DFI - Looking at Devices

 

DFI - Looking at Devices

I am well and truly into the Digital Fluency Initiative (DFI) 'swing of it' now.  We are 7 weeks into the programme and I'm picking up skills left right and centre. I've been chatting with people who have finished this programme and it's been great sharing our learning(s) and take-aways - fantastic learning in itself.  For example Sheree, the Tumuaki from Hay Park showed me her toolbar at our Kahui Ako meeting and that was another lightbulb of how I can not only have individual pages across this toolbar but also folders.  A no brainer... and one of those examples, where you think - of course! 

The focus of today's session was an opportunity to learn about Chromebooks and iPads and the devices that our young people are using everyday.   Jeremy's Digital Dig showcased some keyboard shortcuts for Chrome.   It took me a second to realise that these shortcuts were for Chrome (while you are using that browser) and in which case i could still use them on my Macbook (facepalm).  Picking up and using a few new shortcuts each week will positively impact on my workflow and I'm keen to incorporate these into my practice.  

Being on the Chromebook in itself was interesting.  Although I'm not face to face with learners I took the point of Dorothy's suggestion about encouraging teachers to put their laptops away over the Christmas break and to spend some time on the device.  It took me a while to adjust to the keyboard size and the mousepad (good to feel that frustration, I think) but I think it's important to practice in this space when you will need to support learners with troubleshooting issues etc...

Thinking about Workspaces, Explain Everything and Screencastify(the apps that were showcased this week) I'll definitely be looking for opportunities to use Screencastify to support navigating our school sites e.g Staff Intranet, Local Curriculum site.  Fiona demonstrated that it's really powerful for teachers to have the students showcasing their classroom sites using this tool in their own voices. 

Back to the prompts for today's reflection process and a think back to Distance Learning 2020/beginning of 2021, I am keen to look for opportunities to make the learning rewindable.  For example an action we can take immediately is to start recording our staff meetings.  Dorothy explained that at Pt England School this is a delegated staff members task.  I think we could look at getting a team set up around this for our PLD on DMIC, Spiral of Inquiry etc... Great for a variety of different purposes

• Inducting new staff members
• Making the learning rewindable - checking understanding 
• A good support for people who are absent from the PLD session

I think we could trial a few different platforms for this recording, but I am thinking we try Google Meet in the first instance, and potentially record this on an iPad with a tripod.  

I am also pondering the concept of asking the Team Leaders to record their team meetings and to reflect on - engagement, contribution, collaboration, their ability to support an evaluation and monitoring process with staff.  Great for personal insight in to developing Leadership Capability.  

Focus in the coming weeks:

• Looking at the ICT budgets for the ICT expenditure of iPads.  Our digital strategy to get more devices into the hands of our Year 1 - 3 students
• Explain everything - PLD support with Phil, using this App in our Junior School
• How can we make the learning rewindable for our teachers

I am also going to commit to repeating DFI in another couple of years because one thing we know is that technology moves on and keeping up is a personal responsibility.