DFI Post 7

Being part of a powerful network can foster strong connectivity among learners. We can keep abreast of so many exciting innovations so readily.
I feel excited Hokitika is in our Manaiakalani network, as my grandchildren will attend school there over the next 2-4 years.
Being connected celebrates commonalities and diversity. [Supports Enviro Schools guiding principle Respect for Diversity of People and Culture]

The Manaiakalani kaupapa is changing how I think and plan learning tasks.
In our school we are all using the language  Learn, Create, Share across the curriculum.
Sharing capability is a big part of this.
In designing purposeful learning activities the The SAMR coffee analogy is useful.

Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu- Write to me, Write to others is an area for future discussion in our school.

In my professional capability I will keep working on my learning site giving due consideration to the 'Why?'
Why are my students using the site?
-For visibility, extending learning outside school hours, rewindable learning, higher engagement, collaborative learning opportunities.
-For sharing resources
-To offer multi-modal tasks/activities
-Sharing via blogs- greater networks for children, teachers, parents, extended whanau.

How?
How will my students use the site?
Stef talked about 'back mapping' which made plain sense. as in any other learning. Eg. 'Where do you want this child to be in 10 weeks?' 'What are the steps to get there?'

How do I want my site to look. Draw a plan. It is for the children so needs to be easy to navigate.
Key ideas for me:
Simple layout, [not too many things going on], engaging/eye catching, complementary colours, limited use of different fonts- keep it uniform.


Site development-
BUTTONS
-Use of good visuals for buttons so children are not needing to struggle if reading is a problem
-Page setup -custom-200x200 pixels
-Create button and download as png image

Immediate achievable goals from peer feedback are:
-sort permissions. When sharing tasks remember to tick View Only!
-Embed reading slides via a button on home page
-Convert Antarctic reading tasks to a slideshow as previous tasks [I was practising using a table for layout at the time of task construction:)]

Next step goals:
-Create buttons for Reading, Writing and Maths
-Revise and move timetable to home page
-Try Colour Pick

What did I learn to improve my confidence and capability?
The feedback form gave plain sensible advice to keep you moving forward with site development.