Google Class and Sphero

TOPICS AND LINKING SPHERO

Linking Sphero into google classrooms is easy to do hence the love of google classroom. https://edu.sphero.com/cwists/preview/6872




I decided that on my Google Classroom I would make a topic first - Sphero Coding. Its clear to see on the left side of Googe Class the option to do this.

When creating a task for students through the Sphero Website it will give the option to put the task of watching the video in this topic area.

INTEREST: When I created the task I had the option to add information but I didnt. I just said watch the below.

I should have ask them to write 5 important points from the video, or that they then go and do what the video instructed, take a photo of themselves and write a reflection. They could create a google slide that will act as a journal throughout the whole process. 

Give them a task for some reflection rather than just say they have done it?

How to use Teacher Dashboard by Hapara and Classroom together

Google Help

Here are a few good sites to get help and ask questions if you have a Google problem.

GOOGLE SUPPORT - https://support.google.com/?hl=en
GOOGLE FORUMS - https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!home

Google Certification Level One - Unit One

I did like these below links from the Google Ed Training Center from Unit . Found in the section on digital citizenship.

Some good links:

• iKeepSafe.org has created a playlist of quick tips videos designed to help teachers prepare for these discussions.
• CyberSmart is a resource site set up by the Australian government to help students, teachers, and families be prepared to talk about topics.
• Common Sense Media’s family outreach program includes resources for holding a teen panel with guiding questions and strategies.
• Digizen.org also has resources to raise awareness and undestanding of digital citizenship for teachers, parents, and students.

For an extensive list of resources, visit the Cybrary Man’s Digital Citizenship Resources.

STUDENT VOICE

I needed to get some student voice so that I knew my hunches, or perhaps found out that my hunches on how we were going as a school (in the eyes of our students) when infusion digital technologies into their learning.  

I have included a copy of the questionnaire I did (its not the original). I used some of the structure from the NZ ELPF (eLearning Planning Framework)

Student Voice

Beginning of Term 4 I went to the students and asked them a number of questions so that I could get a sense of where we were at as a school with our eLearning journey.

Me key wants were:

1. Looking to see if we were getting the technology being used get beyong the four walls of the classroom?
2. That they were using the tools?
3. That they were being empowered to use the right tool for the right job?
4. How were they using the internet, this wealth of knowledge?
5. Who was bring their own device?

               

Digital Fluency 101 - PD for Staff

My PD to Staff which I called "Digital Fluency 101" 

I wanted to talk about the most recent PD I gave at our school. I wanted to keep these points at the forefront when providing this session. Remembering all the time the term DIGITAL FLUENCY the aims of the session was:

• getting teachers to see me using different technologies in effective ways to present the session and explain why I made this choice.
• to get teachers to understand there are different needs in a class and different digital technologies suit the purpose and needs of individuals
• giving teachers the opportunity to have agency in the session with a reflective sheet that was linked to their PTC
• to be a link back to the SMAR model so that teachers understood how they could shift their practice and how they could measure this.
• to cover and cater for all levels, that all needs were meet
• for it to be a living session that can be incorporated into google+ and shared

This is a copy of the session that you are most welcome to use. Special thanks to Monika Kern, Mangonui School and Gemma Stewart CORE Education who I learnt and used some of their very generous knowledge in this PD session as well as other presentations that you can find online. We are an amazing collaborative group....thank goodness for that.

Digital Fluency 101 Session for Staff

Digital Fluency?

WHAT IS DIGITAL FLUENCY

I like this piece from a Core Ed Blog. One point that is made is that Broadly speaking, digital fluency is a combination of:

• digital, or technical, proficiency: able to understand, select and use the technologies and technological systems;
• digital literacy: cognitive or intellectual competencies, which include being able to read, create, evaluate and make judgements and apply technical skills while doing so;
• social competence, or dispositional knowledge: the ability to relate to others and communicate with them effectively.

The MOE state the following:

A digitally fluent student:

• knows where and how to find and access information quickly and accurately
• can critique the relevance and accuracy of information being accessed
• is an adept producer of digital content
• can recognise and use the most effective methods of reaching their intended audience
• understands and demonstrates how use digital technologies responsibly including – digital security (self-protection), copyright

Digital fluency: Skills necessary for learning in the digital age– An article by Dr. Gerald White examining the skills which need to be embedded in educational curricula in order to prepare for the 21st century

"The question remains about how education can change existing teaching practice to utilise TPACK and the perspectives that leaders need to embrace for teachers and students to become fluent in the use of digital technologies. Mitchel Resnick et al. (2002) argued that the pervasiveness of digital technology will be necessary for a lifetime. In moving beyond information-centric views of education, Resnick (2002) stressed the importance of being fluent in using multimedia, when he stated that: 

In the years ahead, digital fluency will become a prerequisite for obtaining jobs, participating meaningfully in society, and learning throughout a lifetime. (Resnick, 2002, p. 33) 

Resnick (2002) went on to say that students would need to be fluent online, with the web, text, audio, animation, video, remixing, design, downloading and uploading, and fluent in critical thinking, collaboration and deciding relevancy." 

He went on to suggest that throughout their schooling students should experience and learn the following:

Acceptable behaviour • Collaboration, communication, problem solving and research skills • Community involvement • Critical thinking • Design skills • Digital commons and copyright • Digital fluency • Ethics • History of the Internet • Identity and privacy • Project management • Safety • Technology terms 

Yuhyun Park, Chair, infollutionZERO Foundation wrote an article called the "8 digital skills we must teach our children" due to the fact that digital technologies and the access to the internet is forever expanding. The diagram below is a handy diagram to work from as they do very much relate to what students need to be digitally fluent.

On SociaLens Blog it shows in a very unique way the difference between Digital Literacy and Digital Fluency.

I talked before in the blog about the fact that it would be very remiss of us not to make those connections to our Key Competencies. The connections and links are easy to find and make.