Today we were focussing on media and how to use some of the other tools on Google.
It was interesting to see how we could set up youtube playlists. I had been sharing links with 3 of my students via Hapara Dashboard only a few minutes earlier, but was now able to set up a playlist containing all the links I had shared with them, and then embed this on the subject website.
This will allow me to set up playlists for each learning intention within each subject, and the students can use the site as it was originally intended, as a "one stop shop" so that all relevant information is on there.
We also looked at how to livestream to youtube; this might be good for school events, but you need plenty of equipment for this (perhaps we could ask for more money in our budget for 2020?)
We then had a tutu with Google Slides. After seeing a few, we were able to start thinking about creating an animation of our own. I chose to do something simplistic, which may amuse my own children, but I can see how this may be something which our students could do (probably more as a starter activity at the start of a topic, than as the main presentation, but possibly it could be used for this purpose).
The last task of the day was to create a new drawing as our 'About Me' section on our blog. I used a tool called colourpick eyedropper; this meant that when I'd copied the school badge, I could use this tool to find the exact same colours used, and then turn these into my background colours, so that my photo matched the school colours, linking my photo with the school subtly!
Wednesday 30 October 2019
Wednesday 23 October 2019
Sixth day of DFI
Today our focus was on using devices.
We experienced using iPads and Chromebooks - I use Chromebooks during staff meetings as I don't have a laptop, but I didn't know all the Chromebook shortcuts; it felt today like we were learning a language which was similar to the one we know, but had lots of little 'twists' which were confusing at first. Once I found the shortcuts for Chromebook it was easy to use them to get the same results as I do on a laptop or desktop.
I had never used an iPad before; it was initially daunting, but I kept asking questions of those around me and the instructors, and was able to pick up how to do things quickly. We used this to make presentations at a Primary level; this seemed to be easy to pick up and apply.
The last main thing we did today was to create a screencastify. We were tasked to create one about an aspect of being cybersmart; I chose to create one about smart surfing, as this is something I am currently focussing on with my Year 9 and 10 classes. My first effort was 9 minutes long, so I tried to cut this down to 3 minutes; I was not entirely successful as my second attempt was 5 minutes, but it was a reduction in the time the first one took! One of our staff uses this tool a lot with her classes to create 'rewindable learning'; this will be good for students who are auditory learners.
My 5 minute effort is below:
We experienced using iPads and Chromebooks - I use Chromebooks during staff meetings as I don't have a laptop, but I didn't know all the Chromebook shortcuts; it felt today like we were learning a language which was similar to the one we know, but had lots of little 'twists' which were confusing at first. Once I found the shortcuts for Chromebook it was easy to use them to get the same results as I do on a laptop or desktop.
I had never used an iPad before; it was initially daunting, but I kept asking questions of those around me and the instructors, and was able to pick up how to do things quickly. We used this to make presentations at a Primary level; this seemed to be easy to pick up and apply.
The last main thing we did today was to create a screencastify. We were tasked to create one about an aspect of being cybersmart; I chose to create one about smart surfing, as this is something I am currently focussing on with my Year 9 and 10 classes. My first effort was 9 minutes long, so I tried to cut this down to 3 minutes; I was not entirely successful as my second attempt was 5 minutes, but it was a reduction in the time the first one took! One of our staff uses this tool a lot with her classes to create 'rewindable learning'; this will be good for students who are auditory learners.
My 5 minute effort is below:
Wednesday 16 October 2019
Fifth Day of DFI
Today we spent time going through our current websites, checking them, developing them, presenting them to get feedback from the others in the group.
The biggest 'glitch' today was finding that many PDF files which I'd added to the site were not viewable by those outside the school. After a fair amount of time, and some trial and error, Kerry and I found ways to make sure these files were viewable. Despite the shared settings seeming like all files would be viewable, they were not; the only way to fix this seemed be to be embedding the files, or deleting them and re-adding them, which will be a lot of work, but I may just wait until students tell me they can't see the file, then I can quickly edit the site to make the link work. Over time this will fix the glitches!
Just trying to embed the screenshot below of the website revealed that it may be a glitch in the laptop, rather than something else. I think if I log in to this laptop while the laptop is physically plugged into the school system with a cable may fix all the issues!
The more workable the website, the easier it is for students and whanau to find their way around, and the more obvious the learning. This will lead to improved educational outcomes for all.
The biggest 'glitch' today was finding that many PDF files which I'd added to the site were not viewable by those outside the school. After a fair amount of time, and some trial and error, Kerry and I found ways to make sure these files were viewable. Despite the shared settings seeming like all files would be viewable, they were not; the only way to fix this seemed be to be embedding the files, or deleting them and re-adding them, which will be a lot of work, but I may just wait until students tell me they can't see the file, then I can quickly edit the site to make the link work. Over time this will fix the glitches!
Just trying to embed the screenshot below of the website revealed that it may be a glitch in the laptop, rather than something else. I think if I log in to this laptop while the laptop is physically plugged into the school system with a cable may fix all the issues!
The more workable the website, the easier it is for students and whanau to find their way around, and the more obvious the learning. This will lead to improved educational outcomes for all.
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