My E-Learning Journey: Digital Fluency? My 2016 Inquiry.

WHERE TO START...my Inquiry Journey?

This was no easy decision to come up with an inquiry question and it wasn't because I couldn't think of one it was because I had so many ideas, wants, hunches, thoughts, and interests. One thing I did know... I had to get my head around was what were we doing in the school to give us all....myself, staff, students and the community the capacity to be 'Digitally Fluent'.

However, there was one reading that was very inspirational when looking at Inquiring into your practice as a teacher or a leader. I found on the following site - https://goo.gl/zlAQhZ, a paper looking at the process of an inquiry and the steps we might go through and should go through.

Remembering that the phases of the inquiry are not rigidly sequential I did take these following steps.

I started last year by scanning where we sat as a school engaging our learners (including ourselves as teacher) to try and use digital technologies in the class.

I believe I had enough prior knowledge from talking to teachers, my past roles in education to understand where our focus was needing to go. However, I personally wanted to do as much reading, networking and PD to make sure I had a good grasp on our current situation.

The Hunch. I saw this as the starting of me finding my question, a question that had to engage me as a life long learner but be relevant to the direction of our school. And then came my learning, and where we needed to go and how.

My 2015 Scan?

Last year I gathered some student voice using the 'e-learning Planning Framework' as a guide taking and rewording the questions for our students. The copy of this Google Form is here for you to see what it looked like for our students. I play with this again and those changes can be found later in inquiry.

Summary was given to the Board in the form of a presentation - Student Responses 2015

Key points to come out of it for me when scanning the information and also thinking of those professional discussions I had had with staff and my observations of some class environments and staff when giving professional learning sessions was the following:

We had not taken our learning beyond the four walls of the classroom

HUNCH - Infrastructure is fine and the ability for teachers to take learning beyond the class was available through the use of blogs, sharing with parents using google, class sites, twitter therefore was it that teachers did not have the pedagogical capacity, are we deeper in the emerging than we thought?

Control and Choice, students felt like they were not being empowered to choose and have some control of their learning when using digital tools.

HUNCH - Were our students in a place and time in regards to their personal digital fluency. Are the teachers overall really giving students agency in the class and empowering them. Does more thought need to go into the understanding of the tools available and how they can be using, thing of the SAMAR (Great Blog on SMAR by +Kathy Schrock) or RAT model.

Looking at addressing the specific needs of the learning

I confidently believe our teachers know our learners and are very good at catering for our diverse students. However, do we utilise digital technologies, perhaps going down the lines of gamification, linking in to those key Competencies. Looking at the TPACK model as a guide to think about this hunch do teachers have great content, are motivating to be technology efficient but have we got that Pedagogy circle yet?

This gave me the enough to think of my question, that I have to admit wobbled and changed a little as I delved into my next stage of the inquiry.

My Question or statement for my Inquiry, my Interest and Passion is....

To unpack what is Digital Fluency and what does it look like. At Red Beach are we creating an environment that is conducive and empowering for our students to become digitally fluent?

Special emphasis on the Key Comps and Gamification.

My Hunch

As a school we don't understand what digital fluency however we do in snippets use Digital Technologies effectively in the class program. This however is not fluent or immersive but at times an afterthought. With so much on everyones plates and the emphasis on other PL needs in the school all the balls have not been Juggled well.

My Learning

My learning motivation was around what digital fluency was. Unpacking the Key Competencies. Looking at gamification. What others were doing in other schools around the world and in our local community and the different technologies out there.

Readings

1. Key Competencies for the Future - Rosemary Hipkins, Rachel Bolstad Sally Boyd and Sue McDowall. When looking at Digitally Fluency and perhaps measuring or making observations on the effect of Digital technologies being used in the class I want to use our Key Competencies. Actually reading this book made me think to tie in Key Competencies. That 'Wicked Problem' that in a class you can explore using many of the Key Competencies infused with opportunities that digital tools give the teacher to create rich Authentic learning environment that empowers our students. In Chapter 8 (and understand that there is a whole book of goodness before then) there are some real takaways when they discuss the opportunities to support the Key Competency development. The link with digitally technologies is so natural in my mind and the importance of that digital fluency so important.
2. 'Too Big To Know' by David Weinberger was a book that I had been meaning to read since attending a presentation by Rosemary Hipkins called "Ideas about thinking that challenge traditional educational practices" where she had mentioned this book in some of her findings and thoughts. Boingboing.net explains the book well when they say "Weinberger presents us with a long,
  
  fascinating account of how knowledge itself changes in the age of the Internet -- what it means to know something when there are millions and billions of "things" at your fingertips, when everyone who might disagree with you can find and rebut your assertions, and when the ability to be heard isn't tightly bound to your credentials or public reputation for expertise". Weinberger sees classrooms as no longer the teacher up the front within four walls, instead the class itself the conduit of knowledge as a networked environment. Amazing notes compiled by Jane Sigford summarise the book perfectly. I have highlighted and made some comments myself.
3. The next two books I have however have yet to read but have skimmed them in parts - A christmas job that I will enjoy. The first book came was introduced to me when we were talking about Wicked Problems and how can we get students to have rich authentic experiences that would see them experience these learning opportunities.

Professional learning

In regards to my inquiry I went to uLearn and my aims were to network, look at whats new and attend workshops that linked to my inquiry. Visit my uLearn Page for detailed notes.

Social Networks: Twitter, Blogs, Pinterest
This is where I have really worked hard to develop a online profile and join a number of learning communities.

Twitter for me has been a Revelation and by learning how to use the twitter deck and to connect with influential educators has been a huge benefit in my professional development.
Blog - By using a blog means that I can connect in that social world, and make links to my other accounts, Share experiences and get feedback from others.
Pinterest - A place to store those great images and resources very quickly that you find online. One board is just for this Inquiry.

HBC Collaborative Forum
This group continues to develop and the discussions are both interesting and worthwhile. This year we had 3 meetings in Term 1, Term 3 and Term 4. We themed the sessions this year and again tried to advertise for a mix of people. We also have started up a Google Communicate over Facebook as it is easier for us to share information.

Term 1 - Red Beach - Literacy - Minutes

Term 3 - Orewa North - Numeracy - Minutes

Term 4 - Orewa College - Platforms for Learning - Minutes

My Actions?

1. 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.

Where to next at Red Beach regarding Digital Fluency!

In the charter, start to use this language in this important document - Empowering all to be digitally fluent to sustain and be innovative in the use of technologies as part of an overt focus on collaborative teaching and learning.
When now presenting to the BOT this term will now need to be presented and enter-wined when talking about digital technologies
The schools e-Learning Planning Framework will also need to be slightly reworded to reflect this priority
Professional Development - Eluded to this word at the PD on the 1 Nov as part of my presentation and also in the PD on the 8th Nov when discussing the Charter with Staff

2. Communication Beyond the Classroom

As a school is it important that we are digitally fluent, that we communicate, collaborate, connect provide community participation and be digital entrepreneurs and leaders within this digital world of social media.

We were as a school sending out a paper newsletter and it was evident from communication from

parents that key messages were not getting home and the clarity of the presentation was not clear, accessible and available to busy parents. A questionnaire we have last year eluded to the fact that parents wanted more information online.

I decided to go and lead a company that came from Australia called Schoolzine. The company provided the ability to be multi-platform, to push out digital media online and do so in a visually interactive, intuitive way.

I lead the following in the transition:

The management of the transition and setup
The management of the program within the school
The advertising to community
The advertising to staff
The organisation for the production tickets

We have now got:

All links to class sites down the side along with partner companies easy to access
407 Subscribed
Bigger hit on RBS TV - double the numbers who watch it
117 devices using the app (this needs to be extended further as a goal)

We have more opportunities to explore next year like:

Specialized groups like sport notices
Polls each week for parent feedback
Paypal set up
Surveys

3. 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.
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

4. Google Apps for Education - Hapara 'Teacher Dashboard'

This year we wanted to put some structure on the students having the option to bring devices at the Year 4/5/6 and this meant all students had their own google account. We needed a platform where teachers can manage these accounts, collaborate with these accounts and be able to give students feedback and next steps in their learning. This is really 'substitution, augmentation' but 'Workspace' takes it to the next level and this is where digital fluency really is demonstrated and experienced.

'Workspace' as a next step as they look at redefining their practice https://vimeo.com/user22078086/workspace

Gives the teacher the opportunity to set up projects, place resources and students the opportunity to add their own voice and knowledge/data. We have had a few sessions and some teachers have taken this challenge on-board. Sarah O'Donnel use of Workspace was advertised through Hapara.

5. iPads and Apps for Education

The formation of a Year 2/3 class meant I had to rethink the strategic plan as the Year 3's were more of a Chrome user group in the past with a few iPods and the Year 2's were starting to use iPads.

My Learning - Next Steps

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:

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

FINDINGS?

Student Comments summary about BYOD:

Not aloud to bring it
Liked using the schools
Worried it will be broken
It is to Old
Bring it in when I need it
Forget

Asked students the following: We would love for you to write anything extra about what we need at the school, your further thoughts on BYOD or perhaps what we need to get at Red Beach to better our e-Learning experience. Maybe you want to add more about a certain question you answered above.

Liked and loved bring own device
liked using DT for learning
Happy with the mix already
The want to play games in their learning
More chromebooks in the class
The fact they could use DT

Summary - We are still not getting students to get beyond the four walls of the class and that makes me think that we are still not making the more of the technology available to use to redefine what we are doing. It is still an add on, not infused.

Great to see students being empowered to learn however, I do wonder if the students misinterpreted Empowerment to Engagement.

Picking the right tool for the right job, this is good however I would like to see this improve. To give students the power to understand how and why to use certain tools and knowledge to get to a solution is powerful and it is Digital Fluency. An area to focus.

So where to now?

1. Communicating to parents BYOD - Flyers, Parent Evening, Noel Leeming Night, Website, advertising through Schoolzine - DONE

2. Teachers commitment to the BYOD Program - Clear expectations given to the HL and wanting to see documentation in minutes about Digital Fluency initiatives, GAFE summit (very important and the follow up even more so, accountability).

3. Beyond the classroom - PD on how to do this, class twitter group, parent workshops around Google and sharing work, visit schools, teachers making the connections online using Google+ or Twitter or Facebook

4. Different Tools. New MDM for apple, 'Workspace' on Hapara, Google Sites for Portfolios, 3d Printer, Chromecast - making learning flexible, accessible, connected and instant

5. PD - uLearn is going to be our investment and this though late in the year will be beneficial going forward. I would like some of us to present. HBC Cluster meeting

6. Unpack and understand what digital Fluency looks like in the class. Link with our Vision - visuals? pd? key competencies?

7. Continue to be active online.

8. Want to look further into Gamification and the impact of this in the classroom as a tool to provide learning opportunities for Key Competencies. Take a group next year and follow this.

My E-Learning Journey

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Digital Fluency? My 2016 Inquiry.

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