Nearly there!

Todays session was on Computational Thinking. 

Dorothy kicked off with some discussion around the word 'empower'. Manaiakalani is all about empowering learners and teachers. She discussed the idea of rangatiratanga, which means people taking back control of their world around them, in this case, the digital world. 

We need to check our understanding and that of our students and whānau of why we use digital learning tools. They're not 'just a tool.' If we see ipads and chromebooks as 'just a tool', then we may as well revert back to the trusty pencil. Digital tools transform the way we learn. "They enables students to enter and explore new learning opportunities, overcoming barriers of distance and time." (NZC, 2007).

We also discussed that which can dis-empower our learners in low decile schools. Access to money and resources, prior life and learning experiences, conversations with parents all contribute to empowerment. So if we look at tamariki who miss out on large chunks of that, we know that equity becomes an issue. Digital devices owned by the child allow for empowerment, not only for the child in terms of learning, but access to resources, empowerment for parents (getting a credit rating, bringing connectivity to the home etc). 

I always enjoy listening to Dorothy's morning kōrero and today was no exception. It was so uplifting to hear her addressing the ways we can help empower our students and whānau and get them taking back that control.

Next was a Chalk and Talk with Kerry on the new Hangarau Matihiko ~ Digitial Technologies Curriculum.

This new addition to our curriculum allows tamariki to tell their story. Their own voice can be heard. They can be directors and producers of their learning. We talk about being 'Digitally fluent' all the time, this means being able to decide when and why we would choose to use specific digital technologies. We can create our own digital technologies solutions. It underpins everything that follows.

The curriculum is broken down into 2 sections. 

I have struggled to get my head around what computational thinking really means, however found this helpful definition ~  It’s the process of breaking down a problem into simple enough steps. When children develop computational skills they are able to articulate a problem and think logically. It helps them to break down the issues and predict what may happen in the future. It’s helping them to explore cause and effect. Kerry broke it down even further and explained that teaching a child to cross the road is a really good example of an unplugged computational thinking activity. Eg, stop, look left, look right, look left again, make a decision...

After morning tea we had a Chalk 'n Talk from Vicki about prepping and registering for the exam next week. This will be Level 1 Google Certification (following an American exam system). Sounds like there is an exam just to get in to the exam! This is our opportunity to get a piece of paper that's recognised on an international level. It's not a reflection of our understandings of Manaiakalani pedagogy. It sounds extremely full on and I can't say I'm looking forward to it!     

We had the opportunity to play round with some coding activities after lunch. I tried to do a mihi maker using gamefroot however the wheel of death spinning round and around stopped me from entering the page. I will definitely try again as this looked like a really attractive and fun way to share pepeha and develop coding skills at the same time. EDIT: After chatting to a colleague, I found that Gamefroot would not be the best user-friendly app for my tamariki.

I also need to add in some functions here on my site to make sure I hit the requirements for this course. EDIT: preeeeeetty sure that's done!

I will be back to tidy up this page and add my coding creation later! Edit: Nope, that's it folks.