last two weeks I have made my planing and resources much more visible (to the world) but my students work and their voice is still invisible. (I presume this is where students having their own blogs will fit in).

At school I was the one who could read the teachers' minds - and the exam writers!!! It is not fair and does not give equality of access. Students need a One Stop Shop without any password barriers.

I wondered how I would add a folder into each of my student's drive - and this question was answered later - by using Hapara.

Multi-modal

I agree that neither the process of learning nor the prospect of learning appeals to secondary students today. A site needs to attract students into it (like a shop window), it needs to be inclusive, and they need to see themselves in there.

The visible teaching I have just made (my first attempt) looks like the first Point England School site (on slide 17). I have been wanting to make it more visually appealing and I think Sites is going to be where I do this.

I explored a wonderful secondary school's Maths site: Algebra. I found resources I want to use and ideas for my next site. I also filled in the feedback form and gave Aimee my email address.

T-shaped literacy

Wide and deep. I had not heard of this before. I like Dave's two quotes:

1. Reading is faster than listening
2. Reading doesn't create noise

My sites

I have created two sites today:

1. Year 9 Maths: Maths
2. Lest We Forget: ANZAC

Blogs

I have added multiple new labels to my Blog, and will go back to earlier versions to add DFI to them.

4. Dealing with Data(Digital Fluency Initiative)

 Today we learnt about the Share stage of Manaiakalani and Google Sheets.

Hot Tips

• Polyline - I was admiring Barry Huhu's profile picture and comparing it to my attempt via Drawing and he said he used Polyline, which is apparently easy for kids to create with.
• YouTube - I missed this tip from last week - that you can set a video to start at the point you want it to.
• Mathsweek.co.nz - first I have heard of this week or site.
• Blog - the best way to show my doc in my blog may be to embed a video of me talking about it (either through screen castify or recording a meeting with someone). Towards the end of the day we embedded a Google Drawing of our data analysis, which can also be done with slides but can it be done from a doc?

The embedded slides below show the difference between Slides and Docs when it comes to Download and Publish to web:

Hapara tip

Teachers can use Hapara to monitor posts and comments, particularly the red comments as they are from non-Google accounts. Dorothy said their was a "3 Check System" - what are the three checks? Is there any automated checking for inappropriate language (for example)? Or is the teacher the only safeguard? And does it even matter if students are on other social media? Possible answer below.

Share

The key take-away point for me from today's Manaiakalani kaupapa was that we are teaching students to be good digital citizens. We use Blogging to teach our kids to be Cyber-Smart and that they buy into it because it is similar enough to the other popular social media. So best they make all their mistakes under our watch (in Blog) and become safe and informed users of all social media.

Second point - Share has two aspects. 1) It is where you finish the learning (and learning to finish is important) and 2) sharing can also be the starting place of new learning.

Form

Tips:

• use a blank form (not a theme/template)
• personalise the acknowledgment (Settings, Presentations)
• Import videos etc (embedding html codes is for blogs and sites only

Possible uses for me:

• Import a video and ask questions about it
• Use as a digital worksheet - shuffle question order to encourage own work, or lock mode (only works on managed CBs)

My Map

I think a few of us chose Paris - so you can't see my name in the centre:

Sheets

• Yay!!! - I have Freeze Panes now!
• Note you can start typing the formula directly into the worksheet if you know its name - I find this faster than using the menu.
• I found the 1dp custom format today (thought I was restricted to 2 or 0)
• Dave showed us the list of keyboard shortcuts
• The slides for this topic had GIFS in them (wee videos of how to, no sound just animation) - I want to make some of these for my students.

Blog Data Analysis

Blog Comments

Positive - Thoughtful - Helpful (eg question).

Html code to insert a link into a comment:

<a href="insert URL here">Insert display text here</a>

Wish me luck - I'm off to comment on another's blog.

Plan for a unit of work

 Plan for the next unit of work

I have made the following document and shared it with my students and their parents. I want them to have "rewindable content", which I have labelled Ako. And at any time they can access the ako, classwork, homework and some extension work.