Monthly Archives: June 2022

In celebration of Matariki

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Sometimes you forget how much fun it is to create things.  It’s easy to get caught up in everyday work stuff that doesn’t involve a creative flair but today, I took the time to write a short programme in celebration of Matariki.  I made a remix of  s an animation by IMACAT2 on Scratch.  I really like how Scratch acknowledges the original creators and then shows how many times a creation was remixed and by whom.  That would be a great feature to have in Google Docs.

With my remixed programme, I added my own photos, and included the Tui image which I found with a creative commons licenseI removed the background and uploaded it to Scratch as a new sprite. I did a few tweaks to the programme and now it’s ready to go as a starter for students to create their own quiz about the Matariki stars.

Empowerment starts with digital fluency

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Today’s theme for the DFI was empowerment, the future of tech and computational thinking.

The Manaiakalani perspective on empowerment is about enabling students to be digital creators rather than passive consumers of technology.  I feel that starts with their digital fluency and teachers’ digital fluency.  As teachers we need to be able to navigate a range of online applications and decide which platform is right for accelerating students’ engagement and achievement.

Initially students will be guided by their teachers for which apps to use and for what purpose.  However, as students’ understanding and confidence develops with technology they will be able to discern for themselves which application would be most appropriate for any scenario.  The NZ Curriculum (2007) states, a digitally fluent person can decide when and why to use specific digital technologies to achieve a specific task or solve problems. A digitally capable person can create their own digital technologies solution.  This is what we continue to work towards.

Teachers’ competency with digital fluency is crucial in today’s learning environments.   This focus is central to the professional development of the Manaiakalani Digital Fluency Intensive course and aligns with the Manaiakalani Programme goals of engagement, personalised learning, accelerated achievement, and empowerment.