Week 1. DFI Blog Post

23.7.19- Session one

Focus: Core Business

Today was my first session in the DFI (Digital Fluency Intensive)course.

The day started out recapping how Manaiakalani got started in Auckland with a . It was a good reminder as to why we have gotten started on this journey. This is the second year our school has been involved in Manaiakalani and apart from the session's with Mark we have done once a term, I have not had a big involvement so far.

We went through many short sessions throughout the day covering many aspects of ICT. Everything we covered today, and that we will cover will connect with Manaiakalani and Digital Technology and will have the Learn, Create, Share pedagogy.

Some of my key takeaways from today were;

• Some great shortcuts to save time. These shortcuts could be great to save time to put towards other aspects of my life, e.g. spending more time with friends and family.

• Something that I have not been able to get my head round over the last two years is how to share a 'Seasaw' post onto my class blogger. This is something I have been able to figure out today and was far simpler than I could have imagined. (Copy embed code-paste into a post under the 'HTML' screen-return to the compose screen-adapt the size in HTML if need be-publish)
• I learnt about 'Google Groups'. It turned out we, as a school, are already using this as a way to send some group emails. What I did not realise is that everything sent through these groups is saved under the 'Google Groups' app. I have decided this is something I want to take back to my Syndicate at school as a way to be able to easily send group emails and to be able to find information and docs for each group.
• We had a play around with google docs to try and make some visual media. There is a great many ways you can jazz up google docs, which I did not realise. This link has some great examples. This is a simple doc that I made for a notice.

• We had a play around with 'Voice Typing'. Something to make this easier for children in a louder space is to cut the bottom off a paper cup and have the children speak into this. Children will need to announce their words clearly for this to work.
• Google Drive can have an advanced search to find docs. Once you click on the search bar you can wait a moment and it will have an option to do an 'advanced search'. You can select the kind of doc yo are looking for, the person who owns the doc and many other options. I have found some colleagues struggle to find docs so this will be a handy thing to take back to share with my team.
• The 'Snipping Tool' is a useful tool to use when trying to cut an image from the screen. You can search for this from the 'Windows' start button.

The DFI Site is a site that has many great tools to use going forward.

The Cohort info is on the following site.

I have learnt many great tools that I can use today as well as take away to share with my team. I have learnt some shortcuts I can use to continue to help me save time and become more efficient, which is one of my goals when it comes to my work and having a good balance. I think as this course continues to go on my ICT skills will continue to grow hugely, which I am very excited about. I have always considered myself fairly well up to date with ICT and fairly proficient however, from today and being involved in Manaiakalani this far, I have realised I have a lot more to learn. I look forward to seeing what else I can learn and develop and how I can transfer these skills into the Junior setting with my class.

Watch this space...