Collaborate - Sites

DFI Week 5

Connecting with Manaiakalani - Visible Learning

Visible teaching and learning is the idea of can we see it or can we not.  This includes both teaching and learning.  Is it visible to the learner, the whānau, the teacher and colleagues. A contributor to our tamariki not achieving is that for a long time we have kept this learning hidden.  If we make things visible the learner and whānau understanding where they are heading and can support each other on the journey.

Visibiity learning encompances the whole journey, for every part of the learning process needs to be made visible for the learner.  This includes the planning, walths, success criteria and assessment processes.  This enables the student to see where they are heading and what comes next. The day to day teaching and learning and progressions need to be visible.

Sites can be used to make learning visible and the work is then shared to the class blog to make the students learning visible to the world.  Sitting within this model is Hapara and this enables students work to be visible to the teacher.  

Multimodal

Multimodal is the concept of delivering communication in a way that reaches and suits the learner. Multi model is tied to four principles these are engagement, personalised learning, acceleration and empowerment.  These are important to consider when we design sites for learning.  A class site is inclusive for all learners and has the approach of UDL - it caters for all learners.  

Engagement - 'The Hook' how can we hook students into their learning this ties into the New Zealand Curriculum - Learners who are actively involved in their learning.  If learners are inspired to learn then they are hooked into their learning.  Multimodal learning provides a vehicle to help 'hook' the learner in, hooking the student in starts with plenty of engagement.

Personalised Learning -

"Thinking that the default is not the teacher" - Chrissie Butler. what works for one learner may not work for another. The teacher needs to think about what will engage all students and what they might think is engaging may not be for the learner.  It is important for us to ask what engages our tamariki.

Acceleration -

Acceleration of our learners needs to include engagement - this begins with drawing them into the learning so they are on task, in the right place at the right time.  Then engaging them cognitively - getting their brains to work hard. T shaped literacy is a good example of this, in our junior school we are exploring how sets of readers, they all have a common theme, can help develop our students critical literacy.

Empowerment- 

Multimodal learning is empowering. "Leading learning through multimodal sites is a journey, depending greatly on the skills and digital fluency of the teachers"

Sites:

We spent time exploring sites and identifying how they hook the learner into the task and how the layout can have a positive of negative effect on drawing someone in. We also spent time learning how to create a site. We spent time creating a site.  My takeaways from this were

• plan your site first, you can waste a lot of time creating the site and realise that it is not fit for purpose
• make time to create the site - don't rush the creation of your site, you want it to hook the learners in
• know your purpose before you start and collect the resources to support this purpose before you start.

Google Site