TOPIC FIVE - COLLABORATIVE SITES

CATCHING UP WITH OUR BUBBLES:
Discussed what has been working well, what we need help with and so forth.
To be honest I was a bit Manaiakalani saturated after last week so did not actually revisit anything as wanted to ground myself and spend some time on other areas of my school.
It is often hard as we are not in the same place as those who have started this journey before us and I really felt quite lost, disillusioned and frustrated last week on many levels so was disengaged.
This week I am in a better head space to reset and revisit and we will see how things go.
Personally I hate feeling 'lost' due to not knowing so many things - yet again we don't know what we don't know and having understanding of all areas at the same time is hard as this is not my world, not where I feel comfortable - don't get me wrong, I am into the pedagogy and all that lays behind that, it is the digital world and the multitude of layers which are involved in creating that 'onion' as such.  At the moment the onion is bringing me tears but I know in time it will bring me more joy.
Maybe I need to focus on the here and now and remember that 'Rome wasn't built in a day but a brick was laid every hour!'

CONNECTING WITH MANAIAKALANI - Pedagogy and Kaupapa: CONNECTED:
Being connected is closely related to share - it is a natural thing for us to want to do.
Connected is another one of the joists to ensure our whare is secure in all facets.
Everyone wants us to connect and collaborate, yet at times we are also isolated so maybe we don't connect and collaborate on every level.

Creating a powerful network with deep seated relationships does take time - the 3 year PLD is only the start of this.
Important to find people on same journey, page, stage and place so that we can support one another which is necessary if we are to reach our kura's full potential.
Shared language keeps us together - learn, create, share - all understand what these words are - even though will look different in each context, the shared understanding links us as well as helps us to achieve our goals.
Pedagogy programme design:
- Term One - ako (learn)
- Term Two - create
- Term Three - share
- Term Four - bringing them all together
Hard to untangle share and connected as you need connection to share
Connection needs:
- opportunities
- support structures
- time savers
These are designed to be followed to ensure that it happens and provides all that it is supposed to deliver.
The MK website has many links etc that we can use so that we can see how others connect and bring that to our own kura, cluster etc
RSS - enables you to gather together things on line and then dish it up to others - Twitter uses same concept
Helps gather together items, things and so forth in one place.
Hugely successful way for people to connect and find similar content 
Once we have our schools sorted MK will set one up for us also so that our students can be a part of this.
Want to provide many opportunities for our students to share and connect ...

There are lots of spaces for this to happen, just need to investigate them all and see what best fits our students and purpose.
Toolkits online are a great way to connect with others and see what they are doing around the country.
Google + is now Google currents - another way that can connect others
All areas of the whare work together, they are not stand alone entities, they all need to be in place for our young people to what they need to learn, create, share.



When learning from home CONNECTED is a crucial element of this so that whakawhanaungatanga is maintained as not all home life and environments are the same.

LEADING LEARNING USING GOOGLE SITES:
- In a nutshell
- Learning needs to be visible
- Purposeful approach
- Our site needs to work for learners, whānau and ourselves
- All about us empowering others
- Want our learners to pick up what is happening in the classroom, just in a different location
- Also work at our own pace as well as asynchronously

Must have these 5:
- engagement
- teaching conversations
- cognitive challenge
- visibility
- scaffolding

Purpose of a google site:
- one stop shop for all learning all day
- accessible
- rewindable
- personalised using multi modal resources 
- visible planning and teaching
- hub of information
- weekly overviews and timetables

Consistency across the board is important
May look different dependent on tool being used e.g. chromebook versus ipad
Visual appeal needs to be high - shop front window hooks them in
Decide on:
* theme
* layout
* fonts
Must be appealing
Plan page and content before we create it is very useful - mapping it out helps to see how it will work, a blueprint of the site
Only have 2 fonts maximum
Can also create icons to use as well

Functionality ...
- want it to be easy to navigate and access the site
- can use google slides and embed into the site so only have to update slide each week
- content straight on site (did this last week during multi modal session)
- Hāpara workspace and can embed into site as well 
Enhances visibility on site
Can only access workspace if go into it, not on the site as such

Learners need to navigate from home page to learning page in three clicks or less - KEEP IT SIMPLE OTHERWISE THEY GET LOST

Ultimately follow this recipe and we cannot go wrong ...


Make sure also that classroom blogs are linked from school website which makes it seamless for all users despite where they start navigating from

EVALUATING CLASS SITES:
Click on links given
Have an explore and see what can be done, accessed and so forth
Then evaluate the visual appeal as well as user experience
Speak about what does not work well for visual appeal and user experience
These are real sites created by real teachers and we are working with their colleagues so be mindful of that
Be critical and honest but in a constructive manner

VISUAL APPEAL POSITIVE
- Buttons easy to identify
- Simple yet effective layout
- Use of linked images so also easy to know what is available without reading as such
- cool fonts and emoji's which all students will find is appealing
- I really like it when teachers are on page so you can see who they are and learn about them - helps with connectedness
- love that student leaders are posted on the page also - what awesome acknowledgement

USER EXPERIENCE POSITIVE
- one click away for everything so easy to navigate
- multi modal for differentiated learning
- learning still there for the year so can revisit as accessible
- WALTs and SC there so all students know what is expected of them and how to be successful
- learning real life - purposeful - clear and underpins the whole MK philosophy
- daily timetable visible
- like that the PB4L matrix/rubric on the PB4L page makes all expectations visible
- easy links on the page for students to go too

AREAS FOR GROWTH VISUALLY
- for some less is more, lots of things going on with the buttons, for me, use words or images, both an overload

AREAS FOR GROWTH FOR USER EXPERIENCE
- videos but no learning activity or purpose attached
- need permission to view a movie
- not a fan of not having all learning areas across the top rather than down the side like a webpage

Out of all of the pages that I visited and evaluated, this one was the most appealing and user friendly ... I could see this used at our kura with ease, being an intermediate also helped :)


EXPLORING AND EVALUATING EACH OTHERS SITES:
Similar process to what we just did with the other sites provided
Use that feedback to goal set for the rest of the day ... drives what we need to do to make our sites more accessible, visible and so forth
This is the the majority of our time - challenge for me as to what I need to do as want to create own site that is purposeful and meaningful for my own learning ...
- school site but not owned by myself
- learning site around our curriculum mahi but again not driven by me so much and Donna is way more cleverer that I am
... not sure to be honest
Our school site does need to be updated but also still kept professional as it is our school domain and is linked to our name, not sure by who as I do not deal with this 

We definitely have a lot of work to do in this arena as our website is not engaging, current or visibly appealing as far as I can see with my little expertise in this area lol 

Want it to be a clear reflection of who we are and what we can offer the taiohi of our area ... need to have a brainstorm with both Donna and Zoey as they are experts and can guide me in this process

Needs to be a ONE STOP SHOP type of site
Everyone must leave knowing all about our kura and no question unanswered - informative in a simple way
Also need to be up to date as ours is not - new charter needs to be on there as well as our strategic plan and so forth 
Classrooms updated
Who we are updated - pepeha plus photos - more personable as that is who we are 
We have the basic bones but need to put meat on the bones to pack them out
Classroom pages also updated for all as this is tired so again need to work out how as this could be a good work in progress - change fonts and so forth

On reflection I believe that once I have got the permission to get into our site I will be able to lift it visually and then have Zoey to support myself and the rest of our staff to do their bits and all of the other bits and pieces added in too such as PB4L, School Docs, Term overviews, important dates, and more ... it is endless

Manaakitanga is strong at our kura as we all use our heart so that needs to be evident on our site as it looks professional but cold :(

LEVELLING UP:
Goals for our website initially before we set up our proper one with Zoey doing the mahi so it reflects us as a school ...
1) Use a different font so that it is more inviting to look at
2) Get every teacher to update their class page with a photo, a peheha and some info about their class, culture and so forth
3) Do the same for all other staff members
4) Add in PB4L and SOAR as that needs to way visible from the get go
5) Go through and make adjustments to formatting and simple things like that so we look more professional
6) Get a blurb from Nicky and myself
7) Update charter and strategic plan for 2021
8) Ensure staff are named correctly e.g. kaiāwhina, mentors etc
9) Put school docs on with password
10) Add in anything else that is important to our kur

REFLECTION TIME:
  • What did I learn that increased my understanding of Manaiakalani kaupapa and pedagogy?

  • importance of connected
  • how it is linked to share
  • pivotal for online learning
  • give students as many opportunities for this as possible
  • another part of the whare that needs to be strengthen
  • all of these foundations, joists etc work intertwined so cannot use them in isolation or use some and not the others
  • What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow as a professional?

  • just a bit more drive and enthusiasm around updating our website and then creating our own
  • know that I can work at my pace so that learning and understanding is consolidated
  • that for our staff the transition to this platform and all that google and Hāpara incorporate will be very easy for most as we definitely have the skills and expertise on staff thankfully
  • What did I learn that could be used with my learners? 

  • the importance of creating a workable site
  • visually is as important as usability
  • planning for this is essential, don't just dive in as then the site will be clunky
  • less is more I feel as the sites I liked were like that as we can have visual and icon overload 
  • What did I learn that could improve my confidence, capability or workflow in my personal life?

  • how to best set up a google site
  • importance of access as there are some things at our kura that only some people know and it should not be like that
  • all good things take time ... here for a sprint not a marathon















2 comments:

  1. Phew Fiona, another incredible blog post! So much gathered from the day! Firstly, please remember you are at the start of this journey with Manaiakalani, some of the schools in our DFI cohort have been part of this journey for many years, so do remember that Rome wasn't built in a day! And wow, what a big list of goals for your school site, but love that you want to make sure it reflects your kura - this is so important! If you need any help with working on your site, do just let us know.
    Ngā mihi nui
    Vicki

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kia ora anō Fiona,
    I enjoy reading your reflective posts as you leave 'no stone unturned'. It is great that you want to create a new kura site that captures the mauri/essence of your kura. I am sure in the near future the drive and enthusiasm around updating/creating your website will come once the new learning and understanding is consolidated.
    Ngā mihi anō
    Nā Makaore

    ReplyDelete

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