Day 5: Collaborate

This week the focus was on the Manaiakalani kaupapa: Visible.

Can you see it? Is your teaching visible to not only students but whanau as well. I have found with the students
when they know the purpose of the tasks they have to do, they take ownership of their learning. Success need
no longer be a learner’s ability to read the teacher’s mind and answer the questions just right. It's about showing
your understanding and there are so many ways this can be presented. 

And as with sharing, there shouldn’t be a need to reinvent the wheel in education, there are so many resources,
and activities that are visible creating opportunities to collaborate.

With the big move to the digital world, information needs to be accessible, available and advance. Students have
opportunities to see the learning journey the teacher has set and then can take it further with additional resources
and activities that are available.

Today we looked at How blogging and blog comments are making the student’s learning journey visible and creates
the opportunity to get feedback and feed forward not only from the teacher but also from their peers and the public
in general. 

The modes we have explored so far allow us to create and share in whichever medium we feel brings our point
across. This for students is a big shift to the traditional book and pen and teaching them which mode suits the
situation best. 

How do we engage the students to stay focused on learning when there are so many distractions online? Indeed,
Well today we had a go at making google sites with the idea of Engage in mind - how does the shop window
dressing lock us in? Our sites need to reflect what we are about, the class culture and be to the point.

My site is still a working progress but I have considered how to hook the students from the “window” and how to
focus their learning by directing the content they will be in contact with. 

This was also an opportunity for me to collaborate with other teachers, sharing the resources we have found to
make the process much more streamlined. 

Have a look at the site. Feedback is most welcome.