E-Learning for all

I was feeling really excited last night, after a great PD session with my team. As we had a couple of team members away, we decided to have a bit of a session on using the aha para dashboard for Google Drive. I have been using this more and more in my class, and we had decided at the start of the year to have it for all our Year 5-8 students instead of using a USB for their work. I showed my colleagues the basics of login in and viewing student work, plus how to smart copy documents and files to the students' folders. We discussed how to get started with the kids, and I recommended focussing on the login process as many of my (older) students had found it difficult just getting their username right! It also gives teachers a great opportunity to discuss digital citizenship especially regarding keeping their passwords safe. We had some great discussions and I see today that many of the students had successfully logged it.

Auckland Discovery

We didn't even get to see a reflection
of the Sky Tower!
Credit: United Nations Photo
(CC BY-NC-ND)

I have just recently recovered from a huge PD day in Auckland. It involved getting up at a ridiculous time in the morning, hopping a red-eye flight to Auckland, and driving my colleagues around in a hired van all day (my apologies again for all the stalling, but at least I remembered to put the hand-break on before getting out on a slope!). However, the main purpose of our trip was to explore modern learning environments and learn about how others have embraced a more collaborative way of teaching and learning.

We visited two schools in Auckland - the first was a rather new school, purpose built for a collaborative environment. The second was both old and new (they had expanded their school to meet demand) and the older part demonstrated how you could adapt your existing buildings to create a more collaborative environment.

What I got out of it though, was that buildings were just a start. The real magic was happening when teachers changed the way they thought and the way they taught. It made me think of ways I could encourage more collaboration in my classroom RIGHT NOW. One tool that I had already started using last year and plan to use more this year is Google Drive. The Year 8 students I had last year found that once they knew what they were doing, it was usually easier for them to have their documents available on the drive. It meant no more 'forgetting' to take homework to school, or work home to complete. It meant they didn't have to worry about loosing a USB stick.

This year I want to improve the way I encourage the kids to collaborate with each other. My first goal will be to teach them how to share their documents, and give them opportunities to comment on each others' writing. Check in with me later in the term to see how I'm going!